Styles, narratives, culture, music. 
This is SAMPLR magazine, snippets 
of content in different creative realms 
that showcase the beauty of Asians. We 
strive to cultivate a creative space that 
best represent individuals in the pan-
Asian community and their intersec-
tional identities.

In this issue, we 
want to start off this 
magazine by setting 
the tone with chic 
portrait photography 
and fashion trends, 
having 
Asians 
in 
Diaspora 
recreate 
those trendy looks. 
We then get more 
personal with narra-
tives and cultures in 

later sections of the 
magazine.
We strive to uplift 
voices of Asians in 
Diaspora. 
However, 
this magazine is by no 
means perfect. With 
very limited resourc-
es, there is only so 
much we can show-
case thru SAMPLR 
and it can be difficult 

to perfectly depict the diverse repre-
sentations and uplift all the under-
represented voices in the community. 
We hope this is the start to a positive 
change!
Special thanks to my friends who 
contributed and helped me out on this 
personal project! Happy Asian Pacific 
Islander Heritage Month!

9

Thursday May 30, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Nothing wrong about speaking my own language

Last January, a professor from Duke Uni-
versity sent emails to her Chinese interna-
tional students, asking them to not speak 
Chinese and “commit using English 100% 
of the time.” She stated that several faculty 
members are searching for students who had 
been speaking in Chinese in public spaces. 
In the emails, she also stated that they were 
“very loud,” and that the students are not 
taking the chance to learn English seriously, 
thus missing professional opportunities. It 
was that professor in specific who got media 
attention, but it should not be forgotten that 
she was a messenger for many other faculty 
members who thought the same way.
I found this incident especially relatable, as 
I once had been concerning if I was seen as 
so-called “FOB.” Short for ‘fresh off the boat,’ 

it is a slang referring to immigrants who have 
yet to abandon their culture and language and 
assimilate into the society in the diaspora. 
Personally, as an international student, I am 
not a big fan of my country of origin. My early 
experiences with living in a heteronormative 
atmosphere where anti-
quated cultural practices 
such as the Confucian 
hierarchy and authorita-
tive patriarchy are still 
abided by have strain 
had strained my iden-
tity as a Korean. This is 
why I initially wanted to 
erase Korean aspects of 
me and fit into the so-called “American” cul-
ture. However, as soon as I realized that this 
“American” thing was selective exclusion and 
hostile to certain foreign cultures after all.
People like to seek excuses to target minor-
ities. They bring up superficial words to deny 

their racist undertones. The faculty members 
brought up “noise” and volume to justify their 
selective hostility against these students. 
Even though many international students 
like me and those at Duke decide to pursue 
a higher education that primarily teaches in 
English, it does not nec-
essarily mean that we 
are willing to give up 
our native language and 
freedom of expression. 
Living in a country that 
preaches heavily on basic 
civil liberties, it should 
be up to the individual to 
decide which language 
they would like to speak. This incident seems 
to suggest otherwise. While I am condemn-
ing the professor who wrote the email in par-
ticular instead of the people who primarily 
warned the Chinese students, her decision 
to uphold her colleagues’ words and ways of 

conveying them was inevitable of criticism. 
She does not recognize how problematic and 
offensive it is to specify a certain language as 
loud and rude.
Living under institutions where systemic 
oppressions are so prevalent, incidents like 
this doesn’t surprise me. No one problematiz-
es the English language itself when domestic 
students, especially white and privileged stu-
dents, speaking loudly in “proper” English. 
This reminds me of a similar incident several 
years ago when one student publicly com-
plained about Asian students being loud in 
libraries. They are just unmannered students, 
not unmannered “Asian” students. This is all 
hate speech targeting the non-Western lan-
guages and cultures.
One thing I still do appreciate is that the 
professor has reassured me that there’s noth-
ing wrong about an international student 
speaking native languages, and I will do so 
even more publicly without any doubt.

SUNGMIN CHO
MiC Columnist

We strive to uplift 
voices of Asians in 
Diaspora. 

SAMPLR: APIA heritage month 2019 zine

SAMUEL SO
Summer MiC Managing Editor

Read more at michigandaily.com

People like to seek 
excuses to target 
minorities

