Columnist does a disservice to Chinese-Americans

Columnist does a disservice to Chinese-Americans
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080717/COLUMNIST13/807170408/2050/sports&title=Columnist_does_a_disservice_to_Chinese_Americans

By DR. EDWARD LIN GUEST COLUMNIST
Published: Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 7:20 a.m.
Morgan Stinemetz's column of July 14, "Polluted sailing water not the only reason to avoid trip to Olympics," began: "Maybe I'm just too conservative in my old age, but the mere thought of going to the Olympics in China this summer brings up mental images I care not to contemplate."
Related Links:
Note to readers regarding sailing column
Alas, what followed soon revealed Mr. Stinemetz not to be too conservative but rather too ignorant and bigoted to bother with the truth. He urged readers to conjure up images of things in China that he himself admitted he had not seen or even read to be so. Drawing liberally from unidentified Internet sources that he reasonably ought to know are either untrue or only highlight rare extremes, he proceeded to embellish and multiply myths about China in his writing, which not only reflected poorly on Mr. Stinemetz, but also on the newspaper that irresponsibly approved this ill-concocted piece of "journalism."
Is the world to believe that America is a nation of polygamists just because they exist in parts of the country? Or that mountain oysters, squirrel brains and chitterlings reflect mainstream tastes?
If Mr. Stinemetz had limited his criticism to the coastal pollution and sailing conditions, that'd be one thing. However, he ranted about many other issues in a biased and broad-brush approach that merits a rebuttal.
If the United States had the crushing population and the manufacturing and agricultural burdens that China had, it is very doubtful we'd have done as well in terms of environmental pollution and waste reduction. Are we so quick to forget the decimation of fish in the Great Lakes, the burning of the Cuyahoga River from oil slicks, Love Canal and numerous other toxic waste dumps, dead zones in our Gulf waters from fertilizer overuse (one nearing the size of the state of Massachusetts)?
We are the only developed nation that exports its hazardous electronics waste (mostly to China). As a nation comprising 5 percent of the world population but consuming 30 percent of its resources, with a per capita carbon footprint 12 times that of China, perhaps we Americans might indulge in a little introspective humility before pointing a finger at another nation.
According to the Center for American Progress, 37 million Americans live below the poverty line (as of April 2007), an increase of 5 million since 2000. In contrast, the International Monetary Fund in 2006 credited China with pulling 300 million people out of poverty in the past two decades and adding $2 trillion to the global GDP. According to the report: This is "like adding a country the size of Portugal every year to the world economy, creating as many new jobs each year as Australia's total labor force, and eradicating poverty from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia combined."
The inability of our government to do justice to Hurricane Katrina victims three years post-disaster speaks volumes. China is far from perfect or blameless, but for a not-so-wealthy nation that has had to deal with socio-economic and environmental problems of far greater magnitude than those of any other nation in history, it has done remarkably well and deserves fair recognition instead of ignorant, off-base condemnation.
On behalf of the Gulfcoast Chinese-American Association, I express our dismay and profound disappointment that both Mr. Stinemetz and the Herald-Tribune have failed the community in their journalistic responsibility to present balanced and factual information.
{CUTLINES}
Dr. Edward Lin is chairman of the board and past president of the Gulfcoast Chinese-American Association, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide educational, cultural service and charitable support to the community. Web site: GulfcoastChineseAmerican.org
Editor's note: Please see statement in today's sports section.This story appeared in print on page A10_OPED
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Note to readers regarding sailing column
Published: Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 7:21 a.m.
A column Monday on the front page of the Sports section, "Polluted sailing water not the only reason to avoid trip to Olympics," included comments that had nothing to do with sailing or China's Qingdao Olympic sailing venue. The comments do not reflect the opinion of the Herald-Tribune and should not have been published.
Related Links:
Columnist does a disservice to Chinese-Americans

Sailing column is irresponsible

Sailing column is irresponsible
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080717/LETTERS/807170413/2163/opinion05&title=Sailing_column_is_irresponsible
Published: Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 5:50 a.m.
Where was the journalistic responsibility when Morgan Stinemetz's tasteless column of July 14 crossed the sports editor's desk? Stinemetz's gross ignorance of China and his invocation of racist mythologies harking back to 19th century fears of the yellow peril are truly shocking in a 21st-century newspaper.
Intelligent Internet users recognize that numerous sites capitalize on sensationalized, often fabricated representations. Anyone gullible enough to believe them should not be writing newspaper columns.
I am a cultural anthropologist who regularly spends time in China and who speaks and reads Chinese, so I can tell you the Internet pictures of "street food" are, for the most part, cherry-picked and inaccurately identified, and the "Chinglish" examples are purposefully atypical and bizarre. Beijing has embarked on a massive project to standardize menus and signage in preparation for the Olympics.
Consider how Chinese respond to mangled Chinese tattooed on American bodies, the Chinese word for "love" displayed upside down on a car bumper, shirts sporting Chinese writing in mirror-image, video titles printed upside-down, travel companies using Taiwanese fonts advertising trips to mainland China.
While committed to economic development, China has a national policy pushing renewable energy, reforestation and green building design.
Sixty percent of the world's carbon-reduction projects are in China (Foreign Policy magazine, March-April 2008).
Carolyn M. Bloomer The writer is on the liberal arts faculty of the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota. She resides in Sarasota.

