Conference focuses on impact of US crackdown on Chinese spying

As the US steps up its campaign against Chinese spying and theft of US trade secrets, the spillover effect is a rising suspicion and fear targeting Chinese Americans and a drop in Chinese scientists and students coming to the US to further their research and studies.

A group of leading policy makers, legal experts, educators, business leaders, scientists, and community leaders convened Saturday (Sept. 28) in Silicon Valley to tackle the impact of rising US-China tensions on the Chinese American community and American society as a whole. 

Brought together by the Committee of 100 (C100), an American nonprofit organization of prominent Chinese Americans, the group detailed a heightened rise in scrutiny of Chinese Americans and people of Chinese descent, especially those who work in science and technology, and the chilling effect on civil liberties, as well as American science, technology and research initiatives.

"With growing US-China tensions and fears of Chinese espionage, we hear clearly from our members that Asian Americans, especially those who work in the STEM fields, are facing an increasingly hostile environment where our loyalty is being consistently and unfairly challenged," said H. Roger Wang, C100 chairman.

One of the Chinese Americans greatly harmed by the US crackdown is Xiaoxing Xi, who told his story at the Palo Alto event. Until May 2015, he was the respected chairman of Temple University’s physics department. FBI agents burst into his home outside Philadelphia with guns drawn and accused him of being a spy.

Four months later, federal prosecutors dropped the charges after experts provided affidavits that the information Xi sent to scientists in China was widely known and publicly available on the internet.

But the damage was done, says Xi, who grew emotional as he continued his story about suffering the great shame, the mounting legal expenses and the loss of his university chairmanship and most of his federal research grants and contracts.

"We are a nation built on immigrants, and we must not allow our fears to create an environment that erodes America's talent pool nor America's values of equal opportunity for all, freedom of inquiry, scientific integrity, and openness," said Wang.

C100 research from 2017 shows that the percentage of people of Chinese heritage charged under the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) tripled from 2009 to 2017, and that defendants of Asian heritage convicted of espionage received sentences over twice as severe as those of other ethnicities.

At the conference, speakers detailed the negative impact of a climate of fear and suspicion on individual scientists and researchers, as well as on a wide range of industries, universities, research institutions and businesses critical to U.S. innovation and economic leadership.

This is a hot topic in Silicon Valley, the center of new tech innovation in the US, where about 60% of its employees in the “innovation industries” are foreign born — primarily from China and India" — said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a public policy organization representing 350 of the region’s employers. Restricting that flow of talent would be “catastrophic for our economy,” he said.

Dr. David D. Ho, one of world's top researchers for HIV for which he was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 2014: "There's a chill in the air for Chinese and Chinese-American scientists. Over 250 scientists are being investigated in over 60 institutions, many of whom are Chinese or Chinese American. 

"Science depends on open and free exchange. Science has no borders. Science by definition is global. The real threat is not from occasional cases of espionage; the real threat is not believing in science, and the creation of a toxic environment that drives away talented Chinese and Chinese-American scientists."

A survey last year by the American Physical Society found that Chinese applicants to U.S. PhD programs in physics dropped by 16.4% from 2017 to 2018 — larger than an overall decline of nearly 12% among all international applicants.

There are widespread reports that Chinese students are facing visa delays and rejections, which many universities fear will cause a sharp decline in their numbers, research talent and tuition revenue, according to the L.A. Times.

"The US-China relationship is the world's most consequential bi-lateral relationship. We must be concerned about security concerns and condemn illegal activity, but in recent years there have been many cases of wrongful prosecution. Our pride in our heritage does not mean we are any less loyal or patriotic to America," said Gary Locke, former US Ambassador to China and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

A survey last year by the American Physical Society found that Chinese applicants to U.S. PhD programs in physics dropped by 16.4% from 2017 to 2018 — larger than an overall decline of nearly 12% among all international applicants.

There are widespread reports that Chinese students are facing visa delays and rejections, which many universities fear will cause a sharp decline in their numbers, research talent and tuition revenue, according to the L.A. Times.

Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics who served as energy secretary under Obama and now teaches at Stanford University, said the US has richly benefited from immigrants who have helped the nation make sizable leaps in science and technology — including those fleeing Nazi Germany who advanced the field of atomic energy and many Chinese scientists who came or stayed here during the Cultural Revolution," reports the LA Times. He said if not for Chinese “stars,” Standord is leading the battery storage research today — and questioned whether the Trump administration’s more restrictive immigration policies would alter that.

Federal officials tried to assure the C100 gathering that the  government is innocent of racial profiling. The US is targeting illegal conduct, not particular groups of people, said David Stilwell, assistant secretary of State and an East Asia expert, said in a live video linkup.

