On Thursday, March 4th, 2021, the Asian American Cultural Center (AACC) at Yale launched Pan Asian American Heritage Month (PAAHM) with keynote speaker, Alice Wong, a disabled activist, consultant, and media maker. She is the founder of Disability Visibility Project (DVP), an online platform dedicated to creating and engaging with disability media and culture by…
Author: DOWN Editors
How Public Schools Teach Black History
In February 2020, West Woods School, an elementary school in Hamden Connecticut, cast two Black students as enslaved Africans for a school play. The play intended to teach students about the slave trade. The teacher in charge of this class assignment apologized to the students’ parents, and school officials released a statement about this incident….
Nonhuman Characters That We All Know are Black
Yes they aren’t real, and yes they aren’t people. But we’re saying that if they were, they’d be Black. How do we know? Is it because most of these characters are voiced by Black actors? Partly. These characters aren’t Black because their voice actors are–if anything those actors only give us confirmation. There’s a reason…
How to Tell if Your White Boyfriend is Racist
If he has a MAGA hat–he’s racist If he has a confederate flag–he’s racist If he has an American flag hanging in his room–he’s racist If he tells you you look better with your hair straightened–he’s racist If he won’t let you speak in your native tongue–he’s racist If his pet names for you are…
Black Women Matter
George Floyd’s tragic death has changed the tides for the Black Lives Matter movement; Black men and the BLM movement have finally gotten recognition and support. But the same cannot be said about Black women. Despite the hindrances Black people have overcome, Black women do not receive respect for the work they have done in…