Friday, July 31, 2020

Google Doodle celebrates Filipina activist/artist




The Google Doodle for today (Friday, July 31) celebrates Philippine artist, feminist, and activist Pacita Abad. On this day in 1984, Abad made history as the first woman to receive the Philippines’ prestigious Ten Outstanding Young Men award. 


Earning that distinction created an uproar of controversy in the Philippines. On the award, she said that “it’s time a woman was among the Ten Outstanding Young Men.”

Today's Abad Doodle was posted on Google in the U.S., the Philippines and Iceland.

Abad was born on October 5, 1946 in Basco, in the northern province of Batanes, the Philippines. She pursued graduate studies in Asian history and law at the University of San Francisco in San Francisco, Calif. in 1970 and became very involved in the city’s artistic community where she was encouraged to develop her art.

Abad went on to study painting and then traveled the world with her art supplies, from Bangladesh to Sudan, and the cultures she encountered had a profound influence on her ever-evolving artistic style which boldly used color and mixed media as well as her use of art to address global themes. 

Dedicated to improving the world through art, she used pieces like her 1979 series “Portraits of Cambodia” to raise awareness of societal issues. 
From the series "Portraits of Cambodia." by Pacita Abad.


Over time, Abad transitioned toward abstract work and pioneered a painting technique called trapunto (Italian for quilting). To achieve this style, she stuffed her canvases to create a sculptural effect and integrated culturally significant materials discovered during her travels, like shells and fabrics. 


Abad channeled a passion for public art into her 2003 project “Painted Bridge,” for which she covered Singapore’s 55-meter Alkaff Bridge with an explosion of 2,350 vibrantly colored circles.  It turned out to be her last work before she died from cancer in 2004.

Abad crafted over 5,000 pieces of art, and today her colorful legacy resonates in collections in over 70 countries.


Abad is quoted on her Brooklyn Museum profile as saying, “I have a social responsibility for my painting, to try to make our world a little better.”


Pacita Abad preparing an exhibition of her work.

Researcher pleads guilty to theft of scientific trade secrets

Li Chen worked Add caption

A woman who worked for 10 years at one of the country's top research facilities pleaded guilty via video conference for conspiring to steal scientific trade secrets.

Ohio resident Li Chen, 46, pleaded guilty Thursday (July 30) in U.S. District Court today to plotting with her husband to steal scientific trade secrets from research at 
Nationwide Children’s Hospital and conspiring to commit wire fraud concerning the research, identification and treatment of a range of pediatric medical conditions.

“Once again we see the People’s Republic of China (PRC) facilitating the theft of our nation’s ingenuity and hard work as part of their quest to rob, replicate and replace any product they don’t have the ability to develop themselves,” said John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. 

“Far from being an isolated incident, we see the PRC implicated in around 60 percent of all trade secret theft cases. This continued economic belligerence runs contrary to the values and norms that facilitate the success of our industries and countering it remains among our highest priorities.”

As part of her plea, Chen has agreed to forfeit approximately $1.4 million, 500,000 shares of common stock of Avalon GloboCare Corp. and 400 shares of common stock of GenExosome Technologies Inc.

Chen confessed to stealing scientific trade secrets related to exosomes and exosome isolation from Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Research Institute for her own personal financial gain.

Chen and her husband, alleged co-conspirator Yu Zhou, 49, worked in separate medical research labs at the Research Institute for 10 years each (Zhou from 2007 until 2017 and Chen from 2008 until 2018). They are charged with conspiring to steal at least five trade secrets related to exosome research from Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Exosomes play a key role in the research, identification and treatment of a range of medical conditions, including necrotizing enterocolitis (a condition found in premature babies), liver fibrosis and liver cancer.

According to her plea agreement, Chen conspired to steal and then monetize one of the trade secrets by creating and selling exosome “isolation kits.” Chen admitted to starting a company in China to sell the kits. Chen received benefits from the Chinese government, including the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Chen also applied to multiple Chinese government talent plans, a method used by China to transfer foreign research and technology to the Chinese government.

The Trump administration's crackdown on theft of intellectual property by China comes at a time when Trump is still trying to shift blame of the spread of the coronavirus in the US on the PRC which, in turn, is spurring a rise in anti-Asian attacks against Asian Americans by far-right extremists. 

