New Racecar Report in honor of my birthday today! I’m a couple of chapters into The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority, by Ellen D. Wu. Ever wondered why the infamously racist Chinese Exclusion Act was finally repealed in 1943, aka less than 30 years before I was born, […]
Whenever I heard the phrase “grandfathered in,” this photo was always what I imagined: the upstairs unit of the middle Cape Cod beach cottage that was my family’s rented little slice of heaven for two weeks every summer. I thought it just meant situations where the rules had changed but things that had been approved […]
Earlier this week was Indigenous Peoples’ Day, formerly known as Columbus Day. But even though that “holiday” is over, guess what? Every single day, I’m still living and working on lands stolen from the Tongva people. So it seemed only appropriate to continue listening to the audiobook of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United […]
Here are my closing remarks from the September 2019 Southern California Grantmakers “Foresight Philanthropy” conference on using the tools of futurism in philanthropy: Hi everyone! I know it’s been a very long day of learning. I’m just here to take one final moment to thank our brilliant panelists – and everyone who shared their insight […]
Hi friends, thought I’d try something new. You know I always try to share my learning with you from the books and conferences that are major milestones in my racial justice journey — but there are also so many smaller steps along the way, so many valuable articles and resources that help me try to […]
“If we just give them things, they won’t work to support themselves.” Who said this, a white politician in 1865 talking about reparations for slavery or a white politician in 2019 talking about food stamps? Ha! Trick question! The answer is, it’s both. Heard a radio news piece the other day about the Trump Administration’s […]
In tribute to Toni Morrison who passed away this week, I am finally sharing a story I’ve been trying to tell for a year — about how reading Beloved last summer unlocked a part of me that had been deliberately locked away for 30 years.
I am for gun control. (Shocker, I know.) So why am I worrying about the sudden groundswell of support for “red flag laws” that would allow folks to report dangerous people whose guns should be taken away? Because of this: More Perfect’s podcast on how our country’s first gun-control laws were designed to take weapons […]
Earlier this week, I got my mind blown at my organization Southern California Grantmakers’ first-ever conference on disability equity: “Enabling Foundations, Nonprofits and Partners to Include People with Disabilities.” Here are my favorite gems from the day, in hopes they may shine for you as well: “The fundamental question of our country is, who belongs? […]
Morning walk. My around-the-corner neighbor is out washing his car in the glorious sunshine. He glances up as I approach. Do I catch or just imagine a flicker of apprehension? Is he wondering if I’m going to tell him to “go home” because he looks Asian-American, even though he clearly IS home in his own […]