From New York Knicks basketball star Jeremy Lin to Priscilla Chan, wife of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the mainstream media usually portray Asian-Americans as wealthy, well-educated and foreign. The dominant cultural narrative routinely ignores working- and middle-class Asian-Americans, people of various nationalities who struggle with the same socioeconomic conditions as do other Americans.

After resuscitating the carcass of the New York Knicks in his last few games , the Jeremy Lin bandwagon is looking more like a cargo ship. But rooting for him now is about as timely as just telling someone about these amazing Korean tacos (Kogi Truck) or Japanese-inspired burgers (Umami). You’re so 2000-and-late. In a league that has seen a number of Chinese forwards and centers, it was difficult for the basketball powers-that-be to imagine that an Asian guy could play guard.