Young Asian Americans dominate a great swath of the messy territory called

Young Asian Americans dominate a great swath of the messy territory called YouTube, holding their own against the well-funded and famous.

Taken together, these numbers make two major points: there is a great pool of Asian Americans who, against the grain of “model minority” professionalism, need an outlet for humor and creative expression. Perhaps more importantly, these numbers prove the existence of a huge audience, largely Asian American, who want to see the experiences and talents of Asian people in popular media.

YouTube is, indeed, the only time most of us have seen Asians speak into a camera about the issues that matter to them, and perhaps the only realm where Asian Americans have the opportunity to talk about race to a large audience. Here, they use humor to take on stereotypes and misunderstandings, as in Higa’s “Dear Ryan, Can you open your eyes?” — an absurdist response to a commenter’s absurd question — or Wu’s “Asians Just Aren’t Cool Enough?” taking on the casting of a white actor as Goku in the Dragonball movie (“that’s like making a Fat Albert movie starring Keanu Reeves as Fat Albert”).

Mostly, though, these are videos of young people talking about what young people care about: relationship problems, internet memes, pop movies and music. Higa speaks internet, utilizing quick cuts and interspersing of-the-moment memes, Wu’s facial expressions and self-deprecation are disarmingly funny, DeLaGhetto hits you with a barrage of swagger, Gambito affectionately imitates a Filipina aunty as she gives life advice. The ordinariness of these stories is also their reason for being: they fulfill the very simple desire we all have to watch and listen to people who shares our experiences. Banal as it might seem, in today’s media-dominated America, faces-on-screens are an essential tool of staking a claim in the conversations — cultural and political — that shape this society.