Newsbits: Olbermann, Nguyen, Asian Health

Some links and stories from around the web and blogosphere:

Olbermann Slams Malkin for Daring to Question Clinton Straw Donors

MSNBC’s Keith “Chicken & Waffles” Olbermann attacked conservative blogger Michelle Malkin for “ethnic profiling” of Chinese restaurant dishwashers in New York City who donated to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Of course, running off of the liberal Media Matters script, Olbermann failed to note that Malkin’s problem is not with the donors’ ethnicity per se, but that it’s highly suspicious when low-wage earners pony up a few thousand to give a political candidate.

’21 Jump Street’ star Dustin Nguyen is back in action

Flash back to 1987. “21 Jump Street” was one of the hottest new shows on television, showcasing the talents of young heartthrobs Johnny Depp and Dustin Nguyen. For Depp, already a rising star, it would be a launching pad for enormous big-screen success. For Nguyen, who played Officer Harry Truman Ioki, it was a rare opportunity in the national spotlight during a time when there were hardly any Asian Americans on television or in the movies.

Coverage, Access and Quality | Asian-Americans Express Concern About SCHIP Veto, Program’s Future

According to recent U.S. Census Bureau data, 15.5% of Asian-Americans and about 21.7% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are uninsured. Other Asian-American subgroups such as Korean-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans also have a large percentage of uninsured. However, because some subgroups have relatively higher incomes and education levels and are labeled as the “Model Minority,” the groups’ need for access to health care often is overlooked, the Pacific Citizen/New America Media reports.

Shorts: Racist Nobel Winner?, Bombing in Manilla, Teacher Nabbed, China Olympics 2008

• Apparently you can be really really smart – as in winning the Nobel prize in 1962 for deciphering the double-helix of DNA – but still be really dumb as well. Case in point is Dr. James D. Watson winner of the aforementioned prize who also apparently likes to infer that black people aren’t as smart as white people – and are problem workers too. Hmmm….so much for those museum appearances. But he is trying to apologize and says his comments were not read as he intended them to be. It seems even Nobel winners can get tongue tied..
• The news coming out of the capital Manilla isn’t looking any better with police saying that they’ve found traces of plastic explosives tied to the mall explosions. As of right now there are eight confirmed deaths along with seventy wounded and general alerts have been issued for the rest of the city as well as the international airport.
• Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian teacher was just picked up for sexually abusing underage Southeast Asian children (he posted some of the pictures on the Internet which helped with his arrest). Hopefully this will be a wakeup call to other people like Neil that Southeast Asia isn’t a place you can go and get away with molesting underage children and treat them like disposable paper plates and get away with it.
• You knew this was going to start sooner or later – the politicizing of the Olympics in China ’08 – and it’s already starting to get heated with warnings being thrown out on both sides including organizations like the Human Rights Watch. This is going to be one of the most interesting Olympics in years. 

News Roundup: John Liu, Campus Cinema, Gayasian Heroes, and more…

Some news from around the way:

10 questions for Councilman John Liu

City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens) represents District 20, which includes Flushing, Queensboro Hill, Mitchell Gardens, Kissena Park, Harding Heights, Auburndale and part of Whitestone. He chairs the Transportation Committee. Born in Taiwan, Liu moved to Flushing at age 5 and entered the City Council in January 2002. […] What does it mean to be the first Asian-American elected city official? […]

Asian American Association Film Festival and Campus Cinema team up

Asian American Association Film Festival and Campus Cinema team up for a free screening of ‘Finishing the Game’.

Gaysian Heroes

Although I’ve been somewhat visible in both the Asian Pacific American (APA) community and the gay community, I’ve never considered myself to be an activist or voice for either group. I mean, I’m much too busy trying to beat my own Ms. Pac-Man high score to do much of anything else. But growing up a double minority, having to work through two different layers of self-hate, and desperately seeking Asian-American role models and subsequently gay role models, I’ve become particularly sensitive to issues surrounding gay Asian Americans.

Asian American organizations file legal brief supporting equal marriage rights

A coalition of Asian American organizations will be filing a legal brief supporting equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples in California. This was announced by a group of Asian American attorneys and advocates in Los Angeles and San Francisco last Wednesday, September 26, at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) in downtown L.A. Among the more than 60 local, state, and national organizations filing the amicus brief are the Philippine American Bar Association and Filipinos for Affirmative Action.

Senate May Back Campaign to Change UC’s Ethnic Categories

The ASUC Senate will consider a resolution this week that aims to further break down the Asian/Asian-American category into more specific classifications for the UC admissions process.
The resolution, authored by CalSERVE Senator Maurice Seaty, supports the goals of the Count Me In Campaign, a university-wide group hoping to add 10 new ethnic categories to the UC application, among other plans.

