Cao won his seat over troubled eight time incumbent William Jefferson, who still received 47% of the vote despite charges of bribery and corruption (Louisiana politics, do you expect any less?).  Rep. Cao is very “moderate” for a Republican, as highlighted by his vote for the Health Care Plan; he has to be, if he wants to have any chance to be re-elected in a very blue district.

Signed in February 19th, 1942 by President F.D. Roosevelt, Executive Order 9066 granted military personnel the right to move en masse many Japanese Americans, of which the majority were American citizens, into internment camps for a good two years.  The move forced many of these individuals to sacrifice much of their possessions, property, and even family.  People like Star Trek star George Takei, Malcolm X’s confidant Yuri Kochiyama, civil activist Richard Aoki and about 120,000 others had their lives shaped by these internment camps.  In short, Japanese Internment is seen as a black stain in American history, and is often considered a hypocritical blind move by the American government by many due to its various associations with the Nazi’s concentration camps, but I digress.  The most well known of these internment camps is in Manzanar, CA but before much of the interned were forced into Manzanar, they first settled into temporary staging areas held at various stables and race tracks in places like Pomona, Fresno, Salinas, and so on; the most famous of them the Santa Anita Race Track.  The exhibit hopes to bring much of the forgotten history of Japanese Internment back into the forefront of our view on World War II, which is generally viewed as the perennial battle in which the good of the Allies defeated the evil of the Axis.

I grew up around the area and often drove by without drawing any connections between the race track and its dark, hidden past.   The race track sits right next to a modern mall and when I went to the mall in middle school, I always considered the track to be a relic of the past; mostly because I failed to understand the excitement of horse racing and failed to recognize the significance of the venue to the sport.  I guess it would be as if I looked down upon the Rose Bowl simply because I didn’t watch football.  I didn’t know of its purpose, let alone its role in 1942.  Therefore, I’m excited to visit the exhibit not only because I hope to catch some great exhibits and read some excerpts from primary sources first hand, but also because it gives me a reason to step into a place so heralded by horse racing enthusiasts.

A year or so ago, we had a post about Hepatitis B and how it disproportionately affects Asian Americans. For those who don’t already know, Hep B is a disease that attacks the liver without many noticeable symptoms leading many to dub it as the “silent killer” because those who could be infected rarely get tested for it to be diagnosed.  Hep B leads to complications with the liver, in forms of liver cancer and liver failure, and could very much lead to death.

Hepb.org claims that over 12 million people in the United States have Hepatitis B and that it has an infection rate of 100,000 a year.  An estimated 2 million people have chronic Hepatitis B in the United States and over half of those are of Asian decent.  For that very reason, the B Here Campaign is trying to raise awareness on Hep B and it effects on the Asian American community.  Recruiting many Asian American artists and performers, the B Here Campaign is bringing the likes of David Choi, KevJumba, AJ Rafael, Kaba Modern, Paul Dateh and others to UC Irvine, UC Davis, and the University of Houston to the spread the word.  The performance and exhibit at UC Irvine will actually be tomorrow night, (they’ll visit Houston on the 13th and Davis on the 27th) so make sure you head on out! Visit willyoubhere.com for more info.

As a college student, I can say with some confidence that these numbers tell less than half the story.  While there may be a bunch of Asian American students at various campuses across America (especially on the West Coast), it does not mean that they are active in discussions about race or participate in Asian American clubs.  I know from personal experience that a high number of Asian American students or Asian American clubs do not necessarily translate to dialogue or debate; in fact I attend a college on the top 15 list and felt very much ostracized because I didn’t think there was enough discussion about race.  Another quick note is that Harvard, Dartmouth, and Tufts, the three college campuses that had some noticeable controversy involving Asian American in the past year, are not in the Top 25 for universities or liberal art colleges.  However, take the information with a grain of salt as the statistics could have very much changed within the last 9 years.

Therefore, to update that list Angry Asian Man and the Asian Pacific Americans for Progress is calling out for nominations for the “best” college for Asian Americans.  I share because I worry that race relations have taken a backseat on many college campuses and that more and more students are becoming apathetic about race when it is still a pressing issue.  Therefore I request that all students who have the time and opportunity to nominate their school do so; if you feel like you are struggling to answer some of these questions, it’s because your college should be doing a lot more! I just submitted my school.. you should do the same!

