jason chu

For 7 years, the Japanese Village and Deer Park billed itself as “the only authentic Japanese Village in the western hemisphere”. Opened in 1967 by Allen Parkinson, an inventor and wax museum owner, its short life in Buena Park is a relic of the time when new theme parks were popping up around Southern California in an attempt to cash in on Walt Disney’s success. It’s also a glimpse into the American mid-century obsession with Japan, whose postwar culture - and economic success - were re-establishing an Orientalist fascination with Eastern culture, tradition, and aesthetics. #themepark #themeparkhistory #nikkei #japanese #japaneseculture #themeparks #buenapark #nisei #asianamerican #disneyhistory #asianamericans #themeparklover #forgottenplaces #themeparktiktok

In 1951, Chavez Ravine was home to over 1800 Mexican American families. The Chicano community was targeted by LA city government, pressured to accept buyouts below market rate. Final holdouts were eventually removed forcibly by LA Sheriffs. At the same time, Walter O’Malley wanted to move his Dodgers from Brooklyn to LA. He wanted Chavez Ravine. The city eventually handed it over to him for a nominal payment, and the new Dodger Stadium was built with private funds. To this day, it remains privately owned and operated, on top of the ruins of what was once one of LA’s largest communities of color. #chavezravine #dodgersstadium #lahistory #losangeles #losangelescalifornia #losángeles #chicano #chicanohistory #losangeleshistory #ushistory #mexicanamerican #historytok

@Sophia Chang has a uniquely New York story: skipping her college graduation to move to the city, getting her first job with Paul Simon through Joey Ramone, and becoming the confidante, muse, and manager for the Wu-Tang Clan. She’s a certified hip hop legend and “the first Asian woman in hip hop”. Her memoir - The Baddest Bitch in the Room - came out in 2020. #wutangclan #hiphop #hiphophistory #womenshistory #womenshistorymonth2025 #koreanamerican #koreancanadian #asianamerican #aapi #methodman #historytok

Bruce Lee’s training partner. Legendary stuntman. And in 1977, Guro Dan Inosanto also made history as the first to incorporate martial arts in the game of football with the Dallas Cowboys. #asianamerican #aapi #pinoy #filipino #pilipino #🇵🇭 #aanhpi #martialarts #asianamericans #ushistory #historytok #Superbowl #dallascowboys

Silencing dissent through intimidation is a contravention of Constitutional First Amendment rights. And ICE detentions don’t just target “illegals” - Mahmoud Khalil is just one of many US permanent residents who’ve been seized and threatened with removal despite their legal status in the USA. Go to Federal Plaza in Manhattan TODAY at 4 pm or support @Immdef and @Freedom for Immigrants #mahmoudkhalil #columbiauniversity #immigration #emergencymobilization #immigrantrights #freespeech #firstamendment #firstamendmentrights #takeactionnow

Ted Ngoy brought his family to America in 1975, fleeing the Khmer Rouge. 5 years later, he had an empire of donut shops spanning Southern California. 13 years later, he’d lost it all. His legacy lives on in a 2020 documentary - The Donut King - and over 1500 Khmer American owned donut shops in SoCal, which make up 80-90% of the market. #asianamerican #asianamericans #ushistory #donuts #entrepreneurship #khmer #khmerfood #khmerican #southeastasian #aanhpi #historytok

Black and Asian communities are often portrayed as being pitted against one another in America, from higher education and the job market to culture, crime, and other arenas of competition and exploitation. Have you ever stopped to think why? Both of our ancestral home regions share histories of Western colonial exploitation - and of shaking off the reins of imperialist rule through political, military, and economic rebellion. In the mid-1900s, as African and Asian nations entered a new postcolonial reality, a group of 29 countries gathered to chart a course forward together. This is the example of the Bandung Conference. #solidarity #dei #postcolonial #postcolonialism #blackandasian #africanhistory #asianhistory #aapi #aanhpi #antiimperialism #criticalracetheory #solidarity #solidarityforever #historytok

Before Qian Xuesen became the King of Chinese Aerospace - he was a Caltech professor who helped co-found JPL, NASA’s top R&D lab in Pasadena, California. How the USA fumbled a generational baddie is a story of McCarthy-era racism, unproven accusations, and the original “Suicide Squad” bad boys of rocketry. #chineseamerican #tradewar #nasa #jpl #uschina #asianamerican #aapi #aanhpi #ushistory #americanhistory #historytok #华人 #🚀 #🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀

Before becoming a meme on The Office - and way before his starring roles on Fresh Off the Boat and as the MCU’s Agent Jimmy Woo - Randall Park was spittin bars around LA and on Wild ‘N Out. Not only that, but he managed to co-found UCLA’s Asian American theater company and pick up a minor AND Master’s degree in Asian American Studies. 🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡 #randallpark #mcu #agentjimmywoo #asianjim #theoffice #theofficememes #theofficeus #theofficetrivia #asianamerican #aanhpi #aapi #asianamericans #koreanamerican

Ali Wong, Randall Park, and countless other students at UCLA, Yale, and beyond had their Asian American imaginations shaped by Don Nakanishi - one of the early visionaries of Asian American Studies and the onetime “Boy Mayor” of Los Angeles. #asianamerican #aanhpi #apida #losangeles #lahistory #angeleno #asianamericanstudies #ethnicstudies #historytok

Initiated in 1958, the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging has gathered data on aging for over 60 years. That data has deeply shaped popular consensus in psychology, gerontology, and beyond - and it’s also deeply flawed, leading to researchers drawing broad conclusions about health and wellness from a homogeneous group of overwhelmingly college educated, higher income, White heterosexual married couples. We need healthcare - including mental health - that accounts for the many cultural specificities of our communities. To learn more check out @asianmhc freeblacktherapy.org and Therapy for Latinx. Thanks to Dr. Kevin Nadal! #mentalhealthsupport #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthadvocacy #psychiatry #psychology #equitymatters #therapy #racialequity

In 1970, social scientist Dr. Patricia Bidol-Padva’s seminal work on race defined racism as “prejudice + power”. Racism isn’t just simple xenophobic bias - it’s holding those beliefs while benefitting from a system of power and privilege that reinforce them. Here’s the thing: even people who are systemically marginalized within them can receive benefits from accepting and reinforcing them. That’s how people of color *can* be racist - when we throw others or our own under the bus, instead siding with the very systems that harm us all. #racism #dei #diversityequityinclusion #systemicracism #diversityandinclusion #socialcommentary #sociology #raceinamerica

In 1910, Columbia established the first Office of Admissions in an American university. The explicit goal was to limit the growing population of Jewish and “colored” students admitted to the school. Today’s college admissions process still carries with it a host of tests and processes - including the SAT, “personality scores”, and other metrics instituted to preserve the character (🤔🤔🤔) of the student bodies at those universities, particularly the most elite institutions with the longest histories as breeding grounds for the upper class. Thanks to Dr. OiYan Poon for her insight & valuable scholarship, which inspired this reel. #collegeadmissions #dei #diversityandinclusion #diversityequityinclusion #diversitymatters #admissionsopen #collegeadmission #ushistory #highered #historytok

After losing two Opium Wars to the West, China fell into a “century of humiliation” where economic depression and social decline ran rampant. Only after victories in WWII would China re emerge on the global scene as a confident power, with resurgent prominence. Drug trafficking still carries a heavy penalty in China, perhaps a reminder of how deeply it’s cost the nation in still-recent history. Hefty prison sentences and capital punishment are often utilized against those selling illegal substances. #chinesehistory #asianhistory #chinese #colonialism #imperialism #militarism #britishhistory #ukhistory #historytok #history #realhistory