8Asians is a collaborative online publication that features original, diverse commentary by Asians from around the world on issues that affect our community. Established 2006.
More than 600 days after the brutal killing of an 84-year-old Thai grandfather in San Francisco, that many believe sparked the movement to stop the attacks on Asian Americans, a street in his neighborhood has been renamed “Vicha Ratanapakdee Way.”
A number of celebrities, politicians, activists and community members attended Saturday’s ceremony. It was a symbol of how much progress has been made and the work yet ahead.
The sounds of celebration heard in the Anza Vista neighborhood were quite a contrast to what happened on these streets on Jan. 28 2021.
Actor Daniel Dae Kim said he remembered it like it was yesterday.
“A video showed up in my social media feed of a brutal attack on an Asian man in broad daylight,” Kim said
Legal groups called for change in how hate crimes are categorized and calling to action the need for victims to be properly communicated with.
As crowd gathered Saturday in the San Francisco neighborhood where Vicha took his morning walks, Thai monks chanted and the audience cheered. Sonora Lane became Vicha Ratapakdee Way with the flick of a wrist and was unveiled for all.”
Besides Daniel Dae Kim and Vicha’s daughter, Monthanus Ratanapakdee, there were many other community speakers, including:
Vanita Louie, community creator, San Francisco Recreation and Park Commissioner
Will Lex Ham, actor, co-founder, They Can’t Burn Us All
Mina Fedor, Founder & Executive Director, AAPI Youth Rising
David Chiu, San Francisco city attorney
Judy Young, Executive Director, Southeast Asian Development Center
Tor Saralamba, Thai Consul-General
Catherine Stefani, San Francisco Supervisor, District 2
Afterwards, there was a screening not too far away for the upcoming PBS documentary that will be airing in October, ‘Rising Against Asian Hate – One Day In March,’ exploring the Atlanta shootings in March 2021 against Asian women spa workers that elevated the increasing violence against Asian Americans in the age of COVID.
“During World War II, the U.S. Army converted what was then the Tanforan Racetrack into one of 17 temporary detention centers at which those of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated while more permanent detention centers in the inland United States were being built. For six months, in 1942, the Tanforan Assembly Center held nearly 8,000 Bay Area Japanese, most of whom were U.S. citizens, without a trial or due process of law.
The Tanforan Memorial is the culmination of a decade of work by the Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee to create a permanent monument to honor those who were imprisoned there and ensure that the injustice they suffered is not forgotten. Construction of the memorial began in early 2022 after years of planning and fundraising. The memorial will feature a replica horse stall in which internees were housed and a statue of the Mochida sisters, two young girls who were captured in a famous photograph taken by Dorothea Lange in 1942, which will be unveiled at the ribbon-cutting.”
Despite the fact that local elected officials, including the Mayor of San Bruno, Congresswoman Jackie Jackie Speier and California State Senator Josh Becker were in attendance and gave some remarks, there was not much press coverage. I could only find the above NBC local coverage the day after the event.
The Tanforan internment camp was one of the largest temporary camps in the nation, and the largest (and I think only one) in the San Francisco Bay Area. This really should have gotten a lot more local coverage, if not national coverage, in my opinion.
I was in awe to see some Japanese Americans who were interned as children back as adults to attend the ceremony.
You can watch most of the event, here is the video I took:
““I was contacted by Opendorse, which is a third party NIL company, and they told me that Degree was looking for me to join the Breaking Limits Team,” Wang said. “Coming from an Asian American background, playing football … it’s gonna help me share my story to a lot of people that don’t know my story. And I’m really thankful for that; really blessed that Degree has given me the opportunity to do this.” … Wang played in seven games last season for the Big Red and led the squad in rushing with 349 yards (5.5 yards per carry) and four touchdowns, becoming the second freshman in program history to do so.
