Ensuring A Representative Democracy Through Measure B

October 25, 2012

Why voting YES on Measure B’s district elections is good for everyone.

By Hyeon-Ju Rho, Executive Director

In a county as large and diverse as San Mateo, many voices are unheard in the current at-large system, and it is time to change that by voting YES on Measure B.

San Mateo County is one of the most diverse counties in the nation: fifty-five percent of San Mateo residents are people of color; its residents are rich, poor, and middle class; and from the Filipino enclave in Daly City to the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park and the seaside businesses of Half Moon Bay, it is home to forty distinctive cities and communities.    Passing Measure B will convert elections to a system based on districts, which will allow representatives to better reflect the rich diversity of the county.

A district system will also help ensure that representatives are responsive to local needs.  A Board of Supervisors elected by districts will work for you because your representatives will reside in your district and are in a better position to understand the problems that exist in your community, before they get out of control.  For example, if you live in San Bruno and are concerned about preventing another pipeline rupture like the one that occurred in 2010, or if you live in Palo Alto or Menlo Park and are worried about the impact of Silicon Valley businesses on your neighborhood, your Supervisor is more likely to relate to your concerns because they live in your community.

San Mateo is the only county of the 58 counties in California that elects their County Supervisors by an at-large system in which every voter in the county can vote for each of the five seats on the Board of Supervisors.  This is in comparison to every other county that uses a district system, meaning each voter can vote for one Supervisor who resides in their district and represents that specific district on the Board.  One of the most obvious consequences of the at-large systemis the lack of diverse representation on the Board.  Although Asians and Latinos each comprise about 25% of the population in the county, only one Latino and no Asian has occupied a seat on the Board of Supervisors since at least 1995.  Those opposing Measure B argue that “we’re better because we’re different.”  However, where the county lacks equal representation for all residents, it can never be better unless we make those necessary improvements.

Furthermore, district elections will unify and empower San Mateo residents because each Supervisor will be accountable to the people living in his or her own district, and not to political or economic interests.  In comparison to an at-large system, a district system reduces the cost needed to run a successful campaign, which is prohibitive for most people who are unable fund their campaign with personal loans or loans from wealthy donors.  District elections will encourage more qualified candidates to enter the race.  By leveling the candidate playing field for all San Mateo residents, a district system will encourage greater participation and increase voter turnout.

Under the current at-large system, too many voices in the community have gone unheard.  Changing a system of government should generally be done to improve representation of, and access to, the political process.  Measure B will do just that by providing equal and fair political representation for all its residents and encouraging more responsiveness and accountability.  It is time for San Mateo to move forward with the rest of the state and make a change for district elections.

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus Staff, Politics | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Ammiano condemns SCOTUS’ upholding Arizona’s “show me your papers” provision, urges Gov. Brown, AG. Harris to ensure California becomes antidote to Arizona with TRUST Act

June 25, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2012

Sacramento - In response to the US Supreme Court ruling in the case of Arizona v. United States, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, (D-SF) and author of California’s TRUST Act (AB 1081), issued the following statement:

While I am relieved the Supreme Court struck down portions of Arizona’s discriminatory law, it is heartbreaking that the most odious provision, the “show me your papers” section (2B), still stands. This should be called the “racial profiling” provision given the painful impact it will have.

With today’s ruling, the court has further legitimized the destructive practice of local police serving as an extension of our broken immigration system. This plunges millions of our friends, neighbors, and family members across the country into greater risk of separation from their loved ones.

But ironically, the damage was in many ways already done – by the federal “Secure” Communities or S-comm deportation program.

S-Comm has burdened our local governments and put even victims and witnesses of crime at risk of deportation, making us all less safe. It has even mistakenly trapped US citizens in our local jails for immigration purposes.

California’s TRUST Act would limit the unjust and onerous detentions for deportation in our local jails of community members who pose no threat to public safety. To ensure that our state does not become another Arizona, I respectfully urge Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris to support the bill.

Statements from the sponsors of the TRUST Act follow. The bill is supported by a broad coalition of organizations and elected officials from across the state.

Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director, National Day Laborer Organizing Network: “The fact that the court could not tell whether on its face section 2(b) conflicts with federal policy means federal policy (i.e. S-Comm) is far too similar to Arizona policy. But it doesn’t have to be that way in California.”

Reshma Shamasunder, Executive Director, California Immigrant Policy Center: “With its decision on the provision that encourages racial profiling, the Supreme Court has effectively turned back the clock on our hard-won civil rights protections. In the wake of this bad ruling, California lawmakers must lead the nation in moving forward once again, by passing the TRUST Act as soon as possible.”

Angela Chan, senior staff attorney, Asian Law Caucus: ”The Trust Act will assist local police in rebuilding trust with Asian, Latino, and many other immigrant communities who are fearful of reporting crime because of S-Comm’s broad deportation dragnet.”

Background: The Arizona law, passed in April 2010, drew widespread condemnation because it would have forced local police to act as immigration agents and unleashed a wave of profiling based on appearance and accent. Immigrant advocates said the program would entangle police in what is an essentially broken immigration system.

