Model Minority: Uniquely American

Victoria Li grew up in Flushing, Queens in NYC, where her parents owned a Chinese takeout restaurant. On this episode of immigrant tales, she recounts the hardships her parents went through in order to give her and her sister a better life.

You can follow Victoria at @midsizeasianqueen on Instagram, and check out her pageantry work at @misschinesechicago on Instagram as well. Be sure to also follow MM:UA on Insta @minority_model.

Shukriya for listening, and until next time.

- Nidhi

*Please hit the FOLLOW button to help support my work!*

In January, I sent out a request asking listeners to send in clips about what language means to them - regardless of if they can speak their native tongues or not.

And YOU all delivered!

In On Losing Our Tongues, we're hearing diaspora folks from over a dozen unique ethnicities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East share what if feels like to struggle to speak their native language, or to be unable to speak it altogether.

Some themes in this episode include:

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A very special thank you to everyone who sent in clips or interviewed with me for this episode:

This is an episode made possible from viewers (*eh hem* I mean listeners like you ;), so please give this a share to help support my storytelling.

Shukriya, thank you!

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Listen/read my 4-min story on NPR/WBEZ: ⁠How a Queer Therapist is bringing bilingual (Mandarin Chinese to English) Mental Health Resources to people of color in Chicago⁠!

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Image credits: Dall-E

Music & Sound credits: CC Creative Commons & freesound (all artists are listed on our website!)

*Please hit the FOLLOW button to help support my work!*

In January, I sent out a request asking listeners to send in clips about what language means to them - regardless of if they can speak their native tongues or not.

And YOU all delivered!

In On Loving Our Language, we're exploring the benefits of being bilingual in a non-western languages in the US (i.e. having access to unique forms of media and television & the ability to connect with others) as well as some barriers (i.e. facing discrimination or forgoing access to healthcare or government aide).

We'll be looking at the stats about who in our communities are bilingual and what resources they are (or aren't) given. We also busting open the American Myth of Bilingualism - i.e. the idea that teaching your kids a second language + English will cause them to struggle with English.

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Check out Ahmed Ali Akbar's podcast Radiolingo here!

Listen/read my story on How a Queer Therapist is bringing bilingual (Mandarin Chinese to English) Mental Health Resources to people of color in Chicago!

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If you sent in a clip and didn't hear yourself featured here, stay tuned! This episode is the first half in a two part series called "On Loving and Losing Our Tongues" so please keep an eye out for the second-half featuring even more clips coming up in about a week. In this two part episode, we're hearing from listeners and friends of over a dozen unique ethnicities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East share what their native language means to them.

Part 2, On Losing Our Tongues, will cover what if feels like to struggle to speak your language, or to be unable to speak it altogether.

A very special thank you to everyone who sent in clips or interviewed with me for this episode:

This is an episode made possible from viewers (*eh hem* I mean listeners) like you, so please give this a share to help support my storytelling.

Shukriya, thank you!

Image credits: Dall-E

Music credits: CC Creative Commons

(Please hit the follow button for this show on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, to help support my work! <3 )

For Zamzam Dini, growing up in Seattle where there was little diversity meant having to endure ignorance from students and professors alike about her Somali heritage.

In this 6-min clip, Zamzam shares how her identity has shifted based on her environment - in Seattle, she was identified by others as Black first, then Muslim, and then Somali. Upon moving to Minneapolis, MN - which has a strong Somali community - she noticed a flip, where she was seen as Somali first, then Muslim, and then finally as Black.

Zamzam's family are refugees from Somalia. Towards the end of this clip, she recounts story about her and her sister during the time of the war.

Give Zamzam's research a read: Immigrant Family Financial and Relational Stressors and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Follow Zamzam's work: LinkedIn | UM Website

Follow Model Minority: Uniquely American: Insta | Facebook | Website

Immigrant Tales is a sub-series of Model Minority: Uniquely American, aimed to be an immersive narrative from our communities' immigrants about their life stories. If you have a story to share, email me at [email protected]. Please be sure to follow this podcast, and share this episode. Shukriya!

Welcome to Season 2 of Model Minority: Uniquely American!

