Asian Americans: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

I had a Vietnamese roommate in college in 1972. One day we had a terrific storm and a bolt of lightening struck a nearby building causing a huge BOOM. Hui said that it reminded him of home. I said oh you have major storms there too? And Hui said nonono. The bombs. I kinda had to rethink a few things.

“Keep your head down. Make sure you do your job right. And don’t cause trouble. In their eyes, you’ll always be an outsider.” Those are the words I grew up with.

“There is no nice racism” This right here. I grew up being constantly told by other poc that “at least you have a good stereotype” as they simultaneously made fun of me for not being good at math, and yelling “ching chong” at me. Yeah thanks guys

A client told me that his doctor told him he had jaundice from eating Indian food. I told him to go back to the emergency room ASAP as that was a ridiculous diagnosis. He had pancreatic cancer.

He also didn't mention the fact that the model minority stereotype completely discounts any Asian Americans that DO 'fit the stereotype'. When Asian people excel academically, people assume that didn't work as hard, and are just 'naturally' more intelligent. It's a true mind fuck

When you dismiss Vietnamese or Japanese students who do well as if it's part of their heritage, you undermine the hard work they put forth to achieve.

This is why you win all the emmys. Not easy to recognise and then be able to explain nuance so beautifully. Love everything about you JO.

Overlooking Filipinos is a weird thing. Especially during covid times, Filipinos who populate hospitals as nurses not just in the US but all over the world, have been on the frontlines dying to fight off this pandemic for almost 2 years now. That and your east and south Asian medical professionals who are all doing their best to keep everything together.

I really didn't expect John to sum up our experience with racism perfectly: we're told to accept racism because "at least it's the nice version."

I know that Jollibee bit was supposed to make Filipinos feel seen, but damn, I mainly feel exposed, like "Shit, y'all weren't supposed to see that."

The sentence "Filipinos arent dismissed they are overlooked" is one of the most true statement ive ever heard. Whenever someone asks where my family comes from, they guess china, thailand, or even mexico. As a Filipino American, i love this video.

As an Asian American, This hits deep and hard. I have worked very hard in order to fit the "model minority" and multiple people have told me that the conditions I find myself is inhumane.

I agree with John that the model minority myth is used to pit minorities against each other. In college, my Mexican roommate stated I cannot understand the struggles of Latinos because I am a model minority. That was the first time I've ever heard of the term model minority and it was not used in a positive sense; rather, used to create a gulf which makes communication and addressing the struggles of our racial identites wider. We all perpetuate racial identites for ourselves and others; it's a shame when those identites draw lines which every stares at before we really look at each other.

I'm Japanese-American (half Filipino and half Japanese). Everytime I visit the Philippines and Japan and reconnect with extended family and my roots, I find it very humbling, but at the same time, very lonely as an Asian-Americans are too American to be Asian and too Asian to be American on both sides. Thank you so much for bringing this issue up and educate others in our struggle.

Thank you!! As a Sri Lankan-Malaysian I’ve always identified as Asian, even when my white friends have tried to tell me that I’m wrong about my own heritage 🙄🙄

As a Korean-Vietnamese or Vietnamese-Korean and a huge John Oliver fan, I do appreciate this bit. It's a cultural and ethnic quagmire to feel between and among cultures. The coverage about defining what Asian American means, and the emphasis of model minority is spot on... We are not a monolith. Thank you for sharing! ✌️💕

As a Sri Lankan, I greatly admire John for including Maldivians here since that's the closest he ever came to mentioning Sri Lanka on his show haha

I refuse to believe enough people wouldn't answer "Name a Joe" with "Joe Mama".

The guy at 25:14 explains it so damn well. But as Andre Gide said “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

My great grandparents came from japan to make a new life in America after hearing a lot of wonderful things and hearing stories of its grandeur and opportunity. They did this right before Ww2 and my grandfather grew up in those internment camps. He wasn't okay in the head, ended up being more abusive to his loved ones than his siblings were, and I often think of it as being heavily influenced by that experience in those camps