California Student Test Scores Rise With End of Bilingual Education
August 25, 2000
| For the 1.4 million limited-English-proficient students in California, the elimination of bilingual education in 1998 with Proposition 227 meant they would have to sink or swim in an English-only learning environment. As indicated by the recently released scores of the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition (SAT 9), part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, many did swim and even managed to improve drastically over prior year scores. |
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Domestic Violence Outreach ExpandsServices to be offered in East Bay The Asian Women’s Shelter Collaborative to End Domestic Violence will now be able to offer its services to the East Bay due to a grant from the state’s largest private health foundation. During a luncheon ceremony on Aug. 17, the California Endowment presented a check of more than $532,000 to the Collaborative, which is made up of the Asian Women’s Shelter, Cameron House, Narika, and Nihonmachi Legal Outreach. |
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Stumping for API Candidates: Asian American CEOs from Silicon Valley gather to help Gary Locke and other Asian Americans seeking election. Political Potstickers: Tsai’s Bid for Richmond Votes. Rose Tsai campaigns diligently for the S.F. Board of Supervisors District 1. |
Sacred Drums of India
August 25, 2000
| Tabla Rasa in association with Door Dog Music Productions, presents the first collaboration of three master percussionists from North and South India on Aug. 27 at St. John’s in Berkeley, Calif. A tri-cultural music event, Sacred Drums of India will feature master Indian musicians Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, T.H. Supan Chandran and Ganesh Kumar, along with Uttam Chakraborty, Tim Witter and Jim Santi Owen of Tabla Rasa. Together, these drummers will play off each other in an intricate performance combining the lyrical rhythms of North Indian tabla with the syncopated drumming of South India. |
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| Also In This Section |
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Artists Strike Back: Clarion Alley Dance protest rallies S.F. artists behind the cost-of-living issue. |
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A&E Calendar Arts, entertainment, and community events around the country, listed alphabetically by region and category. |
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Letters to the Editor
August 25, 2000
South Asian Representation
- Dear Editor: While I commend columnist Phil Tajitsu Nash for his piece, “Celebrating API Women Leaders” (Aug. 3), I find it particularly disconcerting that there is no mention of the many strong South Asian American women leaders that have made and continue to make substantial contributions to the local, regional and national Asian American communities with their dedication, commitment and vision.
Leaders such as Anannya Bhattacharjee of New York, who co-founded Sakhi for South Asian Women, SAMAR (South Asian Magazine for Action and Reflection) magazine, and Workers Awaaz, as well as serving as the executive director of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence. Or Bhairavi Desai, the frontline leader of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, who organized a strike of thousands of taxi drivers (over 50 percent of New York City cab drivers are of South Asian origin) to protest Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s laundry list of oppressive new regulations. And of course there is Urvashi Vaid, whose emergence as an outspoken advocate for queer rights galvanized a stronger national push for equal rights regardless of sexual orientation.
I find that mainstream Asian American publications often either tokenize or completely overlook the vibrant and substantial South Asian communities in the United States. I am surprised that Nash, who has an excellent reputation for including South Asian Americans and other marginalized API communities in the dialogue of a more inclusive Asian America, overlooked these and other inspirational South Asian women leaders.
Parag Khandhar
New York City
“Mr. Wong” Bigoted Toward Whites Too
- Dear Editor: This is a cross-cultural communication to let your readers know that all is not well in cartoonland on the Internet. We are a group of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based families who speak out against bigotry against all groups, but we primarily focus on that directed against European Americans. We have reference to a racist hate cartoon on www.icebox.com that features an older and very stereotyped Asian American man (”Mr. Wong”) and a mean-mouthed and very stereotyped middle-aged European American woman (”Miss Pam”).
It is obvious that the cartoon is demeaning and hateful toward Asian American men. The racist hate cartoon employs upward of a dozen stereotypes to disparage Asian American men.
But it is also hateful toward European American women. We at Resisting Defamation don’t know why this is so hard to see. When a caricature of a European American is created to utter racist words and think racist thoughts, please notice that this is bigotry toward European Americans.
One way to see this is to imagine a hate cartoon featuring a stereotypical and negative Asian American character speaking to and about African Americans in the worst possible way. That cartoon would be taken to be hateful toward African Americans, but it would also be hateful toward Asian Americans who symbolized by the stereotypical and negative character.
According to a San Francisco Chronicle article, the hate cartoon’s production coordinator, Colleen Murakami, and the company’s vice president, Joel Kuwahara, are both Japanese American, and the company’s CEO, Steve Stanford, is African American.
These people are mildly criticized for mocking older Asian American men, but they need to be roundly denounced as haters and bigots toward European American women, whom they insult, demean and disparage ruthlessly in this way.
Shame on www.icebox.com for its divisive, mean-spirited hate cartoon.
Bo Sears
via e-mail
Do you have something to say? Send a letter to the editor via e-mail (to asianweek@asianweek.com)!
AsianWeek welcomes letters commenting on our coverage and other topics of interes to Asian Pacific Americans. Please keep letters as brief as possible (we reserve the right to edit letters for length and style), and include your name and a daytime telephone number for verification. For letters by conventional mail, address to: AsianWeek, 809 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, California 94108, U.S.A.
