In New York, Zohran Mamdani surprised people with his Mandarin, drawing praise, accusations of AI and the predictable “communist” attacks. We’re also looking at Trump’s decision to cut U.S.-South Korea military exercises short and what Mike D’Antoni had to say about Jeremy Lin during his Hall of Fame induction.

Featured

ICE arrested 1,100% more AAPIs in California last year, analysis shows

Nearly 3,000 AAPIs were arrested by ICE in California in 2025, an increase that far outpaced the rise among detainees overall. A new analysis from the USC Equity Research Institute found AAPIs went from 4% of ICE arrests in the state to 11% in a single year.

The people being picked up also look different from what the usual rhetoric around immigration enforcement might suggest. Fifty-six percent had no criminal record, up from 19% the year before. Arrests of AAPI women and children increased as well, while community groups say the fear is changing how some families work, travel and go about their daily lives.

Read more →

What else we’re tracking

Bay Area’s Daly City getting too expensive for the Filipino families who made it home

Daly City has been one of the Bay Area’s best-known Filipino enclaves for decades, but fewer Filipino families are able to stay. A San Francisco Chronicle analysis of Census Bureau data found nearly 4,000 fewer residents identifying as fully or partly Filipino than five years earlier. That’s an 11% decline in a city where the typical home value reached about $1.1 million in 2024.

Read more →

Mamdani’s spot-on Mandarin draws praise, pisses off haters

Zohran Mamdani got New Yorkers talking after delivering a Mandarin-language pitch for free Broadway tickets for high school students. His pronunciation impressed fluent speakers. Other viewers were so skeptical that they accused him of using AI, forcing his press secretary to clarify that the video was real.

Read more →

Trump cuts U.S.-South Korea drills short as Seoul asks who has its back

Annual U.S.-South Korea military exercises will end six days early after Trump ordered them scaled back, saying he did not want to send a hostile signal to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump is also reportedly pushing for another meeting with Kim as early as this fall.

Read more →

Jeremy Lin gets his flowers during former Knicks coach’s Hall of Fame induction

Fourteen years after Linsanity took over New York, Mike D’Antoni made sure Jeremy Lin had a place in his Hall of Fame speech. Lin was sitting in the audience as the former Knicks coach recalled how close the Taiwanese American guard had come to losing his roster spot before his sudden breakout in 2012. “Jeremy gave New York and all of us the ride of our lives,” said D’Antoni.

Read more →

Why read Issue #247?

We spend years building communities and making a place our own without knowing how long any of it will stay. Times change and people move on. Even the moments that once felt enormous can fade from memory.

We know nothing lasts forever and permanence isn’t really what gives something meaning. Sometimes a community, a connection or even a brief moment matters simply because it was there. And while it’s ours, we shouldn’t be so willing to let someone else decide when it’s time to give it up.

Support independent Asian diaspora journalism. Become a paid subscriber to read the full stories and help sustain The Rebel Yellow.

The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.

Fourteen years after Jeremy Lin went from the edge of the Knicks’ roster to the center of the basketball world, Mike D’Antoni made sure Linsanity had a place in his Hall of Fame story.

The 75-year-old former Knicks coach, who was enshrined as a contributor into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026 Sa…

Read more

Rising housing costs are making it increasingly difficult for Filipino families to remain in Daly City, the longtime stronghold for the group just south of San Francisco.

According to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau data, nearly 4,000 fewer residents living in the city identified as fully or p…

Read more

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has drawn a wave of praise, as well as AI allegations, after posting a video promoting free Broadway tickets for New York City high schoolers in surprisingly fluent-sounding Mandarin.

Free tickets

Mamdani’s video was released over the weekend as part of a Theater Development Fund lottery of…

Read more

Asian American and Pacific Islanders in California were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 1,109% more often in 2025 than the year before, according to a recent analysis from the USC Equity Research Institute.

Big numbers

The said surge far outpaces the 386% rise in overall …

Read more

Ulchi Freedom Shield, the annual military exercise between U.S. and South Korean forces, will end six days early after President Donald Trump ordered it scaled back, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim…

Read more

Elsewhere, Japan has had enough of the Trump administration using Pokémon and other Japanese pop culture without permission. Asian American viewers are divided over an upcoming animated show on whether its characters break stereotypes or recycle them.

We also meet Vietnamese American swimmer Watson Nguyen after a career-best race earned him his first U.S. national title. BTS’ V has shared that he’s being treated for hearing loss, while Quoc and Amanda Nguyen are getting ready to become New Orleans’ first Asian American Mardi Gras king and queen.

Featured

Half of AAPIs struggled to save money over the past year

Half of AAPIs surveyed by The Asian American Foundation said they had trouble saving money or building financial security over the past year. More than half said fear of bias from police or immigration officials had led them to carry ID or avoid certain places.

