Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America

Yellow Journalist is a collection of Bill's writings in the past decades. He shared intimately and intelligently with readers what he saw, felt and thought. As an Oakland Chinatown native, he broke the safe tradition of restaurant, medicine, academia, and engineering and ventured into mainstream journalism. The essays talked about his hometown, China root trip, history, immigration, identity, Anti-Asian racism, class, affirmative action, gender, race relation, politics, crimes and stars. These are very much American social, cultural, political and economic topics through his sharp eyes. I especially enjoyed Chapter 3, History - From Exclusion to Confusion, and Chapter 4 Immigration, huddled masses. His Minnesota chow mein story P.92 reminded me of St. Paul Sandwich that is unique in the Greater St Louis area. Tao Te Ching said "Kind words are not beautiful". Bill speaks truth with style. America needs more Bill Wongs. Reading this book will lead you to think and ask intelligent questions of why, who, what on current topics.

When I read "Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America" written my Peace Corps Friend, Bill Wong, I couldn't put it down until I finished reading the last page.The author provides us with authentic knowledge, warm human sensitivity and a deep understanding of both the historical and contemporary Asian-American experience. His articles and essays evoke a spectrum of emotional reactions ranging from joy and heartfelt humor to frustration and sadness as well as angry.Bill Wong delivers to his readers the general and specific knowledge so much needed by many United States educators to develop cultural competency and to work effectively with Asian-American students and their families in the 21st century. Personally and professionally, as a teacher and teacher-educator for multicultural issues and concerns, I sincerely believe "Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America" is a "MUST READ" for educators wishing to expand their personal understanding and their multicultural knowledge base of Asian-American diversity, accomplishments, and experiences within the U.S. society.Thank you Bill Wong for sharing your personal and professional life's journey in this illuminating book, thus making an important contribution to the field of multicultural education.

This is the definitive book for those wanting to know a bit about the opinions, views, and feelings of Asian Americans in this country. Both thoughtful and easily readable, this book contains the best newspaper columns written by one of the deans of Asian American journalism and summarizes what many Asian Americans feel about being an Asian American in this country and how Asian Americans see the events which are shaping the world we live in. Wong touches on such diverse topics as racism in the media, violence against Asian Americans, and racism in politics and political issues involving Asian Americans. He speaks about Asian American individuals from Wen Ho Lee and Connie Chung to Governor Gary Locke and Tiger Woods. He even talks about "hot" societal issues like Caucasian men dating Asian women and the wonder and diversity of Chinese food! Bill Wong's writings reflect what an astonishing number of Asian Americans believe today. If you are interested in the unique viewpoint of an Asian American journalist who has been around and seen a lot, read this book. His viewpoint is unique to the American experience, because, after all, just how many Asian American newspaper reporters and columnists have you even heard of?

If, like me, you're White and live on the East coast, the subtleties of Asian life may be kept at arm's length. It's possible to eat Chinese food, practice yoga or kung-fu or Zen meditation, ride in a taxi with an immigrant Pakistani driver and be treated by a second-generation Indian-American doctor in ignorance of the underlying tensions that Americans with an Asian heritage experience in our culture and with one another. Reading Bill Wong is the perfect antidote. This collection of columns, many published during his 17 years at the Oakland Tribune in whose California shadow he grew up, answer questions we may be too clueless to ask. Why, for example, do many Chinese-American families have a different name from their families in China? (Clue: the names weren't changed by immigration authorities.) Why did the FBI interrogate Chinese Americans during the Cold War, and how did this assumption "color" the prosecution of Wen Ho Lee? What's the problem with being a model minority? These essays, many of them laced with Wong's rueful humor, demonstrate with certainty that Asians are not inscrutible. Many of us have been too lazy to investigate.