“Our concern is not focused on any ethnic groups or nationalities,” said Stillwell.

However, he admits, the FBI is investigating more than 1,000 cases of attempted theft of intellectual property, and “almost all lead back to China.”

One of the conference outcomes is that C100 will generate recommendations to share with congressional leaders, the scientific and educational communities, law-enforcement, businesses, and civic organizations and communities.

Conference Chair Charlie Woo noted, "It is our hope to come together and find balanced solutions that protect national security, uphold the civil liberties of all Americans, and continue to foster the welcoming environment for the development of science, technology and research that America has always been known for."

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Jason Momoa gives passionate speech at United Nations

UNITED NATIONS

Jason Momoaa concluded his UN speech making a hand sign indicating his support for the protests against the Thirty Meter Telescopee planned for Hawaii's sacred mountain Mauna Kea. 

When Jason Momoa isn't portraying heroic figures in films, he is an environmental activist and advocate for the preservation of his Hawaiian heritage. 

He made no bones about his island roots in an impassioned speech he delivered to the United Nations last Friday.

“The oceans are in a state of emergency,” he warned. “Entire marine ecosystems are vanishing with the warming of the seas, and as the waste of our world empties into our waters, we face the devastating crisis of plastic pollution.

The star of Aquaman and the soon-to-be released dystopian See for Apple TV was addressing a meeting concerning Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – which include the Bahamas, Barbados, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Haiti – at UN headquarters in New York. 

“Island nations contribute the least to this disaster, but are made to suffer the weight of its consequences,” said the Game of Thrones star.

The meeting which Momoa addressed was held five years after the adoption of the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway) by UN member states.

The agreement outlined that the countries would acknowledge the “need to support and invest in these nations so they can achieve sustainable development.”

“We, the island nations and all coastal communities, are the frontlines in this environmental crisis,” he said. “Entire islands are drowning into the sea due to the enormous volume of emissions generated by first world countries.”

After he delivered his speech, Momoa tweeted:

“That was a life changing moment, a true honor to represent island nations at the UN,” Momoa wrote on Instagram. “It takes an amazing team and support system to pull off something like this. I am deeply grateful to my wife and children, my mother @lonelywhale@duneives @realdealmada @paakai97@maluhiakinimaka @UnitedNations@UN_PGA #kukiaimauna
#SAMOAPathway #SIDSSummit. Aloha j #purpsonpurpslookgood#wegotsomethingtosay #nomorehalf-assing #3kanakasandaMADA.”

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Lilly Singh apologizes for distasteful joke that backfires

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Jessica Alba was a guest on 'A Little Late with Lilly Singh'

ASAM NEWS

YouTuber Lilly Singh kicked off her new late-night talk show just a couple weeks ago, but she’s already under fire after a controversial joke in which she compared turbans to bath towels, reports Entertainment Weekly.

Singh recently featured guest Jessica Alba on A Little Late With Lilly Singh, when Alba was discussing a house visit during which Singh encountered Alba’s two young kids.

“They’re really good at being cool, especially with people that they geek out over like you,” Alba explained to Singh, according to People. “They’re trying to be cool about it. I was like, ‘Lilly’s downstairs,’ and they’re like, ‘Lilly’s downstairs?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, come say hi.’ They wear the towels, the turbie twists, so they like look super not cool in the turbie twists but it dries their hair really quickly, so it’s very practical.”

“They look like my Punjabi friends,” said Singh. “It’s fine.”

People took to social media to respond to the comment:

Singh posted the following apology to Twitter on Friday:

“This was the first episode of the show I ever taped and I was very nervous, doing improv that wasn’t well thought out,” part of the apology reads. “I’m incredibly sorry to those I hurt with that comparison.

“I don’t wear a turban and I haven’t lived that experience and so I really value people giving perspective. I’m grateful that this was a teachable moment instead of another opportunity to divide and attack.”

The apology was accompanied by a second Tweet containing an educational comedy sketch on turbans:

The Canada-born comedian was raised in a Sikh household to parents who immigrated from Punjab, India. According to NBC News, Singh is the first openly LGBTQIA+ person and the first woman of color to host an American major network late-night show. Singh identifies as bisexual.

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MacArthur Fellowship names five AAPI geniuses

MACARTHUR FOUNDATION

Filipina American Lynda Barry will receive a grant from the MacArthur Fellowship.

Five Asian Americans -- a poet, a graphic artist/novelist, a social justice advocate, a researcher and an artist who defies categorization -- are among the 26 "geniuses" named by  MacArthur Fellowship.

The MacArthur Fellowship is a $625,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential. Government officials need not apply.

