05.20.08
Posted in Politics, Activism and Empowerment, Community Alerts at 9:31 am by jj_de_la_cruz
Dear Friends:
This is an appeal on behalf of our surviving Filipino WWII veterans. Out of the more than 400,000 listed after WWII, only about 20,000 remain. Time is of the essence as they are in their mid-80s and their numbers are dwindling. In a few years they will all be gone. For the first time ever, the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill has passed Committee levels of both Houses and has passed the US Senate. The House will act on S1315 TOMORROW, May 21.
S.1315 was passed by the U.S. Senate on April 24, and it contains a range of benefits for U.S. veterans, as well as benefits for our surviving Filipino WWII veterans. We must all ask Speaker Pelosi to move S.1315 towards approval and we should contact our U.S. Representatives to support the House version of S.1315 and to ensure that the benefits to Filipino WWII veterans are not amended or removed.
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO NEXT:
- CALL SPEAKER PELOSI NOW!!
The contact phone is 202-225-0100. Or email her directly here: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/. Tell her: I AM [your name], A VOTER FROM [your home state]. I ASK THAT YOU LEAD THE HOUSE TO PASS S.1315, THE VETERANS’ BENEFITS ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007, AND DO NOT AMEND OR REMOVE THE BENEFITS IN IT FOR THE FILIPINO WWII VETERANS.
- CALL ON YOUR US REPRESENTATIVES, OR TELEPHONE, FAX, OR EMAIL THEM, NOW!!
The contact information for your Congressman is on http://www3.capwiz.com/c-span/dbq/officials/. Or email your message using the process below. Tell them: I AM [your name], A VOTER FROM [your hometown/city], [your home state]. I ASK THAT YOU SUPPORT S.1315 AND DO NOT AMEND/REMOVE THE BENEFITS FOR THE FILIPINO WWII VETERANS.
I just sent an email to my representative by following along with the very SIMPLE steps below. You should do the same NOW. Do each step as you read it now:
- Open your web browser and go to http://www3.capwiz.com/c-span/dbq/officials/
- Enter your zip code and click on GO. You will go to a new page with the list of your elected officials.
- On the bottom of the leftmost column, click on the name of your U.S. Representative.
- You will go to a new page with your Representative’ s photo and contact information. Click on SEND MESSAGE in blue under the photo.
- You will go to a new page where you will type in and send your message.
- In the subject box, enter: SUPPORT S1315 AND DO NOT AMEND FILIPINO VETERANS BENEFITS.
- Click on the arrow on the Issue Area and select VETERANS AFFAIRS at the very end of the list
- In the message box, enter: I AM A VOTER FROM [your home town/city], [your home state]. I ASK THAT YOU SUPPORT S.1315 AND DO NOT AMEND THE BENEFITS IN IT FOR FILIPINO WW2 VETERANS.
- Type in your name in the Name box.
- Complete Part 2 with your contact information. This is important. It will show to the US Representative that you are indeed from his voting district.
- Make sure the REMEMBER ME box is checked.
- Click the SEND MESSAGE in blue in the bottom. You will get an acknowledgement page that your message has been sent.
- When you have sent your message, help each of your family and friends of voting age to do the same thing.
- Add the web page to your list of FAVORITES so you can use it for follow-up messages later.
- That is it. If you haven’t been following along, go back to step 1, and DO IT RIGHT NOW!
(This is an adaptation of the NaFFAA call to action email.)
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05.07.08
Posted in Activism and Empowerment at 5:30 pm by william_lee_intern
Fil-Ams, some coming all the way from New York
and Pennsylvania, hear out ABC executives who
explained the network’s internship program that
could open more on-cam and behind-the-scenes
opportunities in areas ranging from script writing to
directing to financial management.
|
A top executive of a television company ABC is creating out a program to reach out to the Filipino-American community, but the issue about the “Desperate Housewives” is just the hindrance.
As the meeting between ABC and NAFFAA (National Federation of Filipino-American Association) going on, they are particularly talking abut the main objective of the said program it is allowing them to deal with the problems of stereotyping and racism.
“We do a lot of outreach in the course of the year,” Mendez tells ABS-CBN’s Balitang America during the outreach program at the Capitol Hilton here…
Continue reading the article…
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05.06.08
Posted in Activism and Empowerment at 5:09 pm by admin
Annual Asian Heritage Awards a True Exercise in Diversity
May 06, 2008
SAN DIEGO—(U.S. ASIAN WIRE)— Fourteen different Asian ethnicities are represented in the Fifth Annual Asian Heritage Awards to take place Saturday, May 10, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego.
