Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with The Daily Show as Ronny Chieng walks us through lesser known AAPI history. Pull out the #1 foam finger for unsung Asian American sports heroes, uncover the worldwide cultural influence of K-Pop, and salute the contributions of Asian American veterans throughout U.S. history. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What is AAPI Heritage Month and why is it important?
That's right, people. We've got our own month. And in honor of AAPI Month, I'm gonna teach you about the most underrepresented demographic of all time, Asian Americans in sports. And I don't just mean the heavy hitters, like Jeremy Lin, Michelle Kwan, Tiger Woods. Yeah, we're claiming him. You got a problem with that? Take it up with the UN.
Chapter 2: Who are some unsung Asian American sports heroes?
Instead, I want to focus on the underdogs who blazed the trail for all the other Asian American athletes to come. People like Wally Yonamine, the Japanese-American who played not one, but two professional sports. And unlike Michael Jordan, he didn't suck at one of them. Also, he never became a crying meme. Why are you sad? You're Michael Jordan.
Chapter 3: What challenges did Wally Yonamine face in his career?
First, in 1947, Yonamine became a running back for the San Francisco 49ers. But in the wake of World War II, he faced a ton of discrimination, even while he was playing. When he would get tackled, the opposing team would punch and kick him. Do you realize how insane that is? I mean, it's football. Everyone's going home with brain damage already. You don't need to force it.
After a wrist injury in 1951, Yonamine decided to switch to baseball. He moved to Japan to play for the Yomiuri Giants, where he was an 11-time All-Star and became the first American player ever to be inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Crazy thing is, Yonamine faced racism in Japan too, but this time because he was American. At games, the fans would chant, Yankee, go home!
Chapter 4: Who was the first AAPI Olympic champion?
Which is normally something you expect to hear only at Red Sox games. or, honestly, any place in Boston that serves alcohol. But enough about baseball. Let's talk about something people actually watch, the Olympics. In 1948, Victoria Manalo-Drez became the first AAPI Olympic champion. But being Filipino, she also faced a lot of discrimination.
In fact, when she was younger and she used a public pool, the town assholes would drain the water after she swam in it, which isn't just racist, it's idiotic. You're gonna double your water bill just because you're afraid of catching being Asian? You can't even get that from a pool. You have to share the same straw, dumbasses.
But against the odds, Manalo won her gold medal in the women's three-meter springboard, and she was cheered on by diver Sami Lee, the first Asian-American man to win an Olympic gold medal. That's right, the first two AAPI gold medals at the same games. It was like Asian Christmas, which is just Christmas. But not every Asian who broke the color barrier had a happy ending.
In 1948, Larry Kwong became the first non-white player in the NHL when he joined the New York Rangers. But they only put him on ice for a minute, and he never played in another game again, which sucks. But breaking the color barrier is like losing your virginity. Even if you only did it for a second, it still counts.
Another great first happened in 1927 when Walter R. Chu became the first person of East Asian descent to play in the NFL. Because his last name was R. Chu, he earned the nickname Sneeze. Sadly, this was before athlete sponsorships were a thing, so he couldn't even get that sweet, sweet Kleenex money. Eventually, he retired from the NFL to compete in a safer sport.
wrestling, proving that Asians can roll around without balls in someone's face just like everyone else. But let's move on to my personal favorite sport, basketball. The first non-white player of any race in NBA history was Japanese-American Wataru Misaka. In 1947, he was the first draft pick of the New York Knicks, and they even promoted his skills to sell tickets.
But shocker, he faced a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment and only ended up playing three games. It was so bad, he decided to go back to school to get his engineering degree, which I respect. He was basically like, oh, you don't like me being Asian? Well, I'm gonna be extra Asian now, bitches. But sports isn't just about the athletes.
There's so many other people who've made history without destroying their joints. People like Kim Ng, who became the general manager of the Miami Marlins, making her the first female GM in any major American men's league. She worked her way up the ladder, facing racism and sexism. It's the surf and turf of discrimination. So now you know. There's been so many unsung Asian sports heroes in history.
Don't bother thanking me. My meager teacher salary is thanks enough. And yes, this is all gonna be on the final. All right, all right, settle down, everyone, because today we're learning about something that's blowing up all over the world. No, not climate change, okay? I don't teach boring stuff in this classroom. I'm talking about K-pop.