Summer Flingin’
August 25, 2000
By Loan Kim Ly
The cold days drag on and “summer breezes” whip through the streets of San Francisco. It’s amazing what a change in weather, meaning a few hot days, can do the teenage mind. Girls begin trotting around in skimpy outfits and guys strut, exposing their arms and chests in tank tops or fitted tees. With hormones on the rampage, almost everyone begins showing off and flirting in some respect or another, especially since school is out and summer is jammed packed with get-a-ways, BBQs, water fights, Dawson’s Creek and other teenage melodramas.
Last week I observed a cute boy around 14 or 15 who tried to ‘spit game’ in the lower lobby of the San Francisco Shopping Centre.
“Wussup girl…” he said, reaching for the girl’s hand.
“Huh?” she replied, shocked but at the same time flattered by the attention.
“So what’s up wit tha digits.”
His friends stood in the back, watched and waited. Her friends giggled behind her as they checked out the young Mack and then his group of equally cute friends.
“Umm … I don’t know, peace out!”
Smiling, she walked away slow enough for him to catch up.
“Awww … It’s gonna be like that?”
He rushed after her and an almost synchronized giggle was executed by the group of young girls. He reached for her hand once again and proceeded with his mission, “So can I call you some time?”
Finally she agreed and they exchanged phone numbers.
In any relationship there are many factors that play major roles in where your summer romance may lead you.
One, you end up with a long-term boy/girlfriend, which is mainly a product for the “meant for each other” discovery. In this case, the two of you share many similarities and at the same time adore one another’s differences and eccentricities.
Two, you spend the whole summer scoping out the opposite sex, or should we say … exploring. When you manage to meet that Mister or Miss Right, you find out that the two of you are nothing alike and spend the whole summer wondering why you’re still together. At the same time you feel something is keeping you together and that only time will tell (hopefully within two and a half months).
Or three, all time melts in your heart, but not in the palm of your fling’s hands. The path that makes you feel like marshmallow inside begins to irk you just around the bend. The summer fling is an in-betweener, the most unpredictable romance of all. You just go with the flow, roll with the punches and take things as they come. Of course the downside is that there tends to be a lot of mixed emotions.
Just as in the times of Romeo and Juliet, friends and family definitely influence how rocky or how smooth a romance moves along. This is extremely challenging for the college-bound student. Your parents are already dealing with the fact that you are leaving home. You, yourself, know that you are going away. This reality echoes in your head day in and day out. And inevitably all teen couples ask each other… “What do you think is gonna happen when school starts?”
Loan Ly will attend U.C. Davis in the fall.
Dorothy Joy Delasin’s Birthday Gift
August 25, 2000
By Rodel Rodis
It was a tradition that began a few years ago: New Year’s Eve would be spent with the Laguatan family at their Daly City , Calif., home. So even if it was the Millennium Eve and even if we had invitations to other New Year’s eve parties, we would be with Ted and Josie and their kids before midnight.
When we got to Ted’s home, with about 30 minutes of the 20th century left, we were warmly greeted by the Laguatans and another family that was also ringing in the New Year. It was the Delasin family-Sonny and Salfe and their daughters, Dorothy and Divina.
At the stroke of midnight, as we entered the new millennium, we all hugged each other and wished each a wonderful year. Well, one of us just won the LPGA Giant Eagle Golf Classic in Warren, Ohio a few weeks ago. Dorothy Joy Delasin, with her father as her caddie, eked out a come-from-behind victory to enter the record books, at age 19, as the youngest player ever to win an LPGA golf championship.
But Dorothy became an even bigger champion to Filipino American parents everywhere when she announced that she would use the $150,000 first place prize to buy her parents a new home in Daly City, not too far, she said, from the modest and cramped apartment in which they presently live. The Delasins truly deserve their good fortune. They immigrated to the United States more than 20 years ago with nothing more than a willingness to work hard. The father, Sonny, worked various odd jobs from Texas to California; as baker to waiter to driving-range attendant. It was at that last job that Sonny learned how to play golf.
As Sonny once shared with his friend, Al Mendoza, “I thought it was better for me to know how to play it. I could earn more playing the game than by just being a mere golf range attendant,” he said. And sure enough, with grit and determination, Sonny improved his golf skills to become a teaching pro at a local driving range.
While working as teaching pro, Sonny brought his oldest daughter, Dorothy (Dot, as she she is called), to work one day. “Before I knew it,” Sonny told Mendoza, “I saw her tinkering on a club left by a golfer at the driving range. Man, she could swing.”
The self-taught Sonny then taught Dot all he knew, and, when she was old enough, entered her in junior tournaments around America. She won a few, including the San Francisco Amateur Open, and learned a lot. Finally, in July of last year, Dorothy copped the U.S. LPGA Amateur Open Championship, the first Asian American to do so.
After bagging the most prestigious amateur women’s golf title in the world, Dorothy announced that she would turn professional. LPGA executives advised her against it, warning her that she wasn’t ready for the pro circuit, that she needed to step up her game to compete at the pro level.
Sonny told me that he felt insulted by the LPGA letter, which he showed later showed me. “They didn’t trust that I could teach my daughter to play at the pro level,” he said. “We’ll show them,” he vowed.
But to play at the pro level, Dorothy would need sponsors to defray the costs of hotels, food, plane fares and living expenses. Se Ri Pak and Gloria Park, two Korean golf sensations, have dozens of proud Korean companies as corporate sponsors. Surely, there would be a few Philippine companies that would want to have their corporate logos proudly displayed on Dorothy’s golf bag or cap or shirt. (Think Tiger and Nike.)
