This title is grossly misleading. Some essays touch on Yang's identity as Asian-American, but others do not. The title is a disgusting attempt to apprThis title is grossly misleading. Some essays touch on Yang's identity as Asian-American, but others do not. The title is a disgusting attempt to appropriate DuBois's famous text.
Next, in the essays that talk about Yang as an Asian-American man, he is misogynistic, whiny, and bitter. He is resentful toward Asian American communities: “Let me summarize my feelings toward Asian values: Fuck filial piety. Fuck grade-grubbing. Fuck Ivy League mania. Fuck deference to authority. Fuck humility and hard work. Fuck harmonious relations. Fuck sacrificing for the future. Fuck earnest, striving middle-class servility.” He is obsessed with picking up white women: “Yes, it is about picking up white women. Yes, it is about attracting those women whose hair is the color of the midday sun and eyes are the color of the ocean.” He talks repeatedly of becoming an American alpha male, even while acknowledging that "there is no masculinity whose constitutive predicate is not the domination of women.”
While the emasculation of Asian-American men is something I do not dismiss, his response is to hate women and fixate on white women. Throughout this whole collection of essays, he only mentions 2 Asian women: Amy Chua, author of the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, and Constance Wu, the actress who plays the mom in Fresh Off the Boat. Chua provides the context in which he talks about his relationship with his parents, mostly his father. And Wu appears in one small paragraph in the essay about Eddie Huang, chef and the inspiration behind Fresh Off the Boat.
It is clear that Yang hates himself. Now that I've read this book, I hate him too....more
This book unlocked some truths in me that I didn’t even know where there. Favorite chapters were An Open Letter to Mary Daly, The Master's Tools Will This book unlocked some truths in me that I didn’t even know where there. Favorite chapters were An Open Letter to Mary Daly, The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House, and The uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism. Must get my own copy....more
In this book, Rah argues eloquently and forcefully for white Christians and churches in America to welcome non-white Christians as equals, to see themIn this book, Rah argues eloquently and forcefully for white Christians and churches in America to welcome non-white Christians as equals, to see them as leaders, and to abandon the idea that immigrant or "ethnic" churches require salvation. Although a Christian is often pictured as white, the truth is that the majority of Christians aren't white, and yet panels, boards, and leadership positions in Christian evangelicalism are repeatedly held by white people.
This book spoke to me personally, because my father is the pastor of an immigrant Chinese church. He also serves on the board for CMC: Chinese Missions Conference. I also grew up in Taiwan, and have seen how lit Christian services get. And yet, Christian publishing is overwhelmingly white.
I echo Rah's urge for white Christians to not see BIPOC Christians as inferior or needing to be taught, to have the humility to learn from non-white churches and Christian leaders, and to be bold enough to confront systemic racism, as we are called to do in the Bible.
quotes: "I grow weary of seeing Western, white expressions of the Christian faith being lifted up while failing to see nonwhite expressions of faith represented in meaningful ways in American evangelicalism."
"Why are American evangelicals so willing to overlook corporate sin, such as the torturing of political prisoners, an unjust economic system leading to structures of poverty, or structural racism?"
"Material success in the West means you will make the cover of a major Christian publication, a white face surrounded by the faces of happy black kids because you have come to save their continent."
"In an attempt to better assimilate into American society, immigrant communities will often co-opt the existing narrative of the host culture."
"We may have our prejudices, but no individual in the twenty-first-century America has actually owned a slave or taken land away from a Native American. It is too easy to dismiss and disavow individual culpability for the sin of racism. But if we use the language of corporate sin, then we are all complicit. Anyone that has benefited from America's original sin is guilty of that sin and bears the corporate shame of that sin."
"In other words, Western theology with its individual focus is considered normative theology, while non-Western theology is theology on the fringes and must be explained as being a theology applicable only in a particular context and to a particular people group."
"If racism's impact is best measured as a sin in light of the image of God, then part of that solution to racism may be found in a proper application of the doctrine of the image of God."
"If the places at the table are already set, and ethnic minorities are asked to put aside their comfort to join an already existing power dynamic and structure, then we are not engaging in genuine ethnic diversity. Ethnic minorities are asked to play the role of the token minority who should be seen but not heard, rather than those who have wisdom and experience to transfer to the emergent community."