“Li Chen was a trusted researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, conducting cutting-edge U.S. government-funded research,” stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman. “With her guilty plea, she admits that she abused this trust to establish a company in China for her own financial gain.

TGIF Feature: That time Egg Fried Rice became a boiling controversy

 
SCREEN CAPTURE
Comedian Nigel Ng watches in horror the BBC cooking demonstration.

Earlier this month, Britain-based Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng uploaded a video of a woman demonstrating how to cook egg fried rice on the BBC that stirred up a hornets nest of controversy while generating millions of views on YouTube and Twitter.


Ng watched the offensive video in his alter ego character of Uncle Roger, who hilariously slammed the BBC chef, Hersha Patel, for not washing the rice first, and then -- horror of horrors
"What she doing? Oh my god. You're killing me, woman. Drain the -- she's draining rice with colander! How can you drain rice with colander? This is not pasta!" he said in Uncle Roger's heavy accent.



Patel and Ng recorded a meeting they had afterwards and plan to do a collaboration. (He speaks English without a stereotypical accent.) In a follow-up video, she said she was just following a BBC recipe. She gave a knowing look at the camera and said, "I do know how to cook rice."

Finally, Ng shows us the proper way most modern day Asians use to cook rice.

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Will Trump replace Pence with Nikki Haley?

SCREEN CAPTURE
Donald Trump praised Nikki Haley as she left the office of US Ambassador to the United Nations.

OPINION

Donald Trump is down in the polls and down in the dumps. He knows it. He needs to do something pretty spectacular to even things up with the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Enter Nikki Haley. She's been pretty quiet since she resigned as the UN Ambassador a year ago. But recently, the former governor of South Carolina has begun to raise her political profile once again with her apparent "groveling" to Donald Trump.
On Friday, Haley said she was “proud of the selfless leadership” the president had shown in nixing the large-scale in-person GOP convention that was scheduled next month in Jacksonville, Florida.

Trump “has a great story to tell on how he turned our economy & foreign policy around,” Haley continued. “We look forward to sharing it in the next 100 days!”

Her unsolicited, unexpected lavish praise of Trump has resurrected rumors that she might be a potential replacement for Vice President Mike Pence on the 2020 GOP ticket. Trump has denied the rumors.

Pence has been a loyal soldier -- steady and reliable -- but he lacks the pizzazz that would help energize the GOP ticket, not to mention, provide the show-business element that Trump, a former reality show host, likes.

While all the pundits' and media's attention has been on Biden's choice for a running mate, Trump is looking to turn the spotlight back on him by doing the unexpected.

In a FiveThirtyEight 
podcast that included Nate Silver, Claire Malone, and Perry Bacon Jr., the panel speculated what Team Trump could do to turn it all around, a switch in running mates was the one that made the most sense to them.

Haley replacing Pence would be a game-changer. Before Haley left the Trump team, an April 2018 Quinnipiac poll showed that Haley was one of the most popular members of Trump's foreign policy team. She garnered a net approval rating of +46, while the president's net approval rating was a lowly -15%.
The same poll also showed that Haley had a positive approval rating of +56% among Republican, +32% among Democrats, +44% among independents, +50% among men, +42% among women, +11% among Blacks, +47% among Latinos and +15% among youth. These figures are fantastic and provides a good argument for a Trump-Haley ticket.
By naming a person of color, with foreign policy experience -- Trump could upstage his Democratic rival and counter whatever buzz and excitement Biden's choice would generate. And like Biden's pick, the vice presidential office holder would be younger at age 48, that would counteract people concerned about Trump's advanced age, 77.
Pence, as previously mentioned, is a good soldier. If Trump chooses to replace him he would likely accept the decision. Pence and his religious conservative base would prefer Trump in the White House, even with his questionable Christian credentials, than a Democrat. Haley converted to Christianity in 1997 but attends Sikh ceremonies a couple times a year.
If need be, a departing Pence would fall on his sword and take the blame for the administration's feeble response to the coronavirus pandemic, in hopes of removing that albatross from Trump's campaign if it means keeping a Democrat -- a left of center one, at that -- out of the Oval Office.
Trump's so down in the polls, he's got nothing to lose and with his tendency to rely on his "gut" instinct, he might be open to the advice given to John McCain in 2008 about choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate who was rated “high risk (and potentially) high reward.” In McCain's case, a poorly vetted Palin proved to be a disaster.
Haley is less a risk than Palin, who was not well known before McCain's selection. Her conservative credentials are solid and the fact that she was the first Republican to take down the Confederate flag from in front of South Carolina's Capitol would help mollify the qualms of moderate Republicans who want their party to distance themselves from Trump's white supremacist supporters and stem the steady flow of suburban housewives that Trump has alienated.
Then there is the India factor. 
Haley has natural links to India with her parents having emigrated to the US in the 1960s from Punjab. She has often pointed out that India is an example of a free government and recently even applauded New Delhi’s decision to ban 59 Chinese applications and for standing up to China.

