Kim Kardashian is ASIAN?!
Kim Kardashian, 44, surprised followers when a scalp-analysis screen shown in a recent Instagram story listed her ethnicity as “Asian.”
The Rebel Yellow - Issue #63
Shein and Temu prices are spiking — and for many low-income shoppers, it’s only the beginning. With Trump’s tariff loophole set to close Friday, Chinese goods that once entered the U.S. tax-free will now face a 145% hike or more.
Also this week: Vietnamese Americans in Orange County reflect on 50 years since the fall of Saigon, a Seattle woman searches for the hit-and-run driver who killed her mother, and a new report reveals how textbooks continue to erase Asian American history.
Shein, Temu prices soar as Trump’s tariffs near
Chinese e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu have substantially increased prices for U.S. consumers ahead of President Donald Trump’s closure of a key import loophole taking effect this Friday.
What you need to know: Temu began adding “import charges” of approximately 145% to products shipped from China over the weekend, effectively more than doubling the cost of many items. A CNBC analysis showed a summer dress priced at $18.47 now costs $44.68 after a $26.21 import charge. Similarly, Shein has raised prices across its platform, with increases exceeding 300% for certain items. The average price for its top beauty and health products reportedly jumped 51% between April 24-25, while home goods and toys saw average increases exceeding 30%.
Ending “de minimis”: The price hikes directly respond to Trump eliminating the “de minimis” exemption for Chinese imports. Since 2016, packages valued under $800 could enter the U.S. without tariffs or customs paperwork — a provision that allowed companies like Shein and Temu to offer rock-bottom prices. But starting Friday, these shipments will face either tariffs of 120% of a product’s value or a minimum fee of $100 per package (increasing to $200 on June 1). Both retailers warned customers earlier this month of impending price increases.
The big picture: The de minimis exemption closure, part of Trump’s sweeping tariff policies, signals a major shift for ultra-cheap Chinese goods. With their app store rankings significantly dropping, both Shein and Temu are expected to pursue alternatives. A Yale-UCLA study also found that the change will “disproportionately hurt lower-income and minority consumers,” noting nearly half of de minimis shipments went to low-income ZIP codes.
Vietnamese Americans in OC commemorate 50 years since fall of Saigon
Hundreds of Vietnamese Americans gathered Wednesday morning at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster for the city’s annual Black April ceremony, marking 50 years since North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and ended the Vietnam War. The remembrance included a wreath-laying, prayers and a flag-lowering of the former South Vietnamese banner, flown at half-staff for the occasion.
Tributes across Little Saigon
The park ceremony capped a slate of commemorations that began two weeks ago, when officials unveiled signs renaming a two-mile segment of Interstate 405 the Little Saigon Freeway and rededicated the Bolsa Avenue post office as the Little Saigon Vietnam War Veterans Memorial Post Office.
“Fifty years ago, we lost Saigon, but we did not lose our hope,” said State Assemblymember Tri Ta during its unveiling of the Little Saigon Freeway sign on April 18. “Today, we honor the courage and sacrifice of over 58,000 American service members and more than 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers who fought side by side in the pursuit of freedom.”
Home away from home
The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 triggered one of the 20th century’s largest refugee crises. Tens of thousands fled by air and sea; many resettled at Camp Pendleton before building what is now Little Saigon in Westminster, Garden Grove and surrounding cities. A similar migration pattern produced thriving enclaves in San Jose and Houston, among others.
For 71-year-old veteran Kiệt Huynh, who attended the freeway dedication, the milestone is bittersweet: “It reminds me how many people in Vietnam died that day, and how many children,” he said.
Community leaders say preserving those memories now falls to the U.S.-born generation. Local nonprofits are launching oral-history workshops, while a state law (AB 1039) requires California to complete a model curriculum on the Vietnamese American refugee experience by the end of 2026. Westminster officials confirmed that the city’s Black April observance will return on April 30 next year, part of what organizers call “an unbroken promise to remember.”
Seattle woman vows to find driver who killed her mom in hit-and-run
A Seattle woman is offering a $20,000 reward to find the motorcyclist who fled after striking her parents in a crosswalk earlier this month, killing her mother and seriously injuring her father.