(Flickr photo credit: Paul Keleher)

The first is a fund raiser gala for the Asian Pacific Community Fund, which will honor California State Assemblyman Mike Eng and also the Edison Chinese Connection.  Interestingly enough, Assemblyman Eng is the husband of recently elected congresswoman Judy Chu, which John just posted about .   The event will be held on July 23rd at the Grammy Museum Terrace at L.A. Live at 6:30pm.  APCF is an organization that is “focused on enhancing the lives of Asian Pacific Islanders throughout Los Angeles County.” It is a great cause to support, so head on out!  Visit their website for more information.

The second event is “The Party” hosted by the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) and TN KAT, an event celebrating Asian American art and music.  There will be multiple performances by a bunch of guests, but just to name a couple.. Jane Lui, Kiwi, and Shin Kawasaki will be performing.  It’s on Saturday, July 18th from 5:00 Pm to 11:00PM at the JACCC Plaza in Little Tokyo (244 S. San Pedro).  I will (hopefully, if time allows) be heading out, so drop a comment if you’re interested as well.   I’d be happy to listen to any criticisms or comments about my posts, discuss anything you think I might be interested in, or just meet new people and say hi.  Click here to purchase tickets.

A quick video about what TN KAT is about:

But this year seems different, because you can already see the growth of each of the five main characters, who have their own personal problems that extend beyond crashing a Ferrari or losing a movie role.  Instead they seem to be trialed against independence and loyalties, destroying or salvaging relationships that inhibit each individual’s career goals.

Most interesting is Lloyd, the openly homosexual Asian assistant to Hollywood super agent Ari Gold, played by Rex Lee.  While the relationship between Lloyd and Ari has always been a highlight of the show, there was never a true challenge to their bond.  Lloyd is Ari’s perfect assistant: independent enough to challenge Ari when necessary, thick skinned to withstand Ari’s trademark homophobic and racist slurs, and so loyal that he is perhaps Ari’s only true friend and ally.   Yet all good things have to come to an end, as Lloyd’s own ambitions and parental pressures pit him against Ari’s need for a good assistant — you can only put up with being a lowly assistant for so long.  This conflict puts the character into a rare position for adequate Asian American and homosexual representation in television.  Lloyd’s character is stereotypical in the way Entourage plays stereotypes; it doesn’t so much offend as much as draw attention… and it flirts with that tight line perfectly.   Despite that, Lloyd’s character growth (at least the potential for it) is something unique in television because the character can openly fight down those stereotypes that are presented right on the screen.   Rex Lee’s subservient, ambitious, and kind character (think  of John Cho’s Harold, especially the opening scene) evolves into an independent, strong, and determined agent… something we don’t see much of on television.  Of course, the writers could make it so that the two are co-dependent of each other and write it otherwise, but after watching the first episode, I doubt it.

I don’t think that this “opportunity” has ever presented itself so openly in popular media (save for Harold and Kumar).  Sure we see Jin-Soo Kwon and Sun-Hwa Kwon.. or Hiro and Ando and their trials and tribulations to knock down Asian American sterotypes in popular entertainment, but they’re distinctly Asian, and not Asian-American; not to mention that their characters still hold onto hard line stereotypes.  Plus, those cultural conflicts aren’t important to their perspective plots as it will be for Entourage’s.  Other notables, such as Grace Park, fill a racial quota on shows like Battlestar Galactica or The Cleaner, in that they’re Asian, but if you read the script you wouldn’t be able to tell they are.  Rex Lee is in a unique position, and as much as my focus on Entourage will still be on Vincent Chase and his escapades, I’m now really excited to see if Lloyd  lives to his potential, both on and off the screen.

For more information: http://ltdanchoi.com/id4.html

Growing up, I would visit Hong Kong and/or Taiwan every year to visit family and see my birthplace. At first, during these visits, I would try to read signs or menus using whatever Chinese characters I could muster.  However, as I progressed through the American school system, it became much easier and comfortable to read the English translations.   Even in my early teens, it was easy to tell that some of these translations had critical grammatical, diction, and spelling errors. In most cases, one could easily decipher what the phrase truly meant, but in others… You always figured someone would start a hefty business correcting such errors, or at the very least, be low-cost translators for small businesses. Guess not.