ImaginAsian TV launches weekend South Asian block

ImaginAsian TV, America’s first 24-hour Asian American network, is launching a new 3 ½ -hour South Asian block called “Simply Desi” beginning October 20. The block will feature Pulse-The Desi Beat, Koffee with Karan, ICC Cricket World, Newsweek South Asia, and My India. Announcing the launch at a press meet in Manhattan, Oct 20, J. Edward Lee, President and COO, ImaginAsian said, “It is four years now since ImaginAsian has been working diligently to provide an effective platform for the Asian American community.”

Michelle Yeoh – You’ve been knighted

While this happened earlier this month it’s definitely still post worthy (and just in case you missed it…) – but the 45 year old actress received one of France’s highest civil honors, the medal of a Knight of the Legion, by French Ambassador Alain du Boispean for strengthening ties and mutual friendship between France and Malaysia (where she was born), through her stays and connections in the country – and for those that were wondering – yes – she’s also been Knighted in Malaysia.

Racist Theme Parties, New Citizenship Tests, Dropping Cake, and other news from blogosphere

Some posts from around blogosphere from the last week:

Texas Fraternity To Throw Racist Theme Event (¡Para Justicia y Libertad!):

More racist theme parties, here we go again. I received an email informing that a UT Austin fraternity is planning to have a “Cholo/Ghetto Mexican” Rush Eventwhere participants are to dress up and act as “Cholos” or “Ghetto Mexicans.”

New Citizenship Test (Asian-Nation):

You might have heard that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or ‘INS’) will be implementing a new and expanded test that each immigrant is required to pass in order to earn U.S. citizenship. As the New York Times reports, the new test is the first major overhaul in more than 20 years

Call to Action: Another Racialized Arrest at School (Oh No a WoC PhD):

[…] A young black woman was attacked by a Knight High School security guard in Palmdale, CA, for not sufficiently cleaning up the floor after dropping a piece of birthday cake on it.

ROCK OF BLASIAN: Black Kids (Disgrasian):

[…] Black Kids are an unsigned Jacksonville, FL band who’ve been compared to My Bloody Valentine, The Go! Team, and The Cure, and after playing a killer show at the Athens Popfest […]

Indian American Newspapers Compete in Houston (Hyphen):

The Houston Chronicle reports about the flourishing of Indian American newspapers in Houston, which has a huge South Asian population. In fact, there are three Indian American newspapers based in Houston, along with other smaller magazines.

Burma/Myanmar watch: From 20,000 to 100,000 strong now

While the protesters are now 100,000 strong with nuns joining the protest as well, there is now a threat of force by the military junta. More news from the wire on the situation:

Myanmar junta’s warnings ignored as 100,000 join new protest

Buddhist monks led 100,000 people through the streets of Myanmar’s biggest city Tuesday, defying threats of a crackdown from the military junta facing the stiffest challenge to its rule in 20 years. In another day of public defiance against the generals and their iron grip on the country, some 30,000 monks dressed in saffron and red robes, followed by about 70,000 supporters, surrounded the Sule Pagoda and nearby city hall.

Anti-riot police move in as protests continue in Myanmar

In Myanmar, heavily armed anti-riot police have been sent in to Yangon where tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets again today.

Burma’s Growing Dilemma

With as many as 100,000 people on the street in a holiday atmosphere and film stars joining the crowds, there were increasing signs Tuesday that a nervous Burmese government is nearing a crisis point after six weeks of protests against the repressive regime.

More on plane crash in Thailand

In one of its worst aviation disasters in a decade with over eighty-eight dead, more information is starting to come out about the airport and pilot:

From the Canadian Press:
Probe into Thai plane crash focuses on wind shear; monks pray for dead

Buddhist monks chanted prayers Tuesday for the souls of the 89 people killed in a plane crash on the southern Thai resort island of Phuket as distraught relatives began identifying and retrieving badly disfigured bodies.

From the Bangkok Post:
Airline chief defends pilot of doomed Phuket flight

“He was not hot-headed by character and had plenty of aviation experience under his belt …He was very experienced, patient and very decisive,” One-Two-Go Airline chairman Kajit Hapananont told the Bangkok Post.

From the Guardian:
Survivors angry that pilot tried to land plane in monsoon storm

Survivors of the Phuket air crash expressed disbelief and anger yesterday that their plane had been given permission to land despite a monsoon storm with winds so fierce that they bent back palm trees.

Still Alive, Assunta Ng

Isn’t this a great photo that just screams “POST ME”?