Awakening the New "Sleeping Giant"?

1.Awakening the New “Sleeping Giant”?Asian American Political Engagement
Paul Ong, Melany Dela Cruz-Viesca, and Don Nakanishi
1University of California, Los AngelesJuly 2, 2008Press Contact: Letisia arquezlmarquez@support.ucla.edu
IntroductionSuper Tuesday of the 2008 Primary (February 5, 2008) was a milestone in the emergenceof Asian Americans as a factor in American politics. The national television newsnetworks openly discussed and analyzed California’s Asian American voters, whocomprised an estimated 12% of the state’s registered voters.
2. A CNN exit poll indicatedthat Asian Americans in California voted for Senator Hillary Clinton by a 3-1 margin (71percent), allowing her to win the popular vote by 8 points through an Asian Americanand Latino voting bloc.
3 To a lesser extent, newscasters took note of the Asian Americansin other primary elections. The focus has been on the Democrat race because more AsianAmericans are registered with that party than any other party. A report by the AsianAmerican Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) on the 2004 PresidentialElections surveyed Asian Americans in 23 cities in 8 states: New York, New Jersey,Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. AALDEFaffirmed that 57% of Asian Americans were registered Democrats, over a quarter werenot enrolled in any political party, and 15% were registered Republicans.
4 Similarly, astudy by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) found 35% of Asian1 The analysis in this analytical brief was partially supported with grants from Russell Sage Foundation andCarnegie Foundation. Additional support was provided by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, theUC AAPI Policy Multi-Campus Research Program, and LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics)..............(More).

CAA Honors Three APA Entities

CAA Honors Three APA Entities-AsianWeek.com
By: Leila Kang, Jun 19, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO — Civil rights group Chinese for Affirmative Action held its annual Celebration of Justice Gala at the Westin St. Francis on June 11.
This year’s honorees were the Asian Pacific American magazine Hyphen, the legal team at the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and historian Him Mark Lai. Honorees were chosen on the basis of how they have advanced, broken ground and created new movements in the Asian community.
Hyphen magazine was honored for its culturally and politically savvy coverage of Asian America. Editor in Chief Harry Mok, who oversees the volunteer staff of approximately 30, spoke of the need for media geared toward the Asian American community and filling a niche that conventional media has left open.
The legal team at Pillsbury was honored for their work on the Asian American amicus brief in support of the California Marriage Cases, which sought to win the freedom to marry for lesbian and gay couples through the California Supreme Court. Kevin M. Fong, a partner at Pillsbury, accepted the award on behalf of his team. Fong spoke about recognizing that the Asian American community needed and wanted to be heard. In turn, Fong said he wanted to show them that they had an ally both in the courts and in the community.
Him Mark Lai, the foremost scholar on Chinese American history, was honored for a lifetime of chronicling the Chinese American experience. Originally trained in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, he saw that there was no history of Chinese Americans and embarked on creating it. He has taught at both San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley.
Author Frank H. Wu, former dean of Wayne State University Law School and former AsianWeek columnist, was the keynote speaker. His remarks addressed racial discrimination, the pressures to assimilate, and what the Asian American community can do in order to be more politically empowered. “There is tremendous growth in Asia, and it is clear that the future is there.”

Re: Jack Cafferty at CNN and how to be effective politically

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi

Dr. Edward Lin - E-mail April 26, 2008

Dear friends,
I do not know where you are located, but presume you are from the Tampa Bay area. Please correct me if I am wrong. I have extremely limited ability to read Chinese and therefore rarely save document in Chinese. I regret that I no longer have the article you are interested in.

You asked a very important question that more of us should think about, “What can we do as proud Chinese in this case?”. Assuming that you are interested in an answer that will really work, please read and reflect on my answer below.

First of all, if you are not a US permanent resident or citizen, you are much more limited in what you can do in this case. In other words, the US government and elected representatives (congressmen, senators, etc) will treat your protest as “just a protest from a foreigner.” You are not likely to get much (if any) desired response. Indeed, if it is expedient (convenient) to score political points by slamming down on such protests by Chinese citizens, you can expect many politicians and public figures to seize the chance to do so. After all, the very reason Cafferty said what he did was to boost his own ratings at the expense of China. At a time of depressed US economy, rising unemployment and loss of international standing, public figures/politicians/administration are looking for a scapegoat to blame or our domestic and international problems. That convenient scapegoat is China and I predict there will be even more Cafferty-like incidents.

However, if you are a PR or US citizen, the politicians are more likely to listen to your concerns. Why? Because it is ultimately votes that will get them into office or help them stay in office. As a minority group, we are not expected to have the ability to garner huge numbers of votes (possible only when we vote together as a bloc) so it is much harder to get the politicians’ attention UNLESS we show them that we are united as a political group.

