Reporter David Louie retires after 50 years with ABC7

Posted on October 12, 2022 by John

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area in the last 50 years, you probably have seen local television reporter David Louie. After working at ABC7 News for over 50 years, he will be retiring in October:


After 50 and a half years in news, reporter David Louie has retired from ABC7. He joined ABC7 News in 1972, back when the program was called “Newsscene.”

Back in 1970, there weren’t that many Asian Americans. In fact, by my calculations from what I’ve found online, it was 0.75% of the overall U.S. population back then, about 1.5 million.

Louie was one of the first Asian American TV reporters in the Bay Area – and I have to imagine, in the nation – and certainly on the air the longest! Ironically, 10 years ago, I acknowledged that fact while noting his 40 years of service. Congratulations to Louie on his well deserved retirement and for him being a pioneer and inspiration to so many.

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Senate Officially Confirms Michelle Kwan as US ambassador to Belize

Posted on October 10, 2022 by John

Back in July, I had blogged about Michelle Kwan being inducted into the U.S.Olympic Hall of Fame, as well as her being confirmed as Ambassador to Belize. Well, I was wrong – Michelle had her Senate confirmation hearing, but she hadn’t been confirmed officially until recently (Thursday, September 29th):

“The Senate on Thursday confirmed Michelle Kwan, a former Olympic figure skater and longtime Democratic activist, to serve as ambassador to Belize.

Kwan, who President Joe Biden tapped for the role in December, skated through the chamber’s confirmation process with a voice vote.

…

“Kwan’s extensive work experience at the U.S. State Department in public diplomacy and youth outreach and her work with non-profit organizations combined with her strong management and business skills make her a well-qualified candidate to be the U.S. Ambassador to Belize,” the State Department said.

The agency also highlighted Kwan’s education background, including her Master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.”

Michelle was nominated in December of 2021, and it’s now already October. It makes me wonder why it takes so long for the confirmation to take so long! I’ve never been to Belize, but  my brother has for scuba diving. I should get my passport renewed and make a visit to Belize some in the near future!

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’38 At The Garden’ Premieres October 11th on HBO Max

Posted on October 7, 2022 by John

https://youtu.be/JSU2j8FJi_M

38 at the Garden Jeremy Lin animation pictureBack in June, I had blogged about a community event about an upcoming documentary, ’38 At the Garden’ about Jeremy Lin’s performance against Kobe Bryant’s LA Lakers back on February 10th, 2012, its effects, and the current state of Asian hate and discrimination. The official broadcast / streaming date has been announced (October 11 on HBO Max) and the official trailer is available: 

“38 At The Garden chronicles the extraordinary ascendance of point guard Jeremy Lin during his landmark 2012 season with the New York Knicks. Lin, an undrafted Harvard graduate, shocked fans, stunned his teammates and galvanized Asians around the world when he scored 38 points at Madison Square Garden against the Los Angeles Lakers, solidifying Lin’s hot streak and the “Linsanity” craze.

A decade later, Lin’s stature as a groundbreaking, cultural icon stands in stark relief to the recent hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. 38 At The Garden recognizes a pivotal moment in time for Lin and celebrates a phenomenon that was bigger than basketball for the world.”

Having seen the documentary ‘LINSANITY’ back in 2013, I’m looking forward to what new ground this documentary will cover. It’s kind of crazy to think that it’s been over 10 years that Jeremy Lin shocked the basketball world. Since then, Jeremy has had his up’s and down’s in the NBA, as well as the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), and most recently, signed with the Guangzhou Loong Lions:

“HOUSTON — Houston Rockets former point guard Jeremy Lin has yet to retire from basketball 13 years after beginning his pro career. Lin announced on his Instagram page on Monday that he has signed with the Guangzhou Loong Lions for the 2022-23 CBA season.

His last NBA stop took place with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, where he appeared in 23 games en route to his lone NBA championship. 

Lin felt his lack of playing time did not validate his championship ring. A complete 180 from the role he played as a member of the Rockets from 2012 to 2014 who averaged 13.0 points. “

It’s too bad that we probably will never see Jeremy play in the NBA again, but he’s definitely outlasted the averages. The average NBA tenure in the league is around 5 years.

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Chosen: The Story of Five Korean Americans who ran for Congress

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Jeff

Chosen is a documentary by Joseph Hoo Juhn about five Korean Americans, two Republicans and three Democrats, who ran for the US Congress in 2020.  We have written about a number of them, such Michelle Steel, Young Kim, and Marilyn Strickland.  Andy Kim of New Jersey is famous for the picture of him cleaning up the capitol after the January 6 riot. The one I did not know about is David Kim, who ran for the seat in a district that represents LA Koreatown but did not win.