If you’re wondering who this is, the woman in question is Assunta Ng, who is the publisher of Northwest Asian Weekly and the Seattle Chinese Post, both of which are celebrating their 25th year in publication.

The photo was taken for the article Still alive after thousands of hard battles which is #12 in a continuing series from the publisher herself.

You have to wonder how long it must have taken the editors to coax her into posing for this picture – and how much fun they had doing it…

White Man Claims $150,000 in racism lawsuit: Powershift?

From newsday.com:

A federal jury awarded a white man $150,000 in a reverse racial discrimination lawsuit Wednesday.

Mark Pasternak, who is white, said he was dismissed from his state job helping troubled youths because he could not tolerate being called names like “cracker,” “polack” and “stupid white boy.”

A seven-member all-white jury found that Tommy Baines, who is black, discriminated against Pasternak and created a hostile work environment.

Read the full article here

I have many thoughts on this….a few which are:

1. No one – including white people should have to tolerate racial slurs.

2. On a whole, racial slurs against white people (specifically white males) when looked at in context of the history of oppression against people of color, do not hold the same weight as a racial slur against a person of color in regard to power and prejudice.

3. I question the ALL WHITE jury, just as I would question an ALL BLACK jury.

4. $150,000 in comparison to the person’s salary seems fair based upon the time they could not work due to the job conditions.

5. The settlement does make you think about how the imbalance of power seems to still be apparent even in a racial case when compared to settlements from Nike and Target and the paltry sums that were given out to African Americans in the cases. In a way when juxtaposed together one says “If you are black you get next to nothing in a racial discrimination suit”, but “If you are white, you deserve more money.”

And remember – this isn’t saying the person shouldn’t have gotten the settlement that they did, or that it was the wrong settlement – but it sheds A LOT OF LIGHT on how so many things are still unequal for persons of color in our country.

Viacom and YouTube Part 2: Update on the banned video and being legal

Instead of carelessly uploading the video to torrents and mirrors as was threatened – but never actually done – Slant Eye For The Round Eye is taking the correct legal measures and counter-notifying the false claims of copyright infringment and asking YouTube to lift the ban on the video “When White People Go Bad: Episode #1 – Trisha Cummings” (at the same time, the previous post was deleted/edited).

More videos will be added in the future though, because you shouldn’t have to be a large company or organization with hundreds of lawyers to utilize Fair Use and the First Amendment, and everyone should be free to critique and make social commentary.

For those interested here is the counter:

TO: YouTube DMCA Complaints

FROM: **** ****, Slant Eye For The Round Eye

The video on the YouTube site, entitled “When White People Go Bad: Episode #1 – Trisha Cummings”, was wrongfully taken down because of a false copyright infringement claim charged by Viacom International Inc.

The video which previously was found at this url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmX3m5FaVR0  from the slanteye4theroundeye account, does in fact use clips from Viacom’s television production of MTV’s The Real World: Sydney, but does so under the guidelines of Fair Use for social and cultural critique and to illustrate an argument and point, specifically about racism , which is made very clear by watching the full video, which was wrongfully taken down because of the false charges from Viacom International Inc.

Slant Eye For The Round Eye is a social news and op-ed blog which sheds light on issues revolving around race, racism, and the APIA community. The video which was pulled down under the false copyright infringement claim from Viacom International Inc, was an extension of that same social commentary, much like current television shows that satirize or critique, current political, social, entertainment, and other public figures.

Because the video is clearly not in any infringement of Viacom International Inc.’s copyrights, but is used clearly within the guidelines of Fair Use, we are asking that YouTube remove the ban on the video and re-enable the video for viewing.

**** ****,

Slant Eye For The Round Eye
slanteyefortheroundeye@gmail.com

https://slanteyefortheroundeye.wordpress.com

Viacom and YouTube Won’t Shut The Slant Eye And The First Amendment Down – Updated 8/22/2007

Updated: 8/22/2007 

See this post instead on the banned video:
https://slanteyefortheroundeye.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/viacom-and-youtube-part-2/

Movie Watch: Harold And Kumar 2

Great clip from TrailerManiaBBQ‘s YouTube page.

“Follows the cross-country adventures of the pot-smoking duo as they try to outrun authorities who suspect them of being terrorists when they try to sneak a bong on board their flight to Amsterdam.”

Floods kill 32 in central Vietnam and submerges 48,000 houses

There hasn’t been a lot of good news coming out from Vietnam about this: 

Floods have killed at least 32 people in central Vietnam, displacing thousands and cutting the north-south railway, officials said on Wednesday.