The Asian American awardees for 2019 are:

• sujatha baliga, 48: attorney and restorative justice practitioner, Oakland, California.

• Lynda Barry, 63: graphic novelist, cartoonist and educatior University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Mel Chin, 67: artist, Egypt Township, North Carolina.

• Jenny Tung, 37: evolutionary anthropologist and geneticist, Duke University.

• Ocean Vuong, 30: poet and fiction writer, University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions. 

There are three criteria for selection of Fellows:

1. Exceptional creativity
2. Promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments
3. Potential for the Fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.

Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.

They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their careers.

The Foundation does not require or expect specific products or reports from MacArthur Fellows and does not evaluate recipients' creativity during the term of the fellowship. The MacArthur Fellowship is a "no strings attached" award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $625,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years.

Here are the 2019 Fellows:

Ocean Vuong is a poet and fiction writer whose works explore the ongoing trauma of war and conditions of exile with tragic eloquence and clarity. The child of illiterate rice farmers from rural Vietnam, Vuong came to the United States as a refugee with his family at the age of two.

"Language, like people, can be perpetually in flux. Words are, in a sense, bodies moving from one space to another," he said. 

"Our very cells, too, are always moving. They are just overflowing, and dying, and being reborn. What is seemingly so static is actually constantly in motion. Literature, then, is movement—but it is also the measure of movement in our species' thinking and feeling. To participate in that great migration, as a writer, is the ultimate gift."

His poetry is infused with the rhythm, cadences, and imagery of rural Vietnamese oral storytelling and folkloric traditions married to a restless experimentation with the English language.

In Night Sky with Exit Wounds (2016), his first full-length collection of poetry, the political and the sensual are often intertwined. “Aubade with Burning City” is a tableau of the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, that juxtaposes the violence on the streets with the ethereal intimacy of lovers’ final moments together. The lyrics of the song “White Christmas,” which was played on U.S. Armed Forces Radio to signal the final evacuation of American citizens, appear in haunting fragments throughout the poem. 

At times, Vuong uses silence to render depth of feeling. “Seventh Circle of Earth,” about the 2011 murder of a gay couple by immolation in Dallas, Texas, is written in its entirety as footnotes. The footnote numbers run down an otherwise empty page, reinforcing the erasure wrought by the violence, and the text of the poem is formatted as short quotations in the footnotes themselves, with slashes indicating line breaks. 

Vuong continues to explore related themes of loss, survival, and the bridging of disparate worlds through language in his novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019). Structured as a letter from a son to his mother, who cannot speak English or read in any language, the loosely autobiographical novel is a tangle of personal and colonial histories. In short sections that are each distinct memories, it moves from war-torn Vietnam to a teenager’s first sexual experiences. The language shifts as the narrator makes himself more vulnerable to his interlocutor; the dense prose used to describe childhood memories becomes an elegy, then a meditation, and finally a series of broken phrases about the tragic end of his first love. The novel concludes on a hopeful note, however, with the narrator determined to embrace joy, ambition, and future opportunities for love.

Still early in his career, Vuong is a vital new literary voice demonstrating mastery of multiple poetic registers while addressing the effects of intergenerational trauma, the refugee experience, and the complexities of identity and desire.

Lynda Barry is an educator, cartoonist, and graphic novelist unleashing the creative powers in others through a teaching practice centered on image making and writing. Barry is well known for her decades-long career as a cartoonist and graphic novelist. 

Her  One! Hundred! Demons! (2002), depicted the life of a Filipina American girl growing up in Seattle with her single mother, her brother and "Lola." was the first American comic to use Tagalog in its bubble captions.

Besides Demons, her underground comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek,” her weekly comic strip in alternative newspapers, and graphic novels such as The Good Times Are Killing Me (1988) roadened the psychological dimensions of the format and demonstrated an uncanny capacity to depict the intense emotions of adolescence. 

Over the past several years, Barry has turned her focus to education and enabling others to discover their own creativity.

When she was notified of the award, she said, “So that was when I started crying. And then the other thing that happened was after I hung up, both my fists went up into the air, you know, like ‘Woo!,’ like that. But I couldn’t bring them down for a really long time. And the only other time that happened to me was when Obama got elected. I couldn’t bring them down.”

“The honor of it. My god,” the artist said. “It’s just such a magical, amazing thing. I’m so, so excited about the next five years and the work I’m going to be able to do. I’m so grateful for that.”

In her “Writing the Unthinkable” workshops, she leads students through exercises that emphasize the physical process of writing and drawing, often under time pressure, to stimulate creative thinking: examples of the exercises include drawing a three-minute self-portrait on an index card; keeping a five-minute daily diary of remembered observations from the previous day; filling sixteen frames with specific images, such as faces, while listening to poetry or music. 