In September of last year, Dorothy went to the Philippines with her family and with the Laguatans to present her U.S. Amateur Open trophy to the Filipino people, and, also, to see if a San Miguel Corporation, a Philippine Airlines or an Ayala company would sponsor her.
Unfortunately, none of these companies stepped up to the plate. But she did not leave the country empty handed-National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) sponsored a tournament at Wack Wack to raise money to help pay her expenses in the pro circuit.
A few hundred thousand pesos were raised from the golfers and, at the last minute, a pledge of 500,000 pesos from Malacanang came through. In dollars, though, this total amounted to less than $15,000-just enough for a few months on the circuit.
“It wasn’t the money that counted in the end,” Al Mendoza wrote. “It was the gesture of support, spontaneous and utterly sincere, accorded Dot that made the occasion poignantly memorable.”
Dorothy struggled through the first six months of the pro circuit. Her caddie was her father who provided her with advice and tips, just as he did when she won the U.S. Amateur Open. But, after a succession of disappointments, Dorothy wanted a change and Sonny willingly obliged, asking Divina, Dorothy’s younger sister and a budding future champion, to take his place.
Unfortunately, the change did not improve Dorothy’s game as she missed three cuts in a row. Sonny was soon back as Dorothy’s caddie. “I may have my shortcomings,” Sonny admitted, “but I think Dorothy gets her confidence just listening to my loud voice and curses once in a while.”
Whatever it was, it worked. In the past month, Dorothy has regained her stride, bagging 12th place and $55,000 in the U.S. LPGA Open followed by a stunning victory at the Giant Eagle Classic. The week after, Dorothy added another $21,201 after placing 7th and shooting the best score (including a hole-in-one) in the final round of the LPGA Michelob Classic. In the last month, Dorothy has gained 163 points in the LPGA Rookie of the Year derby to Grace Park, after trailing her by more than 200 points just a month earlier.
Our Dot, in this dot-com millennium, has come through for all of us. As she turns 20 on Aug. 26, Dorothy has given us all a birthday gift. She has made us all proud.
Rodel Rodis is a Trustee of City College of San Francisco.Voices From the Community
Dorothy Joy Delasin’s Birthday Gift
By Rodel Rodis
It was a tradition that began a few years ago: New Year’s Eve would be spent with the Laguatan family at their Daly City , Calif., home. So even if it was the Millennium Eve and even if we had invitations to other New Year’s eve parties, we would be with Ted and Josie and their kids before midnight.
When we got to Ted’s home, with about 30 minutes of the 20th century left, we were warmly greeted by the Laguatans and another family that was also ringing in the New Year. It was the Delasin family-Sonny and Salfe and their daughters, Dorothy and Divina.
At the stroke of midnight, as we entered the new millennium, we all hugged each other and wished each a wonderful year. Well, one of us just won the LPGA Giant Eagle Golf Classic in Warren, Ohio a few weeks ago. Dorothy Joy Delasin, with her father as her caddie, eked out a come-from-behind victory to enter the record books, at age 19, as the youngest player ever to win an LPGA golf championship.
But Dorothy became an even bigger champion to Filipino American parents everywhere when she announced that she would use the $150,000 first place prize to buy her parents a new home in Daly City, not too far, she said, from the modest and cramped apartment in which they presently live. The Delasins truly deserve their good fortune. They immigrated to the United States more than 20 years ago with nothing more than a willingness to work hard. The father, Sonny, worked various odd jobs from Texas to California; as baker to waiter to driving-range attendant. It was at that last job that Sonny learned how to play golf.
As Sonny once shared with his friend, Al Mendoza, “I thought it was better for me to know how to play it. I could earn more playing the game than by just being a mere golf range attendant,” he said. And sure enough, with grit and determination, Sonny improved his golf skills to become a teaching pro at a local driving range.
While working as teaching pro, Sonny brought his oldest daughter, Dorothy (Dot, as she she is called), to work one day. “Before I knew it,” Sonny told Mendoza, “I saw her tinkering on a club left by a golfer at the driving range. Man, she could swing.”
The self-taught Sonny then taught Dot all he knew, and, when she was old enough, entered her in junior tournaments around America. She won a few, including the San Francisco Amateur Open, and learned a lot. Finally, in July of last year, Dorothy copped the U.S. LPGA Amateur Open Championship, the first Asian American to do so.
After bagging the most prestigious amateur women’s golf title in the world, Dorothy announced that she would turn professional. LPGA executives advised her against it, warning her that she wasn’t ready for the pro circuit, that she needed to step up her game to compete at the pro level.
Sonny told me that he felt insulted by the LPGA letter, which he showed later showed me. “They didn’t trust that I could teach my daughter to play at the pro level,” he said. “We’ll show them,” he vowed.
But to play at the pro level, Dorothy would need sponsors to defray the costs of hotels, food, plane fares and living expenses. Se Ri Pak and Gloria Park, two Korean golf sensations, have dozens of proud Korean companies as corporate sponsors. Surely, there would be a few Philippine companies that would want to have their corporate logos proudly displayed on Dorothy’s golf bag or cap or shirt. (Think Tiger and Nike.)
In September of last year, Dorothy went to the Philippines with her family and with the Laguatans to present her U.S. Amateur Open trophy to the Filipino people, and, also, to see if a San Miguel Corporation, a Philippine Airlines or an Ayala company would sponsor her.
Unfortunately, none of these companies stepped up to the plate. But she did not leave the country empty handed-National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) sponsored a tournament at Wack Wack to raise money to help pay her expenses in the pro circuit.