"Instead of upward mobility, there is the doctrine of the incarnation. Instead of a seeking of comfort through geographic and technological mobility, there is Jesus' willingness to suffer and die on the cross."
"f you are a white Christian wanting to be a missionary in this day and age, and you have never had a nonwhite mentor, then you will not be a missionary. You will be a colonialist."
"However in the next evangelicalism, is there a possibility of seeing the immigrant church, not as a place of need, but a church community from whom the dominant culture could learn?... Are we willing to acknowledge that the immigrant church that appears to be a people in need, might actually have something to teach us?"
"For example, will boomer Christians be willing to leave their church legacy top those who look different from themselves? Will the boomers be willing to yield the future leadership of their church, their parachurch organizations, their denominations to a new generation of leaders that are ethnic minorities and the children of immigrants?"...more
This book taught me a lot about community, safety, and chosen families. Birdsong's charge that the American Dream is a false promise that enco#gifted
This book taught me a lot about community, safety, and chosen families. Birdsong's charge that the American Dream is a false promise that encourages toxic individualism and "remains defined by whiteness and masculinity" in particular really stood out to me, because it makes so much sense. She also goes on to say that self-care shouldn't be about spending money and that self-care is actually revolution, especially for people who occupy the margins because "I can be more present for my community when I'm well rested and caring for my body." Reading both these points feel particularly poignant in this pandemic. The number of cases keep rising in the US because people refuse to let go of their individualism, and businesses reopen earlier than is safe because we can more about profits than lives. In addition, as we stay at home, many of us (myself included) have turned to online shopping, hoping to buy our ways to happiness. But quarantine is actually giving us the time and place to practice mindfulness, rest, and reflection.
The book started out really strong for me, but I wish there were fewer anecdotes about Birdsong's friends and more expositions on concepts....more
Sensuous Knowledge is an essay collection that centers the African woman in discussions on feminism, knowledge, race, class, beauty and power. It is eSensuous Knowledge is an essay collection that centers the African woman in discussions on feminism, knowledge, race, class, beauty and power. It is extremely well-written and engaging. For example, she uses rivers to talk about power and briefly described the different personalities of various rivers (like the Yangtze and the Thames). I enjoyed those descriptions because I hadn't ever thought of rivers like people before and they helped me understand her point about power better.
I also really connected with what she said about decolonizing your own mind, and I was inspired when she calls men out for desiring every type of beauty other than a woman who is completely herself.
I'd like to add that this was a really difficult book for me because it is so intellectually rigorous. It has been a long time since I've read anything like this, and reading it via audiobook didn't help me. Please read this either as a print book or an ebook, and take your time! Another reason why it was so difficult for me was that the ideas presented weren't ones I was used to thinking about. For example, misogynoir is something that I had just learned about, which is a sign of my privilege and ignorance. Again, I regret listening to this via audiobook instead of a print or ebook that would allow me to take notes and progress slowly. ...more
Bernard invites us into her life and her mind intimately. She shares her thoughts about the world as well as her thoughts on those thoughts. This bookBernard invites us into her life and her mind intimately. She shares her thoughts about the world as well as her thoughts on those thoughts. This book is full of stories, self-questioning and challenging, fear, hope, and love. She is constantly reflecting on her feelings and thinking, and asking herself the reason behind whatever she was feeling or thinking. In times of self-conflict, particularly around her daughters, she displays all her thoughts without forcing a reconciliation where there is none. My favorite chapters were Mother On Earth, Black is the Body, Her Glory, and People Like Me. The parts that stood out to me the most was whenever she talked about her white husband's relationship with her Black family and her Ethiopian-born daughters' lives in white Vermont....more
I never know how to review picture books. It lists key concepts but doesn't go into many details.I never know how to review picture books. It lists key concepts but doesn't go into many details....more
Really eye opening to hear MLK in his own words. In this collection, King explains how nonviolence can still be militant (persistent and unyielding inReally eye opening to hear MLK in his own words. In this collection, King explains how nonviolence can still be militant (persistent and unyielding in its aims), predicts the shape of the civil rights movement in the future, and shuts down offensive questions with so much fire. The interviews in particular displayed his intelligence, savvy, and refusal to shy away from uncomfortable topics and call people out. Highly recommend....more
Esther | lifebyesther
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