Barry believes that art provides an alternate lens through which to view ideas and can play an important role in all levels of education. Her Drawbridge program pairs graduate students with four-year-old children in exploration of a topic (such as the difference between the mind and brain), giving graduate students new insight into their research problems as they are forced to use a visual approach, rather than words, to explain them.

In addition to workshops and prolific social media engagement, Barry has shared her teaching approach in a number of publications. What It Is (2008) and Picture This (2010) are playful, interactive workbooks that combine prose with illustrations, incorporating collage, doodles, and handwriting layered onto yellow legal paper. The activity prompts and questions that follow encourage authentic expression and enhanced self-awareness through writing, drawing, thinking, and listening. Her follow-up publication, Syllabus (2014), is a collection of illustrated syllabi that guides the reader through a deliberate practice aimed at discovering novel ways of communicating ideas. 

Exuberant and generous as a teacher, Barry is removing the barriers that usually prevent people from writing and drawing and enabling artists and non-artists alike to take creative risks.

Mel Chin is a category-defying artist whose practice calls attention to complex social and environmental issues. In an expansive body of work ranging from collages, sculptural objects, animated films, and video games to large-scale, collaboratively produced public installations, Chin demonstrates a unique ability to engage people from diverse backgrounds and to utilize unexpected materials and places.

Chin initiated the GALA Committee, an artist collective, for the conceptual work In the Name of the Place (1994–1996), in which original works of art appeared in the background of scenes of the television drama Melrose Place. With visual messages that touched on issues like gender, the environment, and global conflict, Chin and collaborators effectively infiltrated the airwaves with challenging and topical art. 

Chin was an early pioneer of the practice that now falls under the rubric of socially engaged art, and he has undertaken several community-based projects that address environmental health. For Revival Field (1990–1993), he collaborated with a USDA agronomist to create an experimental “green remediation” garden on the site of a landfill that confirmed a scientific technology. Incorporating aspects of formal garden design, Revival Field is planted with species known to extract heavy metals from toxic soil. Chin’s Fundred Project (2006–present) has involved nearly half-a-million children and adults across the country who create their own paper currency, “fundred dollar bills,” 

in a collective effort to bring visibility to the widespread threat of lead poisoning. The “Fundred Reserve” has been displayed in museums, schools, and the halls of Congress, where it brought the value of constituent voices directly to members of Congress and served as an educational opportunity for community members and policymakers.

Public spectacle and educational ambitions again combine in Chin’s two-part installation, Wake and Unmoored (2018), which occupied Times Square in 2018. Wake is a large-scale sculpture that assumes the form of a wrecked ship but also resembles the skeletal remains of a beached whale, while Unmoored exists as a mixed-reality experience that enables viewers to glimpse what Times Square would look like submerged under water as sea levels rise due to climate change. 

Through these and numerous other projects, Chin is redefining the parameters of contemporary art and challenging assumptions about the forms it can take, the issues it can address, and the settings it can inhabit.

Jenny Tung is an evolutionary anthropologist investigating the interplay between social experiences, genomics, and health. Combining field research with cutting-edge techniques for studying many genes at once, Tung is revealing the molecular mechanisms by which social and environmental stressors have long-lasting impacts on health, longevity, and evolutionary fitness.

Her research with a population of Kenyan baboons living in the wild, about which there is nearly fifty years of longitudinal data, has found that factors such as drought, low social status, and isolation lead to significantly shorter life spans. Importantly, she and collaborators have shown that these experiences can manifest at the genomic and cellular levels, leaving signatures in the way that immune cells function in response to wounds and infections. 

Her work with captive rhesus monkeys indicates that such effects are causal: monkeys assigned to lower-ranking status express proinflammatory genes at higher levels than higher-ranking monkeys. These effects can also be reversed—monkeys moved to a higher status demonstrated improved immune systems and corresponding changes in gene expression. 

Tung’s research has important implications for human health. While associations between socially induced stress and negative health outcomes have long been observed in humans, her findings suggest there is a causal link between social and environmental adversity and poor health.

Tung is currently expanding her research to non-primate, socially cooperative species such as meerkats, where demarcations of social roles for breeding and nonbreeding “helper” members can clarify the effects of competing demands for growth, reproduction, and immune defense. Tung is illuminating the epigenetic consequences of social behaviors and environmental conditions, thereby advancing the emerging discipline of evolutionary medicine and providing new insights for improving human health.

sujatha baliga  (she doesn't capitalize her name) is an attorney and restorative justice practitioner demonstrating the efficacy of survivor-centered restorative justice alternatives to traditional legal interventions as a means of helping crime survivors to heal, holding those who have caused harm accountable, and breaking cycles of recidivism and violence.