The floods triggered by a storm that weakened into a depression since the weekend have isolated many areas from emergency aid, said an official in Quang Binh province. Quang Binh is the hardest-hit of the central coastal provinces with about 40,000 houses submerged. The government said overall more than 48,000 homes and 65,700 hectares (162,300 acres) of crops were under water.

Let’s just hope those who have survived but displaced are in contact with their families and the other people that have been reported missing are alive. Read more at Reuters everyone affected by this in your thoughts.

Into Week Three: South Korean group to meet Taliban to discuss release of the 21 Korean hostages

While the details are minimal, it’s being rumored that a new group from South Korea (ambassadors and government officials) will be planning to meet with the Taliban to discuss the release of the 21 remaining South Korean hostages in Afghanistan – there on an aid mission and then kidnapped on July 19th in the central Ghazni province. It is hoped that the meeting will deter any more executions, two of which have already been carried out, and that at least some of the aid workers can be released, two of whom are being reported as being seriously ill. Read more from RTE News, Al Jazeera, and the People’s Daily Online.

More links to news about the Korean hostages in Afghanistan: 

• Seoul and Washington rule out any military action in the International Herald Tribune.
• Military operation to save hostages ruled out in the Brisbane Times.
• Forum event today 8/2/2007 on the Korean hostages in Afghanistan being held in Koreatown. Read more at angryasianman.

*Image from RTE News*

Be like Nike: Nike Racism Lawsuit Settled for $7.6M, but did the slavemasters get off too easy?

So here’s the deal. According to the lawsuit the Chicago Niketown store and its managers used racial slurs against its black employees and shoppers, segregated jobs so that the higher paid jobs went to white workers, and routinely told security to monitor not just black customers but also black employees because of their race.

Accordingly – although it has taken 4 years since the 2003 claim – Nike finally had to accept defeat. They have to pay out $7.6 million to 400 employees (those who have worked from 1999-the present), hire a diversity consultant not only for the Chicago store but also for their home base in Beaverton, hire on an ombudsperson, conduct diversity training, institute a mentorship program, and review store policies from equal opportunity to theft.

It’s definitely a win and I congratulate all the workers there who had the courage to stand up and fight in what must have been an already hostile environment.

But….

If you figure the settlement to be about $20,000 per person, you have to ask yourself if Nike got off TOO EASY? I mean for 400 employees, some as far back as 1999 that got relegated to the back of the bus status – shouldn’t that be worth more?

Actually scratch the question of if NIKE got off too easy.

NIKE DID GET OFF TOO DAMN EASY.

I mean c’mon – for a company that has built its name on some of the greatest athletes and icons in the world who are people of color you’ve got to be kidding me – I mean basically Nike is saying to the world:

If you are a person of color and you are a great athlete, please come and sit at the dinner table with us, because we would love to have you. But if you’re not, go to the back of the bus, drink at the other fountain, don’t vote, stay below the ceiling, and be a nice little slave boy and girl like you should be.

If that’s the message – and it is – Nike definitely got off too damn easy.

Kate Winslet and Clive Owens: A little racist?

You may have seen the news clips on L’OREAL and how they’ve been beaten down for only hiring white women in some of their operations to promote their productcs. Some of you may also know then that the beloved Kate Winslet, and Clive Owens, are also spokespersons for L’OREAL.

At the moment they are being pressured to step down as spokespeople:

“We would ask those high-profile ambassadors to think carefully about whether or not they want to be associated with this organization,” said a spokesperson for the Commission for Racial Equality. “What a wonderful opportunity this could be to stand up to racism, to show that it simply has no place in today’s society.”

Simon Woolley of race campaign group The 1990 Trust adds, “It is shameful that those on L’Oreal’s payroll keep conveniently quiet. The correct thing to do would be to at least speak out or resign.”

Full Article

So the question that comes to mind is, if they stay at L’OREAL are they helping to keep a racist regime up and running? Are they spokespersons for racism by staying on? And then does that make them a little racist?

Does being paid by a company that just got nabbed for racist tactics make those on their payroll racists automatically?

To that question I’d have to say no – the person delivering mail surely isn’t a racist because of that – and I’m sure there are many fine people who work there, that aren’t racist or practice racist hiring practices (or had anything to do with the situation).

But when you’re a spokesperson it is different. You have power. You’re a spokesperson for a reason. And for the most part – while I’m sure the money is great – I’ll go out on a limb and say they don’t need the money they are getting from L’OREAL.

Because they have power and affluence, in this case they have only two choices:

1. Call out their employers – it happens all the time. Call a press release – people will come. Don’t quit, but also fight it from the inside while you still take their money and use it for something good. If L’OREAL drops them – so be it.