As the launch of Season 2, we sit down with Sameer Gadhia, lead singer of Young the Giant, to discuss his heritage, thoughts on the American Dream, and the meaning behind the album American Bollywood.

When Sameer Gadhia and his bandmates started the band Young the Giant, few people in the alternative rock music industry knew of the influence of South Asian culture and rhythms on the genre. Since then, Young the Giant has released major hits such as Cough Syrup, Silvertounge, and Mind Over Matter, played shows at festivals like Summerfest & Lollapalooza, and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

As the child of Indian immigrants, Sameer Gadhia grew up like many of us - caught between his two identities. He left Stanford University in order to forge his own path in music, one that stems from a long history of musicians in his family. With the band's latest album, American Bollywood, Sameer has shed a direct light on his culture and background, and in the process, gave so many third-culture kids a home within his music.

Check out ⁠⁠⁠Sameer's Op-Ed in The Rolling Stones Magazine⁠⁠⁠ that we referenced in the episode.

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Give Sameer and YTG a follow: IG - @SameerGadhia & @YoungtheGiant | Spotify | YouTube

Follow Model Minority: Uniquely American: IG - @minority_model | Facebook | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

I'm back!

Excited to announce Season 2 of Model Minority, and am so grateful for all the people who have grown to love this show. 

A quick request: I'm working on an upcoming episode about language, and I want to hear from YOU! Email me a 30 second - 1 min clip about what your native language means to you.

Email your clip to: [email protected] 

Anyone is welcome to submit (including if you can't speak your native language or struggle with it) - your voice could end up in a future episode! Some themes you can talk about are:

If you don't have anything to share, pass this episode on to a friend who might! Some easy ways to record a voice note are through the voice recorder app on your phone, or through Facebook messenger to my page Model Minority: Uniquely American.

So excited to be back, and even more so to hear from you! Cheers! 

- Nidhi S

Stories. Histories. What differentiates one from the other? And, why are they so important to document?

With so much going on right now - India’s coronavirus surge, the free Palestine movement, BLM, Stop Asian Hate, and so much more - sharing and saving our stories are more important to presenting history fairly, than ever before. In this episode, Nidhi speaks with the people who are documenting Asian, African and Middle Eastern stories in real-time. Join us as we meet the storytellers, the change-makers and the documenters of the world.

Catch the people featured in this episode and their work using the links below:

Thank you, shukriya, for listening. Please share this podcast episode with a friend if you enjoyed it, and give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter !

Credit to Corky Lee’s full interview goes to BRIC TV (check it out here) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgRBKLSi_3k

Image credits: "Community" by niallkennedy is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

** Model Minority stands against the recent attacks against AAPI communities. Please consider sharing this podcast on social media with the hashtag #stopAAPIhate to show your support and uplift Asian voices during this time.**

Shiwei Zhang moved to the U.S. from China at a young age. But, she quickly realized it wasn't all that she dreamt it'd be. Her mother, who worked as a nail technician at a salon in Chicago, found that the degrees and credentials that she worked so hard to attain in China were deemed meaningless in America. Meanwhile, she faced ostracism from her classmates about her culture and accent. 

Things took a turn for the worst when she and her mother were questioned by Chicago police - a group that should exist to "serve and protect." In this episode, Shiwei recounts the frustrating and terrifying situation her family was in and explains how it gave her more insight into the struggles of other minority groups in the U.S. Listen to the third edition of Immigrant Tales to hear her tell the story firsthand.

Are you an Asian, African, or Middle Eastern immigrant or first-gen with a story to tell? Reach out to me on my website or through Facebook and Instagram to share your story. 

Namah Vyakranam was born in Hyderabad, India. Her family traveled back and forth from India to the U.S. before eventually settling around Chicago, IL. After that, Namah found herself grappling with internalized racism surrounding her South Asian identity, which was often misrepresented in American society. 

It all boiled over when she began to see the racism against South Asians in a post-9/11 America more clearly.  Listen to the second edition of Immigrant Tales to hear Namah's story firsthand. 

Are you an Asian, African, or Middle Eastern immigrant or first-gen with a story to tell? Reach out to me on my website or through Facebook and Instagram to share your story. Thanks! - N.S.