A few hundred thousand pesos were raised from the golfers and, at the last minute, a pledge of 500,000 pesos from Malacanang came through. In dollars, though, this total amounted to less than $15,000-just enough for a few months on the circuit.
“It wasn’t the money that counted in the end,” Al Mendoza wrote. “It was the gesture of support, spontaneous and utterly sincere, accorded Dot that made the occasion poignantly memorable.”
Dorothy struggled through the first six months of the pro circuit. Her caddie was her father who provided her with advice and tips, just as he did when she won the U.S. Amateur Open. But, after a succession of disappointments, Dorothy wanted a change and Sonny willingly obliged, asking Divina, Dorothy’s younger sister and a budding future champion, to take his place.
Unfortunately, the change did not improve Dorothy’s game as she missed three cuts in a row. Sonny was soon back as Dorothy’s caddie. “I may have my shortcomings,” Sonny admitted, “but I think Dorothy gets her confidence just listening to my loud voice and curses once in a while.”
Whatever it was, it worked. In the past month, Dorothy has regained her stride, bagging 12th place and $55,000 in the U.S. LPGA Open followed by a stunning victory at the Giant Eagle Classic. The week after, Dorothy added another $21,201 after placing 7th and shooting the best score (including a hole-in-one) in the final round of the LPGA Michelob Classic. In the last month, Dorothy has gained 163 points in the LPGA Rookie of the Year derby to Grace Park, after trailing her by more than 200 points just a month earlier.
Our Dot, in this dot-com millennium, has come through for all of us. As she turns 20 on Aug. 26, Dorothy has given us all a birthday gift. She has made us all proud.
Rodel Rodis is a Trustee of City College of San Francisco.
My Mother, the Democrat
August 25, 2000
And why she still loves Bill Clinton
By Rene Ciria-Cruz/PNS
Like it or not, the Democratic Party’s base still loves Bill Clinton, like a mother loves a basically good son who can’t help but get himself into trouble every now and then.
That’s how my 83-year-old mom, who watched the Democratic National Convention on television, regards him. Al Gore should carefully handle the party rank-and-file’s abiding loyalty to Clinton as he separates himself from the morally stained president.
Mother likes America’s ill-starred royal family, the Kennedys, too. But Clinton, the commoner, is her man. “Marunong, mabait,” she said in Tagalog, meaning he’s intelligent and he has a good heart. “He just made a mistake.” Case closed.
My mother, Augusta, became a U.S. citizen four years ago, promptly registered as a Democrat and voted absentee for her Bill. She has become quite an American. She likes watching talk shows, car chases, Survivor-she loves Judge Judy-and last week she followed the Democratic convention on CSPAN.
She has become quite a partisan. I had to correct her misimpression that the networks were giving the Democrats less coverage than they gave the Republicans in Philadelphia.
“You didn’t even watch their convention,” my sister who lives with her said.
“I couldn’t stand watching them,” she replied. Mother reads and understands English perfectly; she’s just not very articulate. So when I asked why she didn’t like the Republicans, she merely said, “They irritate me.”
It’s shorthand for many things, but mainly for the gulf she feels separates her life from theirs. Like her, Clinton grew up on the dreary side of the tracks. Even his moral lapses were no different from the everyday failings of people in our gritty neighborhood in Manila. You can say Clinton is just a smooth-talking politician, but she doesn’t care.
“I like Hillary, too,” she declared, almost defiantly. “She spoke very well.” But I told her many people, especially Republican women, hate Mrs. Clinton. “They’re just envious,” was her curt reply.
That’s shorthand for many things too. She was curious, for example, if Tipper Gore is intelligent. “Did she finish?” meaning, did Tipper have a college education.
As a young girl in the Philippines my mother was asked to choose between going to college and sewing dresses. She chose the latter, a decision I think she has deeply regretted all her life.
So she’s not envious of Hillary Clinton and she doesn’t resent her ambitions. To my mom, Hillary Clinton is an accomplished woman who connected with her, especially during her speech at the convention. Case closed.
Other Clinton admirers I met gave clearer political views. Carlos Velasquez, a warehouseman who immigrated from Honduras 13 years ago, looked at my press tag as we boarded the subway train at a station. He asked excitedly if I personally saw Clinton speak. He was envious. “I was listening at work,” he said. “It was very, very good.”
“When I came here to Los Angeles, it was hard to find jobs. Very dangerous, violent in the streets. It’s much better now. More jobs and policemen so there’s less violence. He did it. He’s a good guy. Very good for us.” Velasquez sighed that he couldn’t vote. “But my mother can,” he said jabbing his finger in the air.
Cristina Seja, a custodial worker at Staples Center, who’s originally from Mexico, can’t vote either but was excited that she will be able to apply for citizenship next year. She stopped to listen to Clinton’s speech. “I like that he is making life better for everyone. Everyone. I like that he wants a higher minimum wage,” she said.
It’s as if the outgoing Clinton is still their candidate of choice. Al Gore’s challenge is to figure out just how far he can distance himself from his predecessor without suffering from a total disconnect.
Each morning I left my mother’s apartment-just three subway stops away from the convention-fortified with her breakfast of garlic fried rice and Spam or smoked fish. I think she was very proud that I was covering the Democrats. She thinks Al Gore is intelligent. But she asked me three times if he has a good heart.