Picking Haley would also be in line with current Republican strategy to woo Indian Americans away from other Asian Americans who have moved towards the Democrats in recent election cycles. Trump doesn't need to win over Asian Americans 100%, but he could weaken that community's impact in key Congressional districts around the county.

If Haley was named Trump's vice president, there is good chance that both vice president candidates from the Democrats and Republicans could be Indian American if Biden picks Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate. Harris is considered a frontrunner in the Democrats' veep sweepstakes.

If that were to occur, the sight of two Indian American women on the same debate stage, would be one more history-making moment in an election year full of historic firsts and which is already deemed to be one of the most important elections in the last half-century.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal excoriates AG Barr


Let's hear it for Congressmember Pramila Jayapal for her fiery questioning of US Attorney General Bill Barr during Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Barr was his usual smug self, dodging questions, playing verbal gymnastics,throughout the hearing. Jayapal started out calmly but Barr kept interrupting her questioning when she told him, "I'm starting to lose my temper,"

She blasted Barr's double standard in the treatment of Black Lives Matter demonstrators versus conservative protestors who stormed the Michigan state capitol, threatened the governor and prevented the state legislators from meeting..

"The point I'm trying to make," Jayapal continued. "is that there is a real discrepancy between how you react as the attorney general. When white men with Swastikas storm a government building with guns there is no need for the president to 'activate' you because they're getting the president's personal agenda done. But when black people and people of color protest police brutality, systemic racism, and the president's very own lack of response to those critical issues, then you forcibly remove them with armed federal officers and pepper bombs, because they are considered terrorists by the president."


Before getting elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, the India-born Jayapal spent 20 years working internationally and domestically in global public health and development and as an award-winning national advocate for women's, immigrant civi and human rights.


On Wednesday, she called for the Attorney General's resignation.

"Bill Barr is not acting as the attorney general for the people of the United States," Rep. Jayapal told MSNBC following Barr's House testimony. "Bill Barr is the personal henchman for Donald Trump."

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Sandra Oh, Dev Patel, Padma Laksmi, Rain Valdez garner Emmy nominations

Emmy nominee Sandra Oh

According to one metric, the nominations for the 2020 Emmy's has more people of color than years past, but based on another measure, its same old, same old.

The Emmy nominations were announced Tuesday and the number of Black nominees 
 for television's biggest award couldn't help be noticed because of the racial reckoning the country is currently undergoing.

But representation of Asian actors were sparse and Latino actors fared even worse with zero nominations. Four Asian American creatives were was able to Emmy nominations.

Leading the way was Killing Eve's Sandra Oh for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, an award that last year went to her costar Jodie Comer, who also received a nomination this year.

In 2018, Oh became the first woman of Asian descent to be  recognized in a lead actress category in the history of the Emmy Awards.

Dev Patel was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series for his stint in the second episode of Modern Love, "When Cupid Is A Prying Journalist."

Padma Lakshmi along with cohost Tom Colicchio were nominated in the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program for their work as co-hosts for Bravo's Top Chef. Lakshmi could also win as a producer in the Outstanding Competition Program category.

