By Alexandria Kenney, AsAmNews Intern
As you flip through the pages of a book, the clink of wine glasses cuts through the buzz of a fired-up mahjong game, the warm laughter of reuniting friends, and multilingual chatter — some in a familiar tongue. To Rachel Lau and Michelle Ming, being Asian American is an experience best understood by feeling seen, heard, and known through an author’s skillfully crafted language and a barista or bartender’s welcoming gaze.
Creating such a treasure trove of community is the dream of Lau and Ming, the co-owners of Yellow Peril Books.
The AAPI-centric Brooklyn bookstore, cafe, and wine bar must meet its funding goal of $125,000 by August 18 to realize their brick-and-mortar location by spring 2025, according to their Kickstarter. As of the time of writing, they have made over $21,000 with 23 days left.
I met with Lau and Ming at Postcard, a Japanese cafe in Manhattan’s West Village, to talk about the bookstore and what it could mean for Asian Americans if they meet their funding goals.
Why “Yellow Peril”?
The phrase “Yellow Peril” stems from the historical fear of Asian — particularly Chinese — immigrants, in the U.S., according to Bowling Green State University. Those who subscribed to this racist belief thought that Chinese immigrants would deteriorate Western values and take over the world.
Citing stereotypical characters like Dr. Fu Manchu and the Dragon Lady as media examples of yellow peril, Lau said many Asian stories were previously written and performed by White people.
“I think I was always very haunted by the idea that there’s always stories that are defining what people think are Asian Americans, but they’re not written by us. They’re not our stories,” Lau explained. “And so, I think for us, we wanted to kind of reclaim that name and redefine it as like, ‘What are our stories?’”
But Lau and Ming have their own stories, too.
Growing up Asian American and finding solace in books
Lau said she felt isolated for being Asian American in her youth and seeks to create a space where community members can feel comfortable and confident in their identity.
“It felt unheard of, rather than something that I felt very celebrated for, or felt confident in my own identity,” she explained. “Now, I feel so, so proud to be Asian American.”
In the Kickstarter campaign, Lau also described the role of the Los Angeles Public Library as a space for her and her mother. Lau saw comfort in stories written by Asian and Asian American authors, and her mother found familiarity in the written word in an otherwise unfamiliar country.
Ming said she felt seen growing up when she read culture-specific writing. In her and Lau’s Kickstarter, she cited the book The House on Mango Street by Mexican American author Sandra Cisneros as an early example of her exposure to a culturally specific text that impacted her.
“The specificity is often what is the most universal,” Ming told AsAmNews.
Aiming to cherish these unique facets of the Asian American identity and community, Yellow Peril Books is fueled by a mission to amplify AAPI authors and readers in a way that is not yet happening in Brooklyn, according to Ming.
An ambitious, new third space in Brooklyn
Lau identified a gap in Brooklyn’s late-night activities, which she feels are limited to partying or drinking, unlike Manhattan, where options are more abundant and diverse.
“With the pandemic and work from home and the changes in people’s schedules, I actually think there’s been a higher demand even for third spaces,” Lau said.
A third space, according to Allie Conti of The Atlantic, is “a physical location other than work or home where there’s little to no financial barrier to entry and where conversation is the primary activity.” Conti laments, however, that the third space has been largely replaced by what she calls the “ersatz” third space, where prices are high, visits are expected to be short, and conversation centers around work. Think, a crowded coffee shop where customers are expected to beeline it from entrance to exit in record time, like a fast-food drive-thru with $9 lattes.
Lau and Ming, however, are on a quest to restore the glory of the original third space.
When I commented that their vision was ambitious, Lau said she and Ming feel confident in achieving their goals due to their combined working experience in cafes, libraries, tech, business, and political organizing.
Additionally, Lau told AsAmNews that she and Ming seek to prioritize accessibility through affordable pricing on basic items like coffee. Ming and Lau also talked about their perspectives on hospitality in relation to their goals with the bookstore.
