have a subtle new year

The Lunar New Year always has ya girl thinking extra hard about Chinese-American identity and also the Asian diaspora at large, which is why we’re referring you today to The Atlantic’s piece on the Subtle Asian Traits Facebook group that blew up with more than 1 million members at the end of last year.

If you’d already been in the FB group (which started in September), you would have noticed that The Atlantic’s piece was one of several as mainstream media marshaled up to fall in line with the latest non-white trend: the big A, The New York Times, and The New Yorker all covered the Facebook group within two weeks of each other — but The Atlantic’s is the best for its deep cut on Asian online communities, nuanced analysis of unequal representation amongst South Asians, and the cutest closing anecdote.

So, is it a coincidence that The Atlantic’s more exhaustive and generally ~with it~ piece on a digital phenom within a minority community was pitched and written by two young Asian staffers who were only fellows at the time? We think not. (Psst: this is coincidentally your daily reminder to hire for a diverse pool of young talent, to pay them well, and empower them to catch your own blindspots. happy new year!!!)