What happened
The couple was walking on the crosswalk at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Alaska Street near the Columbia City light rail station when they were struck by the southbound motorcycle at around 8:20 p.m. on April 18. The rider fled the scene before police arrived.
Min Huang, 57, sustained critical injuries including significant head trauma and was transported to Harborview Medical Center, where she died two days later. Her husband, Xing, 59, suffered a spinal fracture and knee injury and remains in recovery.
A tragic loss
Lizzy Chen, the victims’ daughter, moved to Seattle from China with her parents at the age of 13. She described her parents as hardworking Hyatt Hotel Seattle employees who were approaching their 60s and looking forward to retirement.
“We are a close, loving family, and they’ve always given everything to build a better life for me,” Chen said, adding that they are “heartbroken beyond words” with the loss of her mother.
Chen set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for her mother’s funeral, her father’s medical bills, legal support, bounty for the suspect and other expenses. As of press time, the family is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and charges, on top of $1,000 offered by the Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound.
What’s next
The Seattle Police Department’s Traffic Collision Investigation Squad is actively investigating the case. Surveillance photos and videos show a red 1988-1999 Honda Goldwing GL1500 motorcycle as the apparent culprit.
Chen is determined to find the hit-and-run driver. “We will find him as long as he lives on Earth,” she said.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad at 206-684-8923 or submit tips anonymously through the P3 Tips app or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS.
Female suspect sought in anti-Asian hate crime on Queens subway
The NYPD is searching for a woman suspected of committing an anti-Asian hate crime aboard a northbound R train near Queens Plaza station in Long Island City on the evening of April 16. The incident marks the first hate crime reported this year by the 108th Precinct, which had recorded five by the same time last year.
Incident details: According to police, a 29-year-old woman was riding the train shortly before 7 p.m. when an unidentified woman sat across from her and began yelling racial slurs, including “You Chinese bitch,” before repeatedly kicking her in the legs. The suspect then fled the train in an unknown direction. The victim sustained minor injuries and declined medical treatment at the scene.
Suspect information: The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident. Authorities released a surveillance image of the suspect on April 22, who was last seen wearing a red, black and white hooded jacket, gray sweatpants and white sneakers.
Hate trends: How to help: Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. Tips can also be submitted online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or via X @NYPDTips. All information will be kept confidential.
Kash Patel pledges “full support” to India after Kashmir terror attack
FBI Director Kash Patel has condemned the April 22 terrorist attack in disputed Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people, calling it a “reminder of the constant threats that the world faces from the evils of terrorism.”
What he’s saying
In a statement posted on X, Patel expressed condolences to victims and pledged continued U.S. support to the Indian government. “The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir — and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government,” he wrote.
The attack, carried out by The Resistance Front — believed to be a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — targeted tourists in the Baisaran meadow area. It is said to be the deadliest attack in Kashmir since 2019, when a suicide bombing of a Pakistani militant killed 44 Indian troops.
How the U.S. is responding
President Donald Trump, who called the attack “a bad one,” reportedly contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 23 to convey condolences and condemn the incident, expressing full support to India in bringing perpetrators to justice. Meanwhile, the State Department is closely monitoring the situation while urging a “responsible resolution” between the two nuclear-armed nations.
China, Philippines take turns planting flags on disputed sandbank
What happened: Chinese Coast Guard personnel reportedly landed on Sandy Cay, a disputed sandbank that holds strategic significance in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, in mid-April and “enforced maritime management and exercised sovereign jurisdiction.” They cleaned debris, investigated Philippine activities and displayed the Chinese flag “to assert sovereignty.” On Sunday, Philippine teams from the coast guard, navy and maritime police responded by deploying four rubber boats to the same sandbars, where they posed with their own national flag.
Why this matters: The uninhabited sandy outcroppings have outsized geopolitical importance because they remain above water at high tide, entitling them to 12 nautical miles of territorial sea under international maritime law. The features lie in the Spratly Islands between the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island and China’s Subi Reef, an artificial island that serves as one of Beijing’s most important military outposts in the disputed waterway.
What China is saying: The Philippine personnel “illegally boarded” Tiexian Jiao despite “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side, according to Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson Liu Dejun. China, he said, has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and adjacent waters.
