During a New Year’s Day broadcast from NBC-affiliated KSDK St. Louis, Korean-American anchor Michelle Li was doing a piece on traditionally eaten New Year’s foods. After reporting on the cultural traditions of pork, cornbread, and green beans, she ad-libbed a dash of her own New Year’s dishes: “I ate dumpling soup, that’s what a lot of Korean people do.”

While at the time the comment would seem trivial to many viewers and Li herself, the words would soon become the driving force behind a wave of controversy and a new Internet phenomenon.

Shortly after the broadcast, Li posted a video on Twitter and Instagram of her listening to a caller voicemail from a viewer who said, “This evening your Asian anchor mentioned something about being Asian and Asian people eat dumplings on New Year’s Day, and I kind of take offense to that because what if one of your white anchors said white people eat this on New Year’s Day. I don’t think it’s appropriate she said that.” 

“She’s being very Asian. She can keep her Korean to herself. If a white person said that, they would get fired.”

Even disregarding the ironic hypothetical of a white anchor referencing what white people eat when the original segment was centered around what white people eat as the default, the message was shocking in its ignorance. 

Li’s post went viral, garnering over 3.7 million views, 14,000 retweets and 54 thousand likes, as well as drawing an outpouring of support from fellow Asian public figures. Comments and replies ranged from derisively sardonic (“Caller sounds #verystupid”, commented Chef Sang Yoon) to proud and supportive (Boston mayor Michelle Wu quote tweeted, “We had dumplings for New Year’s too! Proud to be #VeryAsian.)

Soon, Asian-Americans were jumping to social media to share their own #VeryAsian stories, posting their food, clothing, art, traditions, and culture. A Barnes and Noble in Li’s hometown, St. Louis, exhibited several #VeryAsian book displays, highlighting Asian cookbooks and novels by AAPI authors.

One Toronto bakery, LA LA Bakeshop, which specializes in Vietnamese ingredients like durian, egg yolk, and pork floss, displayed a sign on their front door proclaiming “Hi there! We are a #VeryAsian bakery.” In the caption of their Instagram post, the bakery describes a common interaction with customers unaware of the shop’s Asian influence: “Sorry, I thought you were a normal bakery.” 

By proudly identifying as #VeryAsian, the community reclaimed the initially ugly words, making #VeryAsian not a phrase of hateful contempt, but instead a proud declaration of their heritage, a collage of shared experiences and rich cultural backgrounds that connect the AAPI community. 

The story attracted so much publicity that Li appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss her experience and the importance of representation in media. She was presented with a $15,000 check to found the Very Asian Foundation, an organization that aims to spread awareness for AAPI stories and support AAPI causes. They launched a t-shirt campaign selling shirts that feature #VeryAsian written on the front, a dumpling on the back and the phrase “bring your humanity” across the arm, with proceeds going to Stop AAPI Hate and the Asian American Journalists Association.

Even in the midst of chaos, Li maintained her response rooted in compassion and understanding, saying “If I had the chance to actually speak to this woman, I would love to have a heartfelt conversation with her—maybe…over a bowl of dumplings…”

In the end, Li did call and speak with the viewer, who apologized to her. She accepted their apology and stated that she doesn’t harbor anger or hate towards this individual. She also highlighted how the individual’s struggle to articulate the reasoning behind making the comments demonstrated the complicated nature of addressing racist tendencies. 

“But I think it goes to show that race, bias, bigotry—it’s very complex, and we all bring different experiences to the table, and it’s not going to be solved in one conversation,” said Li. Because of this, she says that they agreed to meet eventually in person when Covid would permit them and have another open conversation. 

All of this commotion over a seemingly insignificant 12-word quip on a local news broadcast may appear strange. For some though, the inciting comment was anything but trivial—just for the opposite reason. Li discussed how she received many messages before the voicemail showing their appreciation for her inclusion of her culture, highlighting the impact that representation can have, even if it’s a mere passing reference.

As Li puts it in another Instagram post’s caption, “Is there a default “American”?…It’s not about being mad about the default, it’s just saying, I see you in the back!” 

For many of those in the AAPI community, or really any ethnic minority, this story is not about one voicemail message—it’s about hiding away lunches of rou baozi and cong youbing because they weren’t ham and cheese, anxiously shushing parents speaking in foreign tongues, remembering the sting of each slur, joke, gesture in vivid detail, even years after they occurred. It’s a defiant refusal to the continuous demanding that our culture be hidden away or watered-down to placate those who are not a part of it. 

In the midst of a society plagued by rising Asian hate crimes, a country where a state Congressional candidate can declare that Chinese students should be banned from Texas universities because “No more Communists!”, a world where a UPenn law professor can openly state that “the United States is better off with fewer Asians”—all these demonstrate that that one caller’s sentiment is not an isolated incident, that racism is very much alive and permeating the population.

But the movement shows that transforming hate into positivity, overcoming ignorance, and reclaiming an intended insult as a statement of cultural pride are also #VeryAsian courses of action. The community has spoken loud and clear in characterizing their identity: #VeryAsian, and proud to be so.

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Editors’ note: All opinions expressed on The Uproar are a reflection solely of the beliefs of the bylined author and not the journalism program at NASH.  We continue to welcome school-appropriate comments and guest articles.