The Hmong Dolls We Lost, and the Story I Found

I Couldn’t Save These Hand-Sewn Heirlooms From a Fire, But I Could Preserve Their History—And Maybe Even Part of My Heritage

The dolls were a seemingly trivial loss in the larger scheme of what went up in smoke when a fire burned through my neighborhood in the summer of 2020.

My family was fortunate to have evacuated in time, but only just so. Except for the few items we carried away with us in the van—in the trunk, under our feet, in our hands—the flames took everything in our home. I mourned the loss of our cultural items and traditional garments—like the suitcase of clothes my pog (father’s mother) received more than …

by Jer Xiong | December 8, 2022

A New Wave of Anti-Asian Violence Demands New Answers

Fighting COVID-Inspired Racism Requires Solidarity, Legislation, and Protest

by Jackie Mansky | October 8, 2020

From smashed windows and racist graffiti to outright physical violence, approximately 2,700 incidents of hate have been documented against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since the World Health Organization declared …

To Stop a Deadly Cancer, Turn Everyone Into a ‘Hero’

How Reducing the Stigma Against Hepatitis B Saved the Lives of Asian Immigrants and the Native Born

by Grace J. Yoo | September 30, 2019

How have immigrant communities addressed a rampant disease—and maybe beaten cancer?

Some answers to that question lie in the story of a San Francisco campaign against hepatitis B.

Americans of Asian …

A Hate Crime Exposes Deeper Rifts Between Asian Americans

Koreans, Filipinos, and Indians Have Too Much in Common to Fracture Themselves Along Ethnic Lines

By Jennifer Lee | August 8, 2017

Of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant actions, the best known are the barring of immigrants and refugees from Muslim countries, and the rounding up and deporting of undocumented immigrants, even those …

In My Family’s American Dream, Bootstraps Met Blocks of Government Cheese

After an Arduous Journey Emigrating from Vietnam in the ‘70s, the Author Benefitted from Both Personal Resilience and Public Assistance

By Kim Luu | August 23, 2016

I spoke my first words on a boat: “milk,” “cockroach,” and “itchy.” An unusual toddler vocabulary perhaps, but not surprising considering that I spent the second year of my …

The 1965 Immigration Act That Became a Law of Unintended Consequences

When President Johnson Signed the Hart-Celler Bill, He Said It Wouldn’t Reshape the Lives of Millions of Americans. He Was Wrong

By Jia-Rui Cook | October 2, 2015

“It’s complicated.”

This might be an appropriate way to characterize via Facebook the legacy of the 1965 Immigration Act, one of the biggest changes to the flow of people into …

Asian-Americans