Some days it feels like hate crimes created Asian America. Our loosely tied demographic was sloshing in the mainstream without political heft until Trump's "China Virus" hysteria lumped us all together. You didn't have to look or be Chinese to feel the ground shift. For the most privileged of Asians, the surge in violence and casual racism was a shock; for those struggling already, it was yet another indignity. The reports of punching and spitting and shoving piled up. People were hurt and died. The rest of us got organized or did nothing. We hunkered down or we became defiant. But everyone had to choose a way to deal with it. Whether we liked it or not, we had skin in the game. Asian Americanness-an identity that has so often felt generic or theoretical has become a term that more of us care to claim. Its significance is more concrete even as its definition feels more fractured. Some Asian Americans are poor, Black, white, Indigenous. Some aren't Asian American but instead Asians in America and not concerned with this kind of soul-searching at all. There are Asian Americans so rich that street violence can't touch them. And there are many who already knew what it was like to be a target. If a trauma united Asian America, our attempts to recover could pull us apart. Even if this new kind of violence was inspired by a president, it isn't enforced by the state. Governments are eager to offer solutions: more police, more punishment. Whether that will make everyone safer long term is the question confronting Asian America now. After all, it's easier to call the cops than it is to abolish them. Asian Americans deserve to be seen. But if we look in the mirror, do we know who's looking back?
1. HOW TO HIT BACK
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Early and Often: David Freedlander - Momentum vs. Machine The Trump and Harris campaigns battle it out for every last vote.
WIth two weeks left to go, the contours of the 2024 presidential election are clear: Both campaigns need voters who usually don’t vote, and Kamala Harris needs to bring the Democratic coalition, including its Trump-curious members, back home.While the Republican side plans to spend the remaining days of the contest trying to lure low-propensity voters to the polls, the Harris team will attempt to persuade voters of color to return to its side and will try to increase numbers among white voters in previously red suburbs.
Drowning in Slop - A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage-and it's only going to get worse.
SLOP started seeping into Neil Clarke's life in late 2022. Something strange was happening at Clarkesworld, the magazine. Clarke had founded in 2006 and built into a pillar of the world of speculative fiction. Submissions were increasing rapidly, but “there was something off about them,” he told me recently. He summarized a typical example: “Usually, it begins with the phrase ‘In the year 2250-something’ and then it goes on to say the Earth’s environment is in collapse and there are only three scientists who can save us. Then it describes them in great detail, each one with its own paragraph. And then—they’ve solved it! You know, it skips a major plot element, and the final scene is a celebration out of the ending of Star Wars.” Clarke said he had received “dozens of this story in various incarnations.”
The City Politic- The Other Eric Adams Scandal The NYPD shot a fare evader, a cop, and two bystanders. He defends it.
On Sunday, September 15, Derell Mickles hopped a turnstile, got asked to leave by cops, then entered the subway again ten minutes later through an emergency exit. This was at the Sutter Avenue L station, out by his mother's house, five stops from the end of the line. Police said they noticed he was holding a folded knife. They followed him up the stairs to the elevated train, asking him 38 times to drop the weapon.
Can the Media Survive?
BIG TECH, Feckless Owners, CORD-CUTTERS, RESTIVE STAFF, Smaller Audiences ... and the Return of PRINT?
Status Update
Hannah Gadsby's fascinatingly untidy tour through life after fame and death.
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective Steve McQueen's worst film is still a solid WWII drama.
Creator, Destroyer
A retrospective reveals an architect's vision, optimism, and supreme arrogance.
In Praise of Bad Readers
In a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
Trust the Kieran Culkin Process
First, he nearly dropped out of Oscar hopeful A Real Pain. Then he convinced Jesse Eisenberg to change the way he directs.
The Funniest Vampires on TV
What We Do in the Shadows is coming to an end. Its idiosyncratic brand of comedy may be too.
