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Ponderings on the Fourth of July
Proud to be an American of Asian descent? Or just proud to be here in the U.S. of A., free, but maybe not debt-free?
California’s giving out IOU’s, what can we give our creditors?
Before you blow off your safe and sane fireworks this week, or watch a replication of war played out in the night sky, just remember what a great thing revolutions are.
Where would we be without them?
Doing things the old way?
For some that could be a good thing, if you’re on the oppressor side of the equation, you’re likely wringing your hands in exile somewhere, dreaming of counter-revolution.
For the rest of us though, July 4th commemorates all the good revolution has brought.
Celebrate it rightfully, freely, joyfully.
Emil is still amok...
Check out my updates at www.amok.com
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Ron Takaki, the man who put APAs into historical context for the academy, is dead
In the future, we will know why May is Asian Pacific American Month. It isn’t just because of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant (May 7,1843). Or the sweat equity earned by Chinese workers who helped complete the transcontinental railroad (May 10,1869).
Sadly, it is now the month that marks the passing of Ronald Takaki, Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley, who in the last 50 years became the pre-eminent advocate for the inclusion of Asian American history in the American academy.
Takaki died the night of May 26 after a long illness, according to his family. He leaves a wife, Carol Takaki, three children, Dana, Troy, and Todd, and several grandchildren.
It’s hard to imagine what we read before Takaki’s seminal work,”Strangers from a Different Shore”? What did we have to read? The answer. Not much. You might have Asian Americans from a white perspective, but mostly it was considered history on the margins, not seen worthy of serious study. When I was an undergraduate at Harvard in the ’70s, I recall how I hungered for information that would explain to me what happened to the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Filipinos who came to America. Deep in the library stacks I found a few unpublished dissertations from Asian Americans that opened my eyes, but were mostly ignored by others. It wasn’t until Takaki came out with “Strangers” did the sense of the American experience of Asians take place. There was nothing that had the scope, nor success of Takaki’s “Strangers…” I remember when I first saw it, I thought this was it. The most comprehensive telling of our story. I have at least three editions, two hardbound, and one paper back. I keep lending off all my dog-eared copies. Maybe that’s why I never thought to ask Ron to sign a copy for me. His book was a working tool.
So no autograph. But I did get a blurb. I called him up and I was flattered when he said he read my columns. He said he would be happy to blurb my book, a collection called “Amok:Essays from an Asian American Perspective.” For me it was like getting a blessing from on high.
Takaki’s “Strangers…” gave our community a context that brought us together as Americans.
And it gave me an informed sense of the importance to go amok.
Comment at http://www.amok.com
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No Asian American to the high court but Sotomayor’s pick gives hope
If you thought affirmative action was dead, just look at what President Obama did. He has affirmed that the much maligned remedy to racial injustice is alive and well with his pick of Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Check it out on my blog at www.amok.com
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May Day! May Day! It’s APA Heritage Month
But does any one care?
I survived Vice President Joe Biden’s warning yesterday having taken a cross-country plane trip, a bus ride, and a subway ride all within the same 24 hours.
I’m not sure what I’m incubating, but I’m proud to say I lived to see the start of another APA month.
Coincidentally, Asian Pacific Americans are competing with others who have declared May Anxiety Disorders Month, Digestive Disease Awareness Month and Better Sleep Month ( and that’s a short list among others including bike enthusaists and hug givers).
That means there’s probably no better way to celebrate May than to find a crazy Asian American with lactose-intolerant inspired gas attacks, then ride a bike to their place in order hug and sleep (just sleep) with them.
But, of course, only if you really want to get into the spirit of things.
APA Month was originally a week, but expanded to a month, perhaps because it gave people more time to forget that it was a time to celebrate.
I’ve long complained during APA month that another one comes along and no one ever sends me so much as a Hallmark card. Some public employees groups and non-profits annually celebrate with food and music fests (APA Month is a good excuse to have one more lumpia and dance the tinikling). This year, Asian Week no longer publishes but it does have its public display, the big street festival.
But that’s for us Asian Pacific Americans. Generally, the month is lost what with seemingly everyone else claiming May, or the month is taken for granted, if not totally forgotten. That of course is the shame. APA month is a chance to spotlight the community and let others develop their experience and appreciation of us. If prejudice and discrimination are based on ignorance, an APA Month should be seen as our educational tool to help non-Asians understand that their “foreign” neighbors have real American roots. Old hat? Effective education requires repetition.
But on the eve of our month, I was forced to rethink who this month was really for.
For the rest of this piece…… go to www.amok.com
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Do you know Fred? The Fred T. Korematsu Institute …
Check out what I have to say about the Asian Law Caucus and the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education….
at www.amok.com
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Do you know Fred? The Fred T. Korematsu Institute…
Check out what’s happening at the Asian Law Caucus Dinner and the new Fred Korematsu Institute…
at www.amok.com
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Manny Pacquiao: The Phillippines answer to Barack Obama?
Though he’s focused on his next fight againts Ricky Hatton, Pacquiao has said politics is his next stage.
He’s already the most popular Filipino on the planet.
Check out what he did in San Francisco at the Giants game at AT&T Park at www.amok.com
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Jiverly Wong’s sister’s interview on “Today Show” barely scratches the surface
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Immigrant Rage goes beyond Binghamton: There’s a lot more Jiverly Wongs out there
“A gunman invaded an immigration services center…” So begins the lede sentence to the New York Times story about the massacre in Binghamton, N.Y. at the hands of Jiverly Wong.
