On 11/15/2025, Aylus volunteers went to the Main Library Community Room to listen to a speech given by Michael Luo from 2:00pm to 4:00pm (2 hours).
Michael Luo is an executive editor at The New Yorker and writes regularly for the magazine on politics, religion, and Asian American issues. Before joining the magazine in 2016, he spent thirteen years at The New York Times as a national correspondent, metro reporter, and investigative reporter and editor. Luo is a recipient of a George Polk Award and a Livingston Award for Young Journalists. He is a second-generation Chinese American and lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
Luo’s topic today was about his book “Strangers in the Land”. He started his speech with the phenomenon of disrespect towards immigrants, which he didn’t know what to respond with back then. This was something that made him want to inform people about history between Asians and Americans.
Then, he gave out many events recorded in his book to inform the audience. For example, many Chinese were hired to work during the gold rush and proved to employers their abilities. However, since there was a huge difference in culture, and especially language, Asians, which included Chinese, were not treated the same as immigrants from Europe. Bias limited the opportunities of Asians, and the problem was not treated until later reforms.
To end the activity, Luo encouraged the audience to ask questions and buy his book to learn more about the history. Discussions about modern Asian-American relationships and bonds were made, which brought out further thinking relating to our current lives and more.
Since so many people, not only Asians, but also other ethnic groups can relate to the predicament of facing racism; it’s important to let more people, especially students, to understand and respect others who you don’t really know. After all, there was a time when a lot of Europeans coming in to the US to seek for more opportunities and better lives. However, this time, it was the Asians. Respecting other people and different cultures is not something hard to do in fact, and sometimes, you’ll be surprised to find that learning more about history and the abundance of culture makes you a more knowledgeable and successful person.
Aylus helped set up and cleaning and sit through the lecture. We all benefit a lot.
Members who participated (2hrs) include:
Felicia Liu, Brian Zhang, Yingxiang Liu, Catherine Tao , Yuya Liu, Austin Wang
Reporter: Felicia Liu