Hidden AAPI Stories

I love AAPI history month and the focused opportunity to learn about aspects of the AAPI community that may be hidden from everyday view. Stereotypes can prevent us from seeing both success and the harm within the AAPI community. And through stories, we can help move beyond the limited view of who Asians and Pacific Islanders are and what we are good at to a more complex and nuanced view. Stories can help us appreciate the breadth and beauty of a community that spans so many histories and cultures. ?

Because the community is so complex, my colleagues Sarah Soule , Hannah Yanow, Ed.D. , Margaret A. Neale and I wrote an article with a simple yet compelling way to start to appreciate the complexity of the AAPI story: Crowdsource it. We created an AAPI month of learning, and invited colleagues to contribute stories of individuals, important events, and cultural artifacts for others to learn about. In this way, no individual decided what was important to feature; the community co-designed it. While the calendar is no longer available, you can read about the process.

One of my favorite stories is about Jeremy Lin, who is featured in the documentary, “38 at the Garden”. He had a historic season with the Nicks, resulting in “Linsanity” but also faced barriers playing as he was not seen as aggressive enough (this assessment is typical of the AAPI stereotype).

Another year, I heard Ranjita Chakravarty speak at an AAPI event on campus; she plays the grandmother in “Never Have I Ever.” To my surprise, I learned she works at Stanford!

One way to honor AAPI Heritage is to discover the “hidden” stories of your friends and colleagues. They may help you move beyond a stereotypical view and towards a deeper appreciation.

As for my own story, here is a picture of me, aged 3+ in San Jose’s Japantown in front of my great-grandmother, Tani’s home with one of the many stray kitties she fed and called “Tommy” (all of them were Tommy).

I grew up with a strong sense of family and community. My great-grandmother and great-father immigrated from Japan via Hawaii in the early 1900s. My great-grandfather and his brother, Gentaro and Shinzaburo Nishiura, worked on the Pan Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco. Together they built many historic landmarks including the Mon Gate at Hakone Gardens and the San Jose Buddhist Temple. The story I learned from my family is that they built the temple, and that even though they the commission did not cover the costs of the building, they were committed to it being a remarkable place for community.

The other picture represents a Butsudan, or shrine, which the brothers built out of scrap material while they were incarcerated in Heart Mountain, Wyoming during WWII due to Executive Order 9066. From them I learned the lesson of turning hardship into beauty. In this picture you can also see my great-grandmother whose house I’m sitting in front of.

And so, many of us are shaped by our complex histories in ways that may be hidden from view and obscured by myths and stereotypes. Join me in your own crowdsoucing of learning about the complex AAPI community.