Ed. Note: The below is a reposting of “The Last Word“, the first in our collaboration with CAUSE, the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment. This post is from their series “CAISC Intern Blog“, testimonials from interns working with our elected leaders. See past entries from this collaboration.

Taking on this internship has been the perfect way to complete my transformative year. I applied for the CASIC program on a whim for the express purpose of having something to do for the summer. There was not much investment on my part in getting the internship, I was perfectly happy with wasting time at home until I flew off to Shanghai. In hindsight, I am glad that I was given this opportunity. Being a CASIC intern has been eye opening and rewarding experience. I cannot imagine having a more life changing eight weeks.

My assignment at Assemblymember Ted Lieu’s office was quite the learning experience. Working with the staffers really allowed me to see what it took to work at a district office. Melissa Ramoso, the intern coordinator for the office, welcomed all the interns with open arms and made sure that we were doing meaningful work. Among the interns, there was a strong feeling of camaraderie, especially since we went to lunch together every single chance we had which made the act of leaving all the more difficult.

In addition to working at the assemblymember’s office, I spent a great deal of my time at the CAUSE office. Throughout my time at CAUSE, the executive director Chris Ige has been nothing short of a great mentor. Chris is chockfull of stories and sage advice that I would have never heard, had I simply stayed at Ted Lieu’s office. In addition, he always took the time to answer my questions, no matter how simple. Through him, I was able to learn the backgrounds of the elected officials that I met, which made it easier for me to talk to them. Most importantly, however, Chris let me have my own projects in the office and asked for input on many of the things that he was working on. In fact, at times it was a bit overwhelming because Chris would ask for my opinions on things that I felt were far too important for me to weigh in on. Every day at the CAUSE office was an experience to be remembered. I am not sure whether it was his union background or just his personality but things in office were always very open. I could always be honest in my opinion around him and if we disagreed, we simply agreed to disagree. There were never any hard feelings. I did not realize the full extent of how much of a mentor Chris was for me until a week before the end of the program, and now that I have, I have come to value my time at the CAUSE office all the more.

The Monday weekly meetings with various famous persons was icing on the cake. In the all star line-up that we met with, John Kobara and Judge Ronald Lew were the standouts. Mr. Kobara’s engaging and high energy speaking style made the whole experience memorable. I took his witty life advice to heart and it was very reassuring to know that some of the advice that he was dishing out, I was already following, especially the part about not listening to your parents. The self help S.W.I.V.E.L. worksheet that he had handed out during his presentation is incredibly helpful, so much so that I have shared it with multiple friends. On the other hand, the meeting with Judge Lew went completely differently. Judge Lew spoke softly and slowly but his words had so much weight that they just stuck to my mind. The judge would often pause before answering a question and during that moment of silence, I could not help but hold my breath. When Judge Lew paused the world stopped and it only resumed once he had found the perfect words to express his thoughts. To me Judge Lew is a real life sage from one of those myths of old. I can imagine him giving advice to a young hero, advice that the hero ignores at his own peril. A large part of what makes the CASIC program so amazing is the fact that we are connected to such amazing people. I doubt I would have been able to meet any of these individuals by myself.

Every week I found myself going to at least one event, often times at the last minute because I would forget that there was even an event that day. The first event I went to was the Lilian Kawasaki fundraiser, which was terribly awkward. It was a very small fundraiser consisting of maybe ten people and all of them were familiar with each other. This made it extremely difficult to strike up a conversation and it did not help that many of them were old white men. However, Lilian tried her best to introduce us to people and facilitate conversation, so all in all it was not a terrible first experience. As I attended more and more events, I became better at networking and so the events became less awkward and more fun. The highlight of all these events occurred at the last event that I attended, at the APALP fundraiser where I found myself having a give and take conversation with LAFD Fire Chief Emile Mack. I ended that night standing next to State Controller John Chiang and just joking with him, completely relaxed and enjoying the moment. I really appreciated the events because it allowed me to see a part of society that I had not seen before. At events, I was finding myself surrounded by the elite of our society. These men and women were the ones who made or broke candidates before the election even started. I stood in awe of their mannerisms and poise, things that I had only seen in fictional television programs.

