A PSA from the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association:

We don’t care if you feel Jeremy Lin doesn’t play well enough to be a 2013 All-Star. We don’t even care if you’re just bizarrely passionate about Volvo commercials.

But we do care about racism.

And for the record, these kinds of Tweets are not okay.

Not today, not ever.

i am shamelessly sitting at an airport in japan creeping on your harvard college facebook profiles and gathering all your info in a google doc because board wants to share the fAAAm love with you all

i’m not even sorry

SEE YOU GUYS SOON! :)

Happy August everyone. We’re kind of sad that the summer is over (read: Devastated. Panicking. Terrified by bad pre-term planning decisions. Not that pre-term planning is binding but that we’re bound to these classes anyway for concentration requirements), but we’re also really excited to see everyone back on campus.

We’re secretly hoping we have some eager freshmen stalking our Tumblr (are you there? Send us messages! Reblog our posts! Like our Facebook! Stalk us at our intro meeting!) because we can’t wait to add some fresh faces to our sib fams (on that note, even those of you upperclassmen can join new sib fams, too! We’d love to welcome you to the fAAAmily), and we’re so very thrilled to elect and meet our brand new frosh reps.

Anyway, though we’re going to have to wait a little long to see all of you in person, in the meantime, we’re happy to answer any of your questions about Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association via Tumblr. 

And before you ask, if your question is, Do you guys ever give out free Asian food?, the answer is hell yes. We love free Asian food.

Hey there, Tumblr! Have you guys checked us out on Facebook yet? If not, it’s definitely worth dropping by and giving us a like— you’ll get all things AAA straight to your newsfeed.

Anyway, we really can’t wait to share the exciting year ahead with all of you!

FAAAm love,
Your 2012 Board

And we can’t wait to welcome you to the fAAAmily. Make sure you get your dose of Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association this weekend.

• Pan-Asian BBQ | Saturday, 3-6, Science Center Lawn | Enjoy an assortment of delicious barbecue brought to you by the many Asian organizations on campus. Brought to you by Asian American Association.
• Sushi & Mocktails | Saturday, 5:30-7:30, Sever 109 | A close session with the board. Come for food, drink, and fAAAmily!
• Crush | Saturday, 10-2, Pfoho D-hall | PAAArty with the best! Though the party is officially hosted by our friends in CSA, some of the board members should be sprinkled throughout the board. Make sure you find us and say hi!
• Activities Fair | Sunday, 4-6, SOCH | The party don’t stop. Drop by the AAA booth at the activities fair and learn a little more about our roots and mission.

These have been a revealing two weeks, not only for the Asian American community or the Ivy League basketball community or the talent evaluator committee, but also for watchdogs, handwringers, and pulpit-thumpers. Not since Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has there been so much national discussion about the appropriateness of discussing race. The 2008 election set the groundwork for an aggressive sort of colorblindness — as long as you voted for Barack and/or can celebrate, say, Jackie Robinson, you now have the right to flag down anything that might shake us from our post-racial dream. Statements like “I see everybody equally, therefore everyone should just talk about him as a basketball player” and accusations of “playing the race card” have become even more ubiquitous. And although the former signals a nice sentiment, it also provides convenient cover for those of us who benefit most from the status quo, regardless of race. Yes, Jeremy Lin became Linsanity because he has been playing at a level that has recalibrated expectations of any obscure player. And yes, there’s nothing more tiresome than a long-winded meditation on a basketball player, especially if he’s clearly been hijacked to promote some other agenda. But to strip Jeremy Lin of his status as the Great Yellow Hope not only seems dishonest and lazy, it also deprives the community he represents — willfully or not — of the unabashed joy of seeing one of its own succeed in the most improbable arena.

Of all the drives, dunks and dazzling shots Jeremy Lin is forcing upon the stars of the NBA, none of it compares with the moves he’s putting on a larger collection of everyday people.

Jeremy Lin has dribbled America into the previously quiet corner of its casual prejudice and lazy stereotypes of Asian Americans.

“In this country, Asian Americans are stereotyped as the meek and the mild, the ones who will always take the racism,” said Daryl Maeda, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado who specializes in Asian American studies. ”There is a perception that it’s OK to offend Asian Americans because they simply won’t fight back.”

dfaaamily:

ALL HE DOES IS LIN.

(Source: couturelevelfl0w, via harvardaaa)