The level of Asian American representation in major United States sports is quite low. According to the 2021 Racial and Gender Report Card from The Institute for Diversity and Equity in Sports (TIDES), only 1.5 percent of male Division I athletes identified as Asian. For female Division I athletes, the percentage isn’t much higher (2.3 percent). Only two percent of Division I football players identified as either Asian or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
The trend holds true at the professional level as well. Asian athletes made up 0.4 percent of NBA players, 0.1 percent of NFL players, 1.9 percent of MLB players, 1.3 percent of MLS players, and 1.4 percent (only two identified as Asian American) of WNBA players, according to TIDES’s 2021 reports on each league. …
“When you think of an Asian American, you’re not gonna think of an athlete; you’re gonna think more of a student,” he said. “We’re just trying to break that stereotype. … For me, just to prove that Asians are more than just smart in the classroom; they are great athletes as well. … I don’t normally think about that because I know what I’m capable of.””
Some numbers released by Democratic pollster Tom Bonier shows that about 44% of new voters are registering with the Democratic compared to around 16% voters with the republican party. 35% registered as unaffliated. Of course, these numbers count only newly registered voters, and once registered, they could vote either way. Still, the large unaffiliated numbers leaves plenty of leeway for Republicans to get votes even if these newly registered voters stick to their party affiliation.
I think that the Republicans sense an opening as Asian American voters have been active against a number of progressive officials and causes. San Francisco’s recall of school board members and city district attorney Chesa Bouldin were largely driven by Asian American voters. According to an Asian American voter survey, some Asian American ethnic groups, such as Vietnamese Americans, already have a majority that prefers to vote Republican.
Then again, these efforts for both party may fall very short. The same survey mentioned above shows that the majority of Asian American voters have never been contacted by anyone from any political party.
“Events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the murder of George Floyd and the rise in anti-Asian violence, have increased the prominence and urgency of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the public conversation, including in the C-suite. Against this backdrop, our new report, Asian American workers: Diverse outcomes and hidden challenges, may be long overdue.1
While visible acts of violence against Asian Americans have garnered headlines, Asian Americans’ distinctive challenges at work have often been overlooked. The stakes of violent attacks and workplace challenges are different, but they have common roots in stereotypes and misconceptions about Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners—that is, outsiders. In our report, we use data and analysis to dispel these misconceptions, acknowledge the accomplishments and contributions of Asian Americans, and propose next steps for leaders and organizations. More research needs to be done, but our goal is to spark an expansive, ongoing conversation about better inclusion and advancement for Asian Americans at work.”
While African Americans, Hispanics, and Filipino Americans are particularly vulnerable to the severe forms of Valley Fever, other groups are vulnerable, such as the immuno-suppressed and women in their final trimester of pregnancy. Recommended preventative actions include keeping dust away in areas where the the disease is common (e.g. stay inside, use recirculated air in a car during a dust storm, using an N95 quality mask). Climate change is thought to make this problem worse , so Valley Fever will be an increasing risk not only for Filipino Americans but for everyone through out the Western United States.
Out today, Seoulmates by Susan Lee is a fun friends-to-lovers YA romance that tackles Korean American identity as all things Korean become popular in the U.S. It’s the summer before her senior year in high school and Hannah Cho thinks she’s got everything figured out. But then the summer before, her boyfriend Nate breaks up with her. And her former best friend turned K-drama superstar who she hasn’t spoken to in three years–Jacob Kim–is back. Meanwhile, all her friends are obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas and she doesn’t have a preference between BTS and EXO. Cue the drama.
This is the book for anyone looking that last grasp of summer. A grudge-fueled standoff and then reconciliation between old friends, a bucket list adventure through San Diego, K-drama fans and K-drama induced crying, some adoring and meddling Korean mamas — and two teenagers trying to find their way. The chapters switch back and forth between Hannah, reconciling her Korean American identity, having long shunned her Korean side while trying to fit in, only to have all things Korean suddenly be mainstream, and Jacob, dealing with his new life as a successful actor and the stress of life as part of the K-drama machine. You’ll be cheering for them the whole way.
I imagine since Dobbs, more Asian American women have registered and have registered as Democrats or Unaffiliated as opposed to Republican. I know from following Bonier on Twitter that voter registration is trending to be more female, younger, and more Democratic. It’ll be interesting to see ultimately how this affects races and ballot measures (such as in Michigan’s abortion rights ballot measure) in November.