Categories include business enterprise, entrepreneurship, health/medicine, science/technology/research, cultural preservation, performing arts, art/philosophy/literature, legal affairs/government, education, media/film, community service and humanitarian outreach. In addition, a youth leadership award and a $1,000 scholarship will go to a deserving high school student of Asian descent who has demonstrated leadership skills, community service and academic achievement.
The Asian Pacific Islander community of Los Angeles and San Diego provided the nominations in each category.
Anyone may vote by completing the email ballot on the www.asiamediainc.com website or by clipping the ballot from the April 18 edition of ASIA, The Journal of Culture & Commerce, in Los Angeles or San Diego and mailing it to Asian Heritage Awards, 5857B Mission Gorge Rd., San Diego Ca. 92120. Deadline for voting is midnight April 30, 2008.
The following ethnicities are represented by the individuals or organizations nominated this year: Chinese, Hawaiian, Cambodian, Filipino, Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Laotian, Indonesian, Thai, Pacific Islander, Indian and Pakistani. This is the largest slate of nominees since the awards began in May 2004 in celebration of Asian Heritage Month.
The event this year is a formal gala featuring the music of Grammy performing cellist Tina Guo, award-winning song stylist Lindsey Yung and her band, San Diego Taiko and Off the Deep End, performing with Tina Guo.
The highlight of the evening will be the award of special recognition honors to California Sen. Leland Yee for his work on behalf of the state’s children and working families.
The evening begins with networking and cocktails at 6:30 p.m., followed by a formal gourmet dinner at 7:30 p.m. hosted by Channel 8 anchor and reporter Marcella Lee and “Asia Talk Radio” hosts Patrick Flores and Dr. Tammy Lin.
The Manchester Grand Hyatt is at 1 Market Place, San Diego Ca. 92101
The ticket price of $79 includes the opportunity to win a round-trip ticket to Thailand.
Tickets may be purchased through the website or through the mail at ASIA, 5857B Mission Gorge Rd., San Diego, Ca. 92120. Sponsorships are available by contacting Cyrus Rapinan at 619-521-8008 or by emailing editorial@asiamediainc.com
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04.29.08
Posted in Activism and Empowerment at 11:30 am by william_lee_intern
A Hiphop concert featuring Kiwi and the Blue Scholars will be held on Friday May 2, 2008, at 7 pm at The Sacramento State University Ballroom. This is a project of UC Davis’s Students Organizing for Change and the Muslim Student Association in cooperation with Sacramento State University.
Geologic aka Prometheus Brown of Seattle’s Blue Scholars and San Francisco’s Kiwi, formerly of Native Guns, both Filipino-Americans will be the emcees. They will be working to promote people power awareness that addresses the human rights crisis and government corruption in the Philippines.
Bayan-USA, an alliance of progressive Filipino American organizations advocating for social justice and democracy in the Philippines, will be the main concert beneficiary. The local students will also be donating parts of the concert’s profit to DQ student organization. DQ University, the only Native American college in the state was closed due to previous school administration’s corruption. Hence, the school also lost it’s accreditation leaving the students suffering injustice.
See more details…
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04.24.08
Posted in Activism and Empowerment at 11:33 pm by admin
This is update #2 to this recent race-hate beating in New York City’s Chinatown
100 Centre Street
Room 405, Part A
NY, NY 10013
May 7 - all day
This is a pre-trial hearing.
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Posted in Politics, Activism and Empowerment at 9:27 pm by jj_de_la_cruz
Statement by the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)
Washington, D.C. April 24 - At around noon today, the U.S. Senate passed S. 1315 by a vote of 96-1. The omnibus bill includes a provision which restores U.S. veterans status and pension benefits to Filipino World War II veterans.
Today’s historic vote came about after the senate struck down an amendment introduced by Richard Burr, ranking minority leader of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. By a vote of 56 to 41, senators rejected Burr’s proposal that would have denied pension benefits to Filipino veterans in the Philippines. Burr needed 49 votes for his amendment to pass. Six Republicans joined the Democrats in rejecting what was widely viewed as a highly discriminatory act against Filipino veterans.
The bill now moves to the House for debate and a floor vote. If it passes intact, it will then go to President Bush for his signature.
“This is a great day for our veterans,” says NaFFAA National Chair Alma Kern. “It has restored our faith in the American justice system. Our veterans have waited more than 60 years, and now they are closer than ever to regaining their honor and dignity.”
Kern calls on the Filipino American community to call members of the House of Representatives and urge them to support the Filipino Veterans Equity Act. “We have to see this campaign through to the finish,” she adds. “It’s up to us to make this happen.”