At the heart of the similarity between S-Comm and SB 1070 is the fact that under S-Comm, the fingerprints of everyone arrested – even survivors of domestic violence arrested with their abusers – are automatically sent to ICE. Immigration officials then pressure local governments to hold immigrant community members in jail for extra time, at local expense, so that ICE can pick up the individuals for deportation. However, these “hold” requests are voluntary and a number of jurisdictions have already chosen to limit how they respond.

Nearly 7 in 10 of the 72,000 Californians deported either had no convictions or were brought in for minor offenses.

The TRUST Act passed the state Senate Public Safety committee 5-2 on June 12, 2012, and now heads to the Senate floor. The bill sets a minimum standard for local governments not to submit to ICE’s requests to detain people for deportation unless the individual has a serious or violent felony conviction and guards against profiling and wrongful detention of citizens and crime victims.

In an editorial published June 22, the New York Times endorsed the TRUST Act, stating: “The bill would enhance the ability of local departments to fight crime by restoring community trust and saving jail space for serious offenders. It deserves to become law.”

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus Staff, civil rights, community organizing, current events, Immigration | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Close To 1 Million Dreams Protected, 10.5 Million Dreams To Go

June 19, 2012

By Ju Hong, member of ASPIRE (Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education)

Although I recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in Political Science, I am unable to use my degree to work because I am undocumented. Not only did I face a difficult time to finding ways to work, I also faced constant fear of deportation – until President Obama made an announcement last Friday to stop deportation and provide work permits to a selected group of DREAMers who meet requirements under a new immigration policy.

This historic announcement would not have been possible without the courageous DREAMers who stood up and shared their stories, held events and rallies, contacted elected officials, and led hunger strikes and civil disobedience actions despite risking deportation. After many years of collaborative efforts to demand for justice and equality, the federal government finally made a move to provide a very limited and temporary relief for many undocumented young people in this country.

For many years, I have lived in fear: The fear of facing deportation and of permanently leaving the country I called home; the fear of being separated from my friends, my family, and my community; the fear of not being accepted within my own community; the fear of contacting the police at a time of need; and the fear of losing my hope and dreams in graduating from college. Today, I feel liberated from these fears. Because of this announcement, I can better focus on preparing for my master’s degree program, provide for my family, and continue to advocate for the federal DREAM Act and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Prior to June 15, 2012, I was unable to get a job, apply for internships, or qualify for financial aid. Thus, I had to work more than thirty hours of week at a Japanese restaurant, mopping floors and washing dishes, getting paid below minimum wage under the table, while I commuted to school and enrolled as a full-time student at Laney College, Oakland. Sometimes I had to stay up all night to apply for limited scholarship opportunities to meet the deadlines. Today, I feel free from these obstacles. Because of this announcement, I will have open doors of new opportunities to use my degree to work and contribute back to society. Not only will I have the chance to work to support my schoolwork, but also I have capacity to support my family.  Like one of my fellow DREAMers said, “I feel I am normal again.”

With this announcement, an approximate 800,000 young peoples’ dreams are now protected, at least temporarily. This is huge victory for the undocumented community, but the fight is not over. There are thousands of other young DREAMers who are not eligible to apply for deferred action or work permits because of strict requirements under this announcement. For example, DREAMers who are over 30 years old cannot qualify to receive deferred action or work permits. Moving forward, we must stay involved and work with the Obama’s administration to include all DREAMers because they also have the right to DREAM.

Finally, we must continue to fight for the federal DREAM Act and Comprehensive Immigration Reform because this announcement is only a temporary solution. Now more than ever, we have strength, conviction, and power in our hands to organize, mobilize, and take collective actions to solve our broken immigration system. Soon, we will fulfill all the 11.5 million dreams.

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus, civil rights, current events, Immigration, In the media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Obstacles to the Ballot Persist for Some Voters

June 11, 2012

Note: Originally published on New America Media on Jun 08, 2012 . This article has been re-posted with the permission of the author.

By Carolyn Hsu, Voting Rights Fellow at Asian Law Caucus

Our country’s civil rights laws strongly protect equal access to the vote for all citizens, but even today, this promise is still unmet. On Tuesday, June 5, the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) monitored poll sites throughout northern California to ensure that Asian American voters had full access to the ballot. What we found were a number of deficiencies at polling places across Alameda County that made it more difficult for voters, especially those still learning English, to cast a ballot.

According to the U.S. Census, one in three Asian Americans does not speak English very well, so language is one of the strongest barriers preventing our community from voting. When language assistance is provided, all citizens can meaningfully participate in the electoral process and have a voice on the important issues that affect their lives. Additionally, language assistance helps communities integrate immigrants into civic life. For these reasons, Congress enacted Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act.

That section requires jurisdictions to provide language assistance if the number of eligible voters qualifying for such assistance meets certain threshold numbers, as determined by the Census Bureau. That language assistance must be provided both before and on Election Day, and it includes bilingual assistance at poll sites and such translated written materials as voter information guides, ballots and signage. Alameda County is required to provide bilingual voting assistance in Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

ALC trained poll monitors to observe elections operations in areas with high concentrations of voters who do not speak English very well. They found that a number of poll sites throughout Alameda County failed to display voting materials in the required languages. There was also inadequate signage indicating that bilingual assistance was even available in the first place.