In a statement about the MacArthur award, the Indian American said her experience as a child sexual abuse survivor was what stoked her interest in restorative models of justice.

“I didn’t want to be placed in foster care or for my father to be locked up, and I worried that telling the truth might trigger immigration consequences for my family,” she said. “Ultimately, I was drawn to restorative justice because it works best without involving the criminal legal system or other systems of separation and oppression.”

Restorative justice practices encourage constructive, rather than punitive or retributive, responses to wrongdoing. Those who have caused harm, crime survivors, and affected communities come together to participate in a facilitated dialogue and formulate a consensus-based plan for making amends. 

As director of the Restorative Justice Project, an initiative of the national innovation and research center Impact Justice, baliga is increasing the availability of restorative justice alternatives for young people in cities across the United States. The project builds upon the success of a pre-charge, restorative justice diversion program baliga launched in Alameda County, California, which, in contrast to other restorative justice programs that focus exclusively on lower-level harms, works with youth who have been arrested for felonies and other serious harms. baliga’s team provides training and technical assistance to similar programs in multiple counties and states that operate in collaboration with community-based organizations and partners from the criminal and juvenile legal systems. 

They also collect and evaluate data on rates of recidivism reduction and crime survivor satisfaction from each site to inform the implementation of restorative justice models more broadly and to deepen understanding of their effectiveness among a diverse range of participants and agencies, including community-based organizations, courts, police departments, and district attorneys’ offices. 

baliga’s efforts to reduce the juvenile legal system’s reliance on incarceration hold promise for diminishing its highly disproportionate and detrimental effects on communities of color.

In a closely related area of practice, baliga develops and facilitates restorative justice responses to address the complex and specific needs of survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence. She brings to this work not only her skills as an attorney and prior professional experience as both a victim advocate and public defender, but also her own lived experience. 

As a survivor of child sexual abuse, she powerfully articulates how punitive systems of criminal justice often fail to offer sufficient familial support and pathways to healing for survivors and frequently have silencing and shaming effects that prolong their suffering. With vision, compassion, and a rigorous, evidence-based approach to implementation, baliga is expanding access to and increasing the visibility of restorative justice practices while honoring their centuries-old, indigenous roots.

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Sunday Read: AAPI communities need to step up in environmental movement

COURTESY SUNRISE MOVEMENT

Varshini Prakash is shown at a Sunrise Movement sit-in in Nancy Pelosi's office on Dec. 10, 2017. She is one of the young environmental activists changing the perception of the lack of involvement in the AAPI communities.

This past week demonstrations around the world demanded action to reverse climate change to prevent sea level rise, ecosystems collapsing and the decimation of species. Climate change knows no boundaries. It affects us all regardless of race or political affiliation. 

AAPI are learning to join their voices, -- and in some cases, lead the charge -- in this worldwide challenge. Nevertheless, the general perception of mainstream media is that climate change is not a high priority to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders even though that is not true. As we fight climate change, we also need to fight this invisibility and help redefine what it an American looks like.

For Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to become more visible in the environmental space, we need to challenge assumptions about what it means to be American and build a movement strengthened by solidarity. This article by one of the most visible AAPI members of the environmental movement was originally published  for the Natural Resources Defense Council blog during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month last May.

By Rhea Suh
Former President, Natural Resources Defense Council

I’ve spent a lot of my career thinking about how to build a better, stronger, more unified environmental movement. To consider this issue during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, however, is a tricky matter, because Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been largely invisible in this space—a void where a reflection should be.

RHEA SUH

This invisibility problem is one that we need to correct—and quickly. The proportion of Asian Americans in the United States grew by 72 percent between 2000 and 2015, making them the fastest-growing population in the United States. And not only does the group tend to hold strong opinions and values on the environment, but it is also growing as a voting bloc.

Further, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders suffer environmental injustices similar to those disproportionately borne by other people of color, despite the myth of the “model minority.” Studies show that Asian communities are being exposed to more harmful substances in the air (such as nickel, nitrate, and vanadium) than white people are. Other research illustrates that neighborhoods with high proportions of Chinese, Korean, and South Asian people have significantly higher cancer risk than do white populations. And the Laotian community in North Richmond, California, must deal with the dangers and health effects of living near a toxic oil refinery.

RELATED: 

• Indian American activist who organized US climate change demonstrations
• Pacific Islander teens present petition to United Nations
• Trump's biggest blunder: 'No' to climate change 

There are examples of Pacific Islander communities, too, being subjected to environmental injustice, including documented instances of sludge dumping on the Waianae Coast of Oahu and the failure of authorities to limit pesticide exposure in native Hawaiian communities.