PNS correspondent Rene Ciria-Cruz is an editor of New California Media (www.NCMonline.com) and an associate editor of the San Francisco-based Filipinas magazine. His e-mail address is reneccruz@pacificnews.org.
San Francisco’s District Elections — Get Educated
August 25, 2000
In this presidential election year, San Francisco voter turn-out is expected to reach 60 percent. Drawn to the polls with the prospect of having a say in who leads our nation over the next four years, many will be well informed on where Bush and Gore stand on issues such as health care, education, tax cuts and social security. Most, however, may know much less about what’s going on right here in San Francisco. That is unless the public gets a heavy dose of education between now and Nov. 7.
For the first time in 19 years, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be chosen in district elections, a system in which voters select from candidates running in their particular neighborhood. District elections in general encourage more people to run and increase diversity on the elected board. This year an estimated 12 Asian Pacific Americans will be running for 11 district seats.
The problem is most people are ignorant of the system. In fact, last March a poll conducted by the Chinese American Voter Education Committee (CAVEC) and David Binder Research found that 92 percent of voters surveyed did not know which district they lived in.
To learn more about the process and the candidates running in each district, attend one of the following debates sponsored by the New California Media:
- District 11 (Ocean View, Merced and Ingelside, Excelsior and Outer Mission): Aug. 24, 7-9 p.m. Community Assemblies of God, 355 Ocean Ave.
District 9 (Bernal Heights, Mission): Aug. 29, 7-9 p.m. Theater Artaud, 450 Florida St.
District 6 (South of Market, Hayes Valley, Civic Center, Potrero Hill): Sept. 6, 6-7:30 p.m. St. Anthony’s Foundation, 121 Golden Gate Ave.
The San Francisco League of Women Voters will sponsor the following debates:
- District 2 (Pacific Heights): Aug. 24, 7-9 p.m. Marina Middle School, 3500 Fillmore.
District 8 (Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Duboce Triangle): Aug. 29, 7:15-9:15 p.m. Everett Middle School, 450 Church St.
District 4 (Sunset=: Sept. 6, 7-9 p.m. Giannini Middle School, 3151 Ortega St.
District 7 (West of Twin Peaks, West Portal, St. Francis Wood, Lake Merced): Sept. 14, 7-9 p.m. Hoover Middle School, 2290 14th Ave.
District 3 (Chinatown, North Beach, Russian Hill): Sept. 19, 7-9 p.m. Jean Parker Elementary School, 840 Broadway.
District 5 (Haight-Ashbury, Western Addition, Inner Sunset): Sept. 27, 7-9 p.m. Franklin Middle School, 1430 Scott St.
District 10 (Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill): Sept. 28, 7-9 p.m. Southeast Community Facility, 1800 Oakdale Ave
Staying Alive—With a Profit
August 25, 2000
By Phil Tajitsu Nash
Driving the streets of Washington was relatively easy last week , with bureaucrats on vacation, Democrats partying in Los Angeles, and Republicans recuperating from their parties in Philadelphia.
While the Democratic convention dominated the news, I was surprised that the concept of “survival” was the theme that appeared most often in the local papers, in four completely unrelated contexts.
In the sports world, amateur athletes competed for berths on the Olympic team, while professional football players competed for spots on the regular season rosters of their local teams. The winners and losers were genuine in their emotions, and the drama was real, unlike the contrived plots of so much on television these days.
In the international press, the story of the Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kursk brought all of the elements of a human tragedy laced with remnants of Cold War intrigue. After a week-long search for survivors, a Norwegian diving team determined that all 118 crew members had been lost when the ship went down in the icy Barents Sea during a routine Russian training exercise. Compounding the problem of the sub’s sinking, the unsuccessful rescue effort raised issues of Russian bureaucratic incompetence, military un-preparedness, and official obfuscation. These issues had not been on the front page of the United States press in so prominent a fashion since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
The third venue where survival was an issue was the political realm. Al Gore, seeking to take credit for the relative prosperity of the last eight years without sharing in the moral failings of President Clinton, managed to make his case with the American people. A poll in the Washington Post on Aug. 22 showed that Gore had closed the pre-Democratic convention gap with Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush, and actually was ahead of Bush among several key constituencies for the time. While Nov. 7 is the key test for Gore, his survival until then is more assured by the latest polling numbers.
The fourth and final place where survival was in the news was a CBS television show, Survivor, featuring 16 individuals placed on a tropical island. In this highly-rated version of so-called “reality television,” survivors compete with each other to win a $1 million prize, awarded to the last person remaining on the island after the others are voted off by their fellow island dwellers. I watched the segment shown last Wednesday, where the 12th person was voted off the island, leaving the final four.
Unlike the sports, submarine and political scenarios described above, where surviving was a real issue, this so-called “reality” television was voyeuristic, alienating, contrived television at its worst. It perpetuated stereotypes about indigenous people, the natural environment, and the imperative of human competition, and it perpetuated an ethos of cynicism through its brazen commercialism.
The Survivor show, to its credit, includes a wide age span, an equal number of men and women, and a small but meaningful number of minorities (two of 16, or half the amount in the population at large). Unfortunately, that is about all of the show that is worth celebrating. The show premise, summarized on the show’s web site (http://marketing.cbs.com/network/tvshows/mini/survivor/show/rules.shtml), is that “the million dollars may be won by one and only one individual. Survivors are prohibited from sharing or making any agreement to share all or any portion of the prize.” So much for encouraging collective solutions, such as labor unions or work-sharing agreements, which would emerge in a rational real-world setting.