As a clear example, all you have to do is to study AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It is the single most powerful lobby in the US. There is no American politician at the state or national level who can hope to win any election without the consent or blessing of AIPAC. If the politician says or does anything that is not to AIPAC’s liking, AIPAC declares that it will defeat the anti-Semite candidacy of that politicians. And because American Jews are united behind AIPAC not just in words (speeches, demonstrations, lobbying pressure, etc.) but also in action (contributing lots of money), AIPAC delivers! So, with time, no one dares to go against AIPAC and that is why you see our foreign policy shaped the way it is towards Israel. So, even though the American Jews are a minority, because they are united and motivated to participate in the democratic process of government, they are able to make their voice be heard—LOUD AND CLEAR!

In January 2007, Jimmy Carter released his book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. " In the book, he criticized the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and blamed Israel, the Palestinians, the United States and others. Kenneth Stein, a Carter Center fellow and a longtime Carter adviser immediately resigned in protest; and this was followed by the en mass resignation of fourteen members of an advisory board to Jimmy Carter's human rights organization. It was a show of political force to embarrass Carter for his criticism of Israel. Even board members who were not American Jews felt they needed to resign in order not to be viewed a being unfriendly towards Israel.

We have much to learn from American Jews and their political effectiveness. If they can do it, so can we; and we have to start now.



Starting with each and every one of us. Yes, that means YOU and ME.

As you probably know, there are fewer Jews in America than there are Chinese, but their political effectiveness compared to ours is like comparing day to night. The “secret “ is their high unity and extremely low apathy. In contrast, the American Chinese are ununited and extremely apathetic. When you look at the impressive number of 700,000 supporters of 80-20, less than 1% (yes, less than one percent!!) pay their membership dues. And if you are not already an 80-20 dues-paying member, you know which group you belong in.

Chinese Americans in the US continue to cling to Chinese political ways which not only don’t work in a democracy but is self-defeating. How often have you heard your well-intentioned family or friends tell you, “Don’t get involved in politics and stay out of trouble!” or “Mind your own business”? Well, it is exactly this kind of mentality and BAD advice that got us into the predicament we face as a group in America: We are viewed as “model citizens” (meaning mostly we will work like mules without complaint) and there need be little concern about abusing us at the work place (Just blame/dump on Chang and Zhang because they’re too timid to complain and lack the political power to fight back anyway).

Is this the future we want for ourselves and our children? Can we feel good that this is the legacy we will leave to the next generation of Chinese Americans?

So, the best way for all of us to be effective is to become empowered and active in the American democratic process. Through unity and bloc voting that is advocated by 80-20, we can tip the election results in the direction we need in order to lift the glass ceiling for Asian Americans, to get more Asian American federal judges and an Asian American supreme court justice so that events such as the internment of Japanese Americans can never happen again.

Which of the following two do you think will more likely lead to constructive positive action?:
1) 300,000 Chinese citizens demonstrating in the US about unfair US policies and press, or
2) 150,000 Chinese Americans demonstrating in the US about unfair US policies and press?

The first one will lead to an examination of visa policies that resulted in “so many of them” in this country and the second will get the politicians to sit up and listen to our concerns. You and I both understand that the future of China and the US are inextricably intertwined. We are so heavily interdependent, the only intelligent thing to do is to engage in policies and practices that are win-win and mutually benefitting. As patriotic Americans, our duty is to help our elected officials and our administration see and understand that it is destructive and counterproductive to engage in name calling and hostile policies towards China or in discrimination and unfair practices towards Chinese in America. Just as American Jews lobby our government to recognize the importance of Israel as an ally, American Chinese should do likewise.

It is important for Chinese citizens to really understand that the best way they can help China in the international arena is to support Chinese Americans in their fight for equal opportunity and justice in America. 80-20 is focused on issues of equality and justice affecting Asian AMERICANS. It cannot and will not take a position on foreign governments but it takes action when issues relating to a foreign government (such as Cafferty on China) have the potential to impact Asian Americans. Only when Chinese Americans become strong in America can China have a powerful friend. Remember AIPAC? It is time to re-think the traditional (failed) strategy of the past and take heed of the wise-saying: “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

It is a lot easier to just mobilize a group to demonstrate and protest. It is a lot more EFFECTIVE to build the infrastructure (political organization) that enables Asian Americans to flex their political muscle through a bloc vote. If you have not already done so, I urge you to visit the 80-20 website below and to study the information there and take note of the landmark and historic progress that has been accomplished to date.

For Asian American who truly understand what is at stake, they do not ponder, ‘Can I afford to join 80-20?”

For Asian Americans who care about their future, the question is, “Can I afford NOT to?”

I hope you will join hands with me in DOING YOUR PART to make a real difference. Join 80-20 today and make a commitment to recruit a friend to join in the next 30 days. Thank you.

Ed
Dr. Edward Lin
Director
80-20 Initiative (http://www.80-20initiative.net)

Equal Opportunity and Justice for ALL Asian Americans
e-mail: elin@ingenious.com

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