18 MILLION RISING

New York City public school kids getting new Muslim, Lunar New Year holidays

New York City is moving to close school for two Muslim holidays and the Lunar New Year but Mayor de Blasio isnt so sure about the Hindu festival Diwali.

Actually kind of major: Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha off of school! For every public school student in New York City.

Though I can’t for the life of me figure out why Diwali is a no-go?

Shoutout to Dream Act Oklahoma- Tulsa for standing up to KOTV’s fearmongering about Latino immigrants!

(You might be surprised just how many Asian immigrants live in Oklahoma, too.)

[x]

Today would have been Trayvon Martin’s 19th birthday.

To honor his life, Colorlines is collecting tweets from people reflecting on what they did at 19 that Trayvon, and every other kid whose life has been cut short by racialized gun violence. Join the conversation with #19forTrayvon.

This week on “Awkward Senate Hearings,” Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) tells Dr. Vivek Murthy (an Indian American doctor and likely the next Surgeon General of the United States) that he knows a couple Indian American doctors in Kansas, so Dr. Murthy will feel right at home! Okay then.

*facepalm*

“I am frequently asked, “Where are you really from?” and I’m always quick to respond, almost heatedly, “Here.” I was born on American soil. I love this country, with its chocolate creams and dirty politicians and bodies of saltwater. But I am also indebted to my mother, and to her country, which both is and isn’t my own. As my mother’s daughter, I am built with her history of red stamps, her girlhood during the Cultural Revolution, her brick walls. Our sacrifice, our shame. I am American, plus Chinese. That identity is plural, stretched. Beautiful weight. And that love. It’s plural, too.”

—

Carlina Duan, “Michigan In Color: Our Sacrifice, Our Shame," The Michigan Daily, Feb. 2, 2014

(As an editorial note, I went to Michigan and grew up in Michigan, too. That aside: is this one of the most beautiful essays I’ve read about being a first or 1.5 generation Chinese American.)

Maybe you saw the GoldieBlox spot during the Super Bowl. Well, because GoldieBlox is a small company, they brought on a new factory in China to meet expected demand from having millions of viewers see their pitch during the game.

We want to make sure GoldieBlox is committed not just to the girls and young women who play with their toys, but the girls and young women who make their toys. Join us asking for full disclosure of the factory’s labor practices.

Okay, last Super Bowl ad post, this one for the ad that should have been but wasn’t.

In our second installment of “Super Bowl Ads Racists Hate,” there’s this Coke ad.

Not that Coke is a particularly progressive company, but still.

We just wanna wish our pal Jose Antonio Vargas a very happy birthday!

Happy New Year, from the 18MR fam to yours!