“How exciting that Top Chef is nominated again this year!," said Lakshmi. "So proud of our entire cast and crew that continue to work so hard on our beloved show. Thank you to the Academy, for also nominating me again in the host category. I am beyond humbled.”

Trans actor Rain Valdez, who is Filipino American, snagged a nomination in the short-form category for the YouTube series Razor Tongue.

RAIN VALDEZ
Her 7-part web series Razor Tongue, which she wrote and stars in, are now available for streaming and can be found here: https://www.noweverartists.com/razortongue.

“As an organization which is open for membership to all individuals working in the television industry, the Television Academy fervently agrees that there is still much work to be done across our industry in regards to representation,” the academy said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

“We feel it is a very positive sign that over the past decade the well-deserved recognition of performers of color has increased from 1 in 10 to 1 in 3 nominees across all performer categories. Clearly that increase in representation has not been equal for all groups, and clearly there is still more to do to improve both gender and racial representation across all categories.”

This year there were 38 Black actors nominated for acting awards, a noticeable increase from last year. The science fiction series Watchmen alone garnered six acting nominations (four of whom went to Black actors) in leading and supporting roles. In all, Watchmen, which provided the first TV depiction of the Tulsa Massacre when white residents attacked and killed hundreds of Blacks, received the most nominations, 26, of all programs.

“This year we are also bearing witness to one of the greatest fights for social justice in history,” said Television Academy chairman and CEO Frank Scherma in a live-streamed message. “And it is our duty to use this medium for change.”

The 72nd Emmy Awards will be emceed by Jimmy Kimmel and aired at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Sept. 20 on ABC.

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

News site names New York's 100 Most influential and powerful Asian Americans




Asian Americans are a rising political force in the State of New York. To acknowledge the community's growing influence, City & State - New York named its top 100 most influential Asian Americans.

As might be expected, politicians and lawyers top the list starting with Rep. Grace Meng, the state's first and (as yet) only AsAm congressional representative and Andrew Yang, who ran his surprisingly popular campaign for the US. Presidency'; but the list also includes Buffalo Bills owner Kim Pegula, and Commissioner Anne del Castillo,  of New York City Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment; and Joseph Tsai, Owner, Barclay's Center and Brooklyn Nets, activists and business people.

Despite the impressive list, the online news site says, "Despite being New York’s fastest growing minority population, the disparate and diverse group remains underrepresented in elected office. They have been overlooked, perhaps most notably in the de Blasio administration’s efforts to scrap New York City’s exam for admission into elite public high schools. 

"Many face myriad challenges as immigrants, especially those who are undocumented. And the coronavirus pandemic poses a dual threat – a grave health risk compounded by racist stereotypes and misplaced blame on Asian Americans that have spurred a dismaying increase in hate crimes." 

Click here for the 2020 Power of Diversity: Asian Top Ten.

Former tech exec charged with fraud in $5.5M coronavirus relief fund case

MUKUND MOHAN


ASAM NEWS

A former Amazon and Microsoft executive faces charges of fraudulently applying for up to $5.5 million in coronavirus relief funds for small business.

Mukund Mohan, was arrested July 23 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to The Seattle Times.

He is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to GeekWire.

Mohan allegedly applied for multiple loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a federal relief program “intended to help businesses retain workers during the coronavirus pandemic,” The Seattle Times reports.

Prosecutors say the shell companies employed no workers. According to The Seattle Times, one application was for an unlicensed gaming company partly owned by Mohan’s teenage son. Mohan received $304,830 in PPP loans from that application.

According to The Economic Times, another application was for a company Mohan had acquired in May, also allegedly without employees.

The Economic Times reports Mohan received and laundered $231,000 into his personal Robinhood brokerage account, according to federal prosecutors.

Mohan isn’t the only one. GeekWire reports that a Lyft software-engineer was also charged for attempting to defraud the PPP back in May.

Mohan currently serves as chief technology officer at BuildDirect.com Technologies Inc., a website that connects people with home contractors, according to its website. Before that, he worked for Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., according to Mohan’s LinkedIn profile.

Monday, July 27, 2020

AAPI entertainers featured in anti-hate PSA


A public service announcement featuring AAPI performers, broadcast journalists and social media influencers calling on all Americans to stand against the stigma, xenophobia and harassment related to COVID-19 that Asian Americans continue to experience was released last week by SAG-AFTRA.