More to the point, the general lack of research into these subjects—especially on the health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—speaks volumes about the degree to which they are invisible.

The first step in addressing this issue is to recognize that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders do not constitute one monolithic entity—that there are not only people with East Asian heritage, but also South Asians, Southeast Asians, and those with indigenous ancestors from Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific. When we can make room for more definitions of what it means to be an American, more diverse stories, nuances, and voices can surface.

It’s heartening that recently I’ve seen more faces in the youth climate movement that are rising up from this group, and I’ve witnessed brave acts of resistance. But it’s not nearly enough for a fair representation. We need more people—more of everyone, especially Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of all stripes—in the fight for environmental and climate justice.

At the same time, we also need them to be seen and heard. The responsibility for achieving this falls to those with the power and the privilege—be it organizations like NRDC or other communities within this diverse racial group—to lift up those in the margins and to bring more attention to their stories.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders contain multitudes—quite literally—and will begin to become more visible when we redefine what it means to be American, build strength in numbers, and link arms in solidarity. These changes will also help create a crucial, more unified front, one that’s necessary to face the toughest challenge of our time—addressing the related crises of climate change and biodiversity extinction. We can create the transformative change we need only if everyone can see themselves strongly reflected in the movement.

CORRECTION: Byline credit for the oped has been changed to indicate that Rhea Suh left her position as NRDC president in June, 2019.

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Sikh American officer 'ambushed' in routine traffice stop

HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal was the first Sikh allowed to wear a turban and beard as a Harris County deputy.

A police officer who made headlines as the first Texas Sikh allowed to wear his beard and turban as articles of faith while on duty was killed during a routine traffic stop on Friday (Sept. 27).

The man accused of killing a Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal Friday in an "ambush-style" attack was wanted for violating his parole and had been pulled over for running a stop sign, officials said.

It looked like a routine traffic stop to Dhaliwal. After conversing with the driver he walked back to his patrol car. The driver remained in the car. Within three to five seconds, the door on the driver’s side of the stopped vehicle opened and the driver, brandishing a gun, ran up behind the deputy said Sheriff officials.

A woman doing yard work who observed the traffic stop heard two gunshots and saw the gunman flee, the major said. She called 911 and law enforcement officers descended on the scene.

Based on witness descriptions and video cam from the patrol car, police stopped the suspect less than a mile away coming out of an ice cream shop and arrested.

Suspect Robert Solis, 47, was denied a bond during his initial court hearing early Saturday, which Solis missed for medical reasons, according to prosecutors and the judge in the case. He is facing a capital murder charge.

Solis was previously convicted of felony charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2002. He received 20-year jail sentences for those charges, though it’s not clear how much of that sentence he ultimately served.

Fellow deputies and members of the community remembered with a heavy heart  Dhaliwa's life Friday evening, reported KHOU.

In 2015, Dhaliwal became the first Texas police officer approved to wear the Sikh religion’s traditional turban and a beard while on duty, according to the Associated Press. 

Community members mourned slain Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal in a vigil last Friday.

“Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran, was a hero, was a respected member of the community and he was a trailblazer,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a press conference Friday afternoon. “He was a father ... of three children, he was a husband, a brother and a son.”

“He was a hero. Deputy Dhaliwal was a trailblazer,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said after the shooting to the NY Post.

“I’m heartbroken because he’s a personal friend of mine,” Gonzalez told KHOU. “He’s very respected.”

A community-led vigil took place Friday night in honor of Dhaliwal. His funeral, which will be open to the public, is set for Wednesday at the Berry Center in Houston at 10:30 a.m.

ASAM NEWS contributed to this report.

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Gabbard changes her mind and joins other AAPI Congress members backing impeachment inquiry of Trump

SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC

Tep. Tulsi Gabbard joins the majority of House Democrats in calling for an impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump.

As Congress breaks for the weekend and representatives head to their home districts, 223 of the 235 Democrats have stated they back House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's call for an impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump

However, only 218 votes are needed to impeach the White House occupant.

All of the Asian American and Pacific Islander members of the House and Senate have jumped on board for impeachment proceedings to begin, including those who earlier had taken a more cautious position.

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said Friday (Sept. 27) she has changed her position and now supports an impeachment inquiry into Trump, Immediately after House Speaker announced the impeachment inquiry, Gabbard  stated she didn't support the move because it would be "terribly divisive."

"[A]fter looking carefully at the transcript of the conversation with Ukraine's President, the whistleblower complaint, the Inspector General memo, and President Trump's comments about the issue, unfortunately, I believe that if we do not proceed with the inquiry, it will set a very dangerous precedent," the Democratic presidential candidate wrote in a statement.

