Mariko Rooks

Mariko (she/null) is a mixed race Black Yonsei who calls Little Tokyo home, though she's currently pursuing a joint BA/MPH at Yale in ethnic studies and public health. You can find Mariko talking, writing, and researching with USA Water Polo, Changing Wxman Collective, Discover Nikkei, and more (if she's not at Fugetsu-Do).

Posts by This Author

Three Reasons Why Queer Obon Just ~Makes Sense~

This past June, Okaeri LA hosted the first ever Queer Obon (we think), or a festival designed to bring LGBTQ+ people together in community for this important Buddhist holiday.

What Sounds Like Home: On Creating Black and Asian American Identity Through Music

As Asian Americans, we too can lose sight of music as a border-defying site of home-making. Too often, Asian American artists and musicians are embroiled in Black cultural appropriation just to shed these ornamentations later in favor of another aesthetic. So how do we make a better home for each other in our music?

Just Another Wednesday

What could gentrification taste like? How might erasure alter sight and sound? This story was originally written for the 2021 Little Tokyo Historical Society's annual short story contest.

We Have to Talk About Queer Love in the JA Community

February in the JA community is filled by two major holidays: Day of Remembrance and Valentine’s Day. Let's honor both by re-evaluating how we look at gender, pronouns, love, and identity with our youth.

Revolutionary BTS

What might be even more revolutionary than seeing AAPI masculinity on screen is the idea that Asian men—like k-pop boyband BTS—can subvert gendered concepts of beauty and desire altogether.

Hidden Ecologists: The Rise and Fall of Sustainable Agriculture in Japanese American Farming

Land and micromanagement and precision agriculture techniques are perceived as innovations by environmentalists in the late 20th century. Actually, Japanese American farmers implemented these techniques in the 1900s with remarkable success...until racism intervened. 

A Space for Ourselves: Thoughts from a Black Yonsei

What is it to be a Black Japanese American? What should I tell you? What should you know?