Eva Chen, Instagram’s director of fashion partnerships, presented a conversation about the rise of anti-Asian racism on Tuesday with civil rights activist and founder of Rise, Amanda Nguyen, the chief editor of Allure, Michelle Lee and “Birds of Prey” director Cathy Yan.
The four leaders discussed reports of increased discrimination and violence against members of the Asian American community in the Pacific Islands in the past year of the pandemic, which has increased significantly in recent weeks and has rekindled national coverage of hate incidents. Each woman also shared the anti-Asian prejudice they experienced in their own sectors and how they are using that moment to draw attention to long-standing anti-Asian racism.
Nguyen worked in the field of civil rights for almost a decade and helped draft the first Declaration of the Rights of Survivors of Sexual Violence. Still, she says she is often the only Asian-American person in the room where political decisions are being made, or in the halls of Congress – “even in spaces that say they really address diversity,” said Nguyen. “At times, our very existence appears to be a threat. This is certainly how it has been during the pandemic in this community, but it has been this way since before the pandemic.”
In February, Nguyen posted a video on Instagram that went viral and asked national media to better cover the increase in racism and anti-Asian violence in the United States.
Yan discussed how it wasn’t until she won critical acclaim for directing the DC blockbuster “Birds of Prey” that a distributor would “take a chance” and release his first feature film, “Dead Pigs”, a black comedy set in China. . In the film industry, she said she felt pressured to create projects that attract white audiences, and that Asian and Asian American stories are often subject to the “perpetual foreigner” stereotype. Things are looking up, she added, noting the reaction Golden Globe organizers faced when they limited the American film “Minari” to the category of best foreign language film this year.
The speech that followed is an encouraging sign that the public is recognizing stories of immigrants and underrepresented communities as part of the American experience, Yan said: “Your otherness is what will continue to drive the progress of what it means to be American in this parents.”
Lee added that telling diverse stories, including the experience of being Asian in America, is the key to combating stereotypes and incidents of racism directed at Asians.
“In the beauty industry – and the publishing industry in general – our responsibility and opportunity is to tell these nuanced stories,” said Lee. “Asian people exist on a wide spectrum, but people often see us through narrow lenses, and this is really dangerous. “
As editor-in-chief of Allure, Lee sees an opportunity to tell these nuanced stories and change what people think is beautiful. At one point, Lee looked at Allure’s previous catalog and found that, in the 28 years and 320 editions prior to his tenure, there were only two Asian women on the cover of the magazine. Since becoming editor-in-chief in 2015, Lee has hired a fully Asian team for a monolith makeup session, included three Asian models in a 2018 hair edition and, over the years, featured eight Asian faces on the cover.
Lee added that Asian representation in the media and in the leadership is growing, but “it is still not enough”, and stressed that any progress “does not happen accidentally”. Instead, she called on decision-makers in their organizations to prioritize inclusion and opportunity for members of marginalized communities.
For her part, Chen is known for her rapid rise in the beauty and fashion space – at the age of 33, she became one of the youngest publishers to lead a national American magazine when she became the editor in chief of Conde Nast’s Lucky magazine. in 2013. But she noticed that her willingness to speak took time.
“Trust came too late for me. I didn’t feel confident about having my own strong opinion until I was 30,” said Chen, now 41. She added that her 6-year-old daughter Ren has already learned at school what a protest is. “I feel that young people find their voices earlier today and have the power to have their opinions. It took me a long time ”.
Nguyen, who has been training young Americans to talk about civil rights issues that are important to them, advised younger generations of activists: “If there are structures that have systematically blocked the Pacific Island Asian American community, we will turn to other platforms like social networks to democratize our voices, “he said.” We have options now. Nobody is invisible when we demand to be seen. “
The discussion on Instagram Live Rooms raised more than $ 2,700 for Asian Americans Advancing Justice and drew on the continued work of groups like Apex for Youth, Innocence Project, Rise, Gold House and Act to Change.
Output check:
How the viral video of the age-old Nobel Prize winner Amanda Nguyen generated coverage of anti-Asian racism
‘The minority myth model is killing us’: Facebook executive calls on the public to confront anti-Asian racism
How to support Asian American colleagues amid the recent wave of anti-Asian violence
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