What the Philippines is saying: Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the Philippines’ National Security Council, rejected claims that China has seized the sandbars. Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said their operation aimed to “check whether the Chinese government installed different infrastructure or monitoring devices,” adding they could “totally debunk the lie and disinformation” about Chinese occupation.
The latest standoff over Sandy Cay unfolds as the U.S. and Philippines conduct their largest-ever annual joint military exercises nearby.
“Carbon dumpster”? Japan to send CO₂ emissions to Malaysia
Japan and Malaysia are on the verge of signing a government-to-government memorandum that would allow carbon dioxide captured in Japan to be liquefied and shipped to depleted gas fields off Sarawak as early as 2030. Industry sources say trading house Mitsui & Co., Kansai Electric Power and Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas are preparing three offshore sites designed to hold up to 10 million tonnes of CO₂ a year.
Asia’s first “carbon corridor”
Tokyo’s limited geology and protracted permitting have pushed officials to pursue overseas options. If concluded, the agreement would create Asia’s first dedicated “carbon corridor,” giving energy-hungry Japan a place to store emissions it cannot stash at home and positioning Malaysia as a regional hub for carbon-capture and storage (CCS) services.
Japan has pledged net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, yet still expects fossil fuels to supply up to 40 percent of its power mix in 2040. The government’s long-term CCS roadmap calls for sequestering 120–240 million tonnes annually by 2050, but only 11 domestic sites have been identified so far.
Support and scepticism
Petronas says the venture will “reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the Asia-Pacific,” but Malaysian civil-society groups are wary. A March memorandum endorsed by Greenpeace Malaysia and Sahabat Alam Malaysia warned that multiple CCS deals risk turning the country into “the carbon dumpster” of richer economies and urged both governments to focus on cutting emissions at source.
Officials expect the memorandum to be signed by mid-2025, after which Mitsui and Petronas would seek project approvals under the London Protocol governing trans-boundary waste shipments. Malaysia is also drafting a CCS Bill to spell out long-term liability for any leaks. Observers say the outcome will shape whether other Southeast Asian reservoirs — in Indonesia, Brunei or even Australia — open their doors to imported carbon.
America’s Labubu obsession still runs hot after price hike
U.S. collectors are snapping up Pop Mart’s snaggle-toothed Labubu dolls even after the Chinese toymaker raised the price stateside from $22 to $27.99 to offset steep import duties. The 27% jump follows Washington’s new 145% tariff on most China-made toys, yet online inventories still vanish in seconds and fans continue camping outside the brand’s 16 U.S. boutiques.
Sticker shock meets obsession
Pop Mart’s latest blind-box run, “Labubu 3.0 – Big Into Energy,” costs the equivalent of $13.50 (99 yuan) in mainland China but more than double that in the U.S. The markup has not dulled demand, with the Pop Mart app reaching No. 1 in Apple’s U.S. shopping chart and No. 7 overall the week the toys dropped, according to Sensor Tower data.
Analysts at SPDB International note that Pop Mart is “safeguarding its margins” by passing along the full tariff load while accelerating a shift of production to Vietnam — an arrangement that still leaves shipping and duty costs far higher than in Asia.
From Asia to American shelves
Developed in 2015 by Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung, Labubu joined Pop Mart’s “The Monsters” line in 2019 and rocketed to global fame after Blackpink’s Lisa posted an Instagram video in April 2024 hugging a tie-dyed Labubu plush. The ripple reached the U.S. within months, turning the character into a must-have bag charm and pushing Pop Mart’s U.S. revenues for “The Monsters” franchise to a reported 3.04 billion yuan ($421 million) last year — a whopping 726% jump from 2023.
Jon M. Chu criticizes Silicon Valley and Hollywood over AI’s “original sin”
Director Jon M. Chu voiced strong concerns about the unchecked rise of generative artificial intelligence during a panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Sunday, criticizing both Silicon Valley and the entertainment industry for their roles in what he called an “original sin.”
Reflecting on his tech-savvy upbringing and Hollywood career, the “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Wicked” director condemned AI developers for training their systems on copyrighted creative works without permission. “They took all the scripts, they took all the movies," Chu said. "It feels like they're saying, 'We're past it, move on,'" he said, adding that he could "never forgive that."