Additionally, Alameda County experienced difficulty recruiting a sufficient number of bilingual speakers to assist voters at the polls on Election Day. The county is currently required to comply with specific instructions in carrying out its language assistance plans after the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Alameda County, alleging that it failed to provide effective access to the electoral process for Spanish and Chinese-speaking citizens. The parties entered a consent decree, which required that Alameda County provide almost 720 Chinese bilingual workers at poll sites throughout the county on Tuesday. By Election Day, the county was not able to secure that requisite number.

In preparation for the November elections, the Registrar will again begin convening Language Advisory Committee meetings. Throughout the next several months, individuals from the community can attend these meetings to provide advice and assistance to the Registrar so it can better prepare to meet the language assistance needs of our community for future elections.

ALC will again conduct poll monitoring during the November 2012 elections, and is working in partnership with its affiliates at the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice to conduct this voter protection project throughout the country. The effort in northern California is made possible by the assistance of the Filipino Advocates for Justice (Union City), Family Bridges (Oakland), Lao Family Community Development (Oakland), and Asian Resources (Sacramento).

The Bay Area is home to over 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Counties like Alameda have a vested interest in ensuring that all its citizens, regardless of language proficiency, have the means to exercise their right to vote. Our democracy is at its strongest when we seek to enfranchise as many eligible citizens as possible. In November, many new Americans will vote for a president for the first time not just in this country but perhaps in their lives. Let’s make sure that every voice gets a chance to be heard.

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus Staff, civil rights, Politics | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Why Jeremy Lin’s race matters

February 15, 2012

Note: Originally published on http://edition.cnn.com/ under “Opinion.” This article has been re-posted with the permission of the author.

Editor’s note: Ling Woo Liu is the director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education, which helped pass California’s Fred Korematsu Day, the first day in U.S. history named after an Asian American. She is a former reporter and video producer for TIME, CNN’s sister publication, in Hong Kong.

Ling Woo Liu

Ling Woo Liu

(CNN) — A week ago, on feel-good Super Bowl Sunday, TV viewers in the U.S. state of Michigan were subjected to a racist campaign ad sponsored by former Representative and now-Senatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra. The ad, which suggests that his opponent, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, spends too much government money, shows an Asian woman riding a bicycle in a landscape of rice paddies. “Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs,” says the native Californian actress in a mock Chinese accent while addressing “Debbie Spend-It-Now.” Hoekstra also appears, saying at the end, “I approve this message.”

Public condemnation ensued, with demands for an apology and the ad’s removal.

It’s not the first time that China, or any connections to China, have been used to stoke fear this U.S. election season. In early January, a group in support of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul released a campaign ad slamming then-candidate Jon Huntsman, the former ambassador to China. The “China Jon” ad showed Huntsman speaking Chinese and wearing a red tikka on his forehead (a sacred mark associated with Hinduism) and questioned his adoption of girls from China and India. “Jon Huntsman: American Values?” the ad asks, calling him “The Manchurian candidate,” “Weak on China?” with ostensibly Chinese music in the background.

Paul denounced the ad, telling CNN he had no control over his supporters’ actions.

Then on Thursday, a U.S. Marine sergeant was found not guilty of hazing Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, who committed suicide last April in Afghanistan. A Marine Corps report revealed that Lew had been beaten by his superiors with sand poured in his mouth for falling asleep while on duty. Another Marine was sentenced to 30 days in jail and demoted; a third faces court-martial over the death. Lew’s case along with that of Pvt. Danny Chen, who was found dead in October from an apparent suicide, have spurred Asian American members of Congress to demand hearings on hazing in the military.

Chen, the only Chinese American soldier in his unit in Afghanistan, was called “gook,” “chink” and “dragon lady,” forced to crawl on gravel while fellow troops threw rocks at him, and made to shout instructions in Chinese to fellow troops (no one else in his unit spoke Chinese). The Asian American civil rights group OCA has met with Pentagon officials to demand better treatment of Asians in the military.

Against all of this, Jeremy Lin, a Harvard grad and the NBA’s first U.S.-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, has vaulted himself to stardom. On Saturday, Lin led the Knicks to their fifth straight victory. His 109 points in his first four starts this past week have surpassed Allen Iverson’s to become the most by any player since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976.

Lin’s popularity skyrockets

Jeremy Lin setting the NBA abuzz

Turning it around in China

Read about Linsanity vs. Tebowmania

For those who’ve been following the campaign ad controversies as well as the Lew and Chen cases, Lin’s meteoric rise has been a much-needed sign of hope. But the conversations on Facebook, in bars and living rooms are as diverse as the Asian American community itself. Some are pumped up about seeing an Asian face next to Kobe Bryant’s or moved by Lin’s public devotion to Christianity. Others are analyzing Lin’s academic and athletic prowess and thinking about the role model he’ll be for their children.

Jeremy Lin: The NBA’s breath of fresh air

Lin himself has been candid about the racism he’s encountered along the way. “It’s a sport for white and black people,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2008. “You don’t get respect for being an Asian-American basketball player in the U.S. … I hear everything. ‘Go back to China. Orchestra is on the other side of campus. Open up your eyes.’”

