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Honoring Philadelphia-born author, podcaster, cultural critic, media trailblazer, and Peabody award winner Phil Yu, founder of "Angry Asian Man," a destination website on Asian American pop culture, politics, sports, and more, and co-author of the New York Times best seller Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the 90s to Now.
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WHEREAS, Phil Yu was born at St. Agnes Hospital to Jason and Boosung Yu, Korean immigrants who resided in South Philadelphia and whom he recalled as naming him after his place of birth. He grew up in Silicon Valley, California, where his love of movies, film and Bruce Lee grew in part out of his parents operating a video rental store; and
WHEREAS, Yu attended Northwestern University where he studied radio, film and TV, and was one of the first students to take courses in a newly-formed Asian American Studies program, founded after Asian American students went on a 23-day hunger strike in 1995 to protest the lack of a program at the University; and
WHEREAS, Yu returned to California where he worked at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and later earned a M.A. in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He currently lives in the Los Angeles area along with his wife Joanna Lee and their daughter; and
WHEREAS, Yu founded the blog "Angry Asian Man" in 2001 "on a whim" as an online space to share news and perspectives from Asian America. In an interview with National Public Radio, Yu said: "The idea of an angry Asian anything is kind of an affront to people's general perceptions of Asians in America. I think a lot of time we get pegged as very subservient, docile, passive. You know we are often painted as the model minority. We're to keep our head down and not make waves, not rock the boat. And I just thought the name 'Angry Asian Man' was a little bit provocative when people see it. They go 'whoa, this is not a concept that I'm used to.' And I thought it's okay for Asia...
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