"Future presidents, as well as anyone in positions of power in the government, will conclude that they can abuse their position for personal gain, without fear of accountability or consequences."

“Up to this point, I have been opposed to pursuing impeachment because it will further divide our already badly divided country," the Hawaii congresswoman said in a press release. With her revised position, Gabbard joins the other Democratic challengers vying for the partyi's nomination to run against Trump in 2020.

Gabbard said she changed her mind this week.

“However, after looking carefully at the transcript of the conversation with Ukraine’s President, the whistleblower complaint, the Inspector General memo, and President Trump’s comments about the issue, unfortunately, I believe that if we do not proceed with the inquiry, it will set a very dangerous precedent," she said. "Future presidents, as well as anyone in positions of power in the government, will conclude that they can abuse their position for personal gain, without fear of accountability or consequences."

Gabbard's announcement, makes it unanimous among the Asian American  and Pacific Islander members of the House of Representatives and House of Representatives.

Before Pelosi made the decision to move towards impeachment, Rep.Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-ILL, called for the impeachment inquiry.

"I greatly respect the electoral process and the office of the President. I was raised to respect each occupant of that office, regardless of party, and I feel strongly that no President should be impeached unless clear, substantial evidence of illegal behavior exists to sustain a conviction in the Senate.”

“That said, we have now come to a point where we must engage in an investigation to not only expose wrongdoing and prevent it from happening again, but also to determine whether the current President engaged in behavior meriting the beginning of impeachment proceedings.

Krishnamoorthi's fellow Asian American Illinois representative, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-ILL, tweeted:

“By urging the Ukrainian government to take action to influence our Democracy, Trump has violated that power and the trust of the American people,” said Rep, Andy Kim, D-NJ, in a statement. He was one of the House members withholding his full support until this week. “If the facts are corroborated, that violation, and my understanding of its implications, has led me to come to the conclusion that the President has committed an impeachable offense.”

Kim, who worked as a diplomat and national security advisor in the Obama White House and was present in the Oval Office for many similar calls Obama had with world leaders, said he’s concerned Trump may have put “personal and political gain above our national security.”

“I believe the Commander-in-Chief role is the most sacred responsibility of the Presidency, and it is the last place where partisan politics belongs. We hold this highest of standards because we know the incredible power of that singular office. It is a power that has the potential for doing incredible good, but if corrupted, it weakens America’s national security, international standing and the framework of our very Democracy,” Kim said in his prepared statement.

Rep. Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-07) released the following statement on impeachment.

“After reading the Mueller Report and witnessing the President’s actions, it has been clear to me that President Trump has committed impeachable offenses and went to great lengths to commit obstruction of justice on several occasions.

Multiple committees with jurisdiction have been conducting important and necessary oversight, including investigating and holding hearings into obstruction, corruption, and abuse of power by President Trump. I have supported the committees' actions and will continue to do so, including an impeachment inquiry.

Congress has the constitutional authority to hold the president accountable for his actions. I am confident we will do so.”

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Design of Congressional Gold Medal for Chinese American WWII veterans marches forward

ASAM NEWS

The Citizens Coin Advisory Committee has recommended a design for the Congressional Gold Medal for Chinese American World War II veterans. 
On Sept. 18, the committee reviewed over a dozen designs each for both sides of the medal before making its recommendation to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to Coin World.

The CCAC recommended an obverse side that depicts Chinese American servicemen and a nurse. The recommended reverse side sets a World War II American flag behind an Iowa class battleship, and M4 Sherman tank and a P-40 Warhawk from the Flying Tigers.

According to the Chinese-American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal Act, Congress finds that “Chinese Americans served the United States in every conflict since the Civil War, and distinguished themselves in World War II, serving in every theater of war and every branch of service, earning citations for their heroism and honorable service, including the Medal of Honor.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-ILL, sponsored the bill which called Congress to award this collective honor to Chinese American WWII veterans. It was introduced in the Senate in 2017 and became Public Law 115-337 in December of 2018.

OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates president Sharon Wong said in a 2018 press release that the recognition was “very timely,” given that the law passed following the 75th anniversary of the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

“Over 20,000 Chinese-Americans served their nation and sacrificed their lives for the sake of our freedom. Although many of the veterans are no longer with us, it is still poignant that they have been recognized by their country for their service,” Wong added in the statement.

The law dictates that after the medal is formally awarded in honor of the veterans, it will be given to the Smithsonian Institution to be displayed and made available for research.