The show’s producers depicts an island paradise, but reward the contestants with “modern” comforts such as pillows, clean clothing and cold beers. While I have no complaints about these comforts, the implicit premise of this scenario is that island life is not complete without these things. The tropical jungle is once again seen as a “green hell” that is unknown and untamed. In this society, the only time that Mother Nature is seen as good is when she is safely controlled, like a suburban lawn or a domesticated pet. Co-existing with nature, and learning from it, is not an option.
Speaking of cold beers, the episode I saw featured a mud-carrying contest where the winner got to go off the island and share some cold Bud Lights with the show’s host. The Bud Lights were shown prominently, mentioned often, and discussed as being very desirable by the hot and thirsty islanders. The commercial shown during a break in the action was, not coincidentally, for Bud Lights. And when one of the women won the mud-carrying contest, she dutifully smiled and pronounced herself as dying for a cold Bud Light. Again, I have nothing against a cold Bud Light, but this overlapping of the show and the accompanying commercial was too blatant even by today’s hyper-commercialized standards.
We are so used to the ignorant and disrespectful treatment of indigenous culture in this society that many people use sacred objects as knick-knacks and name our cars after Indian tribes. Rights and even the lives of native peoples were cast aside in the pursuit of unearned “treasure” during the 500-year takeover of this hemisphere. It was not surprising, then, that the indigenous culture of the Survivor show’s island was reduced to a few masks, and island folklore was reduced to a few trivial pursuit questions in a contest undertaken by the survivors. Groups of survivors called themselves tribes, and the island tribunals were called tribal councils. No true-life islanders, however, were eligible to compete for the million dollar prize.
The Survivor Wßeb site includes an essay by a social psychologist, whose analysis of the show features these words: “Take a look around you, and try and decide what creates personal success in this increasingly complex and rapidly changing world. Is it still the mantra that your parents taught you? Work hard. Nose to the grindstone. Follow the rules. Or is it more cynical than that? It’s not what you know, it’s who you know that counts. Get them before they get you.”
Watching this “reality television” after watching the other three types of “survivor” drama this week was a reminder that grotesque individualism, blatant greed, disrespect for nature, fear of collective solutions, ignorance of indigenous cultures, and the celebration of commercialism are not realities with which we must live. The choice is not between losers who work hard and winners who cynically move ahead at the expense of others. It is between people who strive for collective, time-consuming win-win solutions to difficult problems, and those who would exploit individual fears and ignorance for fast cash and private gain.
Mistrial in Immigration Sex Case
August 25, 2000
By Melissa Nelson/AP
A federal judge declared a mistrial Aug. 16 after jurors were unable to reach a decision in the case of five people accused of illegally bringing Chinese women to Arkansas for sex.
A prosecutor said immediately afterward that the government would retry the defendants.
The deadlock came in the fifth day of deliberations in a trial that spanned five weeks. Jurors sent a note to U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. saying they could not reach a verdict. The judge then called the jurors into the courtroom and asked them one-by-one if deliberating further would be worth the time. Each said no.
Little Rock businessman David Jewell Jones and four acquaintances were indicted in 1998 on charges of breaking U.S. immigration laws to bring two Chinese women to the United States so that Jones could have sex with them.
The trial included testimony from both women, although one woman, Yue Hoa Zhong, later admitted in court that she had lied about allegedly being raped by Jones.
“I’m speechless and innocent,” Jones said after the judge declared a mistrial.
His attorney, Sam Perroni of Little Rock, said the deadlock showed the government’s case was not strong.
“We’re disappointed,” Perroni said. But “it’s obvious at least some of the jury were convinced the government hadn’t proven its case.”
After prosecutors rested their case last week, attorneys for each of the defendants also rested, declining to call any witnesses.
Besides Jones, those charged included Little Rock attorney and former state Rep. Mark Riable, Fordyce dentist Bob Rushing and Mabelvale restaurateurs Tony and Mary Ma.
Riable was accused of arranging a sham marriage between one of the women, Xiao Ying Wu, and Rushing so that she could gain residency in the United States. The Mas were accused of harboring the women at their house so Jones could have sex with them.
Zhong initially testified that Jones forced her to have sex, then changed her story on the witness stand, saying it was consensual.
U.S. Attorney Paula Casey said the evidence was strong enough for a retrial, despite the revelation that one of her witnesses lied.
“Absolutely, we have enough evidence,” Casey said. “We decided in the beginning that if there was a mistrial, we would retry it.”
Robert Compton, Rushing’s attorney, asked the judge for permission to contact jurors to determine why they were unable to reach a verdict. But Howard said that could cause jurors to feel intimidated and harassed.
“It is not my policy to ask jurors to discuss the case,” he said.
After a trial that bogged down with various language interpreters, jurors also locked up as they debated vocabulary. At one point on Aug. 15, jurors asked the judge whether they should abide by the word “and” or “or” in part of their jury instructions-”concealing, harboring (and/or) shielding” an illegal alien. The judge did not answer directly, instead instructing them to use their common sense.
Jurors wondered whether the defendants must have committed any of the three offenses or all of the three offenses to be found guilty on the count.
The five defendants, their attorneys and families waited inside the courtroom throughout the deliberations for word of a verdict. Following the mistrial declaration, the group of about 25 huddled with attorneys and discussed the outcome.
“What it means is that this trial never happened. We are starting over with a blank slate,” Perroni told them.
