NEW YORK — Over two weeks, Naomi Osaka used her platform as a world-famous athlete to draw attention to the racial injustice and systematic police brutality that has resulted in a wave of protests in the United States. The spotlight she cast on the Black Lives Matter movement would not have been as bright as […]
Rabbit Rambling: Hoping and coping
August 13, 2020 by Leave a Comment
I’ve taken some time off from this column because it was hard for me to feel that I had something sensible to say about what we have been living through. It’s as though we’re experiencing a slow, rolling earthquake that sends periodic shakes and shudders. We can’t tell when the next jolt will come or […]
From the strike for ethnic studies to the movement for Black lives
July 16, 2020 by Leave a Comment
INTRODUCING A NEW COLUMN: We are proud to announce Amy Sueyoshi, the dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, whose new column Nikkei Q seeks to answer the Nikkei community’s most pressing questions on queer topics, such as same-sex sexuality, non-binary gender, and discussion items that are broadly disconcerting or […]
FANTASTIC VOYAGE: The lesson I learned at a Black Lives Matter Peace March in Osaka
June 18, 2020 by Leave a Comment
On June 7, I participated in a Black Lives Matter Peace March in Osaka. The event was boosted by a retweet from tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, for which she took a lot of heat. But despite the polarizing nature of the event, I learned a lot, although the lesson I walked away with was not […]
THROUGH YONSEI EYES: DEAR ASIAN AMERICANS: An open letter and guide-in-progress on being a productive ally to African Americans by a devastated and outraged Asian American
June 4, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Are you also devastated and outraged? You should be. That’s just the start. So, what’s next? How can the Asian American community mobilize to be productive and supportive to the Black community right now? I’m not claiming to be a perfect ally/activist, or that this is the definitive guide to being an ally in 2020, […]
Asian Americans create resources to aid discussions on anti-black violence
July 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Philando Divall Castile was shot and killed during a traffic stop July 6 by St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Saint Paul, Minn. While Castile, an African American male, had been carrying a gun, he had reportedly told the police that he had a permit to carry it and […]
My tsuru
I am a member of Tsuru for Solidarity. I am not an activist, nor am I a trained artist, but I have painted 12 large tsuru (paper cranes) of various sizes. I paint because it gives me pleasure and a way to express myself. Last year, like many Japanese Americans, I began by folding hundreds […]