Read how Lin has a shot at basketball immortality

Unfortunately, success doesn’t stamp out racism. Minutes after Lin’s breathtaking career-high 38-point performance against the LA Lakers Friday night, FoxSports.com national columnist Jason Whitlock tweeted “Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight.” After condemnation by the Asian American Journalists Association, he tweeted an apology, acknowledging that he had “debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I’m truly sorry.”

Almost exactly a decade ago, some of us remember similar knocks against a certain 7’6″ new kid on the block. USA Today ran a column by Jon Saraceno in 2002 saying, “the [Rockets] franchise could wind up with egg foo yong all over its face” and “What happens the first time a bona fide NBA strongman, say Shaquille O’Neal, whacks [Yao Ming] in the chopsticks?”

Just this past week, a Manchester United fan, Howard Hobson, was banned from matches for three years and fined 200 pounds (US $315) for cursing and making monkey sounds at Stoke City’s Kenwyne Jones, who is from Trinidad.

To be fair, Lin and other minority athletes today have not been subjected to the level of racism that African American sports pioneers faced before them. Jesse Owens was a great American athlete who prevailed despite being born into an officially and unofficially racist society. The African American track star, who had to live in off-campus segregated housing at Ohio State University, went on to win four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany, much to the dismay of Adolf Hitler.

Three-quarters of a century later, there are those who want to leave race out of the equation altogether and embrace minority athletes, actors and other pioneers for their skills alone rather than their skin color. “Many people want the debate to end,” says Laurens Grant, the director and producer of “Jesse Owens,” a forthcoming PBS documentary. “But the debate isn’t settled. It won’t end until there’s more opportunity.”

Many of us have been lucky enough to escape the burn of bullying and racism. We might have walked through our schoolyards without hearing taunts from fellow students. We might have gotten the promotions we deserved at work. Our perfect American English may have averted giggles and impatience. We may have served in the armed forces without being treated any differently from fellow troops. And we might have been lucky enough to escape the perpetrators of hate crimes, like the laid-off Detroit autoworkers who in 1982 beat Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, to death with a baseball bat after his bachelor party because they were bitter about competition from Japanese carmakers.

Such xenophobic sentiment gets eerily stirred up by ads like the ones attacking Sen. Stabenow and Jon Huntsman.

Hopefully one day, Americans of Asian descent will no longer be seen as foreigners, economic competition or anything less than equal Americans. Until then, race matters, whether we like it or not.

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus Staff, current events, In the media | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

“New Americans in California”: The #s on Our Growing Numbers

February 2, 2012

By Jenalyn Sotto, Communications Intern at the Asian Law Caucus

For longer than recent memory, every decade brings with it a plethora of changes: (r)evolutionary fashion trends, a series of technological advances, two (and a half) presidential terms, three Olypmic games, and the U.S. Census. The U.S. Census Bureau’s Facebook Page lauds itself as “[the] trusted source for quality statistics about people, places and our economy.” While its scope of information collecting remains unparalleled in its field–save for perhaps the State Government Tax Collections–rarely does the ordinary U.S. person (resident or citizen) see more of the U.S. Census’ data than the small, or sometimes lengthy, questionnaire during data-collecting.

But during this election year, where the stakes are even higher for under-represented communities, it is vital that we know and acknowledge changing demographics.  The Immigration Policy Center released a detailed set of infographics on Latino and Asian immigrant populations taken from–you got it!–the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 Census. Updated from the released data and special reports from the 2010 Census and the 2010 American Communities Survey and re-released with state-specific infographics for distribution, the study entitled “STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY: The Economic and Political Clout of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the United States” serves to breakdown, demystify, and debunk popular tropes about the growing immigrant populations with specific emphases on the Latina/o and Asian populations through numbers. Referred to as “New Americans,” the study enumerates the national and state-by-state economic and political growth of foreign-born naturalized Latina/o and Asian Americans as well as their native-born children.

For California:

California’s New American population is robust and makes California robust.

  • More than 1/4th of Californians are immigrants. *
  • More than 1/2 of Californians are Latina/o or Asian–and they vote. *
  • Immigrant workers, entrepreneurs, and taxpayers are integral to California’s economy. *
  • Immigrant, Latina/o, and Asian entrepreneurs and consumers add hundreds of billions of dollars and more than a million jobs to California’s economy. *
  • Most native-born Californians have experienced a wage gain from immigration. *

Therefore, California policies sensitive to the Latina/o and Asian populations should be considered with great legislative and community, grassroots care. Over half of the state identifies as Latina/o or Asian! But, as made evident by campaigns past and present, diversity in these groups causes mobilization difficulties. The issues of immigration policing in California alone makes heads spin–what more when it comes to small and medium business tax reform, redistricting, voting rights, language access, healthcare, education, public health and safety, and government representation?

This California infographic–and all other state infographics–is the proverbial tip of the iceberg, only going so far to as to whet your appetite by leaving that almost insatiable craving for clarification, qualification, and denouement. This offering by the Immigration Policy Center should serve as a first course for the type of awareness and data collection that our community organizations, legislators, and local officials should enact in order to better cater to the growing New American populations. Even more important, New Americans should become better versed in their numbers in order to harness that salient power. The national discourse has been long dominated by the see-saw of ambivalence and disfavor (heavy on the disfavor) towards immigrants and their progeny, but with the American imaginary increasingly interchanging “immigrant” with Asian or Latina/o it is high time for our communities to seize the day(ta) and make ourselves well and truly known.

