The Good Asian #1 is a strong opening chapter to a 1930s noir story dealing with subjects uncomfortably familiar relevant to our modern day. Hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States is on the rise, fueled by ghastly rhetoric tying the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic to China. This spate of violence might seem unexpected to the ignorant or naive, as Asian Americans are often considered a “model minority” in the United States and are often excluded when discussing the complicated impacts of race in American society. However, the United States’ immigration policy was established specifically to discriminate against those of Asian descent and Asian Americans have regularly been singled out in abhorrent federal laws and policies, the most well-known of which included the forcible displacement of US citizens of Japanese descent into internment camps. Asian Americans have always been subjected to racism in the United States—its impact on Asian American communities has simply been ignored or brushed aside in many narratives about the American experience.
