Social State

In December 2010 the U.S. Embassy in Kabul acknowledged that it was providing major funding for thirteen episodes of Eagle Four a new Afghani television melodrama based loosely on the blockbuster U.S. series 24. According to an embassy spokesperson, Eagle Four was part of a strategy aimed at transforming public suspicion of security forces into something like awed respect.

Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in America. Since the year 2000, the US Asian population has more than doubled, with the vast majority identifying as either immigrants or the children of immigrants. As the population rapidly grow, it has become clear that there is no singular Asian American experience. The Pew Research Center offers a snapshot of that diversity in Everyday Americans. Pulling from twenty-five years of data, the Pew analyzes various factors that shape one’s lived experience in the US, such as generational divides and wealth disparities.

Too often, Asian Americans are portrayed as quiet and submissive. In reality, Asian Americans have been outspoken activists for as long as they have been part of the country. Not only have Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans fought for their own equality, but they have also stood in solidarity with other marginalized groups. Patricia and Stewart Kwoh chronicle a history of Asian Americans uniting with racial and ethnic minorities to advocate for their rights, from the alliances between Mexican and Filipino farmworkers in the 1960s to that of the Thai and Latinx sweatshop workers in the ’90s.