“My ideal customer is someone who comes in in the morning, grabs a coffee, and browses and grabs a book off the shelf and then sits there all day reading it into the late afternoon. When it’s like five o’clock, you know, ‘I want a glass of orange wine, and I can have that as well,’ and just hang out until the late-night programming starts,” Ming said. “I just want regulars.”
Lau said food and beverage options are fundamental not only for diverse income streams but also for creating a community space where patrons feel taken care of. “Maybe that’s just the Asian in me,” she joked.
Words from the co-owners
Continuing in the spirit of Lau and Ming’s ambition, I also asked them what success would look like for Yellow Peril Books. Here’s what the co-owners had to say:
Ming: What would it look like? I think for me it would be you look at our our calendar on like, you look into our storefront on a Saturday, and then from day to night, it’s just all programming — packed with people just hanging out, drinking coffee, eating our instant noodles that we’re gonna curate. And then, just hanging out until nighttime. There’s a cool event going on at night. One of our friends is trying to launch a restaurant and is doing pop-ups and wants to do a pop-up in our space. So, that’s what’s going on that night. And you just — you see constant activity — people meeting each other, maybe a meet cute over a book [Lau: Oh, my god, yeah] I would love that. Just stories of people making connections.
Lau: For me when I worked in cafes and stuff, I always loved when a regular would come in, and it’s like, you’ve built a relationship with them. I know — obviously, we haven’t even hit our funding goal. There’s a lot in order to make this succeed, but even the moments that have resonated with me so much of this journey has been someone read the story of, ‘This is why it’s personal to me— this is why I feel like Yellow Peril Books needs to exist.’ Or ‘This project made me think this or connected me with this person,’ and already seeing that it’s — already evoking those emotional stories out of people has made me feel this is so impactful. Obviously, it’s not success yet, but to me, it does feel like success that people believe in this, and we’ve teased out something that they feel is needed. And they’re excited about it, and they want to be our customers, to some degree. But I really do feel like we’re serving them, too. And so, to already feel like we’re getting that positive reinforcement has been really meaningful to me.
Yellow Peril Books: In-person or online
As Lau and Ming have funded their project, they also brainstormed different ideas for Yellow Peril Books. Per Kickstarter’s model, the project is all-or-nothing, which means that the organizers will not proceed without full funding.
But Yellow Peril Books will live on regardless, Lau and Ming assured. Instead, Lau said they would focus on online events, a “bookmobile,” or collaborations with local businesses until they feel ready to reattempt funding for a physical storefront.
“There are a lot of things we want to do that we can do virtually or without the third space, but to actually bring people together the way we want, it feels critical to our mission,” she said.
About the co-owners
Rachel Lau was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, to parents from Hong Kong and Taiwan. She is a Georgetown University alum and has worked in finance and fintech for 10 years. She has lived in New York for 10 years, according to the Kickstarter campaign.
Michelle Ming was born in Indiana to Chinese parents and moved around between China and the U.S. before settling down in Houston, Texas, for much of her upbringing. A New York University alum, Ming went on to work in political and legal advocacy, specializing in abortion access, gun control, and immigration. She has lived in New York for nine years, according to their Kickstarter.
Lau and Ming met three years ago at a leadership event hosted by the intersectional feminist group Supermajority and have been friends ever since.
(An earlier version of this story had the photo captions of Rachel Lau and Michelle Ming reversed)
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All donations are tax deductible and can be made here.
Please purchase your tickets to our fundraiser Up Close with Connie Chung, America’s first Asian American to anchor a nightly network newscast. The in-depth conversation with Connie will be held November 14 at 7:30 at Columbia University’s Milbank Chapel in the Teacher’s College. All proceeds benefit AsAmNews.
This is so cool and so needed. I backed the project on Kickstarter and really hope to see Rachel and Michelle’s vision come to life!!