Giving Thanks (Feature) Access to Sept. 11 Relief Still Elusive for New York’s APA Community (in National News) Task Forces Examines Thurgood Marshall Incident (in Bay Area News) Ultimate Diversions: 2002 Gamer’s Gift Guide (in Business) Mark Chung: American Soccer’s Coolest Man (in Sports) A Piece of Raw Humanity (in A&E) Emil Amok: Good and Plenty (in Opinion)

Some agents and scouts are already pegging Soriano as a legitimate NFL offensive line prospect. Photo provided by www.fas.harvard.edu.

Good and Plenty

There are two things we do in America around Thanksgiving. And yes, that even includes a few Asian Pacific Americans. Those two things would be eat and play football. Not necessarily in that order.

Jamil Soriano likes to do a lot of both. And for that we can be thankful.

Last week, while most APA football fans in the Bay Area were wondering if a diminished Stanford squad could muster a competitive effort against Cal, I was listening to an Internet broadcast of Soriano and his Harvard teammates come from behind to trounce arch-rival Yale, 20-13.

The matchup is often referred to as “The Game,” and who could doubt that, when this year’s “Big Game” between Cal and Stanford seemed so puny. But my interest was piqued even more when I discovered that in this year’s game, one of Harvard’s stars was Soriano — an APA of some distinction.

Soriano is unusual for an APA. Let’s just see John Ashcroft try to profile him. His parents are both immigrants from countries high on the “watch lists”: His mother is Pakistani; his father Filipino. Both are 5 foot 8 inches, tops. In heels.

But no short jokes, please.

Something happened to Baby Huey. Soriano is 6 foot 4 inches, 304 pounds. And growing. The numbers are even more impressive than his MCATs. And now some agents and scouts are already pegging the pre-med as a legitimate NFL offensive line prospect.

An APA lineman is not all that unusual. There have been a ton of Pacific Islander footballers from Samoa in both the college and pro ranks. Four years ago, the Superbowl featured two huge Samoans: Maa Tanuvasa, a defensive end for the Denver Broncos, and Esera Tuaolo, a defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons.

But when was the last time you saw a Filipino-Pakistani guy in the NFL? Especially one standing 6 foot 4, 304 pounds?

That’s a lot of lumpia.

“Actually, I get it from my mom’s side,” Soriano told me over the phone this week. “My Pakistani uncles are all six feet or better. My Dad’s side is 5’7 or shorter.”

So what happened with him? What’s in the Pakistani food?

“I just ate a lot of protein — eggs, meat,” he said to this vegetarian. “I eat anything put in front of me.”

Apparently.

I first met Jamil when he served as my student porter at my college reunion this past summer. He carried my bag up a flight of stairs and I ran behind his blocking like I was a running back. But he wasn’t talking much about the NFL then. He was concentrating on his research for med school. His senior thesis topic? The regenerative potential in cells that make up the medial collateral ligament.

That’s the other big thing Jamil has going for him. He’s no dummy. He’s wanted to be a doctor since junior high. But when you’re 300 pounds and smart, you have options.

“When the NFL calls, that takes precedence,” said Jamil. “You only get this opportunity once, and just to be considered is an honor. But down the road, I’ll be in medical school.”

His doting APA parents (Jerry and Sabina) have put it in perspective. After reluctantly allowing their son to play in high school (on New York’s Long Island), they now are possibly more excited about it than he is.

“They have no qualms to let me play as long as I can,” he said. “They know that financially, I’ll be set and just the fact that I might play in the NFL is something cool to tell their friends.”

There haven’t been many Filipinos in the NFL. Roman Gabriel quarterbacked the L.A. Rams in the 60s. And Pakistanis? Maybe there was a kicker. But a Filipino-Pakistani? On the O-line?

That’s the wonderful thing about stereotype breakers. They force people to see the world in a new and different way. Not in the stupid, limiting, ignorant ways that show up in the news every now and then. Just a few weeks ago, in Easton, Mass., a town not far from where Soriano starred at Harvard, three men — all in their 20s — were arrested for beating a Pakistani convenience store clerk. While they assaulted the Pakistani, the assailants called him a terrorist and a relative of Osama bin Laden.

They could never have imagined a Jamil Soriano.

THANKS FOR NOTHING: An amendment to the Homeland Security Act that could have helped non-citizen screeners (mostly Filipinos in the Bay Area) keep their jobs had no chance in the Senate last week. There had been hope that once Federal District Judge Robert Takasugi declared the citizenship requirement unconstitutional, the good senators would take a hint and change the law.

But no such luck. The Homeland Security juggernaut sailed on through with few significant changes, as Bush signed the bill into law this week.

So what’s next? Judge Takasugi’s ruling is good until the case of nine non-citizen screeners represented by the ACLU goes to trial, and there’s no trial set. In fact, the feds still could appeal the judge’s ruling, win and stop the case dead in its tracks.

Of course, all non-citizen screeners except the nine mentioned in the lawsuit lost their jobs on Nov. 19. Will others stick around for justice? They’re likely to starve first. Do you see why justice can often seem like a crock in America? Who can afford to fight for the principle of a $14-an-hour job?

But here’s one thing that changed in that Homeland Security law. One of the nine was an American Samoan, and language was added that now says that a “citizen of the United States or a national of the United States,” can be a screener.

So if you’re from an American territory like American Samoa, you’re in like Flynn. Of course the Philippines was once a colony. But don’t think for a second that any of the non-citizen Filipino screeners wishes that were still the case. That’s where freedom loving people have to draw the line and tell the Transportation Security Administration officials exactly where they can shove that $14-an-hour job.

Reach Emil Guillermo at emil@amok.com.