In December 2006, NaFFAA and the Philippine Embassy co-hosted a meeting of advocates for the Filipino Veterans equity that resulted in the formation of NAFVE, the National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity. In the last two years, activists from NAFVE, which includes NaFFAA, and the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV) lobbied long and hard to get Congress to act on this bill. “I’m very hearted by our community’s response, flooding the various offices in Congress with e-mails, phone calls and visits. We couldn’t have done this without your support,” Kern says.
She also thanked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senators Daniel Akaka, Daniel Inouye, Ted Stevens for their consistent championing of Filipino veterans equity.
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Posted in Politics, Activism and Empowerment at 11:51 am by jj_de_la_cruz
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate began debating on whether to give pension benefits to Filipino veterans of World War II. If you are a person of common sense, you’d be wondering, what the heck is there to debate about? These men fought valiantly alongside U.S. forces, and haven’t received a dime of what was promised them!
Well according to the New York Times:
Republicans argued that the pension benefit was too big given the average annual income in the Philippines is $2,864. They argued that would give Filipino World War Two veterans a better benefit than the average U.S. veteran given the lower cost of living in the Philippines.
Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, planned to offer an amendment that would limit pension benefits to Filipino veterans living in the United States and use the $221 million savings to enhance benefits for U.S. veterans.
“I believe it is time for us to stand up for our guys versus that select group (for whom) there was never a promise made,” Burr said during Senate debate.
Senator Burr, imagine how much more we’d be paying the veterans had this bill included the BACK PAY they deserve! And that’s not even to mention the thousands of Filipino veterans who will never receive any compensation because they died before justice was ever served!
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04.23.08
Posted in Activism and Empowerment at 7:53 pm by admin
ASPIRE (www.girlsaspire.org) is excited to announce its 2008 Asian American Women in Leadership Conference, on Saturday April 26 at Harvard University in Boston, MA. We have an exciting roster of Asian American women from across the nation taking part in our annual event, including our keynote speakers SuChin Pak of MTV News, and Kyung H. Moon, Vice Chairman of Heidrick and Struggles. For more information about the conference, including a speaker agenda, please visit us at www.girlsaspire.org/conference.
We would also like to invite you to attend our 2008 Fundraiser, on Friday April 25 at Mohr and McPherson in Boston, MA, featuring singer/sognwriter Cynthia Lin (www.cynthialin.com). Please note that this event is 21+. For more information about the fundraiser, please visit us at www.girlsaspire.org/conference/fundraiser.html.
For ticket prices (including combination tickets), student discounts, or to register, please visit us at www.girlsaspire.org/conference/register.html.
Please feel free to forward this on to anyone you think may be interested. We hope you’ll join us for our annual event!
Best,
Jennifer Chow
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Posted in Activism and Empowerment at 7:35 pm by admin
Check out this op-ed written by Lee Fang regarding the Asian American studies program at the University of Maryland. It is in reference to this press release
- As Asian-American students at this university, we are deeply concerned about the proposed version of the Strategic Plan. The current draft does not clearly outline the current state of diversity, nor does it recommend any specific plans on how to improve or expand minority recruitment and retention to create a more representative student body. Though the Strategic Plan vaguely mentions diversity as a “value” and “strength” of the university, we believe diversity must be further emphasized as an integral component to build a truly inclusive curriculum and educational environment.
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04.21.08
Posted in Activism and Empowerment at 6:27 am by admin
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Lee Fang (301) 318-7351 Lhfang@gmail.com
April 19, 2008
Asian American University of Maryland Students Mobilize To Save Asian American Studies
(COLLEGE PARK, MD) — Students at the University of Maryland are stepping up to demand Asian Americans are included in the future of the University. The current draft of the University “Strategic Plan” – a document which governs future resource allocation and academic affairs policy for the next 5 to 10 years – completely ignores Asian American Studies and does nothing to address meeting the needs of Maryland’s growing Asian American student population.
Outrage has been vented at several recent meetings of Asian American student organizations and activist groups. Given forecasted fiscal shortfalls for the state of Maryland, many students fear Asian American Studies, as well as other academic programs dedicated to the study of race, gender, sexual orientation and issues of identity, face elimination or severe cut backs in the case of a budget crisis.
“Without inclusion in the Strategic Plan, you don’t exist,” lamented Pi Delta Psi President Scottie Siu.
As the deadline nears for community input, several Asian American groups are preparing to lobby and write letters demanding that the Provost add provisions to ensure that Asian American Studies be protected and promoted one day into a Major. Other demands include that there should be more needs based assessment surveys so counseling services can be improved, and that there should be a space on campus for Asian American cultural events.
Take action now! Call Provost Nariman Farvardin at (301) 405-5252 and ask that Asian American Studies be in the Strategic Plan!
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