By Emil Guillermo
For those of you who don’t know me, “Emil Amok’s Takeout” is the name of this column, but it’s also my exclusive podcast/radio show where I give my takes on all things considerable. Check it out on patreon.com/emilamok.
The program’s subtitle is “What does an Asian American think? “That’s what you’re left with when you de-acronymize “WDAAAT.“
That was always my goal writing an Asian American opinion column after I left my stint at NPR as host of All Things Considered. I did some time in politics as a press secretary and speechwriter for then-Congressman Norman Y. Mineta, the AAPI political icon. I felt it was worth it to cross the line for someone like Mineta. But I soon found I couldn’t be Mineta’s voice, I had to be my own.
I crossed back over the line between politics and media to anchor at a Washington, DC television station. I also did talk radio in DC on a big AM station that was dwarfed by Rush Limbaugh who fanned the flames on a competing station.
After that experience, I realized the best blend of reported journalism, opinion, and personality could be found in one place—the column voice.
In 1995, I started the column “Emil Amok” in an ethnic publication, San Francisco’s Asian Week. But when that publication shut down in 2010, I was looking for a new home for my column.
There was only one place that made sense: AALDEF, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Fortunately, AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung, whom I’d met at Asian American Journalists Association conventions in the past, agreed. And I will thank her forever for allowing my column to call AALDEF my column’s digital home since late October 2010.
What does an Asian American think? For the last 14 years, you could find out on the AALDEF blog in my 855 columns of roughly 1,200 words on average, amounting to nearly a million words. And that’s just the AALDEF based columns. Add up the 15 years at Asian Week, and our streak is approaching 30 years.
A Tiger Mom might say during that time I could have written more than a dozen 80,000 word romance novels. I still might.
But the column’s job was to say what an Asian American thinks about all the things that concern us as a nationwide community. They include ideas that don’t typically get expressed by AAPIs.
Through the years, I’ve had a lot to say about:
Immigration and birthright citizenship
Harvard and affirmative action. My favorite column on the latter was in an essay on the passing of Thich Nhat Hanh
I’ve also spent a good deal of time writing about politicians and their actions.
I got personal and told my Father’s story
And October, at least half of it, is always special for Filipino Americans:
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to express my views on the AALDEF website.
And now, you’ll be able to see my takes here on AsAm.
And if you’d like to hear me talk about it, then join me on www.patreon.com/emilamok.
HARRIS’ MAN PROBLEM, AND WHAT STANDUP COMEDY TELLS ME ABOUT THE ELECTION
I missed Kamala Harris by a few days when I visited Vegas last week. But from what I saw, the women are going to have to carry Kamala in this battleground state. The men don’t appear to be with her. That’s White men for sure, but surprisingly most of the Black and Latino men I encountered do not appear to be Kamala fans.
As I talked to Nevadans during my “Lyft ride focus groups,” (the only times I had a real captive audience), one Black driver was so anti-Harris when I pointed out a previous passenger left a pro-Harris poster, he reached back, grabbed the sign, and ripped it to shreds.
In fact, few really wanted to talk about politics. There was a real disenchantment with government and our leaders. They just didn’t want to engage. Not even for a five-star rating.
Most all the drivers were youngish, under 40, and concerned about the economy.
But on my last day, I got a driver who was a Mexican immigrant named Enrique. To him there was no question. Who was he backing?
“Anyone but Trump,” he said. “I’m voting for her.”
My visit to the battleground state was more personal than political. I had come to Vegas to do a standup comedy set at a festival known as the World Series of Comedy.
As they say, I killed. At least, all those who were awake and breathing. And I had a few Trump and Kamala jokes.
There was no Shohei Ohtani of standup in the lineup. Just us batboys, working our way up the comedy food chain.
This is one of the things I’ve noticed about standup. More comedians are avoiding controversy and just want to make people laugh. Club owners who want to please audiences rather than split them apart are certainly dictating the trend. But few comics are rebelling.
I met Atul Patel, an Indian American from Minneapolis, who besides being the “funniest person in Minneapolis” is anengineer and an MBA, of course.
He just wants to make people laugh, so they can “forget about their problems.”
Like politics, I suppose.
Of course, as an Asian American, Atul is older than he looks. And he has a fall back. He’s a product manager for a company that measures invisible particles in pollutants.
Oh, that’s like me trying to find Asian Americans in U.S. society.
People like comedian JP Lambiase. French last name, Italian American parents. Korean adoptee. Thanks to his Asian-ness, again, JP’s older than he looks. He also said he had no problem with being an adoptee. He’s had a good life. That is, until a long term romantic and business relationship turned sour.
Now he’s on the road, going from city to city doing comedy, and living in a van. It’s a different kind of unhoused.
“I’m a comic nomad,” JP tells me about his mission to do comedy and document his life on his YouTube channel @Where’s JP.
I found hanging out with the comedians to be somewhat therapeutic for a political junkie journalist.
When I asked about politics, JP was bluntly apolitical.
“I don’t know anything about politics,” he said. “I didn’t even know who Kamala was.”
He says he’s registered independent in Texas. But he has no desire to vote. He doesn’t know enough. But shouldn’t he vote if our democracy’s at stake?
“If I don’t like the way things go, I’ll move to another country,” he said.
I tell him he has a voice, and he should vote.
“What am I gonna do?,” he said. “I’m one voice. I don’t see any bearing or weight on my voice.”
His comic voice? Certainly. Just not politics.
“I got involved at one point, and man, did I get infuriated with the stupidity of America,” he told me. “I get upset with ignorance and stupidity. And I got really angry when I heard opinions and points of views, and I said, man, this is gonna wear out my mental health.”
So he turned to comedy, in self-defense of others’ political stupidity. It keeps him smiling to make people laugh.
“Politics brings out the worst in people,” he said. “I live in bliss.”
One man’s answer to our current political climate.
I always saw humor as a tool that was part of politics. It’s the freest of free speech forms that ridicules the powerful and creates a catalyst for change. It’s not just entertainment.
But for comics who want gigs, staying apolitical and clean makes you bookable and cancel-free.
I noticed it just this past weekend when at San Francisco’s Punchline, a comic asked people about the election, and the crowd reacted like someone was trying to sell them life insurance.
In other words, there was no excitement. No enthusiasm. Bad sample? Maybe. But perhaps its the reason the polls are dead even. Trump gets away with his fear-mongering and Harris’ poll numbers stagnate. Regular folks just don’t seem excited about the election.
They will be when the wrong person wins.
And that’s why you should vote.
In this existential election year, let my first column on this site be one that encourages you to vote. It’s a must do. Your voice matters. Democracy matters.
You can vote for whomever you want. Just vote.
I’m sure, whatever the result in a month or two, there will still be room for comedy. We will need it. By November, is there any doubt, we’ll all be saying how much we could use a laugh?
Let’s see what happens. It’s time to stand up for democracy. Find me on Patreon.
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