The data proves helpful as national averages tend to obscure how differently individual AAPI communities are faring. Priscilla Kwak of TAAF Cities tells The Rebel Yellow that those differences matter when governments decide which communities need resources and where that money goes.

Read more →

What else we’re tracking

Japan has had enough of Trump using its anime and video games in official posts

Japan has repeatedly asked the Trump administration to stop using Japanese intellectual property without permission after Pokémon, “Yu-Gi-Oh!,” “Naruto” and Nintendo games appeared in official U.S. political messaging. Japanese officials warn that such use can damage the works involved. Representatives from the companies have said they did not approve the government’s use of their material.

Read more →

Netflix’s “DANG!” trailer criticized for Asian American tropes

Netflix’s trailer for the Asian American animated comedy “DANG!” is getting a rough reception online. Viewers have criticized everything from the writing and animation to the show’s depiction of Ruthie, a “high-achieving older sister,” and her less put-together siblings Andrew and Eunice. Commenters across platforms have debated whether the protagonists reflect familiar Asian American experiences or recycle stereotypes audiences have seen before.

Read more →

A Vietnamese couple will ride into New Orleans Carnival history as its first Asian American royalty

Quoc Nguyen and Amanda Nguyen will become the first Asian American couple to reign together as king and queen of a New Orleans Carnival parade. The Vietnamese American couple will lead the Krewe of Oshun in January 2027, nearly 50 years after Vietnamese refugees began establishing communities in New Orleans.

Read more →

Meet Watson Nguyen, the Vietnamese American swimmer who beat a U.S. record holder

Vietnamese American swimmer Watson Nguyen won his first senior U.S. national title after clocking 26.65 seconds in the 50-meter breaststroke, beating American record holder Michael Andrew. The 20-year-old Penn swimmer first attended the national championships as an 11-year-old spectator and says he had dreamed of competing on that stage ever since.

Read more →

A BTS member is being treated for hearing loss

BTS member V told fans in a livestream last week that his hearing in one ear has worsened for about two and a half years and that he is now receiving treatment. “If the hearing in my left ear is at 100, it’s only about 30 in my right,” he shared, adding that he takes medication and makes regular hospital visits.

Read more →

Why read Issue #246?

Sometimes we see things that aren’t there, and miss things that are. Perspective has a lot to do with it, but so does who gets to decide what we see in the first place.

There are things in this issue that have been sitting in plain sight, buried in averages, familiar images or stories we might normally scroll past. Once they’re pointed out, though, they’re harder to unsee. Maybe the question then is whether we want to keep looking.

Support independent Asian diaspora journalism. Become a paid subscriber to read the full stories and help sustain The Rebel Yellow.

The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.

For the first time last week, BTS member V told fans that his hearing in one ear has worsened for about two and a half years, and that he is now receiving treatment.

How it’s going

V, born Kim Tae-hyung, had never discussed the issue with ARMYs before the Weverse broadcast Wednesday. “If the hearing in my left ear is at 100, i…

Read more

A Vietnamese American couple will reign over the opening parade of New Orleans’ 2027 Carnival season as the city’s first Asian American Mardi Gras king and queen.

Making history

Announced on July 20, Quoc Nguyen and Amanda Nguyen will serve as the Krewe of Oshun’s 31st king and queen. Organization officials said …

Read more

Half of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are struggling to build financial security over the past year, while even more took precautions such as carrying identification out of fear of bias from police or immigration officials.

These insights come from the “State of AAPIs,” a new series from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) launch…

Read more

Netflix’s trailer for the Asian American animated comedy “DANG!” is getting a rough reception online.

Since its Aug. 11 release, viewers have criticized everything from the writing and animation to the show’s depiction of its Asian characters. Commenters across platforms have debated whether the protagonists reflect familiar A…

Read more

Nine years after watching the U.S. national championships from the stands as an 11-year-old, Watson Nguyen returned to the meet and left as a champion.

The 20-year-old Vietnamese American swimmer won the men’s 50-meter breaststroke in 26.65 seconds in Irvine, California, on July 30, beating American record holder Michael A…

Read more

Japan has repeatedly asked the Trump administration to stop using Japanese intellectual property without permission after anime and video game characters from popular franchises appeared in multiple official U.S. government posts. The White House and several U.S. departments have used materia…

Read more

Moving on to education, federal lawyers are challenging tuition aid for undocumented students, while universities across Asia recruit more international students. Also, a Korean spa wants the Supreme Court to hear its case.

Entertainment wraps up today’s stories, beginning with a legal drama named for a majority Asian city drawing complaints about its cast. We go back to Baltimore to see how it turns out for BTS and check on the first Asian American “Bachelorette” as she returns to her professional field.

Featured

As Hollywood goes quiet on politics, these Asian stars choose to stay vocal

In 2024, Asian American celebrities were all over the campaign. Ahead of the midterms, many have gone quiet, while those still speaking are not all saying the same thing.