*: These statements were taken from the Immigration Policy Center’s The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the Golden State (Updated January 2012).

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus, civil rights, Immigration, Politics | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Celebrating Civil Rights: Korematsu Day events in the Bay Area and at the Smithsonian

January 27, 2012

By Jenalyn Sotto, Communications Intern at the Asian Law Caucus

This coming Monday, January 30th California will celebrate its 2nd annual Fred Korematsu Day in commemoration of the struggle for justice our Japanese American community faced during and after WWII. With the specter of 9/11 haunting our Middle Eastern, Arab, and South Asian American communities in ways similarly faced by the Japanese American community following the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, Fred Korematsu Day stands as a reminder of the need for vigilance in protecting civil rights. American citizens and residents should not have to incur dramatic alterations to self–like eyelids or surnames–just to fit in, avoid surveillance, or–more drastically–evade unwarranted and indefinite detention for crimes one had nothing to do with. Korematsu Day is a reminder that racailization is an invalid means of ensuring national security when it is one’s own nationals being targeted. And while in the U.S., that might seem ambiguous, just peruse the “The Struggle for Justice” website for a fuller perspective on how racialization operates against the tenets of life, liberty, and the American Bill of Rights.

While Korematsu Day is a California state holiday, across the nation in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian now includes the civil rights activism Fred Korematsu and his team of pro-bono attorneys stood for. The first Asian American in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Civil Rights Exhibition, the work and message of Korematsu Day represents the first of many steps necessary to achieving social justice in the United States.   Below are links to the Korematsu Institute press release on the unveiling of the Fred Korematsu installations at the “The Struggle for Justice” exhibit as well as a link to other Korematsu Day events throughout the Bay Area:

1. Press Release: “Fred Korematsu Becomes First Asian American in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Civil Rights Exhibition“

2. Korematsu Day Events in the Bay Area: Fred Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education: Fred Korematsu Day Events

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Law Caucus events, civil rights | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

re: “Redistricting worries San Francisco’s gay leaders”

July 14, 2011

On July 1st, 2011 the San Francisco Examiner published an article entitled “Redistricting worries San Francisco’s gay leaders.”  In response to that article, Benjamin Leong & Carlo De La Cruz Co-Chair & Political Awareness Chair of the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance wrote this letter to the editor on July 5th, 2011:

Your story last week regarding the redistricting “conflict” between the LGBT and Asian American SF communities oversimplifies a highly complex process.  Among other criteria, redistricting must comply with important factors including the Federal Voting Rights Act, contiguity, and, most importantly, population equality across all the districts.

At its heart, redistricting should be about the enfranchisement of all communities. While the LGBT community and Asian communities are quite different, there are many similarities between the two groups: namely, the constant struggle for fair and accurate representation in the Legislature.

Your framing inaccurately portrays the interests and values of the Asian American community and LGBT community as fundamentally conflicting with one another.  It also continues to make invisible the needs of the community that is both gay and LGBT-identified, many of whom reside in both LGBT and Asian American neighborhoods in our City.

We can find a solution that is win-win, but it takes commitment from both sides to make it happen.

Benjamin Leong
Co-Chair, Gay Asian Pacific Alliance

Carlo De La Cruz
Political Awareness Chair, Gay Asian Pacific Alliance

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, current events, Politics | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Redistricting: What It Is and Why You Should Care

June 21, 2011

By Carlo De La Cruz & Ana Duong

San Francisco – Quiz of the day: In 2001 California had one Asian American elected official representing our communities on the State wide or Federal level—Mike Honda.  How many API elected officials did we have in 2010? Answer: Ten!  In 2010, ten API elected officials were representing our communities across the state in the State Assembly, Senate, and US Congress. 

In less than ten years the API community has grown from having one elected official on the state wide or federal level to having ten, this growth is due in part to the growing numbers of Asian Americans as well as increased civic engagement from the Asian American community.  But the political representation for our community is by no means guaranteed for the next decade; in fact, our community’s ability to have a meaningful voice and vote in the political process all depends on a few lines and maps being drawn right now by the California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC).  After each Census, redistricting takes place to redraw districting plans to reflect the demographic changes and equalize district populations.

The Commission is required by law to hold two sets of public hearings, the first one before maps are drawn and second one to receive feedback on the first draft maps. For a schedule of the public hearings, please visit http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/hearings.html. The implementation of this new commission gives other California voters the opportunity to get involved in the redistricting process.

On June 10, 2011, the Commission released its first round of draft maps for Congressional, State Assembly, State Senate and Board of Equalization districts.  The maps can be viewed online on the CRC’s website at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov.   The Commission is currently in the process of holding public hearings throughout the state to collect public input on the maps and will do so until July 12th.  That leaves less than one month for community members, leaders, and advocates to testify before the commission to ensure that the AAPI community is not divided by the redistricting process. Therefore, this time period is crucial for community testimony and public input to ensure the final maps reflect the needs of the community.

District boundaries drawn in the past have resulted in fragmented communities, including AAPI communities. Without public input, the commission will most likely remain unaware of the existing communities of interest and their respective geographic parameters.  The final lines and maps that the CRC adopts will affect elections for the next decade, determining if communities have the ability to vote as one bloc and have a meaningful role in the political process.  In order for our community to protect and extend the gains we’ve made in political representation we must engage in the redistricting process.