2. Quit. Bash L’OREAL and their practices with something like “I tried talking with top executives, but we didn’t see it the same way so I’m severing my relationship with L’OREAL because of their racist practices”. 

The only other option is to do nothing, continue collecting a check, and be a good little Spokesperson For Racism – hey doesn’t that kind of sound like “Springtime for Hitler”? Maybe it could be a musical….

News Roundup

White Boxing Promoter Calls Fighter a ‘Black Freaking Monkey’

Gary Shaw, a White boxing promoter who handles eight African-American fighters, called one of his own clients a “Black monkey,” according to a taped interview with boxer Anthony Hanshaw’s manager, Bryan Justus.

L’Oreal fights back from racism charge

L’Oreal were allegedly up in arms about the verdict stating that Garnier will appeal the case, with the stigma attached to being involved in the case thought to dent the company’s reputation in the cosmetics industry.

The Open stunned by racism and drugs rows

The racism issue was the first to rear its head. It concerned a speech made at the Association of Golf Writers’ annual bash by Graham Brown, a former captain of Hoylake and a member of the R & A’s rules committee. In it, he referred to the Japanese as “Nips”…

Louisiana Racism vs the Jena Six

Last week in Detroit, the NAACP held a mock funeral for the N-word. But a chilling case in Louisiana shows us how far we have to go to bury racism.

WP: Culinary xenophobia? A Taste of Racism in the Chinese Food Scare?

Jeff Yang notes that “food libel” has long been a part of a larger fear of China and the Chinese. Actually, in general culinary xenophobia, has been a way to establish a difference between “us-ness” and “them-ness.” (note how both Filipinos and Koreans have been labled “dog-eaters”).

TMZ, Al Sharpton and robotics…

A little late with this one, but if you weren’t aware, Al Sharpton had called TMZ – a popular news/gossip entertainment site – racist for TMZ referring to Beyonce at the BET Awards as RoboHo. Here is their response.

Burying the N-word

Great news story:

Hundreds of onlookers cheered on Monday as a leading civil rights group in the US put to rest a longstanding expression of racism by symbolically burying a racist slur generally referred to as the “N-word”.

Delegates from across the country gathered during the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Detroit and marched about 400 metres for the ceremony and rally. Along the way, two Percheron horses pulled a pine box adorned with a bouquet of fake black roses.

Read more at The Age.

Kiichi Miyazawa Dies at 87

Kiichi Miyazawa, who, as prime minister and holder of many other top government posts, helped guide Japan from postwar ruin to economic superpower, died yesterday at his home in Tokyo. He was 87.

Read the full article at the NY Times.

Isaiah Washington says firing off Grey’s Anatomy due to racism – does he have a point?

Isaiah Washington has come out in a recent AP article and candidly stated that he was fired because of racism and that because he was a black man he didn’t get a second chance like a white person would. 

On one hand you can easily and rightly say that his ass was handed to him because he didn’t have the same respect for the LGBT crowd that he expects everyone should have for African-Americans, and also (I’m sad to say) because it was so public as well – black, white, brown, woman or man – what does he expect from a TV network which is praised for the show he was on because of its diversity? It’s kind of like if you find a Klan member working for the American Jewish Archives – you kinda have to fire them for the PR alone.

At the same time Isaiah Washington does have a point when he says that white men get more chances to make mistakes than black men do. He is right. Black men have to work harder to prove they are worth the same as white men – it’s called the Black Tax – and Asians and women have it too (see the previous posts).

But does it matter in this case? Is it relevant? For the sake of the firing itself – no. You want to use the same words that people use in hate crimes (and don’t tell me you didn’t know it was derogatory and demeaning and hateful), then you need to suffer the consequences. Any employer has the right to fire you for that reason.

But then ask the question – what if it was Tom Cruise?

And then ask the question – what if it was an Asian-American actor who said all of this instead of an African-American actor? Would we even be listening?

Lucy Liu urges protection for women and children in the DRC

Did you know that Lucy Liu is a UNICEF Ambassador?

In her role as a Unicef ambassador, Lucy Liu travelled to the eastern province of North Kivu, where she visited the camps of Goma and Bunia.

She said: “It was really shocking. You don’t really get a sense of how horrifying it is until you go into the areas of internally displaced persons. The conditions are terrible and the people are really suffering incredibly, even with help.

“I met a lot of young girls who had been brutally raped. Some of them had been violated so much that their thighs had been dislocated. They had become incontinent because their internal organs were so badly damaged.

Read the full article on Channel4.com, as well as a UNICEF article here and here.