by Patranya Bhoolsuwan
This article is part of a special project between the International Examiner and the South Seattle Emerald to produce content in 2022 addressing Asian and Pacific Islander racism and resilience. This content was made possible by a grant from the Seattle Human Services Department.
Unity took a #VeryAsian turn earlier this month when an Asian American TV news anchor turned a viewer’s comment she called “ugly and racist” into something quite beautiful and amazing.
On New Year’s Day, KSDK-TV’s Michelle Li posted a video of herself listening to a voicemail from an unidentified woman who had watched a news segment on traditional New Year’s Day dinners. In that segment, Li, who is of Korean descent, made the comment that she “ate dumpling soup. That’s what a lot of Korean people do.”
In the voicemail, the viewer left a message complaining about the news segment, saying, in part, “I kind of take offense to that, because what if one of your white anchors said, ‘Well, white people eat this on New Year’s Day.’ I don’t think it was very appropriate that she said that, and she was being very Asian.” The viewer went on to say, “She can keep her Korean to herself. All right, sorry. It was annoying.”
Continue reading Asian American News Anchor Criticized for Being ‘Very Asian,’ Turned Message Into AAPI Unity