The video was inspired by the sudden spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the pandemic, says a statement from SAG-AFTRA, a union for actors and workers in the entertainment industry.

“As a global community, we are experiencing a historically difficult time due to the COVID-19 pandemic," says 
SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. "Unfortunately, instead of working together to get through this crisis, a few misguided people are looking for a scapegoat. 

"We are still seeing a shocking increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans, including shunning, racial profiling, verbal harassment and even physical assault. This is a time of high stress, but that is no excuse for discriminatory behavior. We are all Americans and we are all in this together.”

“SAG-AFTRA is paying attention to those brave Asian American voices coming forward with their heart-wrenching experiences of harassment. We are listening to our members who have a stake in shaping a better world, free of discrimination and harassment, and we applaud Asian American activists, organizations and allies who are bringing attention to this issue. SAG-AFTRA stands with you,” said Ren Hanami, chair of the SAG-AFTRA National Asian Pacific American Media Committee.


The video features 16 AAPI performers, including  broadcast journalists and social media influencers including Lucy Liu, Ken Jeong, Iqbal Theba, Joel de la Fuente and Jeannie Mai among others.

“If you experience hateful, criminal behavior or witness it, please report it to your local law enforcement. Let’s stand up for each other,” added Carteris.

The video premiered during the union’s Race & Storytelling: Asian American Voices livestream panel discussion, which explored the ways in which better representation in the media and three-dimensional portrayals of Asian American Pacific Islander characters can counter stereotypes and result in larger societal impact. You can view the panel discussion HERE.


Neutrogena nods to changing demographics and darker skin colors

LANA CONDOR


Neutrogena picked two young actresses of color -- Lana Condor and Jenna Ortega -- to be the faces for its beauty products. 

As the demographic shift of the United States continues to move to a POC majority that will be reached mid-century, another skin care and beauty product manufacturer is setting itself up for the transition by changing its products and rethinking its outreach strategy to the emerging marketplace.

Vietnamese American actress Condor acknowledges the significance of her selection to represent Neutrogena and she’s deeply committed to the brand’s inclusivity and overall message. “I just wanted to be part of a brand that elevates that and embraces supporting what you believe in,” she said. “I have been using Neutrogena products forever and I am really excited to be a global Asian face for the brand. I love that people see themselves represented in me and feel like they belong.”

“I have been very vocal about many topics I feel very passionate about, including education, diversity, Black Lives Matter, self-care and mental health," Condor tells People. "The first memo I ever received from Neutrogena said they just wanted to give me a platform so I can feel empowered to use my voice and feel like I have a safe space to connect with people that follow me."
JENNA ORTEGA

The star of To All The Boys I Ever Loved announced her partnership with Neutrogena four days ago and could barely contain her excitement.

“I have been a fan and an active user of Neutrogena for as long as I can remember,” she told fans, noting that her “first experience in skincare” was with the brand’s SPF and makeup wipes, which she shared with her mom when she was a young girl.

With that being said, this experience is certainly a “pinch-me moment” in the star’s career. “I’ve followed the campaigns for as long as I can remember,” she continued. “I remember being a little girl watching on TV all the beautiful different faces of Neutrogena over the years.”

After her role in Jane The Virgin ended, Ortega was cast as the daughter of Jennifer Garner in Netflix's upcoming Yes Day. Garner, already signed by Neutrogena, congratulated her costar's new role.

"The great thing about Neutrogena is that their ambassadors are very inspiring, outspoken and strong women," Ortega continues. "I am so excited to be a part of a brand that emphasizes the importance of inner beauty as well outer, and knows that the whole point of skincare and makeup is really just to feel comfortable in your skin."

Last month Unilever announced its new marketing strategy is moving away from emphasizing the skin-lightening effect of its products, which critics say is based on racist notions that white skin is more beautiful than the darker shades of beige. 

"We recognize that the use of the words ‘fair’, ‘white’ and ‘light’ suggest a singular ideal of beauty that we don’t think is right, and we want to address this, said Unilever executive Sunny Jain. "As we’re evolving the way that we communicate the skin benefits of our products that deliver radiant and even tone skin, it’s also important to change the language we use.”

