What to read to understand the Asian-American experience

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By Olivia B. Waxman

Staff Writer

The Asian-American community is still reeling a week later from the Mar. 16 Atlanta spas shootings that left eight dead, including six women of Asian descent. People of all backgrounds are coming together to support the community, spread awareness of the longstanding issues of violence and honor the contributions it has made to the world.

For those who are looking to celebrate the Asian-American community through the written word, be sure to bookmark this reading list compiled by my Asian colleagues in the New York and London bureaus Naina Bajekal, Paulina Cachero, Andrew R. Chow, Suyin Haynes, Cady Lang and Karena Phan. There’s a large range of genres: memoirs—Lang calls Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings “the most honest and apt exploration of Asian American identity I’ve ever read;” non-fiction to fill in what K-12 history classes have left out—like Helen Zia’s Asian American Dreams; and classics of Asian-American literature, like Louis Chu’s 1961 novel Eat a Bowl of Tea, based on NYC’s Chinatown in the 1940s, considered a milestone for revealing the anti-Asian racism that Asian Americans have endured.

Here’s more history-related news to know:

HISTORY ON TIME.COM

How a Shared Goal to Dismantle White Supremacy Is Fueling Black-Asian Solidarity

By Kat Moon

The recent actions of solidarity come at a pivotal moment as calls for improving the security and safety of elder Asian Americans have sparked concerns about the next course of action

Sesame Workshop Is Talking More Explicitly About Race—and Welcoming Two Black Muppets

By Cady Lang

Meet the new father-son duo, Elijah and Wesley

How That Massive Container Ship Stuck in the Suez Canal Is Already Costing the World Billions of Dollars

By Joseph Hincks

Here's what to know about the stoppage of the Suez Canal, and what it might portend for global trade

Joe Biden Should Make National Service the Cornerstone of His Legacy. Here’s How He Can Achieve That

By Stanley McChrystal

"In times of crisis, America's leaders have historically relied on national service to recover and rebuild"

Column: I Interviewed Hundreds of New Yorkers. Here's What They Taught Me

By Craig Taylor

"In 2014 I was given a unique assignment: move to New York and talk to people, hundreds of them, and then somehow create a book using their words to describe the experience of living in New York right now"

FROM THE TIME VAULT

This week in 1963: Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali)

“Sometimes he sticks to prose. ‘I'm beee-ootiful,’ he croons. ‘I'm the greatest. I'm the double greatest. I am clean and sparkling. I will be a clean and sparkling champion.’ Cassius Clay is Hercules, struggling through the twelve labors. He is Jason, chasing the Golden Fleece. He is Galahad, Cyrano, D'Artagnan. When he scowls, strong men shudder, and when he smiles, women swoon. The mysteries of the universe are his Tinker Toys. He rattles the thunder and looses the lightning.” (Mar. 22, 1963)

This week in 1977: Lily Tomlin

"There are no better comedians around now, and on the evidence of Nashville and The Late Show , few better actresses. In the latter she plays Margo, a pill-pushing whacko on the edge of survival in Los Angeles. She and Art Carney, as a patient private eye, may just be the oddest—but most likable —mix since Tracy and Hepburn were thrown together a generation ago. Carney thinks Tomlin has ‘the greatest range of any actress now.’ Nashville showed it. As Linnea, the dutiful mother of two deaf children, she acts mesmerically with her eyes. Says Co-Star Henry Gibson: ‘I will always cherish the bar scene when Lily listens to Keith Carradine. The look on her face —a combination of love for this rock singer and guilt for the adultery she knew would take place—why, it just tears you.’ He is right.” (Mar. 28, 1977)

This week in 1993: Can Animals Think?

“No animal has done more to renew interest in animal intelligence than a beguiling, bilingual bonobo named Kanzi, who has the grammatical abilities of a 2 1/2-year-old child and a taste for movies about cavemen. The 12-year-old pygmy chimpanzee lives with a colony of other apes in a cage complex on the wooded campus of the Georgia State University Language Research Center, near Atlanta. Under the tutelage of psychologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, he makes his desires known either by pointing to symbols printed on a laminated board or by punching the symbols on a special keyboard that then generates the words in English. While Kanzi cannot speak (apes lack the vocal control to form words), he understands spoken language.” (Mar. 22, 1993)

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB

Fact check: When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the filibuster "has no racial history at all. None. There's no dispute among historians about that,” historian Kevin Kruse debunked that statement on Twitter with a timeline of examples of how the filibuster was used to block various civil rights bills.

Leading the way: The New York Times' Julie Bosman reports on the historic effort to distribute housing grants as reparations to Black residents underway in Evanston, Ill.

Education: The 74’s Asher Lehrer-Small reports on new research on 1930s redlining housing policies and education outcomes.

Women’s History Month: For Yes! Magazine, Joan Marie Naturale gives an overview of the lesser-known deaf suffragists who fought for women’s voting rights.