For most of Friday, officials kept Wong’s identity a closely held secret until it was leaked. But why the reluctance to fully reveal these facts: Jiverly Wong, 42, an Asian American immigrant, opened fire on a citizenship class in Binghamton, N.Y., shooting 13 people and wounding 4 others before taking his own life.
What were officials afraid of? Whipping up some ethnic stereotype? (Crazy murderous Asians, anyone?) Or creating a backlash against Asians and Asian Americans? Whites didn’t fear a backlash when a John Wayne Gacy or a Jeffrey Dahmer appeared, why should Asians now?
In this sad tale, race and ethnicity are what makes this story. It’s not a generic mainstream thing. The Wong rampage is about the violence that can stem from the very real and specific cultural schizophrenia that results from the psycho journey that is immigration.
In a country of new immigrants, we need to do more than check for green cards and passports. We need to check with people’s mental health.
Wong was just another Asian American immigrant lost in language and communication, culture and society, and it all contributed to what we saw on Friday.
There are a lot of Wongs in America. And they need help, before it’s too late.
We just don’t hear about them much because, of course, mental illness is so stigmatized in the Asian American community, that not even the drugs to remedy it can make it seem cool or attractive. Culturally, Asian Americans prefer to deal with these issues quietly, away from mental health arena. Besides what are the chances of finding someone trained in language, or with the cultural awareness to recognize and deal with the most troubled situations? Not so good. In normal medical situations, finding doctors and nurses who can communicate with immigrant patients with normal needs is hard enough.
What do we know of Wong? That he lived in Inglewood, Calif from 2000-2007, according to the Times story. That he worked as a delivery driver for a sushi company. A Vietnamese doing sushi deliveries. Seen one Asian, seen them all.
Paulus Lukas, the H.R. person for the sushi company told a reporter Wong had few friends and wasn’t social. “I cannot point to anybody here who really knew him because he was not outgoing,” Lukas said in a report. Or maybe Wong just felt trapped in his own immigrant’s hell. I wonder if his medical records show he sought any help or counseling? Or if as his co-workers observed, he was merely seen as a quiet person who kept to himself. Nothing unusual. In fact for an Asian American, that sounds “normal.”
In the case of Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter and the perpetrator of the biggest shooting spree in modern American history, his parents didn’t know what to do with all the signs they were getting.
They turned to a minister.
That didn’t work.
Part of the problem goes to the identity of the perpetrators. In both Wong and Cho, were two men in need of addressing a certain mental anguish that comes with being an Asian American, caught in a void between cultures. When those like Wong and Cho have trouble identifying themselves in this new society, that’s when trouble begins.
In the end, both men chose to go out American-style, violently, guns ablazing, perhaps the only part of our modern culture to which they could truly and deeply relate.
Both incidents show that diversity sprouts new and unique problems in every arena. Now the two biggest shootings in recent American history are at the hands of Asian Americans. That should be an alarm to those APAs in public health, especially in the mental health area. There should also be a concern to community folks and activists who may have sorely neglected the need to talk about such things as violence in general, domestic violence, and specifically, guns.
Guns as the answer? Not in the old country. Only in the New America.
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Breaking News: Asian Week to get federal bailout funds
From newswires:
The U.S. Treasury has granted a $600,000 one-time gift to San Francisco’s Asian Week in a dramatic new extension of the federal bailout program intended to help failing media organizations.
“We are starting with a struggling low-profit, family and community based ethnic media outlet like AsianWeek because of its important role to our American life,” said Winston Gee, the newly appointed official of the Troubled Asset Relief Program for Ethnic Media (TARPEM). “AsianWeek is the ‘Voice of Asian America” after all. If we’re going to guarantee old GM cars, we certainly can guarantee Americans a printed form of AsianWeek on their doorstep or news rack.”
AsianWeek publisher Ted Fang said the paper would use the funds to gear up the re-start of the printed edition. And he assured the bulk of the bailout would not be used as bonuses to the likes of its star columnist Emil Guillermo ( who blogs at www.amok.com).
“That is so AIG and we are so APA,” said Fang. “We will be responsible and are honored to have the government realize that beyond saving financial institutions, saving failing institutions of the First Amendment should be a vital part of any economic bailout in this country.”
Gee said the idea came up when the Troubled Asset Relief Program gave $600,000 to Butler Point Bank of Caitlin, Illinois on March 13.
“Someone over late night pizza in the TARP war room suggested there were more Asian Americans served by AsianWeek than Butler Point Bank,” said Gee. “One thing led to another, and we all figured AsianWeek deserved at least $600,000 for the number of people it served. Instead of making the Fangs start a bank, we decided to make this a special First Amendment award, of sorts. The clear intent is to send newsprint back out into the streets teeming with important community information.”
Gee said that the papers early endorsement of Obama had nothing to do with this treatment. But he mentioned that some of Guillermo’s biting columns about Obama had raised some eyebrows at the oval office. AsianWeek’s last printing was in January.
“We were also hearing from people in Congress who stopped seeing it come in the mail,” said Gee. “They didn’t want to read it online.”
Gee said that other media organizations that were more corporate, like the Tribune group, or the Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle, could be in line for First Amendment bailout funds. But he added that closely held family owned ethnic papers had a better chance to get those funds.
“The Chronicle can easily become a bank that loses $50 million a year, then it can apply for TARP funds under the normal procedures,” Gee said.