Kind of annoyed that lei have been appropriated as a symbol of Asian American identity. Like how some schools use ribbon lei for Asian Am student graduations in the same way that other racial/cultural groups have certain stoles.

Obviously giving/receiving lei isn’t an act of appropriation in and of itself, I just hate how they’ve been divorced from connection to Hawaiian culture and land in contexts like this. Plus Asian settler colonialism/Asian Ams laying claim to a Hawaiian practice bc it’s pretty

Had lei not been so heavily commodified as generic symbols of celebration by the tourist industry, I don’t think they would’ve become part of this pan-Asian Am cultural identity rooted in stereotypes and select cultural traditions packaged in a friendly way for the white gaze

Cultural traditions, foods, and other things that wont ever be common to all Asian people anyway will always be insufficient symbols because As Am isn’t a “cultural” group. Asian American is a political grouping resultant from resistance to US imperialism and racism.

Incorporating pretty cultural things (divorced from any of their radical histories and potentials ofc) is a strategy by the state and by profit motivated institutions to accommodate and quell actual political movement. Pls no more subtle asian traits lmao

Re: the food part. We love and support small immigrant businesses and what they make! But let’s think about how many people set up shop bc they’re forced into precarious financial situations by US empire, and not conflate political identities with pop trends