09.26.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:27 pm by admin
Below is a statement by Calvin Sun, Chair of the Asian American Alliance of Columbia University
We, the Columbia University Asian American Alliance, acknowledge that on Friday, September 14, an incident occurred on 114th Street and Broadway between officers of the New York Police Department and an Asian-American student. Many accounts—including the article “Police, Students In Confrontation Over Arrest” (Sept. 17, 2007)—point to evidence of excessive force and racial bias among the officers of the NYPD against the student.
If the details concerning the police’s racial overtones and the excessive use of force are true, we condemn this abuse of authority by the NYPD officers present. Furthermore, if racial discrimination was indeed committed by those officers, AAA will take the necessary steps to move towards dialogue and action that will make these issues clear to the student body and general public.
Finally, we acknowledge that this incident may represent a larger problem within the NYPD and its treatment of people of color in New York City. In response to this, AAA would like to mobilize with other groups in the NYC area and student organizations on campus to take measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
AAA recognizes that the student involved in this incident clearly violated New York State’s zero-tolerance policy of drinking in public. However, AAA believes that regardless of the crime, the NYPD should not under any circumstances practice racial bias or excessive use of force.
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Posted in World News at 5:50 pm by admin
Loyer D. Braden, was arrested on Monday, and was charged with attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment, as well as a gun charge, according to court documents.
A justice of the peace set bail for the East Orange, New Jersey, teenager at $75,000 and ordered him to stay away from the victims and Delaware State. Braden is a freshman at Delaware State, according to a man at Braden’s home in East Orange who identified himself only as a family member.
Opinion Survey: Why is the assailant’s ethnic heritage and/or national origin omitted from the article? Leave your comments below.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 5:49 pm by admin
The Austin City Council has set aside money in next year’s city budget to offer incentive pay to employees that speak Asian languages. Council Member Jennifer Kim says those employees that are called upon to serve as translators when dealing with the public should receive extra pay for their extra work.
Kim says the changing demographics of Austin mean there will be an increased need for city employees who speak Vietnamese, Korean, or other Asian languages. “The market is becoming more diverse. The Asian-American population is about 7% of Austin and is the fastest-growing ethnic population.”
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Posted in Uncategorized at 5:48 pm by admin
The Austin Asian-American Chamber of Commerce celebrated the grand opening of its new office on Saturday, now located at 10901 N. Lamar Blvd., in the Chinatown Center.
Austin’s Asian population is on the rise, with an estimated 39,483 in 2006, an increase from the 30,960 recorded in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Web site. Some businesses are striving to make themselves more visible to the Asian community in order to better serve it.
The Chinatown Center encompasses businesses such as Tiem Vang Ngoc Tran Jewelry, First Chinese BBQ Restaurant, Wok on Fire and Kim Hoan Jewelry, according the center’s Web site.
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09.24.07
Posted in World News at 2:31 am by admin
From this article on CNN:
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Riot police and barbed wire barricades blocked hundreds of monks and anti-government demonstrators from approaching the home of the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday, in a new show of force against a rising protest movement.
Read Full Article
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Posted in World News at 2:29 am by admin
# Saga began when auctioneer told O.J. Simpson his stuff was being sold
# Simpson, in town for a wedding, reportedly told Thomas Riccio to set up meeting
# Collectors reportedly thought Riccio was bringing legitimate buyer, not Simpson
# Report: Men stormed room, took collectibles; only ties, football were Simpson’s
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Posted in World News at 2:27 am by admin
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski likened U.S. officials’ saber rattling about Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions to similar bellicose statements made before the start of the Iraq war.
“I think the administration, the president and the vice president particularly, are trying to hype the atmosphere, and that is reminiscent of what preceded the war in Iraq,” Brzezinski told CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” Sunday.
Read More
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09.19.07
Posted in Activism and Empowerment, Community Alerts, Culture, Education at 3:34 am by feliza_mirasol
As part of the International Day of Action Against Political Persecution and Repression, we invite you to a cultural program and vigil to commemorate the victims of Philippine Dictator Ferdinand Marcos on the eve of the 35th Anniversary of his declaration of Martial Law…
BALIKWAS*
* balikwas: v. to turn suddenly to the opposite side, to suddenly rise from a lying position.