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Pacific Island teens petition UN to act quickly to combat climate change

CHILDREN VS. CLIMATE CRISIS

From left: Litokne Kabua,  David Ackley III, Carlos Manuel and Ranton Anjain

Four Pacific Island teenagers joined Swedish 16-year old  activist Greta Thunberg and 12 other youth who have filed a complaint on the climate crisis to the United Nations.

Their  unprecedented petition, to the U.N Committee on the Rights of the Child (C.R.C) is attempting to hold Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey accountable for their climate crisis inaction.

It is the first time children have filed a formal complaint under the U.N.C.R.C. The petitioners are between ages eight and 18. The youngest is Ellen-Anne from Sweden.

Carlos Manuel from Palau, and Marshallese Litokne Kabua, David Ackley II and Ranton Anjain have joined children from ten other countries in this landmark case. Their two nations are among the countries already being impacted by climate change. Strong Pacific typhoons have caused some islands to be abandoned by its residents. Rising sea levels caused by melting polar caps are causing island beaches to disappear.

The other children named in the petition are Chiara Sacchi (Argentina); Catarina Lorenzo (Brazil); Iris Duquesne (France); Raina Ivanova (Germany); Ridhima Pandey (India); Deborah Adegbile (Nigeria); Ayakha Melithafa (South Africa); Greta Thunberg and Ellen-Anne (Sweden); Raslen Jbeili (Tunisia); and Carl Smith and Alexandria Villaseñor (USA).

The petition was part of a week-long series of global actions by young people to exert pressure on the world leaders to act against climate change, which the vast majority of the world's scientists have concluded is hastened and exacerbated by manmade pollutants. The week was launched with worldwide demonstrations attracting 4-million protesters in 150 countries.

CHILDREN VS. CLIMATE CHANGE

Carlos Manuel of Palau introduces himself at a press conference at the United Nations.

“I want bigger countries to know that our small island nations are the most vulnerable countries to be affected by climate change," said Manuel, who immigrated to Palau from the Philippines.

“Our homes are slowly being swallowed up by the ocean – the places where memories were made, where trust and respect are gained, the places where we used to have fun and enjoy, those places are slowly disappearing,” said the 17-year old.

Dramatically increasing temperatures in the Marshall Islands have brought frequent dengue fever outbreaks, and the government has declared a state of emergency twice in the last two years. 

Marshall Islander Kabua is 16, and his home ijust two minutes away from the ocean is under threat from sea level rise. 

“[Climate change] is the first thing you see when you go outside. It is happening a lot more, a lot more … you cannot ignore it," said the teenager.

“We are on the front lines of the climate crisis and I am here to stop that.”

The five countries named in the 101 page petition -- Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey -- are accused of violating the children’s right to life, health, and the rights of indigenous children’s right to culture. 

They allege each of the accused countries is knowingly causing and perpetuating the climate crisis, and that they have known about it for decades. Every country except the United States has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Of those countries, 45 agreed to an additional protocol that allows children to petition the UN directly about treaty violations.

“Despite their decades-long knowledge, each respondent has breached its human rights duties by causing and perpetuating the climate crisis and undermining international cooperation,” the petition states.

The complaint goes to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The group is made up of 18 independent child rights experts. The Committee will determine if the complaint is admissible and, if so, will gather responses from the countries named in the complaint. The Committee will then make recommendations to those nations.

While the recommendations are not legally binding, these nations have committed to follow the recommendations. The obligations spelled out under the Convention on the Rights of the Child are binding.

Thunberg addressed the UN General Assembly last Monday (Sept. 23) in an emotional speech blasting the adults representing the UN's member countries.

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!" said Thurberg.

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you," she said.

“We are here as victims of the pollution that has been carelessly dumped into our lands, air and sea for generations, and as children whose rights are being violated. Today, we are fighting back.” said 14-year old Alexandria Villaseñor,  co-founder of U.S Youth Climate Strike and founder of Earth Uprising.

In just five years, 16-year-old Ackley III has seen his home town Uliga in Majuro change dramatically. He said he and his family talk about climate change all the time, and he worries about being forced to move away.

“I feel lost. I like to keep my mind off [it] because it scares me, but it still pops up a couple of times a day.”

Dramatically increasing temperatures in the Marshall Islands have brought frequent dengue fever outbreaks, and the government has declared a state of emergency twice in the last two years.

As a kid who grew up swimming and fishing in the ocean, 17-year-old Mr. Anjain said he is worried for the next generation of Marshallese, and what experiences they will have.

“I don’t want to be underwater,” said 17-year-old Anjain.

“I want future generations to experience what I experience, I want them to experience living on Ebeye. It still saddens me – I want them to experience the same things I did.”

Another round of protests is planned for Friday (Sept. 27).

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