Hard-working employees, law-abiding citizens, straight-A students. These labels have been plaguing the APIDA community since the end of World War II, when this community’s perceived universal prosperity was used to suppress other minority groups, especially Black Americans. The model minority concept delivers a disturbing message to minority groups…

Officially, the model minority myth is the belief that all Asians are naturally high achieving. Unofficially, it meant that my childhood was a constant barrage of jokes about having to go to Harvard and become a doctor or lawyer. It meant stepping into a room and knowing that…

** Author’s Note on Community Terminology: there is an academic and cultural dispute over whether Filipino or Pilipino is best to describe the diaspora from the Philippines. In recognition of the indecision, F/Pilipino is used in this piece.** Arguably, the biggest plague of Asian America’s history is the…

1. Back when I was in elementary school, Mother used to pin up my hair with chopsticks—soft pink with cherry blossoms creeping along its narrow circumference. The silky threadlike strands of hair that hung from the top of my head never stayed up for longer than a few…

For as long as I can remember, on the bathroom counter, right next to my dad’s hair gels and my mom’s perfumes, there has always been a white and pink bottle of something called “Fair and Lovely”. On the front of the bottle, a smiling fair-skinned girl stands…