The greatest irony for me this summer was the fact that this research project was done on social media. After leaving UCSD and working on social media marketing projects for the better half of the year, I was ready to move on and experiment with something else. When my idea for doing the project on examining the relationship between the LAPD and Asian communities received little fanfare from the other interns, I threw my weight behind Kristina’s idea of social media. I gave a direction to the social media project idea by suggesting we make a handbook that taught the basics of social media to small non-profits and politicians. Surprisingly, I was nominated to be leader of the project Kristina and even more surprisingly nobody opposed it. Suddenly, I found myself leading a project on something I had wanted to get away from.

Thankfully, I had a very talented group of people supporting me. I had the vision of the project, but without the help of the other interns, that vision would have never become reality. For the most part everybody worked well together and the team dynamics of the CASIC class were great. Everybody contributed to the project in some way, and some even gave more than was asked or expected of them. To date, I have never worked with a better team.

All the things I learned during my time in CASIC pales in comparison to the friends that I have made. I really bonded with Monica, Kristina and Christian and I think we will be lifelong friends. Christian already tells me that he has my back and to never hesitate to call him if I need help. Even though it has only been eight weeks, graduating from CASIC is a heart breaking experience.

The Asian American Action Fund Blog and CAUSE announce a cross-posting partnership effective immediately in a 3 month pilot. The collaboration aims to further each other’s mission: to politically empower Asian Americans. Both organizations’ blogs will collaborate to crosspost many of each other’s articles.

We are very excited to collaborate to better serve our readers and the cause of Asian Americans advocacy.

— AAA-Fund Blog and CAUSE

The AAA-Fund is a Democratic political action committee whose goal is to increase the voice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) on every level of local, state and federal government in America. To achieve this goal, we address the chronic under-representation of AAPIs as campaign volunteers, campaign contributors, and candidates for political office. The AAA-Fund has endorsed candidates across the country.

CAUSE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, non-partisan community-based organization with a mission to advance the political empowerment of the Asian Pacific Islander American community through voter registration and education, community outreach and leadership development.

Media master Glenn Beck started Glenn Beck University. Now you can pay for the hate so he profits a tad more. I especially love (sarcastically) the motto, “Faith, Hope and Charity.” I thought this so-called “university” was about extremist right-wing politics, not charity. Got to love those conservatives who wave the flag of the US in 1 hand and wave Jesus in the other justify their personal opinions. This “university” is merely a media initiative of haters using religion and politics to justify their personal flaws.

Speaking of personal flaws, a problem with GOP Christians fighting healthcare reform, finance reform, environmental conservation, and any social improvement is that such folks of faith are apparently opposed to worldly improvement except as done by the church or the GOP. News alert: waving Jesus is not correlated to action. Contrarily, faith may justify doing nothing and waiting on God’s will. That makes little sense to common sense people. I wonder: why is the only action that’s ok with a waiting GOP Christian is to oppose social improvement (a.k.a. Democrats)? To provide no actionable solution except a political cheapshot or a personal attack is irresponsible. One should rely on not merely a God but also government. Extreme ideas are discredited when credibility, intelligence, and action are the way things progress. GOP Christians compromise their credibility by destroying instead of creating. I curse not the earth but those who stand in the way of improving it. Doing good can even earn you death threats if you meet those who’d rather not change (i.e. conservative). To those men and women of goodwill who seek to make politics improve instead of to destroy, I encourage you today and everyday.

Ed. Note: The below is a reposting of “What It’s Going to Be Like Under AZ’s SB 1070“, the sixth in our collaboration with Hyphen Magazine. See past entries from this collaboration.

image courtesy of Paul L McLord

Hyphen’s newest blogger is a happy first: Dexter will be beefing up our comparative race perspective, especially on issues jointly affecting the Asian American and black communities. Also throw in his transnational perspective as an American living abroad in Japan and hip-hop expertise (Dexter runs The Mixtape Show, the #1 ranked hip-hop show in Apple’s iTunes Music store), and you’re looking at a classic Hyphen overachiever who is very close to out-Asian American’ing us all. Well played, Dexter.

So, this Arizona law is alternately familiar and weird to me.

When I first heard about it, I got this weird déjà-vu feeling where I kept thinking that I’d seen this law somewhere before. Then I realized that I had.