Amidst Rowdy Convention Protestors, Lee Supporters March On
August 25, 2000
By David Finnigan
The fenced-off protest area outside last week’s Democratic National Convention hosted a high-profile nightly clash between police and loud, rowdy protesters who had to be cleared from the area by calvary and riot units.
But it was more civilized during an Aug. 18 demonstration, with more than 100 Chinese Americans protesting the imprisonment of Wen Ho Lee, who is accused of mishandling labratory information. Several hundred yards away at an intersection near the Staples Convention Center, dozens of officers were preparing to arrest people for refusing to disperse after water bottles were thrown at police.
By contrast, the “Free Wen Ho Lee” rally was loud but orderly, as several rows of yellow shirt-wearing Lee supporters shouted slogans such as “Justice delayed is no justice at all!” and “Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Free Wen Ho!”
Virtually all of the young protesters ignored the scheduled, more middle-age rally, preferring to watch tensions mounting in the intersection. “We want to get a message to American that we need justice,” said Chinese American community activist Alfred Fuong of Granada Hills, Calif.
“It would be better for them [the younger protesters] to be here with us.”
“We don’t know what’s going on outside,” said Joseph Kung of Diamond Bar, Calif. “We had it scheduled, the demonstration, for one hour.”
Ruth Willmer, a retired, white women, is a member of the Monterey Park Democratic Club, which has backed Lee during his imprisonment for alleged national security violations.
“It is a lonely battle [for Lee], but there is a lot of activity around the country,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to get people out to demonstrate, and especially with the police force a lot of people were worried.”
The Lee protesters caused no trouble. So organized was their small, short closing march that police let them walk right up to a major convention area entrance used by Democratic delegates. Hardly one police officer escorted them. Inside the Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, younger Asian Americans staffed the brochure table for the Asian Pacific Islander American Caucus, preferring to work in the Democratic Party rather than doing street protests.
“I think it’s good to have, in order for the process to work, people work on these issues both inside and outside the system,” said Steve Ngo, 23, a graduate student in public policy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “Violent protests, I don’t think are very productive, but peaceful protest obviously is a preferred method.
“I did not want to march because I had an opportunity to work within the political system,” said Jonathan Yung, 16, of Alhambra, Calif. “I see this as an opportunity to learn.”
Request to Reduce Lee’s Charges Denied
August 25, 2000
Decision comes as bail is being considered
EDITOR’S NOTE: Shortly after this story was published, Wen Ho Lee’s bail was granted. An update story will be forthcoming shortly.
By Richard Benke/AP
The government on Aug. 22 denied a defense request to reduce the charges against nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee but acknowledged that files the fired Los Alamos scientist allegedly mishandled were not classified.
In a court filing, the government also said it opposes the defense’s request to dismiss all but 10 counts of the indictment against Lee.
And, citing national security concerns, the government withheld public release of a defense response to additional allegations against the 60-year-old scientist, who is accused of breaching security at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The court filings came as U.S. District Judge James Parker considered whether to grant bail for Lee, who has been in jail since December.
After the three-day hearing, including several hours of closed-door sessions to consider classified information, the judge went point by point through December’s detention order, comparing any new information in the case. Parker said he would not rule from the bench because he needed to review hearing transcripts, then have a government classification officer review his order before it was filed.
About 15 friends and family members of Lee had offered to put up a dozen pieces of property worth about $2.2 million as bond, Defense attorney Mark Holscher said.
Lee, 60, is charged with illegally transferring top-secret nuclear weapons files to unsecure computers and computer tapes at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He could face life in prison if convicted.
On Aug. 17, during the course of the trial, an FBI agent testified that Lee easily passed a private company’s polygraph examinations. However, Agent Robert Messemer said the polygraphs administered to the scientist by Wackenhut, a security company, on behalf of the federal Energy Department did not follow the protocols accepted by the FBI.
Messemer said the FBI does not agree with the conclusions, though they were double-checked by an independent polygrapher and a polygraph supervisor.
Under questioning by defense lawyer Holscher, Messemer said that he was aware Lee scored among the highest possible scores for credibility when the scientist denied ever passing secrets, contacting anyone for the purpose of espionage or intending to harm the United States.
Messemer acknowledged some of his testimony in a bail hearing last December-testimony that was key to the decision to deny bail to Lee-was incorrect.
Messemer also testified that during a March 7, 1999, FBI interrogation, Lee was threatened with a potential death penalty if he did not cooperate.
“Are you aware that under interrogation, Lee was told the Rosenbergs were given the death penalty for not cooperating with the FBI and the specter was raised he [Lee] would be executed if he did not cooperate?” Holscher asked. Messemer said he was aware of that but was not present. He conceded, “We have no evidence … of classic espionage” by Lee.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of stealing atom bomb secrets for the Soviets and executed in 1953.
Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidis objected that the defense implied Lee was threatened with death if he didn’t cooperate and said the Rosenbergs were executed only after being convicted. Stampboulidis asked Messemer if the interrogation implied Lee would be murdered if he didn’t copperate.
“I concluded he was not under any immediate threat of death if he did not cooperate and he was free to leave at any time,” Messemer said.
Until that interview, Lee had voluntarily submitted to 20 FBI contacts, Messemer said. But he said Lee has not been available for FBI interviews about what became of seven tapes the FBI has not found. Lee has said they were destroyed.
During the bail hearing on Aug. 18, one federal prosecutor said Lee could help someone build a bomb or help a country bolster its nuclear program if he is released from jail.
