DEAR EDITOR: I am a Cambodian refugee who came to the United States and grew up here almost all of my life. I really related to your story “A New Nightmare: Cambodian American Deportation Carries History’s Weight,” (Nov. 21). I’m going through these problems right now. Please send a letter to the Attorney General about this problem — there is something we can do. It’s called the Family Reunification Act of 2002 (H.R. 1452) that would allow the order of removal to be canceled.
We need to unite as Khmers, Asians and immigrants to stop this tearing apart of our families and lives. Deportation can be reasonable depending on the situation but the new law is ludicrous because any type of crime would constitute an aggravated felony.ÔEven if it’s a felony or aggravated felony, most of us barely remember our war-torn homeland or know absolutely nothing about it. So it’s like being in lock-up again, except away from family for good this time.
M. Chuop
#263463
Red Onion State Prison
Pound, Va.
DEAR EDITOR: I read the piece on the funding flowing from the United States to violent, extremist organizations in India, “Anti-Hindu Nationalist Campaign Targets Indian American Organization,” (Dec. 5). Commendable.
I found the headline a little confusing. I hope you did not mean to say that the people opposing the organizations funding Hindutva groups in India are anti-Hindu, since most of the people who prepared the “Foreign Exchange of Hate” report and the folks who constitute the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate are Hindus.
I also hope the following was a proof-reading error. You say that “The National Voluntary Service, the movement’s parent organization, was founded in 1925 on the platform of opposing German and Italian fascists.”
This is the exact opposite of what the RSS stands for! The RSS was explicitly founded to emulate (NOT oppose) the Nazis and the Italian Fascists. The founders and early leaders of the RSS were great admirers of Mussolini and Hitler and openly desired to emulate Hitler’s ‘cleansing’ Germany of Jews by ‘cleansing’ India of minorities. The RSS, to this day, nearly worships Hitler.
Finally, for some more concrete evidence of how the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram — an organization that is near the top in terms of funds received from the Indian Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) and from IDRF’s sister group in the United Kingdom, Sewa International, U.K., — is involved in sectarian violence, please see the news report on “Funding Gujurat Extremists” as part of BBC Channel 4 news’ series on terrorism, available at www.channel4.com.
Girish Agrawal
San Jose, Calif.
DEAR EDITOR: Awesome and very informative article by Jon Chang, “Where are the APA Football Coaches?” (Dec. 12). For years I’ve wondered if Norm Chow was an Asian, since I had never seen his photo. Now I know he is. And to know he was such a kickass player is even more noteworthy.
By the way, did you know there is this pretty kickass quarterback of Chinese heritage named Timmy Chang at the University of Hawaii? Look up his stats for NCAA quarterbacks this year at Division I schools and you’ll see that he is really doing well for just a sophomore. Maybe a future NFL quarterback? Who knows?
DEAR EDITOR: I’m a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah and a regular reader of AsianWeek. I just wanted to say thanks for publishing an article about this university’s efforts to encourage diversification. Although Norm Chow wasn’t chosen as the U of U head coach, I felt that Jon Chang’s words were encouraging and sent a message that I hope the executives of this university will read and take to heart.
Kyle S. Wells
Salt Lake City, Utah
DEAR EDITOR: Earlier this year, in September, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) publicly admitted to having abducted Japanese citizens from the coastal shores of Japan. Some of the abductees, North Korea added, had died while in its custody. Since then, there has been a nationwide outbreak of hate crimes against the innocent North Korean residents of Japan, committed by Japanese citizens. However, the Japanese government has yet to take any visible action or measure to halt such heinous crimes against an innocent group of people already vulnerable to the rising hostility against Koreans throughout the country.
As those residing in the United States for whom Japan is our homeland, we express deep regret for the continuing human rights violations committed against the Korean people in Japan, and urge the Japanese government to immediately take drastic measures to resolve this national crisis. At a minimum, Japan must ensure prevention of hate crimes and ensure justice for the victims around the country.
In fact, crude data about hate crime incidents are not even collected by Japan’s Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for compilation of criminal data. Indeed, the current framework of criminal law in Japan still does not recognize hate crimes as an independent criminal category. However, after a long, tenuous process of searching, we were able to obtain a list of reported hate crime cases tallied by the Zainichi Chosen Human Rights Association of Japan. According to this source, between Sept. 17 — the day after the North Korean government’s public admission of its abduction of Japanese civilians — and Dec. 5, a minimum of 99 cases of hate crimes targeting North Korean students were reported throughout the country.
These cases consist of physical and verbal threats by phone and email, and physical and verbal assault, including physical threats and racial epithets, made on the commute route between home and school and in other public spaces.
Abuse of human rights committed by a state upon innocent civilians is a crime both at home and abroad. In a situation of heightened political tension between nations, such as in a time of war, the governments of the United States and Japan have demonstrated their willingness to inflict violence and condone violent backlash against those unilaterally deemed to be members of the ‘enemy’ state. The incidents of hate crimes against Koreans and Korean Japanese in Japan today are, unfortunately, only few examples of many equally deplorable injustices with which the world is all too familiar.
We firmly demand that resources be allocated first and foremost to develop global alliances based upon genuine commitment to eradicating such manifestations of hate and human rights abuse around the world.
To this end, Japan must do its part by instituting nationwide human rights education programs, to prevent any further occurrence of hate crimes against any members of its society. We also urge the Japanese government to take immediate actions to adequately address this national crisis of human rights in Japan.
Only then can a nation begin to demonstrate its genuine commitment to uphold and honor the fundamental principles of human rights.
Hiroshi Kashiwagi and Miho Kim
Japanese Pacific Resource Center
Oakland, Calif.