While acknowledging the risks posed by generative AI, Chu said he remains optimistic that technology will not supplant human creativity or the personal and cultural values that define art. He emphasized that it is ultimately people, and not machines, who determine what holds artistic worth.
Kim Kardashian’s classification as Asian sparks debate on Armenian identity
Kim Kardashian, 44, surprised followers when a scalp-analysis screen shown in a recent Instagram story listed her ethnicity as “Asian.” The clip, recorded during a visit to a Los Angeles head spa, was quickly reposted to Reddit, where a user remarked, “Didn’t know Kim identifies herself as Asian,” sparking discussion on how the half-Armenian entrepreneur describes her heritage.
Armenia, Kardashian’s paternal homeland, is a land-locked nation in the South Caucasus that the U.N. classifies as part of Western Asia, yet its deep historical and political links to Europe have led many scholars to call it trans-continental, or “Eurasian.” Reddit commenters echoed this duality — “Armenians are West Asians or Eurasians,” one wrote. Others, however, suggested the “Asian” tag might simply reflect broad hair-type categories used by the clinic.
The Rebel Yellow Opinions & Commentary
Trump’s first 100 days: Promises made, promises broken.
Author: U.S. Representative Grace Meng (NY-06), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
President Trump made lowering costs a central theme of his campaign, but 100 days into his administration, he has yet to deliver on that promise. But don’t just take my word for it.
Small business owners in Chinatowns across the country are pleading with the Trump administration to reverse course after it had implemented sweeping tariffs, including a devastating 145% tariff on Chinese goods. Mom-and-pop stores that barely survived the pandemic are now staring down another crisis, wondering if they will have to shutter their businesses for good.
I recently met with Asian American residents struggling to stay afloat amid this economic uncertainty. One neighbor worried about how they will afford imported staples like rice and dried fish on a fixed income. Another small business owner was forced to crunch numbers late into the night to determine if they could keep their doors open.
Some of my constituents supported President Trump, believing he would make lowering costs his top priority. The America they received in the last 100 days is far from what they were promised.
So what happened to Trump’s pledge to “bring prices down, starting on day one”? The answer is simple: No president can wave a magic wand to instantly lower prices — and Trump never should have made such a promise.
The real truth, however, is more insidious. Instead of bringing down costs for working people, the administration is focused on providing taxpayer-funded handouts to billionaires like Elon Musk.
If you find that hard to believe, just take a look at the administration's record. Despite Republicans controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, they have yet to pass a single bill into law that will make life more affordable for everyday Americans.
But there’s been no shortage of actions President Trump has taken to enrich his billionaire donors. This includes cutting vital programs like Medicaid — which provides health care to 4.5 million Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders — to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy, firing IRS employees who go after billionaire tax cheats, and cutting backroom deals to shield corporate giants from the very tariffs that are crushing small businesses.
Unless you can afford a $50,000 Mar-a-Lago fundraiser or an army of lobbyists, you’re out of luck. And the administration’s harmful policies go far beyond the economy. Over the past 100 days, President Trump has tested every limit to undermine the rule of law and threaten our inalienable rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The president has issued a flurry of executive orders to revoke birthright citizenship, dismantle the Department of Education, and eliminate federal translation services for Americans with limited English proficiency. The administration has even gone as far as to detain, disappear, and deport legal U.S. residents and children who are citizens without due process.
This is a dark moment in our country’s history. But we are not powerless.
As Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), I am using every tool available to stand up to policies that harm Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. As a Caucus, we have submitted amicus briefs to the Supreme Court to defend our fundamental freedoms. We introduced legislation to curb executive overreach. And we are fighting every day — in Congress, in the courts, and in our communities.
Now is not the time to sit on the sidelines. We have to educate. We have to organize. We have to make our voices heard, now more than ever. The future of our democracy depends on it.
🗣️ Have something to say? We welcome diverse opinions and thoughtful commentary across the political spectrum. If you’d like to contribute to our “Opinions & Commentary” section, please reach out to us at crew@therebelyellow.com — we’d love to hear your voice.