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Disneyland Panda dies from COVID-19


By day, Joshua Obra was the nursing supervisor at Intercommunity Care Center in Long Beach, Calif., a skilled nursing facility that specializes in the treatment of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.

And at least one day out of every week, Obra, 29, was known as the Disneyland Panda because of his love of everything Disney.

He died July 6, another Filipino American victim of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I think in health care, when the COVID-19 pandemic came around, it's one of those things where as a nurse, you don't run away from the fire, you run straight into the fire," his sister Jasmine Obra told ABC-TV.

“Magic is Happening again!” Joshua Obra wrote in a June 10 Instagram post, telling his 25,000 followers the news that Disneyland and Downtown Disney would reopen soon.

After a 26-day battle against the coronavirus, Obra died July 6, says his sister Jasmine Obra.

Both the siblings tested positive for COVID-19 and were self-quarantining at home.

“When he gets sick, it’s really hard for him to get better. My parents couldn’t come help because they’re over the age of 60 so I was the one who took care of him,” said his sisterJasmine, who is also a nurse. “It was one of the longest weeks of my life, just checking on him every hour and monitoring his temperature and blood pressure,” she told the Asian Journal.

She took her brother to the hospital and that was the last time she saw him alive.

“I'm so blessed that he was able to teach me some parts of how to be a nurse while we were able to work together before we both got sick," added Jasmine, who added in a subsequent Instagram Story post that she was still waiting on her test results. 

"I’m happy he was able to share his love for Disney, visit all of the Disney parks, and travel some of the world. I’m so happy he was able to follow his passion in photography. I’m so blessed we were able to be so close through all these things, so blessed to be his little sister," she posted.

One of the last posts on Obra's Instagram account, @DisneylandPanda.

Joshua Obra and his love of all things Disney was featured on the local ABC affiliate and became acquainted with the station employees and journalists.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our favorite Eyewitnesses,” ABC7 wrote in a caption on Instagram. “He passed away Monday from complications due to COVID-19.”

“Josh was a sweet and kind man, and a talented photographer. You can tell from his Instagram handle that he was a huge Disney fan, and he participated in many Disney and ABC7 events and initiatives over the years. He was someone you could depend on, and was always very generous with his time and talent,” added the station.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Updated July 28, 12 p.m. to attribute a quote to the Asian Journal.


Sunday Read: Pulitzer Prize winner Jessie Mangaliman passes away


Photo courtesy John Meier
Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Jessie Mangaliman


By Maureen Fan and Donna Kato
ASAM NEWS

Jessie Riogelon Mangaliman, an undocumented Filipino immigrant who left behind a leaky house in Manila for a high school exchange program in Oklahoma and went on to win a Pulitzer prize, died of an apparent heart attack Monday July 20, 2020 at his home in Oakland, CA. He was 63.

Mangaliman, a role model for legions of journalists, particularly Asian-Americans and other people of color, was a crisis manager, gourmet cook and lifelong advocate for immigrant rights. When he became a US citizen in the 1990s, he was invited to a ceremony for 300 new Americans on Ellis Island and was one of five singled out for a special presentation as exemplary citizens.

After beginning his journalism career in Oklahoma, Mangaliman went on to high-profile assignments for USA Today, New York Newsday, The Washington Post, and the San Jose Mercury News. But his work also took him from a summer gutting salmon on a fishing boat in Alaska to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

And yet the experience of living undocumented for years pervaded his world-view. In 1988, he wrote about covering a press conference at the Immigration and Naturalization Service: 

“To be in an INS office again … was to know mortification.

"In my nightmare, I was hauled away, deported. But my pen and notebook provided a shield to hide my terror and my secret. I filed my story that afternoon. I went home exhausted, desperate.”

By September that year, with help from a New York Newsday lawyer, Mangaliman obtained a green card, assisted by columnist Sydney Schanberg and photographer Dith Pran of The Killing Fields fame. But he never forgot the fear.

Mangaliman held leadership positions with the Asian American Journalists Association and served on the board of directors of the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, which provides legal services and community outreach for immigrants and refugees.

