GCAA grass roots activists flex political muscle

Dear officers and friends of Asian American communities,
Recently, a racist article about China appeared in the Herald Tribune, a publication of the New York Times Media Group. The Gulfcoast Chinese American Association (GCAA) spearheaded a letter writing campaign to the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the paper and it result in a quick and public retraction and publication of a lengthy rebuttal to the original column (Letters to the Editor is normally limited to 250 words). Please see the attached. It included a letter from Dr. Carolyn Bloomer, who is a board member of GCAA.
This incident highlights the power of collective action and reminds us how important it is for all of us to work together to fight prejudice and ignorance. Some of our best allies are enlightened Euro-Americans who (like the early Euro-American civil rights leaders who founded the Southern Poverty Center and fought alongside the African Americans for their right to vote and public education) are well positioned to provide support to our cause to end racial hatred and bigotry. Let’s reach out to them and, together, work for a better, more equitable America.
At the national level, there is no other organization like 80-20 Initiative, which is making landmark progress in the fight for equal opportunity and justice for all Asian Americans. We have won iron-clad written commitment from Senator Obama to enforce Executive order 11246 to lift the glass ceiling for Asian Americans, to appoint more Asian American Federal judges, and to nominate an Asian American to the supreme court. We continue to try to achieve the same with Senator McCain.
80-20 needs your support as much as we all need 80-20. All 80-20 officers work for no pay and regularly dip into their own pocket for their hundreds of hours of pro bono services. We must feed and take care of our work horse. When you send in a membership check for $50 to 80-20 as Eric Man of Tampa Bay did yesterday, you are saying with conviction that you must do your part to change history for the better, and you are committed to walk the talk. Thank you, Eric, for stepping up to the plate. I hope many more will join you in setting leadership examples for the rest of our communities.
Warm regards to all,
Ed
Dr. Edward Lin
Director
80-20 Initiative (http://www.80-20initiative.net/)
Equal Opportunity and Justice for ALL Asian Americanse-mail: elin@ingenious.com