Decriminalizing Political Dissent and Asserting Our Right to Our Bodies, Livelihood and Liberation
When: Friday, September 21, 2007
Time: Gather at 4:30pm, Vigil until 6:30 pm
Where: In front of the Philippine Consulate
556 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10036
Directions: 7 train to 5th Avenue-Bryant Park, F/V/D/B to 47-50 Rockefeller Center. Walk to 5th Avenue between 45th & 46th Street
What: Participatory street theater, cultural performances, solidarity statements
**** Wear black and bring images to show the repression/resistance during Martial Law 35 years ago and the on-going crisis today. ****
September 21, 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines by late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. During his 14 years of US-backed dictatorship, Marcos placed 120,000 Filipino men and women in arbitrary arrests and detention, committed 1,500 extrajudicial executions of activists and perpetrated 769 forced disappearances. Marcos was ousted by the People Power of 1986.
Today, the Filipino people are under another reign of terror. With the same shameless attempt to cling to power and with the same support from the US, Philippine de facto president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) has cracked down on political dissenters.
There have been 866 victims of political assassinations in the Philippines since GMA took office in 2001. Her government has become one of the cruelest perpetrators of violence against women activists. Filipina women are being beaten and tortured, abducted and executed–76 women have been assassinated, 29 disappeared, and 22 imprisoned for political work. Filipino students and the youth are not immune to such brutality–76 youths have been killed, 54 of whom were minors. The latter includes 9-year old Grecil Galacio, whom the Philippine military shot dead on March 31, 2007 for being a “communist insurgent.”
The rate of terror that GMA has inflicted in her six years in office has now surpassed that of the entire 14 years of the Marcos dictatorship.
GMA’s absolute boldness can only be attributed to the support of the US, who considers her government as its closest ally in Asia for the so called “war on terror.” With the US $30 million military aid to the Philippines, GMA has enacted one repressive policy after another: Calibrated Preemptive Response in 2005; martial-law like Presidential Proclamation 1017 in 2006; and the Human Security Act of 2007. All are designed to give GMA and her military the power and legal basis to persecute and repress those who expose and oppose her anti-people, anti-women rule. Her latest effort is to extend her reach beyond the Philippine borders, arresting and persecuting Filipinos abroad. This is exemplified by the arrest of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, beloved leader of the Philippine people who has committed his life to working for lasting peace in his homeland.
Moreover, just as Marcos bled the country dry to enrich his personal coffers, GMA’s economic policies, which only serve to enrich multinational companies and to expand the US empire, has led to the plunder and degradation of Philippine resources and to a hemorrhage of migration. More than a million Overseas Filipino Workers, enough to fill six 747s per day, are projected to leave the Philippines in 2007, 70% of those migrating are women. More than 8 million Filipinos have been forced to migrate abroad to escape the economic and political crisis in the Philippines. Abroad, majority of the overseas Filipinos become sources of cheap labor for the host country and are vulnerable to systemic racism and continue to be impacted by the worsening conditions in the Philippine homeland.
JOIN US on Friday, September 21, 2007. Stand up for human rights, for your right to expose and oppose corruption and human rights violations. In solidarity with the people of the Philippines, stand up and oppose US interference in Philippine affairs, demand justice for the victims and survivors of state violence. For us in the US, we must demand accountability from the government that, in our name, has wreaked havoc and continues to wreak havoc around the world.
Never Again to Martial Law!
Makibaka! Huwag Matakot! (Struggle! Don’t Be Afraid!)
The People United, Will Never Be Defeated!
Long Live International Solidarity!
To volunteer, participate or for more information please contact us:
DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association (contact@damayanmigrants.org |(212.564.6057)
Gabriela Network NY/NJ (gabnet@gabnet.org |(212.592.3507)
Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan / Linking the Children of the Motherland (ugnayan_nyc@yahoo.com)
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