Episode 1: My American_A Trip to Find the Past and the Future

In May 31, 2018, Buck Gee and Denise Peck publish an article Asian Americans Are the Least Likely Group in the U.S. to Be Promoted to Management on Harvard Business Review. Although there are some measures show that Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APAs) are the most successful group in the U.S in high education and median income, they are rarely promoted in management positions. Similar to the media, people rarely see yellow-face stars. The term "glass ceiling" has been using to explain unofficial acknowledge barriers that minority groups are facing, and the term "bamboo ceiling" is used specifically for APAs. Diversity experts and researchers explain the main reason for the "bamboo ceiling" is from stereotypes and negative representations which are created by the mass media because of the cultural misunderstanding.

This first Episode will use My America... Or Honk if you love Buddha of Renee Tajima-Pena to discuss how APAs are demonstrated in the mass media in the past, present, and future. 

“My America”  starts by the very first steps of the filmmaker's first generation in the American to show that it was very difficult for an Asian to be accepted in America. By narrating her real story of her grandfather and interviewing the real stories of other subgroups of Asian Pacific Americans, Renee Tajima-Pena analyzes what makes Asian Pacific American and how other groups define and the Asian Pacific American as well as how they respond.

My America... Or Honk if you love Buddha, Renee Tajima-Pena

During the road trip in several states, Renee discovered how the first generation of the Asian American identity themselves through the story of her grandfather and father of Victor, the sewing Laos woman by the way how they live their new life in a new country by how they represent themselves and the Asian American community and successfully build the China town

She continues to discover the second and third generation by the story a Chinese man who teaches kung-fu, an illustration of the media construction.  

The stories of the two Korean rappers somehow show the media racial hegemony that affects Asian American when one of them says that he is an ugly Asian guy. 

Victor told the filmmaker how he was treated while he was in the media industry. The way Asian American fight for their identity and their community through the activist of Victor by taking photos, how Filipino Americans think about getting marry and integrate into America. How UCLA student fighting for their identity and community

Although mass media created a negative image of Asian Pacific American in the past, they have certain roles in broadening the Asian Pacific American movements and influencing in the changes of the stereotypical representation of this group.

Asian American Movement in LA - California Humanities

 I am an Asian Pacific American and if I am not an Asian Pacific American, my perspective would change a little bit. However, I would keep the same answer that the media plays a main role in defining and affecting images of Asian Pacific American. In addition, the media creates the root of all social processes, systems of representations, or even the stereotypes and biases that affect the interaction among Asian Pacific American and other groups as well as within this group. Asian Pacific American needs to understand, analyze, and redefine correctly themselves by discovering their past and planning for their future.

Reference:

Gee, Buck and Peck, Denise. Asian Americans Are the Least Likely Group in the U.S. to Be Promoted to Management. Harvard Business Review, May 31, 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/05/asian-americans-are-the-least-likely-group-in-the-u-s-to-be-promoted-to-management.

Tajima-Pena, Renee. My America... Or Honk if you love Buddha. ITVS. 1997