Top Asian Newsmakers

By Jennie L. Ilustre

 

When the Stop AAPI Hate coalition founders started a reporting website – with the goal of tracking and responding to racist incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – they did not know it would make such a big impact on a national scale.

The website quickly became the No. 1 source of authoritative data by the nation’s top newspapers, TV networks and cable channels, as well as think tanks and advocacy groups. The coalition’s advocacy has also ensured that anti-Asian racism is kept alive among the country’s top issues.

The coalition founders are among the nation’s top Asian American newsmakers today. These newsmakers have made a difference, not just in the AAPI community. They have also made an impact in Mainstream America and across the world. Others have opened doors of opportunities for other Asian Americans, through their extraordinary talents and their achievements.

 

 Stop AAPI Hate Founders

The Stop AAPI Hate coalition co-founders are: Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council; Russell Jeung, professor at the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University, and Cynthia Choi, Co-director of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA).

On March 19, 2020, the coalition launched the Stop AAPI Hate website, www.stopaapihate.org. Its goal: To track and respond to incidents of racism to address “the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Today, it is “renowned for being the leading aggregator of anti-Asian and anti-Pacific Islander hate incidents,” as reported by the victims themselves.

The coalition also noted its work ensures the Asian American and Pacific Islander community “is not being ignored.” It also helps the victims by providing rapid response, preventive measures, and supporting efforts towards justice.

In September this year, the founders were among Time magazine’s “100 Influential People of 2021.” The list recognizes the impact and achievements of the world’s most influential individuals. Time ran the story in its September 27-October 4 issue.

Asked if he had imagined their work would have such a big impact, Professor Jeung said it was unexpected. He also found the racism’s intensity across the country quite shocking.

“I never thought Stop AAPI Hate would be such a big influence,” he said in an email. “But I also never thought the racism would reach such magnitude and hatefulness,”

He added: “It’s been clear to me how deep-seated and institutionalized anti-AAPI racism is, so that we need to build a multiracial movement to dismantle systems that oppress. We’re glad to be part of this movement and promote policies that address racism and racial disparities.”

In September, he noted: “Since we began tracking data, the reports we receive show a sustained, devastatingly high number of racist attacks against Asian Americans. A total of 2,478 reports were made to our center between April and June 2021, bringing the total number of incident reports to 9,081 since we started collecting data in March 2020.”

Remarked Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council: “This work would not be possible without the bravery and strength of our respondents and the AAPI community at large, and we want to thank them for their willingness to speak out against injustice.”

Time’s recognition, she stressed, “is a testament to the fact that our advocacy work is being valued, and it validates our fight against Anti-Asian hate.”

 

Tennis Champ Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka, the Asian tennis sensation, has been a strong advocate of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. She has also emerged as a champion of the mental health of athletes by publicly prioritizing her well-being over tennis.

Osaka, whose father is from Haiti, champions the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Playing in tennis Grand Slam tournaments during the onset of the pandemic, she wore face masks with the names of African American victims prominently emblazoned across them.

Remarked Karen Narasaki, former president and executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium or NAPALC: “I have enormous respect for Naomi Osaka, who is educating the Japanese as well as Americans about human rights, and very much believe that athletes and showbiz personalities have a responsibility to speak out against racism and for human rights. In the world we are living today, silence is complicity.”

In September, Time magazine named Osaka among its “100 Influential People of 2021.”

The four-time Grand Slam singles champion opted to skip post-game press conferences during the French Open tournament on May 31. She said she was an introvert who did not relish facing the international media. She also mentioned media questions after losing a game, resulting in self-doubts about her abilities.

Osaka also revealed in a social media post that since winning the 2018 U.S. Open, she has dealt with “long bouts of depression.” Remarkably, other world champions, both male and female in other sports, then publicly admitted experiencing similar struggles.

Overnight fame and fortune can be overwhelming. A 2016 Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA) study showed that “30% of the female athletes surveyed reported symptoms of depression,” among other things.

Osaka’s actions also led to French Open tennis officials introducing changes to consider players’ mental well-being. Later, U.S. Open officials in New York provided health professionals in the tournament.

Osaka has made a difference, not just in the world of sports. With other mental health advocates, such as Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry, she has contributed to taking out the stigma associated with mental health.

 

Healthcare Workers

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders continue to be on the frontlines of the critical response to the pandemic, according to the New American Economy, a research group advocating immigration policies boosting the economy.

The report pointed out that there are 1.4 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders healthcare workers. They make up 8.5 percent of the nation’s total essential healthcare workers. It added that over 20% of the country’s physicians and surgeons are AAPI. There are 348,000 AAPIs, or 1 in 11 nurses, and 75% of them are immigrants.

Most of the doctors are Indian Americans. According to the Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, it has 80,000 members.

Most of the nurses are Filipino Americans: 150,000. Time magazine acknowledged their critical role in the nation’s healthcare system in an article on May 30, 2021: “How Filipino Nurses Mended America’s Medical System.” The story had the subhead, “From AIDS to COVID-19, America’s Medical System Has a Long History of Relying on Filipino Nurses to Fight on the Frontlines.”

NVG Co-Founder and Partner Irene Bueno has many relatives in the healthcare profession: 5 nurses, 1 doctor, 1 paramedic and 1 Navy medic. She noted: “The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, yet we do not value nurses who often work under the most difficult conditions.

“They are not adequately compensated for their specialized skills, knowledge, and the risks they face to their own health every day,” she added. In the first year of the pandemic, “While 4% of the country’s nurses are Filipino Americans, 3 in ten nurses who died of Covid-19 were of Filipino descent.”

 

Boston Mayor

Michelle Wu, the daughter of Taiwanese Americans, made triple history in the November elections. She is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Asian American elected Boston mayor in 200 years. Prior to her victory, the city had a long tradition of electing white men to the top office.

Boston voter Paul W. Lee said Mayor Wu’s victory “reflects the broad grassroots coalition she has built across Boston with her bold and visionary work in many critical areas such as affordable housing, anti-displacement, economic development, and fair city contracting for minority-owned businesses.”

The Harvard University economics and law graduate assumed office two weeks after her election. This was due to the vacancy In March, when Mayor Marty Walsh was appointed Secretary of Labor.

Wu won in a landslide, getting the approval of six in ten voters. The Boston Globe reported Wu “received the highest vote total of any mayoral candidate in nearly 40 years.” It also added that Wu performed well across almost the entire city. Boston has 22 wards. Wu won except for three wards.

 

Showbiz Talents

Asian American showbiz talents, both in front and behind the camera, have been making giant strides in the international scene.

Recently, “Matrix Resurrections,” the long-awaited sequel to the innovative “Matrix” trilogy, boasts of two top Americans of Asian heritage: Priyanka Chopra and Keanu Reeves.

For the first time, Hollywood superstar Reeves spoke about his Chinese Hawaiian heritage. He did so in an interview with NBC News on December 17, 2021, while promoting the movie. He said his relationship “to his Asian identity, it’s always been good and healthy. And I love it.”

Reeves, whose father is Chinese Hawaiian, guest starred in “Always be My Maybe,” an all-Asian film production shown in Mainstream America in 2019.

Asians and Asian Americans have lately been making waves in Hollywood. Simu Liu starred in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” the first Asian superhero of the popular Marvel films. The movie, released in September, grossed over $432.million at the box-office.

Producer Barbara Brcccoli wants Cary Fukunaga, director of the James Bond film “No Time to Die,” to come back and helm the next franchise movie. “No time to Die” is both a critical and commercial success. The report quoted Broccoli as saying that Cary did “an exceptional job,” adding, “We’d love to work with him again.”