Kamala Harris leads Democrats again. Can she win this time?
Issue #233 covers Kamala Harris atop the early 2028 Democratic field, Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s anti-China ad with botched props and two sentencings in cases targeting Asian Americans
Today’s stories open with Kamala Harris topping the early 2028 Democratic field, though her last campaign still shadows the numbers. Up next, a senator running for Tennessee governor smashes fortune cookies in an anti-China ad that misfires on its own props. A gay Filipino American then describes a tense Metro ride beside masked marchers.
Two court cases follow: a Dallas salon shooting and a Northwest burglary ring that singled out Asian owners. Finally, we cover a worldwide casting call for a beloved manga and a study putting a number to a way of thinking many Asian Americans know without a name.
Featured
Kamala Harris leads Democrats’ early 2028 polls. Will this time be different?
Nearly two years after losing to Donald Trump, Kamala Harris hasn’t confirmed whether she’ll run again. Democratic voters, however, are answering for her. Poll after poll places the former vice president atop the party’s 2028 field, consistently ahead of Gavin Newsom.
But an early lead is not a primary victory, and the coalition that slipped away in 2024 has not returned. A second bid would look little like her first. Whether that helps her remains to be seen.
What else we’re tracking
Blackburn’s anti-China ad smashes fortune cookies that aren’t Chinese
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who’s running for Tennessee governor, crushes fortune cookies in a new ad and vows to stop communist China. But critics noticed something off about the cookies, the beckoning cat, the soy sauce — and bigger problems her ad ignores.
Gay Filipino American recounts fear after viral photo captures encounter with white supremacists
Roswell Encina was heading to a July Fourth celebration when dozens of masked Patriot Front members boarded his railcar. A now-viral photo caught him seated among them. Now, the gay Filipino American says the image revealed something he rarely sees in himself.
Dallas man gets 15 years for 2022 hate crime shooting at Korean hair salon
A Dallas man opened fire on three Korean American women at a hair salon in 2022. Now, he was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to a hate crime, and investigators had already learned where his hostility toward Asian people began.
4 sentenced in burglary ring that targeted Asian American business owners in the Northwest
Four Colombian nationals were sentenced in federal court for a burglary ring that singled out Asian American business owners across Oregon and Washington. A judge said the crew picked victims for a specific reason. Oregon’s own laws, however, leave prosecutors reaching for a workaround.
Destin Daniel Cretton announces worldwide casting search for live-action ‘Naruto’
The hunt is on for the actors who will play Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Director Destin Daniel Cretton, who helmed “Shang-Chi,” has opened a worldwide casting call for the live-action film.
Asian people show greater tolerance for contradiction than other groups in their countries, study finds
A meta-analysis of nearly 24,000 people across 28 countries found that people of Asian descent, Asian Americans included, sit more comfortably with contradiction than others in their own countries. Researchers believe they know where that comfort comes from.
Why read Issue #233?
Off the bat, Issue #233 turns on the distance between being seen and being safe. Asian Americans here anchor a presidential field and a Hollywood franchise … cultural weight unthinkable a generation ago. But as we can see, it buys us no protection. We’re still targeted, and the laws meant to answer that targeting keep missing why victims were chosen. Even worse, a politics that flattens Asia into one threat widens the distance. Read this issue for the argument that recognition has outpaced the protection that should come with it.
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