The redistricting process is particularly important for the AAPI community in the Bay Area as it means either representation or a silenced voice in the political process.  For example, in the 2001 redistricting, the San Jose neighborhood of Berryessa was split among four State Assembly districts, even though over half of Berryessa’s population is AAPI. District boundaries that split AAPI communities weaken the political voice of AAPI communities. When AAPI communities are fragmented, they do not make up a significant portion of any one district, diminishing their ability to get their elected representatives to address their needs.

In another more recent example, Indian Americans in southern Alameda County said “an early version of the map split Fremont’s fast-growing South Asian community into two congressional districts, diluting its political power” (sfgate.com).  Thanks to community testimony and a large showing of community support, the lines were modified to protect the growing South Asian community in southern Alameda County.   The commission has demonstrated they are committed to hearing and considering public testimony, but that can only happen when the community is present and engaged.  Learn how to testify to the commission at http://www.redistrictingca.org/more-info/.

The Commission will be holding a public hearing on June 25 in San Jose and June 27 in San Francisco to receive more public input before the release of the second draft maps. If you are interested in testifying before the Commission or learning more about the Asian Law Caucus’s Redistricting effort, please contact Carlo De La Cruz at CAPAFR2011@gmail.com.

Want to learn more? Watch the following video brought to you by the Greenlining Institute: http://youtu.be/eqBRz7yu4vs.

1 Comment | Asian American, Census, community organizing, current events | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Undocumented and Unafraid: Steve Li

March 16, 2011

By Steve Li, ASPIRE (Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education) Member

In honor of National Coming Out Week: Undocumented and Unafraid we are featuring stories of API dreamers.  The DREAM Act would provide undocumented students that arrived before the age of 16 in the US a pathway to legalization.

It was a sunny morning, and like any other school day, I was in the bathroom getting ready for school when there was a loud knock on the door. I didn’t want to answer it since no one ever comes that early in the morning without notice. So I woke up my mom to see if she was expecting anyone. She said no, but they kept knocking. She got up and went to answer.

That’s when five officials dressed in black rushed in and searched the apartment. I was brushing my teeth when one opened the door and told me to get out and get dressed. I kept asking what was going on, but they wouldn’t tell me anything. Finally one of the officers asked if I knew why they were here and told me that I was undocumented and they would be deporting me back to Peru.

This is the only home I remember; my goals and dreams have always been in the Bay Area. I followed their orders, thinking it was just a mistake and that I would be back at school later that day.

Outside I was searched and handcuffed. My mother was, too. I was separated from my parents, and we were taken to Sacramento and thrown into jail where I was treated like a criminal. I went to bed hungry every night, physically and mentally exhausted.

Every day I woke up thinking that I should be going to school rather than locked up 23 hours a day. I kept asking what was happening, but I couldn’t get anywhere. Immigration officers never came to the jail. The thought of being forced to leave my home and go to a country where I no longer know anyone was devastating. It was mind-boggling, not being able to turn to any one for answers.

After three weeks in Sacramento County Jail, things started to sink in, and the little hope that I had left disappeared. I was flown to Arizona, far away from my family and friends, without being able to contact anyone.

There I spent three days in a room the size of the City College cafeteria with around 200 other people. We slept on the floor in our clothes, and I could smell the sweat and body odor of everyone around me. Some, caught crossing the border, still had mud and dirt on them; others were sick, coughing vigorously. We were packed in tight, only allowed to move to go to the bathroom.

The Detention Center in Arizona, in the middle of nowhere, was surrounded by high fences with razor blades and electrical wires with cameras and security guards everywhere. I told myself this was a nightmare and I would wake up any day now. But days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.

The stories of others in the facility, from different parts of the world, really touched me. There were many young people like me. I met someone from Guatemala who had come here with his parents when he was very young. He had no say in immigrating and was just finishing high school when Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him into custody in Los Angeles. Now he, too, expected to be sent back to a country he had no memory of.

I was lucky to be living in the Bay Area and have my community organize to bring me home, eventually convincing Senator Feinstein to introduce a private bill to stop my deportation. But there are many DREAMers who are still incarcerated in Arizona and elsewhere. We want a chance to pursue our education, a chance to use our degrees, a chance to give back to the communities we grew up in and love.

This is not a Hispanic or an Asian issue. This is an issue that affects all of us. This will happen to more and more students, friends, and neighbors. We have a broken immigration system, and we need to fix it. I don’t want other students to go through what I went through. This is why is so important to pass the Federal DREAM Act. I’m Undocumented and unafraid.

1 Comment | Asian American, civil rights, Politics, Stand Up Speak Out! | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Perspectives: Birthright citizenship; Chinese Americans have stake in safeguarding this right

January 19, 2011

NOTE: Originally published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune on January 15, 2011.

This article has been re-posted with the permission of the author.

By Assemblyman Mike Eng

For many Asian Americans, and especially Chinese Americans, the current debate about birthright citizenship is a debate our community already knows. That is because the vast majority of Asian Americans would not be U.S. citizens today save for the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed that the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment applied even to U.S.-born children of Chinese and other foreign nationals who were legally barred from naturalizing.