“Engrish” or “Chinglish”, as a phenomenon, has permeated through so much of Asian culture that some people are considering it to be beyond a parody of grammar and instead believe that it is an integral part of modern Asian culture. However, even if one does consider “Engrish” to be the – for the lack of a better word – “progression” of English in certain parts of the world; many social problems, especially in our increasingly border-less world, become more and more pertinent as “Engrish” becomes more socially appropriate and accessible. “Engrish” doesn’t necessarily promote a good image on behalf of Asians; it’s hard to be proud of something like this because it ultimately reflects the ignorance, and even a bit of stupidity, on those who create the signs.   Not to mention, those who do need English to navigate themselves through Asia could easily have trouble understanding “Engrish” signs.

It also promotes the use of “Engrish” to those who are not native English speakers. Many times, we hear stories of or see “Fobs”, the immigrants who are “Fresh off the Boat” that subsequently do not have proper mastery of colloquial English.  From what I remember, elementary school teachers used stop signs or stop lights to promote the learning of spelling and language. The same can be said of learning a second language. If all around you, there are signs using  English that is grammatically incorrect, and you assume it is correct, why should you not think that its a proper usage of the English language?

It’s not that the translation isn’t hard enough: even the simplest things like “Yes” or “No” to certain questions could be confusing due to cultural upbringings and grammar. Ben clarifies for us:

The question of: “Tomorrow we don’t have class?” can be qualified by multiple answers:

1) Yes. – Yes we have class.
2) Yes. – Yes, we don’t have class.
3) No. – No, we have class.
4) No. – No, we don’t have class.

1 and 4 are essentially the same as are 2 and 3. But it depends on how you phrase the question and how the answer is phrased.. Also, negations in Chinese are tied to specifics. You rarely say bu (不), and instead you say buyao (不要), or meiyou(沒有). In any case, this guy is… simplifying it too much.

He’s right. The author’s oversimplifying the concept, but there have been instances, with my aunts, cousins, and even my mother, where I have had to clarify because they answer simply with a word. So a “Yes” to the question like “I can’t stay out past midnight?” (because sometimes even 18 year old college students have curfew when they’re back home) makes me question “‘Yes, I can’ or ‘Yes, I can’t'?” Ultimately the best solution is to ask a better question: “Can I stay out past midnight tonight” which leads to “Yes” or “No” with no confusion.

Still, this phenomenon, and the ramifications it carries, only further accentuates the difficulties of crossing cultural borders splitting the East and the West.  Widespread change and corrections throughout Asia is highly unlikely, and “Engrish” is without a doubt going to stay, cultural impacts or not.

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A few weeks ago, I made a post about Lieutenant Dan Choi, an openly gay West Point grad that had served in Iraq. Lt. Choi is the figurehead for a movement opposing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the homophobic policy that prohibits open homosexuals from serving in the military. This was — and still is — a movement that garnered attention from blogs and news networks because it showed just how detrimental the policy was to our national security. But apparently being gay trumps being an honorable and brave serviceman because Lt. Choi and fellow soldier Second Lt. Sandy Tsao are both being discharged from the military due to their sexual orientation. As always, I turn to the Daily Show to get a better perspective.

The problems with this are pretty obvious. To fire one of the 54 Arabic translators serving in the military, in an age when Arabic translators serving in the military are in high demand, is beyond ludicrous. What’s worse is the inaction coming from the White House; I wrote before how November 4th’s was sort of a bittersweet day because of Prop 8 here in California and this doesn’t make it much better. Despite reaffirmations from President Barack Obama, in forms of speeches and hand written letters , that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would be repealed – and apparently it could easily be done so – it still very much stands and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.

I’ve been trying to look at this story from another prospective, or at least to find someone who’s looking at this story from another prospective, but I just haven’t been able to find them. There is just no rational reason for this policy to continue, or for these honorable individuals and heroes to be treated the way they have been treated.