Lee Mun Wah

Lee Mun Wah is an internationally renowned Chinese American documentary filmmaker, author, poet, Asian folkteller, educator, community therapist and master diversity trainer. For more than 25 years he was a resource specialist and counselor in the San Francisco Unified School District. He later became a consultant to private schools, working with students that had severe learning and behavioral issues. Lee Mun Wah is now the Executive Director of Stirfry Seminars & Consulting, a diversity training company that provides educational tools and workshops on issues pertaining to cross-cultural communication and awareness, mindful facilitation, and conflict mediation techniques. Thousands of people from government and social service agencies, corporations and educational institutions have taken Lee Mun Wah’s workshops and partnered with Stirfry Seminars & Consulting on their diversity initiatives...   Read More

The Dream of a Better World

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In 1995, in the last scene of Stolen Ground (racism towards Asian Americans), I asked each of the Asian men in the cast: What if you were facing an all-white audience … what would you say to them? There was a prolonged silence and eventually tears intertwined with a deep sense of sadness, anger and … Read more

What is the Fear for Whites to Talk About Racism?

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My group experience as a community therapist and facilitator has taught me that whenever there is denial and/or defensiveness, there is also a fear and need to protect something or someone. I think that the general reaction of most whites is that when the subject of racism comes up, they will be scapegoated and blamed by BIPOC, and that the focus of discussion will be on how they have continued to perpetuate racism.

A Gun in the Mouth

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As I’ve grown older, life seems to be filled with so many deja vu moments: some joyous and others painfully familiar. Such is what happened recently when I read about a sheriff’s department in Mississippi under investigation after a series of disturbing reports of violent interactions with Black men, including two that were fatal and … Read more

Why Is It Up To Us?

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I remember that when my film, The Color of Fear, was released in 1995, so many in my audiences (particularly BIPOC) asked, “Why is up to us to spend three whole days to convince one white guy about the injustice and pain of racism?” It was a fair question then, as much as it is now, … Read more

I’m Afraid I’ll Offend You

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Caucasian businessman looking at african business rival with hate dislike envy, diverse competitors in suits working in office on laptops, multiracial colleagues enemies showing rivalry at work

This one statement and many others like it by whites, keeps us (BIPOC and whites) apart and in constant fear and hesitation to fully get to know each other. Let me share how and why. Recently, in one of my workshops, Mary, a participant shared that as a white woman, she’s afraid to ask questions … Read more

Where are you from? No, where are you really from?

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Recent uproars about asking the above questions have many pundits labelling this type of persistent questioning by whites: racism. My experience tells me that this will probably be followed up by a variety of reactions from whites: a.) Deciding to never ask this type of question again for fear of being publically humiliated or expelled … Read more

A Different Perspective

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by Lee Mun Wah Recently, a white man shared that whites would be more receptive to looking at their own racism and privilege if they only knew how much BIPOC cared about them. Everyone in the room was white except for me and I could see how moved they were when they heard this. Once … Read more

Broken and Apart

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In the film, Seabiscuit, a horse that is broken comes back to win in a major race. At the end, the rider shares: I know that many think we helped bring a broken horse back to life, but I think it is, we, who were brought back from our broken lives…and in the process we … Read more