Daily Dose & Announcements: 11/23/09
November 22, 2009
>>Asian Pacific Islanders Call to Action for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
>>International Expert on Diabetes to Launch Initiative for Cambodian American Survivors of Genocide
Compiled by Melissa He
BAY/CAL
Asian Pacific Islanders Call to Action for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
More than 16,000 people gathered together to listen in on a virtual “town hall” conference call from Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) as he galvanized support for comprehensive immigration reform for the upcoming months.
“I am committed to introducing a bill in December, but we need your voices demanding reform by calling your local legislators everyday if you have to,” said Gutierrez.
“Asian and Pacific Islanders have an important stake in immigration reform. Our communities must be mobilized now or we will be left behind in the immigration debate,” said Lisa Chen, community advocate for the Asian Law Caucus.
Luis Gutierrez is set to introduce legislation that will provide some path to a green card for the 12 million undocumented immigrants as early as December. Thirteen percent of the estimated 12 million living in the United States without legal status are from Asian countries.
Severely draconian legislation has come out of Congress in recent years including proposals to eliminate the family immigration system and criminalizing all 12 million undocumented immigrants, possibly resulting in jail time.
To ensure that Congress does not reintroduce some of these bad proposals as part of a compromise deal, Asian Pacific Islander communities must come together and tell Congress what they want to see as part of the immigration reform measure.
International Expert on Diabetes to Launch Initiative for Cambodian American Survivors of Genocide
Dr. Lim Keuky, the founder of the Institut du Diabete and the Cambodian Diabetes Association in Cambodia will lead a National Town Hall Meeting for Cambodian Americans to be conducted by videoconferencing and webcasting on December 2, 2009 from 10 AM to 1:00 PM Pacific Standard Time. The meeting will link 11 sites across the United States via videoconferencing and an additional 50 by webcasting.
Cambodian Americans are dying of diabetes and stroke at rates many times that of the general population. Trauma, diet changes and lack of access to health care are major factors affecting these high mortality rates. The National Cambodian American Diabetes Project hosted by Khmer Health Advocates of West Hartford, Connecticut organized this event which is called Bravas Dai Knea or “give and take” and refers to a Cambodian tradition of sharing resources.
Dr. Keuky will present evidence of the long term impact of the Cambodian genocide on the health of survivors. It is followed by a” real time” survey of participants and community sharing of information and ideas for addressing the health crisis associated with diabetes, stroke and serious psychological distress. In preparation for the meeting, local communities are submitting questions for the national survey and preparing formal statements
Visit www.cambodiacommunity.org for more info.
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