“Hundreds of millions of people could be killed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney George Stamboulidis told the judge. “The breadth of the potential harm is so great that … Even a reduced risk is too great to take that gamble.”
Stamboulidis urged Judge Parker to again refuse bail for Lee, who has been in custody since December.
Holscher, however, tried to convince the judge that Lee posed no risk to national security. “There is no evidence in the record that Dr. Lee has the political motivation, the financial motivation or the destructive intent” to do anything harmful with the material he is accused of downloading.
Holscher said, however, that Lee was “naïve” and had made some stupid mistakes.
Defense Attorney John Cline said the material Lee allegedly downloaded was not the “crown jewels” of American science. He said the information could not be used to build a nuclear bomb. Cline added that the information was not even classified secret by the government.
After court adjourned, the scientist’s daughter, Alberta Lee, said: “I think the notion of my father having the intention to kill hundreds of millions of people is completely absurd.”
API Delegates Wrap Up Democratic National Convention
August 25, 2000
By Sam Chu LinLast week as Vice President Al Gore wrapped up his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, thousands of delegates applauded and cheered. “I know my own imperfections,” he told the arena audience. “I know that sometimes people say I’m too serious, that I talk too much substance and policy. But the presidency is more than a popularity contest. It’s a day-by-day fight for people. Sometimes, you have to choose to do what’s difficult or unpopular. Sometimes, you have to be willing to spend your popularity in order to pick the hard right over the easy wrong. There are big choices ahead, and our whole future is at stake … If you entrust me with the presidency, I know I won’t always be the most exciting politician, but I pledge to you, I will work for you every day and I will never let you down.” Democrats erupted in cheer. The conventioned turned into a a party as the vice president shook congratulatory hands from people like Washington Gov. Gary Locke, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and others gathered on the dais. Gore’s address apparently hit a a political homerun. Before the convention got underway, the polls had shown Gore trailing GOP rival Texas Gov. George W. Bush by as much as 11 percent. Now, however, most polls indicate Gore has either taken the lead or is neck-and-neck with Bush. “He was right on target, and it was a winning speech,” said California Assemblyman Mike Honda of San Jose, Calif., who was seated near the speaker’s podium. “He talked about the issues that are important to the American people and to Asian Pacific Americans.” “Al Gore has demonstrated he is a strong leader himself, and he’s ready to be president,” yelled out Lily Chen of Glendale, Calif., as she stood on a chair and waved a Gore banner. A huge crowd of Asian American political activists, who had gathered in a hotel conference room only blocks away to watch the convention on television, joined in the applause as thousands of balloons and confetti poured down onto the audience at Staples Center, where the convention was held . Levin Sy, an API delegate who was clearly impressed with Gore’s “amazing” speech, said, “The party has reached out to us, and it’s time for us to come through with our votes.” Close to 200 Asian Pacific American delegates participated in the Democratic National Convention. Many of them said there was a feeling of inclusion. Six Asian Americans spoke at the event. And vice presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Joel Lieberman of Connecticut addressed the Asian Pacific American caucus, emphasizing that Asian Americans are needed to win this election. “This is for real,” said Oregon Rep. David Wu, D-Ore. “There are a lot of Asian Pacific Americans who are here as delegates, who are here as elected officials, and we are full-fledged participants. It’s not just window dressing,” he added, alluding to the GOP’s efforts of inclusion at their convention held in July. Mark Keam, a political activist from Washington, D.C., said, “I think we have a lot more at stake. We were politically active, getting out the vote, the registration and citizenship programs, and then we had a big set back: the fund-raising scandals. After that the disloyalty claims and the issue of spy allegations … We took a lot of hits politically. “This time …We are not only back in the race and working for a winner, we’re back with a vengeance.” With the race in a dead heat, many of the API delegates said they are now looking forward to the presidential debates. Keith Umemoto, assistant secretary of Office of Legislative Affairs with the California Trade and Commerce Agency, predicted those verbal contests would have a big impact on the election results. “It’s not going to be an easy race,” he said. “I think the message has to be clearly delineated and expose to the American people of who Al Gore is. He is the candidate [for] all the people. Hopefully, the debates will make that clear and uncover the façade that we saw in Philadelphia.” One challenge will be to get more people in the API community registered to vote. Delegates acknowledge that new immigrants make up a large percentage of Asian Americans. Moreover, most know little about the U.S. political system and are hesitant to participate. Martha Choe, Director of Washington State’s Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, emphasized that needs to be changed quickly if Asian Americans are to gain more political clout. “We need to educate our community … [on] how to go about registering to vote,” she stated. “I think in Korea, many of the people don’t have the kind of personal contact that they have with candidates and elected officials here. They don’t have this kind of access. We need to explain to the community why it is important to turn out at events like this. Probably most importantly we need to explain why it makes a difference who we vote for.” Rep. Patsy Mink of Hawaii also pointed out that Asian Americans must realize that it is important to support Democratic candidates for not only the White House but also the Congress. “It is a marriage between the legislative and the executive that will give us the power to produce what we want to do for America-universal health care, better funds for education, and all the other things that we have talked about,” Mink said. Mink also argued that the Democrats are responsible for the United States’ current prosperity. “I think the very highly motivated, intelligent Asian Pacific community had better wake up and realize that Democrats really took a hard stand for a lot of us … If they want this prosperity to continue, without it being passed away with all kinds of gimmicks by the Republicans, they had better stick with us.” |