Didn't know this Hmong Vang reporter got involved with Li but it's a good thing

[theking]

How a racist voicemail got KARE anchor Gia Vang into the T-shirt business

Jan. 8—On New Year's Day, St. Louis TV news anchor Michelle Li did a 30-second segment about the various foods people eat on the first day of the year. She wrapped up by saying she, like many Koreans, ate dumpling soup.

The seemingly innocuous piece led one viewer to leave a voicemail at the station criticizing Li for "being very Asian" and telling her to "keep her Korean to herself." The woman also suggested a white anchor would get fired for talking about what white people eat on New Year's.

Li posted a video of herself listening to the message on social media and it quickly went viral, thanks in part to KARE-TV anchor Gia Vang's suggestion to change the intended slur into a hashtag of pride: #VeryAsian. Asian Americans, both famous and otherwise, as well as supporters flooded social media with positive feedback and plenty of photos of people happily eating dumpling soup.

"We wanted to move this into a different space," Vang said. "I was trying to reclaim those words and I could see through the response that people picked up on that."

On Twitter, Li asked if people would be interested in a #VeryAsian shirt. The positive response prompted Li to team up with Vang to create the website veryasian.us. It launched Tuesday with a selection of #VeryAsian T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts for sale, with all proceeds going to the Asian American Journalists Association.

"In the first 24 hours, we had more than 1,300 orders," Vang said. "And it really shot up from there."

The pair initially planned to make the items available for two weeks, but they've been so swamped with orders, they made the decision to cut that time in half. Sales will now close at noon Tuesday.

I'd love to say something back. pic.twitter.co m/zrXgiwQbR9

— Michelle (@MichelleLiTV) January 2, 2022

"It's been overwhelming, but good overwhelming," Vang said.

Vang first met Li via social media. The pair connected after a March shooting spree in Atlanta left six Asian women dead, just one of many attacks on Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic.

[Cali Guy]

Turning something negative to positive is awesome in my book. I wondered if that caller, who started it all, was ever identified?

[theking]

Many callers like that are cowards so probably not..