Thus, as a legislator, an immigration attorney and a descendant of Chinese immigrants, I am saddened and alarmed by the vitriol surrounding the birthright citizenship debate and the current push to strip away citizenship from the children of undocumented parents.

From the beginning, the history of Chinese Americans in the U.S. has been intricately tied to the debate around the right to citizenship.

Like so many immigrants, Chinese Americans, including my family, came to the United States to pursue the American Dream and to build a life for themselves and their families. Yet when Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States at the end of the 19th century, many were detained, incarcerated and repeatedly interrogated, sometimes for years.

What was the reason? The xenophobic Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the only law in U.S. history that explicitly prohibited entry into America on the basis of race and nationality, prevented them from stepping foot into the country. The Act was part of a widespread campaign to drive out predominantly low-wage Chinese immigrant workers, who were accused of driving down wages for “real Americans” and for failing to assimilate.

Consequently, Chinese immigrants ostensibly became the first undocumented immigrant population in the United States. After the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, there was just one method by which most could gain entry to the U.S.: by becoming “paper sons” – erasing their real names, family ties and ancestral connections, and adopting false identities claiming to be the overseas offspring of Chinese who were already in the United States.

The current birthright citizenship debate resurrects the malicious spirit of the Chinese Exclusion Act. It is unfortunate that in today’s ugly debate around immigration, an immigrant child is not seen as a symbol of hope, but as an “anchor baby,” demonized as a way for parents to gain legal status in the United States. The legal reality is that these parents still face deportation, even if they have U.S.-born citizen children. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security has deported more than 100,000 parents of children who are U.S. citizens.

Instead we should celebrate the right to citizenship, as granted by the 14th Amendment, a quintessential cornerstone of American civil rights in itself. Obtaining citizenship is the important last step to being fully integrated in American society, where being a citizen gives one the right to vote, the permanent right to work in the U.S., and the right to travel freely abroad. It encourages civic participation and activism, and is a way for immigrants to show that they are proud to be an American. That is why every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants gather at oath ceremonies throughout the country to pledge allegiance to the United States and to become U.S. citizens.

Immigration has also helped to drive the growth and prosperity of our nation. Throughout California, businesses owned by Latinos and Asians comprise more than one-quarter of all businesses in the state. And in Los Angeles alone, immigrants account for 34 percent of the area’s total economic output.

Instead of directing our energies toward stripping citizenship from children, we need to focus on achieving comprehensive immigration reform. Our broken immigration system has contributed to the undocumented population, because getting a visa to enter the United States takes up to 20 years.

Many of the estimated one million undocumented immigrants in the Asian American community include those whose family members have died while awaiting reunification through the overburdened family system. Would you wait 20 years to reunite with your loved ones?

The denial of citizenship runs counter to our values and what America is all about – a free and democratic society that welcomes its victims, treats people as individuals and respects their civil and human rights, and does not discriminate based on race, culture or country of origin. Instead, let us focus our energies together on achieving real and humane immigration reform.

Assemblyman Mike Eng represents the 49th District, which includes the cities of Alhambra, El Monte, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, and South El Monte. Eng is the author of Assembly Concurrent Resolution 76, which designates December 17 as the “Day of Inclusion” in California and memorializes the historic Magnuson Act, which repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and was signed into law on December 17, 1943.

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, civil rights, Politics | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Flip-flopping About a Bad Policy

October 15, 2010

NOTE: Originally published in the Huffington Post on October 14, 2010

This article has been re-posted with permission of the author.

By Margaret Huang

Last week, the Arlington County (Virginia) Board sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notifying the federal agency that the County does not wish to participate in the “Secure Communities” Initiative (SCI). The letter is a result of a resolution adopted by the County Board on September 28th expressing the County’s intent to withdraw from SCI. Arlington County adopted its resolution based on the repeated public statements by DHS that local jurisdictions could choose not to participate in the program. Very little is known – or understood – about the “Secure Communities” program, in large part due to contradictory information disseminated about the program by DHS. What Arlington County residents do know about “Secure Communities” is troubling for supporters of community policing, civil liberties and human rights.

Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus, civil rights, current events, Politics | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

The Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill on AAPI Communities

July 1, 2010

NOTE: Originally published in White House Office of Public Engagement Blog on June 17, 2010

This article has been re-posted with permission of the author

By Miya Saika Chen and Audrey Buehring

In the last month, we were deployed by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to join the Unified Area Command in the Gulf Coast and assess the immediate needs of the Southeast Asian American community, who make up one-third of the seafood industry workforce in the region.

We visited community centers, churches and temples in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.  We met with seafood processors, fishers, crabbers, shrimpers, oysterfolk and boat welders, many who have been working in these specialized trades for generations.  Over meals, roundtable discussions and town hall meetings, we listened to people talk about their livelihoods, their deep connection to the sea, and the challenges they face as a result of the devastating oil spill.

In Irvington, Alabama, we spoke to a Thai American crabber who owns two boats and has lived in the United States for over 40 years.  She and her workers set traps and catch crabs during the day, then make deliveries to restaurants and seafood processing plants in the evenings.  She had invested in $17,000 worth of new traps in anticipation of the coming crab season.  All of this has been lost since the oil spill began over seven weeks ago, and she’s been unable to provide for her workers, nor for herself.  During a town hall meeting with Vietnamese, Laotian, Thai and Cambodian Americans, she kindly smiled and said, “Just please put us to work.  We are a proud people.  We don’t want to beg.  We want to work.”

