The Rose: Come Back to Me

Sandra Oh, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Kumail Nanjiani, Amanda Nguyen, Connie Chung, and beyond: their worlds may be disparate, but they’ve all, in their unique ways, navigated what it means to be Asian in relation to their American identities. While their success has been fraught with racism, they share their stories of losses and wins.

On June 3, 1973, a man was murdered in a busy intersection of San Francisco’s Chinatown as part of an ongoing gang war. Chol Soo Lee, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who had previous run-ins with the law, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and the eyewitness accounts of white tourists who couldn’t distinguish between Asian features. Sentenced to life in prison, Chol Soo Lee would spend years fighting to survive behind bars before journalist K.W. Lee took an interest in his case. The intrepid reporter’s investigation would galvanize a first-of-its-kind pan-Asian American grassroots movement to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s freedom, ultimately inspiring a new generation of social justice activists.

A struggling Liberian rubber plantation worker risks everything to discover a new life as a Yellow Cab driver in New York City.

With his signature circular glasses and mustache, Michael Chow is an exuberant force at the crossroads between eccentricity and sophistication. The famed restaurateur defined “The Moment” with the openings of Mr. Chow, the bustling upscale Chinese eateries that attracted the glitterati of Swingin’ London, 70s Hollywood, and post Studio 54 New York.

Mark Jones, a former West Point cadet struggling with PTSD and alcoholism, got life in prison in Florida after an attempted carjacking under Florida’s “two-strikes” law. Such statutes result in mandatory maximum sentences, including life in prison, for crimes in which no one is injured. Florida’s is among the strictest, but many states have similar laws that increase prison time for repeat offenses.