I remember the original ‘Quantum Leap’ TV series, which aired on NBC for 5 seasons from 1989 to 1993. I wasn’t a big watcher of TV back then, mostly because I was in college during most of that time and had little time to watch TV. There’s a re-boot, or more exactly I would say, a continuation of that series premiering Monday, September 19 at 10 PM (Eastern Time) on NBC. The and a trailer was recently released:
“It’s been nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee), has been assembled to restart the project. Everything changes, however, when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it. At Ben’s side throughout his leaps is Addison (Caitlin Bassett), a decorated Army veteran who appears in the form of a hologram only Ben can see and hear.”
We don’t often see an Asian American male (or female for that matter) lead in a broadcast network television network show (in more recent years, ‘Fresh Off The Boat,’ ‘Dr. Ken,’ and ‘Selfie’ come to mind), so it’s exciting to see actor Raymond Lee playing the lead character. And more interesting to note, the character Addison as his significant other (from what we can tell from the trailer) as well as colleague.
I’m hoping the revival series is at least as good as the original. I’m sure the special effects are a whole lot better. To learn more, check out the show’s official web site.
(Full disclosure: I’ve donated to Jay’s campaign and endorse his run for Congress.)
The last time I had interviewed Taiwanese American Jay Chen was back in 2012 when I first met him at the 2012 Democratic National Convention (DNC). Recently, when Jay was in town, I had a chance to do a brief interview with him (see above). We talked about his candidacy, a woman right to choice, #StopAsianHate, Michelle Steel and the state of the race.
Since 2012, a lot has happened with Jay, including him having two kids as well as serving in the Middle East and Korea. Now he is running for Congress again in a newly re-districted California Congressional District 45, running against first term Korean American Republican Michelle Steel – which makes a very rare occasion in the US mainland of an Asian American vs. Asian American Congressional race – quite a rarity (to be honest, I don’t know if that has ever happened before?) – in a district which is 37% Asian (by population, 32% of the electorate).
Additionally, this Congressional race is considered one of the top 10 swing races in the nation, and the election has implications as to which party controls the House of Representatives. The New York Times did a timely piece on the race recently:
“Dozens of Vietnamese-speaking volunteers filled a community center on a recent Wednesday to phone bank for Representative Michelle Steel, Republican of California, a Korean American lawmaker whose campaign signs and fliers in Vietnamese and English lined the walls.
A few neighborhoods down, Jay Chen, a Democrat and Navy reservist of Taiwanese descent who is challenging Ms. Steel, passed out fliers outside of Zippost, a shipping business that residents often use to send packages to relatives in Vietnam. Mr. Chen, donning a Navy hat, walked around the plaza with a Vietnamese-speaking volunteer in tow helping residents register to vote.
…
Mr. Chen, the Harvard-educated son of immigrants who is a member of the board of trustees of Mt. San Antonio Community College and owns a local real estate business, said he has tried to appeal to right-leaning voters with his military experience. He served stints in the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula with the Seventh Fleet, which helped evacuate refugees after the Vietnam War.
Ms. Steel, a former member of the county board of supervisors and a local business owner, is fighting to hold onto her seat in a changed political environment. She narrowly defeated Representative Harley Rouda, a Democrat, in 2020 in a district along the California Coast that leaned Republican, becoming one of the first three Korean American women to serve in Congress. But she was displaced by redistricting and opted to run in a new district that tilts slightly toward Democrats.”
The newly drawn district is +5% for Democrats (37.4% vs 32.6 Republican) in terms of voter registration. However, Steel is an incumbant with lots of name recognition due to her past elected service in the area. But in 2020, the district voted for Biden 52.1% to Trump’s 45.9%, and in the reent 2021 Gavin Newsom recall initiative, the retain vote got 53.4% vs. the recall vote ith 46.6% Steel barely won( 51.1% vs. 48.9) in her old district, which was at the time, 70% white (and in 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index district was R+4). Steel has a much bigger hill to climb in this newly drawn district if she wants to get re-elected, and I’m betting that she won’t.
In addition, inflation makes things worse for restaurant owners. As they are forced to raise prices as the prices of their supplies goes up, this threatens to drive off more customers. Continuing violence makes it even harder to recover as many potential customers, particularly the elderly, are too frightened to come out to patronize its restaurants. Many restaurants that survived doing take out business have yet to open in person dining. Says Tony Fong, the owner of the permanently closed Buffet Fortuna:
“There’s a way to contain the virus itself with vaccines and such. But if the public safety remains so bad, there’s no hope for Chinatown.”
