PORTLAND, Ore. — If you spend time on social media, you might have seen people using the hashtag #veryasian. Over the last month, it has received a lot of attention.
It all started with a former anchor who used to work at KING, KGW’s sister station in Seattle, playing a racist voicemail and posting it online.
Michelle Li now works as a TV news anchor in St. Louis, Missouri, and it was a short, 20-second long story on New Year’s Day that changed her life.
“We were just doing a little bitty story about what Americans eat for New Year's Day, and it was like greens for wealth, cornbread for coins, pork for prosperity. And I just added a line," Li said.
At the tail end of the story, Li added on-air: "I ate dumpling soup. That’s what a lot of Korean people do."
That was the moment that set everything in motion.
“A woman called to complain that she was offended, because if white anchors talked about what white people ate, they would be fired — and that I was being very Asian and I needed to keep my Korean to myself. So that message was really shocking to me,” Li said.
That shock, quickly turned into a heavy feeling.
“It just started feeling like, when am I not going to have to deal with racism? Will I ever have a time in my in my life where I don't have to deal with it? And will my son be raised in a racist environment? I just started feeling very, very sad about the whole thing,” said Li.
So she posted the voicemail on social media — and never imagined what would happen next. The next morning, Li said her phone was constantly buzzing with notifications as celebrities, politicians and others re-tweeted and shared her video.
Now people all over are using #VeryAsian in their posts. It’s become a movement and source of pride for many.
“It became a sense of celebration for people. Like they just flipped the hashtag and it became this beautiful, beautiful moment.”
Li said the hashtag is resonating with many groups of people, not just the Asian American Pacific Islander community.
“There were people who, in solidarity, posted,” said Li. “My favorite hashtags were #VeryJewish and #OpenlyBlack.”
After the initial post, Li and a friend at another station started a pop-up store online giving people an opportunity to order hats and shirts with #VeryAsian printed on them and dumplings. The profit went to the Asian American Journalists Association.
Then Li got a call to go on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
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“She gave me $15,000 […] I could have taken it as income because it was only addressed to me. I could have donated the money or I could have used it as seed money to do something great,” Li said.
She and her family decided on the last option. Li is starting The Very Asian Foundation.
“Our goal is to raise money for other organizations that are really doing great work to amplify diverse Asian American voices,” said Li.
“What this has done for me in the last 30 days, [it] has allowed me to actually dream, not only bigger for myself, but also I think for my family, for my son and for my community,” she said.
“This is really about all of us coming together and recognizing that we have our own special stories and we should embrace and celebrate them.”
When asked how people who are not of color should support the AAPI community and other BIPOC communities, Li said there are many ways to show support. One option is to think about how to make change in your community. She said people can find local organizations that are doing good work and support them.