Asian Americans have been using Alexandra Walace as our domestic diversion from the real news of Japan and Libya.

But she’s what all Asian Americans face, especially as more AAPIs find themselves in far-flung places, recycling the immigrant experience in areas that to date have relatively  little AAPI experience beyond a Panda Express.

When Vietnamese refugees were sent to Texas in the 70s and 80s, we know what happened. It wasn’t exactly California. But go there now and see a thriving community a generation later.

Today, a new cycle begins for the nation’s fastest growing minority in brand new states  like Kentucky,  Tennessee and Georgia, where it’s 1965 all over again. Only the outsiders aren’t black—-they’re various shades of yellow.

On the inside?   I’d say, the odds are good  you’ll find clones of UCLA’s Alexandra Wallace.

For more on her, read my blog at www.aaldef.org/blog