Go, Suey! I’m in awe of this movement. Great @WashingtonPost interview with @suey_park http://t.co/Kx8yUuxFR0 #NotYourAsianSidekick #NYAS
— Helen Wan (@helenwan1) December 18, 2013
#NotYourAsianSidekick is no longer just a hashtag, it’s also a website and 18 Million Rising hopes to turn it into a whole lot more.
Freelance writer Suey Park who created the hash tag and managed to turn it into the number one trending topic on Twitter Sunday is working with the group 18 Million Rising to turn this into a movement.
The organization is dedicated to using social media to encourage social engagement by Asian Americans. It is now giving out NotYourAsianSidekick stickers, and if you want more than one, you can buy more.
Help make the hashtag a movement. Get your free #NotYourAsianSidekick sticker, the heading on the website proclaims.
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What kind of movement will it become? Although its evolved quite a bit, the hashtag began as a discussion of Asian American women and feminism.
Deltawomen declares in her blog, “It’s a civil rights movement for Asian American women. The more that the mainstream sees and hears voices that fall outside the mold, the better things will be?”
In an interview with up and coming reporter Casey Capachi for the Washington Post, Park said:
“I think the hashtag is interesting because it doesn’t say Asian American feminism in it. I had the intention of building a base and what feminism is without putting a label on it. I think for a lot of women who don’t feel like they can really come out as feminist, #NotYourAsianSidekick is a way to come into that conversation.”
Park said she never expected the hashtag to take off like it did. It was just supposed to be a conversation among friends, she said. But now that its become much greater than 140 words, where does she want to take it?
“I want these conversations to be ongoing and not just be rooted in having these conversations but having these conversations be transformative to a point where we’re organizing around them. There’s so much potential if we’re able to activate the millions of Asian Americans who are out there.”
You can read the entire interview and hear about what she remembers most about the hashtag going viral in the Washington Post,