In Biloxi, Mississippi, we heard from the daughter of a Vietnamese American fisherman, who, along with many of her peers, have galvanized a coalition of community groups in the area to organize bilingual community forums for Vietnamese American fishers.  She told us, “Our families are falling apart.  Our lives as we know it are gone.  We will no longer get to eat the seafood our father and brother catch.  We won’t have the opportunity to come help with unloading the shrimp when their boats come in after two weeks out at sea.  We won’t have financial support from them because they can’t do the work they have done for the past 20-30 years – catching shrimp, fish, crab, oysters.  It is very sad to see our family members’ careers as fishermen ending because of this BP oil spill disaster.”

Many Southeast Asian Americans in the Gulf Coast region remain linguistically isolated and unaware of the available disaster recovery resources.  The lack of information is compounded by the loss of income and livelihoods, resulting in increased hardship and confusion.

The same challenges are faced by the broader community.  In Dulac, Louisiana we spoke with a Native American, French-speaking shrimper who left school after the fifth grade to start shrimping with his father.  Now he waits each day for news of the waterways opening so that he can go out and practice his trade, which he describes as being in his blood.  “It’s frustrating, I just want to work.”

In an effort to address the community needs, we visited government service providers offering individuals assistance with disaster relief loans, employment preparation and training, and food assistance throughout the three states.   We found that Federal agencies wanted to be responsive to all affected communities in the Gulf Coast region but were unclear of the extent of the community needs, and required additional support to get information to limited English speaking communities.

The Administration has taken important steps to providing this support to get information out to these vulnerable communities.  The Deepwater Integrated Services Team and the National Incident Command deployed Community Relations Outreach Teams along the Gulf Coast, with a team specifically focused on addressing language needs and low literacy levels.  We conducted trainings for these highly qualified teams on the importance of outreach, translation, cultural competence and trust when working with Limited English Proficient communities affected by the oil spill.

While we were deployed, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who has made it a priority for oil spill clean-up training materials to be in multiple languages, convened a series of roundtable discussions, including one focused on Vietnamese American workers and community leaders from in Louisiana and Mississippi, to ensure that their health and safety are protected in the clean-up activities.

We know the people are struggling and dealing with serious challenges, and we will continue to reach out to the impacted communities and work hand in hand with the Federal agencies to ensure that the needs are met.   Please find the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at www.aapi.gov to get updates and learn about ways to get involved.

Miya Saika Chen is the Advisor on Community Engagement and Audrey Buehring is the Advisor on Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Leave a Comment » | Asian American, community organizing, current events | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Violence Against Asian Americans in SF and Oakland Highlight Need for Safer Neighborhoods for All

May 5, 2010

By Titi Liu, Executive Director

Over the past several weeks, hundreds of Asian American residents in San Francisco and Oakland have testified at city hall meetings and participated in community rallies against violence and demanded action be taken to improve safety.  Founded in 1972, the Asian Law Caucus has a long history of speaking out against violence and harassment against Asian Americans, including addressing crimes against Vietnamese residents in San Francisco housing projects in the 1990’s and the targeting of South Asians, Arabs, and Muslims before and after 9/11.  The ALC also has provided know your rights and anti-violence trainings to thousands of youth, parents, and educators.

The ALC applauds the efforts of community members who have worked to draw attention to this important issue.  The ALC also calls for a thorough investigation of each of the incidents against Asian victims that have occurred in the Bayview and in Oakland.  Effective solutions to prevent these incidents from reoccurring can only be developed if the individual causes are investigated and addressed.

In addition, while these cases are being investigated, proactive steps, both short-term and long-term, need to be taken to improve public safety for all residents as acts of violence create fear in the hearts of all community members, African American and Asian American alike.  The San Francisco and Oakland police departments need to strengthen relationships with community members to ensure victims of crime feel safe coming forward and reporting incidents.  This includes, but is not limited to, improving language access services and cultural competency of officers, which is a project the ALC has been working on in San Francisco for the past several years.  The police also need to be clear about what they can do if incidents are reported.  Violence prevention and intervention programs that have been shown to have positive results in both cities need to be fully funded and supported rather than being the first to be targeted for cuts each year.  Structural changes also are needed to preserve and expand safe and affordable housing in these communities for all residents.

We also must be vigilant as communities move forward in working together to create safer neighborhoods to not reinforce stereotypes about one another, but to instead enter this difficult yet important dialogue with an open mind and an open heart.

1 Comment | Asian American, Asian Law Caucus Staff, current events, Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

Liberty and Justice for All, Except for Immigrants

March 8, 2010

By: Christopher Punongbayan

In the last week, the cases of two immigrant families surfaced in the mainstream media and highlighted the ways our federal immigration system is failing our country.  In New York City, the New York Times covered the story of Qing Wu, a young Chinese American man who committed an offense from which he has completely turned his life around.  His reward? Deportation. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | Asian American, civil rights, community organizing, Politics | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by asianlawcaucus

« Previous Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.