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Chapter 5: What impact did K-pop have on global culture?
BT mother ass. Three letters so important, the rest of the alphabet doesn't even exist anymore. They've dominated the charts. They've generated billions in revenue. They made it okay to eat butter again. They even increased tourism to South Korea. I mean, I'm glad my fans aren't that devoted, because then they'd have to travel to Australia, which, trust me, you don't wanna do that.
BTS is without a doubt the biggest group in the world. You can tell by their fans. The BTS Army is the second largest military after the US, and they've drawn zero weddings. BTS might be on hiatus, but there's so much new K-pop we can enjoy while they're gone. And now you know how I got to where it is today. Oppa Gangnam Style. Oh, now it's in my head. Get it out. Hello class, thanks for coming.
Although you really had no choice, since if you don't come to school in America, your parents get arrested. Today, we're gonna learn about some of the great Asian veterans in US history, because Asians have served in the US military for almost as long as America has fought in wars, which is basically the whole time.
America loves war so much it wants to have its babies and then send those babies to go fight in the next war. Anyway, first up is Augustine Feliciano, who fought in the War of 1812, which happened in... Let's see here. Let's see here. The teacher's guide doesn't actually say, so nice going, morons. Feliciano was the first Filipino to serve in the US Navy.
Chapter 6: How did politics influence the evolution of K-pop?
But before he sailed with the Navy, he sailed with pirates. That's right, American history has Asian veterans and Asian pirates. I'm blowing your freaking mind today. What's next, Asian werewolves? No, that's beneath us. Let's fast forward to America's Civil War. The first one, not the one currently happening every day in your Twitter feed.
The Civil War is where Chinese American soldiers began to make their mark. Of the roughly 200 Chinese Americans living in the Eastern US at the time, 58 of them served in the war. That's 58 out of 200. Can you calculate the percentage from that number? It's easy.
You just cross out the zeros, you move the decimal point over, you flip the whole thing, you multiply by 100, and you plug your phone and use a calculator. Math is easy, especially for me, a teacher. One of the most distinguished Chinese Civil War vets was Joseph Pierce.
He rose in the ranks to corporal, the highest rank of any Chinese American in the Union Army, which I can also relate to because I am the highest ranking Asian at The Daily Show. Though sadly, I do not have as many confirmed kills. And yeah, there were white soldiers in the 1800s who were taking orders from an Asian guy. Because those guys were hashtag allies.
and they didn't even need to brag about it on Instagram. All right, Julia? We get it. You taught your dog Cantonese. But not every veteran got what they deserve. Edward Day Cahota was a Chinese immigrant adopted by an American ship captain who fought in the Civil War and then served for another 26 years. But get this, America still refused to make him a citizen. Can you believe that?
I mean, this guy risked his life in the military for almost 30 years. Most citizens never do anything close to that. they automatically get citizenship just by getting pooped out of their mom's butt. That's right, I threw in some sex ed for free. You're welcome. Let's move on to World War I and one of its greatest Asian-American heroes, Lao-Sing Kee.
He was a runner, which means he ran messages to the front line, all while dodging gunfire and flamethrowers. That's right, this guy risked his life to send messages. I hope this makes you grateful for texting. In fact, I wish this was still how we had to send messages. You probably think twice if you had to run across a battlefield to give someone a picture of your dick.
Now let's turn to World War II. We saw Asian American heroes like Daniel Inoue, who fought in the 442nd Regiment, a unit made up completely of soldiers of Japanese descent and one of the most decorated regiments in military history. During a combat mission in France, Inoue escaped death when a bullet to his chest was blocked by two silver dollars. Try doing that with Bitcoin, you crypto bitches.
Daniel Inoue is why I carry two silver dollars in my breast pocket at all times. Wait, where are they? Oh yeah, I got that vending machine coke. Okay, nobody shoot me until I can get to the bullion exchange. Even after his military service, Inoue went on to serve 50 years in Congress. So congrats to him on finding the only job worse than combat.
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Chapter 7: What was the significance of the 1990s for K-pop?
Knowing how cheap these school districts are, I probably have lead poisoning. Class dismissed.
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