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We have two writers for the online Asian-American magazine Plan A to discuss the recent controversy about Issa Rae and Asian men. Mont Jiang is a founder of Plan A Magazine, and contributes under the name Five Alive. He lives in Brooklyn and you can find him on Twitter at @Mont_Jiang. Oxford Kondō is a writer for Plan A Magazine and podcaster for Escape From Plan A. He, along with several others, founded the publication out of a desire to shake up the mainstream Asian American dialogue. He lives/works in NYC and you can find him on Twitter at @oxford_kondo.
Mentioned in this episode:
- A thread I did describing the controversy: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/990740613531340800.html
- Ratchetpiece theater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtJOaBer5kk
- We Have An Asian President In Obama: https://planamag.com/we-had-an-asian-president-in-barack-obama-7db41b750d49
- Does Issa Rae Believe Black Women and Asian Men Can Save Each Other?: https://planamag.com/does-issa-rae-believe-black-women-and-asian-men-can-save-each-other-f4c9f054c45c
- A video where Issa Rae doubled down on it, for those who say she was doing satire: https://twitter.com/oluwablk/status/990840994475241472
- Issa Rae background:https://chicagodefender.com/2016/10/12/issa-rae-hbos-new-kid-on-the-block
- Cosmo article by Issa Rae, “Can We Not Talk About My Race for a Minute?” https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a35024/can-we-not-talk-about-my-race-for-a-minute/ contrast with Donald Glover talking about race: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/donald-glover-cant-save-you
- Opening paragraph: “This is an Obama show” also I do not understand the headline: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/05/issa-rae-media-presents-blackness-fierce-flawless-insecure
- Interesting Issa bio https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/features/insecure-issa-rae-on-hbo-show-not-made-for-dudes-w500665
- Tupac anecdote is very telling along with other stuff https://www.npr.org/2017/07/21/538328486/awkward-and-insecure-get-to-the-root-of-writer-issa-raes-humor
- The validity of Rae’s respectability and escapism politics http://toofab.com/2018/02/12/issa-rae-insecure-season-3-no-trump-policy-metoo-times-up/