Nation Briefs
February 25, 2005
Funding the Hmong Fairly
The Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum has begun a grassroots push to correct inequities in federal funding that might shortchange some communities that serve newly arrived Hmong refugees.
California Senate Bill 112 would allocate federal funds based only on the number of refugees a county gets.
Currently, the state calculates funding using the number of refugees who are under general assistance or Cal-Works.
But that formula hurts the two counties with the largest inflows of Hmong. About 30% of new refugees are in Sacramento, yet Sacramento County gets only 20% of federal funds. Fresno County also gets less compared with the number of refugees in it.
In 2004, the U.S. government allowed 16,000 Hmong, many of whom helped the United States during the Vietnam War, to relocate to America from the refugee camps in Thailand where they had been living for 20 years.
Locked Up for Now
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Former Gov. Gary Locke, the country’s first Chinese American governor, will join a blue-chip Seattle law firm, specializing in Asian trade and energy policy.
Locke, 55, will join Davis Wright Tremaine as a partner in mid-March. The salary was not disclosed but is expected to be much higher than the $145,000 governors salary.
Davis Wright has offices throughout Washington state and California and in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanghai.
Locke said he expects to spend considerable time in Asia, which he visited repeatedly as governor. His wife’s parents live part of the year in Shanghai.
“I’m really excited,” Locke said. “I will be working on their China Practice Group, working on international trade throughout Asia and focusing primarily on China.”
Locke’s new firm represents Microsoft, Costco and others. Locke’s wife, Mona Lee Locke, a former television newsperson, will return to a Seattle television station.
Keeping Up With the Jangs
WASHINGTON — China is the new consumer society of the world, surpassing the United States in the consumption of every basic food, energy and industrial commodity except oil.
The Chinese have overtaken the Americans in refrigerator use, have 50% more television sets and use 66% more cell phones. Only in automobiles does China still lag, with barely one-tenth the number of U.S. vehicles.
The environmental group Earth Policy Institute also reported, however, that per-capita consumption in China remains far lower.
China’s 1.3 billion people ate 64 million tons of meat in 2004, compared with 38 million tons consumed by 297 million people in the United States. That’s an annual intake of 108 pounds of meat — mainly pork, with half the world’s pigs in China — for every Chinese and 279 pounds of steak, hot dogs and fried chicken for every American.
China also uses twice as much steel and fertilizer as America does. Due to the few automobiles there, China uses only one-third the amount of oil as the United States does but burns 40% more coal.
Write 500 Words in Two Hours
Event: National Essay Contest to be held March 5, 2005
Background: Senior high school students of Chinese descent will write 500-word essays within two hours based on a topic given at the start of the competition.
Interesting: Multiple opportunities for prizes ranging from $100 to $1,000.
Details: Contact Henry W. Gee at P.O Box 1545, Mountain View, CA 94042, (650) 965-1399 or fax (650) 969-6428.
Ichiro on Starbucks Card
Starbucks, major league baseball and the Seattle Mariners are creating a limited-edition “Starbucks Card” featuring Ichiro Suzuki to benefit seriously ill children.
The one-of-a-kind card will be available through Starbucks.com and in stores in Washington, Oregon and Japan. It will be pre-loaded for $10; $2 from each sale will go to charities including the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation in the United States and Make-A-Wish of Japan.
Suzuki was the first Japanese position player to sign in the major leagues. In 2001, he took the league by storm, hitting well over .400. He helped lead the Mariners to a record-tying 116 wins, and his play made him a pop icon, especially in the Pacific Northwest. In 2004, Suzuki broke George Sisler’s 84-year-old record for number of hits in a season, as he racked up an incredible 262 safeties.
Valentine’s Day Protest Against Hate Radio
NEW YORK — New York City’s elected officials and community advocates staged a Feb. 14 protest, demanding accountability from Emmis Communications, the company that owns HOT 97, which broadcast the “Tsunami Song” — a racist parody of “We Are the World.”
City Councilman John C. Liu spoke at the event, stating, “We will continue to call on advertisers to withdraw their sponsorship until Emmis Communications takes full corporate responsibility and donates one week’s revenue — about $10 million to tsunami relief charity.”
The protest was organized by the Coalition Against Hate Media, which was formed in the days following the parody’s broadcast. CAHM announced that Newsday joined advertisers that have withdrawn their sponsorship of HOT 97.
The campaign continued with a formal complaint to the Federal Communications Commission. Last week, members of the Coordinating Council of Asian American Organizations met with the office of FCC Chairman Michael Powell, which accepted the letter and pledged to begin a formal investigation.
In the public outrage that followed the airing of a song mocking Asians and victims of the tsunami tragedy, HOT 97 has fired two staff members, suspended others and pledged a $1 million donation to tsunami relief efforts. Protest organizers are calling for the firing of DJ “Miss Jones” and a change in the company culture that allowed such a display of racism on public radio.
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