I lived in Japan for the past two years, where there is a law that requires anyone who is not a Japanese National (don’t get me started on that definition) to carry either a passport or an Alien Registration Card at all times. And while it’s not technically legal for police to stop you and check your ID for “looking foreign,” mainstream xenophobia and a weird loophole in the law allow for it. This ensures that everyone – whites, Blacks, Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and hell, weird-looking Japanese people – gets stopped at some point on suspicion of having non-Yamato blood coursing through their veins.

But I also find this situation sort of odd since we’ve heard an awful lot about how reprehensible/illegal/in general not good the law is, but we haven’t heard of what systems like this are like when they’re actually enforced: what they do to your mind when you’re on the receiving end.

Which is weird, because this isn’t anything new. Actually, to a lot of us, it should kinda ring a bell.

This is simply a better, faster, harder, stronger version of a system that has proven effective in breeding fear and distrust between police, citizen, and immigrant communities in Japan (and other places with varying tones of difference – but I only know about the US and Japan, so I won’t speak more broadly) – except this time, instead of a gentlemen’s agreement, it’s a full-blown law. And while the law is now on pause thanks to a temporary injunction, that hold is just that – temporary – and we are still looking at the very real possibility of the hammer dropping soon.

So, for those of you who are unfortunate enough to be nonwhite and live in Arizona, or any one of the number of states that are thinking of introducing similar legislation, I will tell you what it’s like living under this law.

In a word, it sucks.

This law is going to make the act of going outside scary. This is because you now know that police need even less of a reason to make your day hell – and you can really only make up for so much by wearing nicer clothes and “talking white.” It’s not such a hot idea to go out anyway, because your neighborhood is going to get pretty unsafe, as people will be afraid to call the police when a real crime happens – which is going to open the door for more and more violent things going down.

This law is going to make you antisocial. You will come up with vague yet clever excuses ahead of time to tell the girl/guy you like as to why you don’t want to go to the restaurant on the nice side of town, because getting stopped by the police for being brown right when your date is going well is really, really embarrassing. You will also start to get nervous when hanging around in public with friends who have accents, because that is going to make you guilty by association.

This law is going to piss off your white friends, who will be angry at being mistaken for an “illegal” just because they have a tan or tried to copy your haircut.

This law is going to make you flinch whenever a police officer walks by. You’re going to hesitate to pick up that wallet that someone left on the bus seat and turn it in to the police station, because the last time you tried to be a good Samaritan you had to prove that you were allowed to exist, and that made you feel bad. You will instead ignore the wallet, which will later be stolen.

You will otherwise be a paragon of citizenry, however – you will never spit out your gum, skateboard on public property, or jaywalk. And your car? Perfectly maintained, lest you get attract attention to yourself with for a dim headlight.

This law is going to give you a photographic memory. You will make sure to buy running shorts with pockets in them, because you need a place to hold your ID in case a police officer decides to stop you during your evening jog. You will also never, ever leave your wallet in the car. Also, your eight year old sister is going to need to get a state ID, and you will be very good about putting it into the front pocket of her pink overalls for her so that she doesn’t forget it when she goes to play with her friends at the park.

This law is going to make you more observant. You’re going to learn where police officers tend to be at the mall, at the train station, and downtown, and learn that if you keep your head down and just stick to the walls and stay away from the middle of any open spaces, you have a lesser chance of getting noticed and/or stopped.

This law is going to make you resent and be suspicious of other ethnicities who don’t seem to be getting harassed as much as “your people”; this law is going to make you feel victimized, and this law is going to make you feel scared.

And that’s really what this law is about – keeping us divided, keeping us in our places, and keeping us afraid.

Sound familiar yet?

Ed’s Note: The below is from our friends at the Organization of Chinese Americans in a press release. We also note the Whitehouse’s own press release. Daphne has been seen previously here on this blog doing GOTV for Obama, being noted for such work, and as APIAVote board chair.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 July 2010
CONTACT Lan Nguyen | Program Associate | 202 223 5500 | lnguyen@ocanational.org

Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, President Obama announced the appointment of Daphne Kwok as Chair of the Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). In October 2009, President Obama signed an executive order to reinstate the White House Advisory Commission and Interagency Working Group to address issues affecting the AAPI community and increase AAPI participation in federal programs.

