Nation Briefs
January 2, 2008
APAs Participate in Iowa’s Presidential Forum
The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium and its affiliates – Korean American Resource & Cultural Center, Korean Resource Center and YKASEC: Empowering the Korean American Community – mobilized 55 Asian Pacific Americans to participate in the Iowa Heartland Presidential Forum on Dec. 1.
As the largest gathering of likely Iowa caucus-goers, five presidential hopefuls addressed a crowd of 5,000 to offer solutions on everyday American concerns about healthcare, jobs, immigration, the environment, and housing.
“The Heartland Presidential Forum speaks to our belief as Korean Americans and Asian Pacific Americans that all communities share common values,” said EunSook Lee, executive director of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium. “It is visible in our ongoing work to magnify this call by adding the voices of immigrants.”
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Asian American Justice Center Applauds Congress for Protecting Worker’s Rights
WASHINGTON — The Asian American Justice Center, a national civil rights organization, applauded Congress for omitting a harmful amendment to the 2007 omnibus spending bill.
The amendment could have severely restricted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s ability to fully investigate and pursue civil actions against employers that have English-only policies in the workplace and are using these policies in a discriminatory manner.
“We commend Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Harry Reid, and the minority caucuses, especially Congressman Mike Honda and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, for taking a strong stance against any erosion of workplace discrimination enforcement,” said Vincent A. Eng, deputy director of AAJC.
“Congress has sent a commendable message that it will not condone any attacks on the rights of language minorities,” added Tuyet G. Duong, the group’s staff attorney.
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House Votes to Award Aung San Suu Kyi the Highest Congressional
WASHINGTON—The House voted Monday to bestow the Congressional Gold Medal, its highest civilian honor, on Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Supporters of the legislation, which passed 400 - 0, made clear the award was meant to send a message to the military leaders in Myanmar, aka Burma, who have suppressed political freedoms in that Asian country the past two decades.
By honoring Suu Kyi, said Rep. Joseph Crowley, “We will continue to pressure the junta to release her and bring freedom and democracy to the people of Burma.”
Suu Kyi, 62, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has been detained for 12 of the past 18 years. Her National League for Democracy party won elections in 1990, but the military junta refused to cede power, placing her under house arrest.
The Senate must also approve the legislation.
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Indian American Community Leaders Visit India
WASHINGTON — Just months after its historic, grassroots “shuttle diplomacy” visit to India on behalf of the U.S.-India Civilian Nuclear Agreement, the U.S. India Political Action Committee will lead a delegation of prominent business leaders, entrepreneurs, political activists, and professionals from the Indian American community to India for high-level business and political meetings.
The group’s fifth annual delegation led by Chairman Sanjay Puri will arrive in Bangalore on Jan. 2, and complete its visit in New Delhi Jan. 9.
Puri described the annual delegation as “a singular opportunity for leaders in the Indian American community to meet and dialogue with business and political leaders in India at the highest levels. We have always been given the best of welcomes by cabinet ministers at the federal and state levels, leaders of the opposition, and top executives of India’s most important companies.”
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A Thousand Thank Yous
LEXINGTON, Ky. — More than 1,000 origami figures of all shapes and sizes decorated a Christmas tree at JTAN Bakery in Lexington, Ky.
“I want to show the Japanese culture and show appreciation for the customers,” baker Hiroyuki Noura said through a translator.
Co-owner Tatsuya “Tattoo” Kimura said the Japanese art of paper folding, or origami, is also a cultural expression of feelings. Folding 1,000 paper cranes is an old tradition that expresses good wishes. It took Kimura, Noura and two other bakery employees a month to fold paper cranes, reindeer, frogs, flowers, ninja stars and samurai helmets.
When the bakery opened in spring 2006, Kimura was worried about how it would be received. The Japanese community in Lexington is small. But now, about 60 % of JTAN bakery’s customers are non-Japanese. Kimura said he feels Japanese businesses often make the mistake of focusing solely on the Japanese market.
“We can do business here without losing our culture,” Kimura said.
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