If you thought 2019 was a busy year for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, gird yourselves for 2020. The year could have several “turning points,” in AAPI history.
Right off the bat, the Golden Globes last Sunday saw history made when Awkwafina won best actress in a musical or comedy, the first actor of Asian descent to win in that category.
Awkwafina and The Farewell could also write some more history if they are nominated for Academy Awards. South Korea’s Parasite will likely be nominated for Best Foreign Film.
Watch for the nomination announcements Jan. 13. The awards show will be Feb. 9.
We’re also looking forward to Nora from Queens, a new sitcom starring Awkwafina, Bowen Yang and BD Wong premiering on Jan. 22 on Comedy Central. It will be taking the AAPI baton from Fresh Off the Boat.
Fresh Off the Boat, featuring the Americanization of the Huang family, will end its ground-breaking six-year run in February.
Warrior, set in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the mid-1800s, will have its second season premiere in the spring.
The much anticipated live-action movie version of Mulan, with it’s all Asian cast, will premiere in March.
The Eternals is set to be released in November when we’ll get a look at Kumail Nanjiani, Ma Dong-Seok and Gemma Chan as Marvel superheroes.
We’re also expecting new releases from Dave Bautista, John Cho, Deve Patel, Keanu Reeves and Dwayne Johnson.
The courts will making news with its decisions regarding immigration being proposed by the Trump administration. Almost all the administration’s policies have been challenged by civil rights and immigration advocates. Cases involving the public charge requirement, family reunification, refugee status, visa requirements, a host of deportations and DACA will be winding through the court system.
The courts will also see the Harvard University affirmative action debate move into the circuit court of appeals.
2020 is a presidential election year and the primary season kicks off with the Iowa’s Caucus on Feb. 4 and the other states will have their elections through the summer. Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard will likely continue their campaigns all the way through to the Democratic convention.
The Republicans will also have their convention this summer although there’s less suspense who their pick will be.
Also up will be bunch of AAPI candidates running for Congressional seats in California, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, New Jersey and New York. We expect that there will be others who haven’t announced their intentions yet.
A whole batch of AAPI candidates will dip their toes into politics at the state, county and city levels also.
By April 1, every household in the US will receive an invitation to take part in the US Census. Taken every 10 years, the Census will help determine representation in Congress and federal funding appropriation for a number of programs.
And, oh yeah, there’s this impeachment thing on and we might have another war in the Middle East or the China Sea if North Korea doesn’t send missiles our way first.
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