A “Star Trek” veteran answered a fellow actor’s decision to keep politics private with three words. A singer and a comedian have not let up. Neither have the Trump supporters, including one whose grandparents were incarcerated during World War II.

Read more →

What else we’re tracking

Hasan Piker’s mother shares his politics, but draws the line at his ‘love’ of China

Sedef Piker agrees with her son about nearly everything political, but China is one exception. She revealed this in a magazine profile that follows him from his Turkish childhood to eight-hour daily streams on U.S. politics.

Read more →

Chinese American researcher sues University of Kansas again, alleging retaliation

Feng “Franklin” Tao’s China Initiative conviction was overturned in 2024. However, he still does not have his job back. His second lawsuit against the University of Kansas alleges retaliation and questions who the school picked to hear his case.

Read more →

Filipino American activist’s arrest raises questions about who the Philippines calls a terrorist

Christina Pasion left Baltimore in December to learn why Filipinos go abroad for work. Seven months later, Philippine authorities arrested and linked her to a communist insurgency. Her family disputes the accusation.

Read more →

The DOJ is suing 3 more states for providing tuition aid for undocumented students

Three new lawsuits would strip in-state tuition from undocumented students in New York, Connecticut and Vermont, bringing the Justice Department’s total to 17. Connecticut’s Asian American attorney general insists Washington has no authority over the state’s schools.

Read more →

Fewer international students are entering US universities as Asian destinations gain ground

New international enrollment in the U.S. fell 17% last fall, one survey found. On the other hand, Japan set a record, while South Korea has nearly tripled its 2015 total. Tighter U.S. visa rules take effect next month.

Read more →

Korean spa takes transgender access fight to the Supreme Court

Olympus Spa wants to keep excluding transgender women who have not had surgery. Its new petition invokes religious freedom and calls a Korean bathhouse custom protected expression.

Read more →

‘Cupertino,’ a show named after a 71% Asian majority city, draws criticism over limited Asian representation

A new CBS legal drama takes its name from a city where seven in 10 residents are Asian. One of its six principal cast members is Asian American. Casting calls sought Asian actors repeatedly, though only for background roles.

Read more →

Maryland governor gives BTS the royal treatment during Baltimore stop

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore named all seven members in a Korean-subtitled video set to “Butter” before the group’s two stadium shows. His welcome followed a trade mission to Seoul and more than a year of courting Korean investment.

Read more →

First Asian American ‘Bachelorette’ Jenn Tran is now a certified physician assistant

Jenn Tran left physician assistant school for reality television, then returned to Miami to finish. By her account, PA programs turned her down before she started, while the degree itself took nearly four years. She has more than one idea about what comes next.

Read more →

Why read Issue #245?

What we noticed in these stories is how Asian Americans are getting counted constantly, and almost never by themselves. Agencies, networks, courts … the list goes on. Sometimes, being counted as a voiceless statistic can force one to answer back.

In this issue, we can see that the cost of responding runs from legal bills and lost years to a comment section that never closes. Still, nobody here sees that cost the same way. Check out the numbers so far this year alone, and you’ll learn how institutions are sorting our community. And sadly, almost nothing about who is arguing with them.

Support independent Asian diaspora journalism. Become a paid subscriber to read the full stories and help sustain The Rebel Yellow.

The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.

Feng “Franklin” Tao, the former University of Kansas professor once prosecuted under the “China Initiative,” is suing his old employer a second time, claiming KU retaliated against him for filing a prior discrimination complaint.

Catch up

As we covered at NextShark, Tao’s legal battles date back to an anonymous tip …

Read more

Undocumented students in New York, Connecticut and Vermont would lose in-state tuition if three lawsuits, the latest of 17 such cases, the Department of Justice filed on Monday succeed.

State of play

The department is asking judges to block any rule granting in-state rates to students who are not lawfully present in t…

Read more

Olympus Spa, a Korean bathhouse in Lynnwood and Tacoma, Washington state, is asking the Supreme Court to let it continue excluding transgender women who have not had surgery, which state regulators previously found discriminatory.

About the petition

Alliance Defending Freedom and the Pacific Justice Institute filed the pe…

Read more

More and more international Asian students are choosing to study abroad within their own region as U.S. universities enroll fewer new students from overseas.

In its recent student mobility report, analytics firm QS projected that students moving between countries in Asia will account for most of the region’s international enr…

Read more

The celebrity-heavy politics of 2024 have noticeably thinned out ahead of the 2026 midterms, with fewer stars taking prominent roles on the campaign trail.

Many Asian American entertainers who rallied around their chosen candidates two years ago have been less visible thi…

Read more

“Cupertino,” an upcoming legal drama named after a California city where a majority of residents are Asian, is drawing criticism over its limited Asian American representation. The show, which premieres Oct. 8 on the CBS Television Network and Paramount+, has just one Asian American actor among its six principal cast members.

Read more