President Biden condemns anti-Asian bias + Muslim travel ban repealed: Your AAPI newsletter
It is Thursday, Jan. 28, and this is The Sacramento Bee’s AAPI weekly newsletter.
Here’s a recap of the stories I’ve covered and ones I’m following:
Sacramento politicians and community leaders applauded President Joe Biden’s directive condemning growing anti-Asian rhetoric and hate crimes that have risen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden signed the memorandum Tuesday as part of a group of executive orders, memorandums and actions focused on racial justice and equity. The directive also issues some guidance on how the Justice Department should respond to the heightened number of anti-Asian bias incidents.
“I was quite heartened that our president … has recognized the hate and racism directed toward our community,” said state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento. “That doesn’t come too often, that the unique struggles our community faces actually gets particularly recognized.”
The order asks the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate with the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force to distribute COVID-19 information that is culturally sensitive, respectful and in-language in its federal response. It also commands the U.S. attorney general to work with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities on better data collection and ways to report anti-Asian hate crimes.
More than 1,100 incidents of anti-Asian discrimination in California were reported to the Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center between March and July last year. There were 2,583 incidents reported nationwide, more than 40% of which came from California.
Muslim American advocates in Sacramento welcomed Biden’s repeal of the travel ban last week on predominantly Muslim and African countries, which many see as a hopeful first step towards ending family separation policies.
“We were very refreshed to hear language coming out of the White House that was not targeting Muslims and Africans around the world,” said Oussama Mokeddem, policy director for the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “After four years of very tough news and bad news around every corner, it’s been an optimistic moment for advocates and community members around the nation.”
The so-called “Muslim ban” was signed by former President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in 2017, restricting travel from countries with majority Muslim and African populations such as Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Sudan. The order caused immediate chaos, stranding hundreds of immigrants and refugees in airports and sparking protests across the country.
“We hope these families can heal from the devastating impacts of this policy,” Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR Sacramento, said in a statement on Jan. 20. “There is so much work to be done to right historical and more recent wrongs, but this is an important first step.”
In a statement, Biden condemned the “discriminatory” restrictions, calling them a “moral blight” and a blow to the country’s international relations.
“Those actions are a stain on our national conscience,” Biden wrote. “And they have separated loved ones, inflicting pain that will ripple for years to come. They are just plain wrong.”
In other news
- Human-sized thermometers are popping up in Stockton Boulevard restaurants. Here’s why (The Sacramento Bee)
- Shyamala Gopalan: The woman who inspired Kamala Harris (BBC News)
- A Scientist Is Arrested, and Academics Push Back (New York Times)
- Sony Pictures Television Inks First-Look Deal With 88rising To Develop Scripted Series On Asian Culture (Deadline)
- ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ Directors and Screenwriter on the Melting Pot of Southeast Asian Influences in the New Disney Film (Slashfilm)
Why Asian American women have had highest jobless rates during last 6 months of Covid (NBC News)
Disney’s ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ sparks mixed reactions on Asian representation (NBC News)
- Reading for Unreadability: Racializing Asians During the Long Cold War (Los Angeles Review of Books)
- What If We Saved Ourselves? (Los Angeles Review of Books)
This week in AAPI pop culture
“Pachinko” author Min Jin Lee, and “Tigertail” filmmaker and screenwriter Alan Yang are joining forces to create a new Netflix series, “Free Food for Millionaires.”
According to Variety, which broke the news Tuesday, Lee will be writing the script, with Yang lined up as executive producer. No other details were given, although I for one will be checking on the daily for a casting announcement.
The series is based on Lee’s critically acclaimed debut 2007 novel of the same name. According to the book description, the story follows life in 1990s Manhattan with Korean American Casey Han, “a strong-willed, Queens-bred daughter ... who is addicted to a glamorous Manhattan lifestyle she cannot afford. Fresh out of Princeton with an economics degree, no job, and a popular white boyfriend, Casey is determined to carve a space for herself in the glittering world.”
Lee, whose second novel “Pachinko” is also in the process of being developed for an Apple TV+ show, wrote on Twitter that “Free Food for Millionaires” will be the first Asian American one-hour drama in Hollywood history.
“I’m very excited,” Netflix head of drama development Jinny Howe told Variety. “I feel this is unlike anything else we have on the slate right now.”
“It’s a one-hour Asian-American drama set in the 90s, what could be better?! Already thinking about what the haircuts will look like ...” Yang wrote on Twitter.
Min Jin Lee and Alan Yang, get that Netflix money! I have faith this adaptation will go better than “Tigertail.”
Got a story suggestion? Please reach out to me at awong@sacbee.com.
That’s it for this week’s newsletter. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
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