Can you feel it too? It seems we’re about to “rock the vote” this November. At least that’s what 90% of AAPI registered voters are telling pollsters. There are roughly 16 million AAPIs eligible to vote in this year’s midterms, and somehow, about a third still haven’t been contacted by either major party.
There are several other stories we can’t stop thinking about, including an Asian American student who took on the University of Washington without a lawyer and the unlikely discovery of Suni Lee’s stolen statue and a devastating flood in Nepal. Plus, Vietnam is pushing back against China in the Paracels, prenups may be getting less awkward and a Vietnamese horror hit is coming to North American theaters.
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9 in 10 AAPI voters plan to show up for the midterms
According to the 2026 AAPI Voter Survey, Asian American voters are signaling unusually high interest in this year’s midterms, with 90% saying they plan to vote. Seventy-one percent describe themselves as absolutely certain they’ll vote, with another 23% fairly certain. Democrats and Republicans have two months to make their case to an electorate that could matter in several battleground states and House districts.
What else we’re tracking
Federal judge advances bias suit of Asian American star student rejected by 16 colleges
After dozens of law firms turned Stanley Zhong’s family away, they decided to take on some of the country’s biggest universities themselves. With no lawyers, they used ChatGPT and Gemini to help draft their complaints. Now, a federal judge in Seattle has refused to throw out Zhong’s claim that the University of Washington rejected him because he is Asian American.
Family, Sikh groups demand justice in fatal shooting of Brooklyn delivery worker
The family of a Sikh delivery worker killed in Brooklyn wants to know why he was shot and why nobody has been arrested. Police say Gurdeep Singh, 27, was killed after an argument with another driver, but investigators have yet to establish what started the confrontation.
Suni Lee’s stolen statue turns up in Minnesota closet more than a year after it vanished
Suni Lee’s missing $33,000 bronze bust has finally turned up, and police weren’t even looking for it. Officers responding to reports of gunfire in St. Paul found the sculpture inside a bedroom closet, 13 months after it disappeared from the park where it had been installed as a tribute to the Hmong American Olympic champion.
Nepal digs mass graves as flood toll climbs past 1,000
Nepal has begun burying unidentified flood victims in temporary graves as morgues struggle with the scale of the disaster. About 4,000 people remain missing, including hundreds of foreign travelers and hydropower workers believed to have been underground when the flood struck.
Vietnam protests China’s new construction in disputed islands
China’s construction of new facilities in the contested Paracel Islands, a South China Sea archipelago also claimed by Vietnam, has drawn a formal protest from Hanoi. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said Vietnam has “full historical evidence and legal grounds to affirm its sovereignty over the archipelago,” and demanded that China halt its activities.
Are Vietnamese couples warming up to prenups?
Prenuptial agreements, or prenups, have long been an uncomfortable proposition in Vietnam, particularly when planning for divorce can be interpreted as a lack of trust before the wedding. The practice, however, is apparently gaining acceptance as more people look to establish financial boundaries before tying the knot.
This Vietnamese found-footage horror hit has reached North American theaters
Based on a popular urban legend known as the “Ghost of the Hua Family,” “Lau Chu Hoa: The Deadliest Mansion” revisits a story that has haunted Vietnamese pop culture for decades. After drawing more than 1 million admissions in Vietnam, the horror film is now heading to theaters across the U.S. and Canada.
Why read Issue #253?
Doing your part can feel a little pointless when you can’t see what everyone else is doing. Maybe nobody else cares. Maybe nothing will come of it. Who knows?
Do it anyway.
Because there will be times when a whole lot of people decide to bother, too. And when that happens, all those little things we thought wouldn’t make much of a difference suddenly can. You’d be surprised how much of history was made that way.
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The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.