As Commission Chair, Ms. Kwok will work closely with the White House Initiative on AAPIs to increase awareness of federal resources for underserved AAPI communities. Initiative co-chairs: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and Initiative Executive Director Kiran Ahuja will all work in collaboration with Ms. Kwok to address the critical needs of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Daphne Kwok has been a committed advocate and leader in the AAPI community for over two decades. She served as the Executive Director of OCA for 11 years, from 1990 to 2001, where she also was also the first Chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.

“Daphne is an extraordinarily capable and passionate leader for the AAPI community. The depth of her experiences and what she has already accomplished will prove invaluable to the commission. OCA greatly applauds this appointment and we look forward to working with Daphne and the Initiative,” said Ken Lee, National President of OCA.

Ms. Kwok is currently the Executive Director of Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California. She has also served as Executive Director for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies and Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. In addition, she is Chair and Co-founder of APIAVote, a founding Board Member of the APIA Scholarship Fund, and has been on the board of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development and Asian Pacific American Caucus of the American Political Science Association.

Calling all filmmakers! The San Diego Asian Film Festival is sponsoring a PSA contest to raise awareness about the importance of registering to vote and making the APIA voice heard at the polls. Open to folks across the country, the contest calls for 30 second video submissions that promote and encourage folks to register to vote.

The top 3 finalists will be flown out to San Diego to attend the opening weekend and mingle with the festival’s attendees. A live audience will vote on the top winner at the Gala Dinner and the winner will walk away with $1000.

So what are you waiting for? The August 31 deadline is fast approaching!

I’ve been slow to weigh in on the issue over the Muslim community center planned for construction in Lower Manhattan, close to the World Trade Center site. I won’t myself use this issue’s overheated political term which I feel like some political consultancy was paid to brilliantly invent to inflame emotions. The name itself is but one of so many misnomers in this hopelessly overheated argument.

I’m pretty sure those outside Manhattan island have little to no idea of Manhattan’s layout and don’t see the world in terms of feet and blocks as much as “Ground Zero or not”. Many Americans live in areas where driving 2 hours is “in the area” (or in Maine, “around the corner”) and 1 hour is “kinda close by/not that bad” so 2 blocks is subconsciously translated as “right there”. They pretend they can’t get it through their heads that it’s 2 blocks away but what they really mean is a mosque shouldn’t exist anywhere, preferably. The few who can get past that mental block just don’t care, the impenetrable defense for ignorance.

Beyond the problem of geography, is another lit powder keg: freedom of religion. I refer to practically practicing religion, not just whether a Muslim should pray in a closet or a dingy basement and thus that’s what a conservative’s preferred “freedom” of religion for a Muslim. We yesterday posted Obama’s firm defense of the Bill of Rights in regards to religion. Would the evengelicals like to ban the building of Mormon buildings because Mormon theology disagrees with a few basics of evengelical theology? How about the Catholics for whom evengelicals find the pope objectable and the emphasis on tradition over Bible to be almost as offensive? Perhaps the evengelicals would also like to ban the Hindus and, oh, perhaps the Buddhists, too, even as inoffensive as they are.

Those who’re religiously conservative would be best to remember they can do what they do precisely because of the very law they seek to circumvent. How hypocritical. Those who’re Constitutional libertarians would be best to also remember the Bill of Rights even as they get hot-headed over mosques. Those who’re Republicans would best mind the fundamentalist nature of their charged friends in the so-called Tea Party. For Tea Party members, note that the emphasis on individual liberty and limited government doesn’t mean you oppose Muslims as they practice, well, individual liberty. Those who’re supposedly independent patriots would best mind to remember that this nation isn’t made up of entirely Muslim-persecuting war hawks. Those who’re moderate Muslims would be best to remember that Americans have a sensitivity and that as unfair as it is, it’s not going away. Those who’re Christians should best mind the schisms within their own religions’ sects. Those who’re intellectuals or have any iota of thought beyond mere emotion would be best to examine the specifics of the mosque like the imam (and, surprise, his wife, too) himself or the developer (that’d be the Cordoba Initiative, for those who’re so deep into hating, they forgot who’s who) and funding behind this building or any fact check (AP source, duplicate), really. There’s a lot of blame to go around and little time in which to settle it as the talk shows grind their daily axes.

It’s too overheated a debate to discuss sensibly anymore. That’s the most unfortunate part.