A key theme of the film is about representation.  In this article, Juhn notes that after a showing, a high school student came up to him and said:

“Watching your film, I felt like I was seen on the screen for the first time.”

The filmmaker has been on a tour in the US showing his film, and he has also secured a showing in South Korea. The next showing will be on October 6 from 6-9 PM in Wilshire Presbyterian Church and the evening after that at UCLA. See his kickerstarter update page for ongoing updates.

 

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San Francisco Street Renamed ‘Vicha Ratanapakdee Way’ for 84-year-old Thai Killed

Posted on October 5, 2022 by John

Back in January of this year, I had attended the one year anniversary of the deadly assault against 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee while on a walk in San Francisco. Recently, there was a ceremony to rename the street where ‘Grandpa Vicha’ used to go for walks:

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
  • Amanda Ngoc Nguyen, Founder and CEO of Rise

For the complete program, see the YouTube video above or here.

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.

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Japanese American Tanforan Memorial Internment Camp Ribbon Cutting & Statue Unveiling

Posted on October 3, 2022 by John

A few weekends ago on Saturday, August 27th afternoon, I attended in San Bruno, California (just south of San Fransisco), the Tanforan Memorial Ribbon Cutting and Statue Unveiling:

“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:

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Cornell Quarterback Jameson Wang Signs NIL Deal with Degree

Posted on September 29, 2022 by John

Image courtesy of Cornell University

When I saw Jeff’s blog post on Gonzaga Basketball Players Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong, I knew had to write about Cornell University’s Jameson Wang, a quarterback on the Ivy League school’s football team and his NIL (name, image and likeness) deal with Degree (which was reported back in August):

““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.””

Continue reading →

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Democratic and Republican Parties make moves to attract Asian American Voters

Posted on September 28, 2022 by Jeff

Both the Republican and Democrat Parties and their partisans have been making moves to encourage Asian American to vote their way in the coming mid-term elections.  The Republican Party has reportedly invested millions in courting non-white voters, including Asian Americans through outreach centers in places such as Georgia. The Asian American Power Network has dedicated $10 million toward turning out Asian American voters.

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.

(photo credit:  DonkeyHotey under Creative Commons 2.0 license)

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McKinsey & Company: Asian American workers: Diverse outcomes and hidden challenges

Posted on September 26, 2022 by John

Earlier in September, the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company published this Executive Briefing: ‘Asian American workers: Diverse outcomes and hidden challenges’:

“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.”

I would agree that Asian Americans are often overlooked in the corporate world, especially when it comes to leadership – the often discussed ‘bamboo ceiling. this is particularly sad given Asian American’s outsized contributions to the American economy. 

There’s a ton of interesting data in the report.  Here are a few highlights:

Continue reading →

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Asian American Medical Hazard: US Western States Drought

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Jeff

(photo credit: USDA)

It might be seem like a stretch to call the Western States Drought a medical hazard particular to Asian Americans, but one aspect of the drought will affects certain Asian Americans more drastically:  an increase in Valley Fever.  Valley fever, also known as Coccidioidomycosis, long since since been a problem (an increasing one) in places like Kern County, in California’s hot and dusty San Joaquin Valley for which it is named, but more recently, it has been been found and discussed in locations such as Utah and Arizona (where the majority of cases in the US actually occur). While all racial groups are equally vulnerable to getting Valley Fever, some groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Filipino Americans, are exceptionally vulnerable for the serious and sometimes fatal version called disseminated disease, where it spreads beyond the lungs into the joints, brain, and other organs.

As cases have increased since I last wrote on this disease, so have research efforts on Valley Fever. Efforts have been long been underway to develop a vaccine for this disease since the 1960s.  Some progress has been made on a vaccine for Valley Fever in dogs, which like many other animals can also get the disease. A version of the vaccine for humans is said to be years away.

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.

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8Books: Seoulmates by Susan Lee

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Lily

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.

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TargetSmart: Asian American Voter Registration Trends in 2022

Posted on September 19, 2022 by John
Chart of new AAPI registration in 2022 vs 2022 showing fewer Republican registrations

New AAPI Registrants: 2020 vs 2022 (photo credit: Tom Bonier)

I forget when I first started following Tom Bonier of TargetSmart (“a Democratic political data and data services firm”), but he had recently tweeted out some interesting Asian American voter registration stats:

From the most recent blog post on the 2022 AAPI Voter Survey, I had noted that Asian Americans 44% Democratic, 19% Republican and 29% Independent. If you don’t know what the Dobbs decision is, it is was the Supreme Court case ruling in June overturning of Roe v. Wade, which had allowed the legal right to an abortion nationally (as opposed to individual states deciding). 

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. 

 

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