He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for articles on AIDS and immigration for New York Newsday and was a member of the paper’s team that won the 1992 Pulitzer for breaking news for a midnight subway derailment.

As news of Mangaliman’s death spread this week, his husband John Meier received a call from a sobbing Iranian man whom Mangaliman had written about. “Jessie saved us from being deported. His picture is on our wall. He was our hero,” the man told Meier before hanging up, too distraught to say more.

“Jessie was most animated by the stories of individuals on the margins: the Hmong in the Central Valley, elderly refugees, and undocumented immigrants,” said Cecilia Kang, a former Mercury News colleague who now covers technology policy for the New York Times.

“He understood what it meant to live meaningfully.”Slender and elegant, with a belly laugh, an incandescent smile and an enviable sweep of dark hair that became threaded with gray in middle age, Mangaliman was among the most fashionable reporters in the country. He sealed friendships with legendary meals, often pulling tomato, zucchini and fig leaves from his yard.

Jessie Mangaliman prepares a pear, fennel & pecorino salad

Two days before his death, he served lamb chops with homemade romesco sauce to friends at a socially distanced dinner party.On the morning of his death, Mangaliman asked Meier: “Have you eaten? Can I cook you a fabulous meal tonight?”

Mangaliman and Meier met in New York City, after stealing glances in an office elevator. They left the building without speaking, only to find themselves moments later shopping for travel supplies at the same Duane Reade.

Mangaliman was headed to the Philippines to report on Imelda Marcos. Meier, at the time a fashion stylist, was on his way to Venezuela for Benetton.The two were together the next 27 years. They married at Frank Sinatra’s Palm Springs estate in an intimate, surprise ceremony in 2016.

“It hasn’t really sunk in that he’s gone,” Meier said. “After so long, he was just half of me. I kind of feel like the better half of me is gone. He was my rock.”

Mangaliman felt the same about Meier, now an international jewelry designer. In February, Mangaliman told longtime friends Kay Foran and Maura Fritz: “Our home is a jewel box, created by John.”

The three later reunited at a service for Foran’s husband, and afterwards picked up the thread of an old conversation. “I thought we had decades still to keep it going,” Fritz said in a Facebook post.

“Jessie was a keenly principled man, a crackerjack journalist. The embodiment of human decency.”Mangaliman’s quiet, seemingly passive demeanor “concealed a sharp intelligence, a universe of worldly perspective, experience and compassion,” said David Brezing, who met Mangaliman at USA Today in Washington, D.C. in 1985. “He sometimes seemed to be as guileless and joyful as a puppy while simultaneously observing and coolly assessing dimensions of expression only he could see.”

Brezing recalled a camping trip to the Grand Tetons, where Mangaliman taught him the beauty and absurdity of being alive. “We swaggered toward a grazing bull moose for a closer look, only to turn and scamper, squealing like frightened squirrels when the beast snorted and stepped toward us,” Brezing said. “Then later, lying on our backs on the hood of our car, we were awed to tears by the sunset flooding the Montana sky with never before seen colors from horizon to horizon.

This was my Jessie.” Mangaliman was born in Manila in 1957 in what he later described as “grinding poverty,” one of eight children. His father, a police detective, died when Mangaliman was 7. His mother was a school teacher and a part-time taxi driver, who sold her taxi to send Mangaliman on a student-exchange program that brought him to Wagoner, Okla. as a high school student in 1974.

His host family, the Galushas, welcomed him as if he were already a sibling and treated him as family for the rest of his life.

“Jessie came to our family and he just immediately became our brother,” said Kim Galusha, of Wagoner, whom Mangaliman considered a sister. “Everything he did, he was very talented at. He would cut everybody’s hair, he would cook, he would mend everybody’s clothes.”

Asian American Journalist Association members Laura Chang, Donna Kato, Maureen Fan, Jessie Mangaliman, and Jeanne Mariani Belding at an AAJA convention in Honolulu.

On one family vacation in Santa Fe, NM, Galusha and Mangaliman decided to slide down a mountain together on their stomachs on the same inner tube. “We just kept going into a huge snowbank, where only our feet were sticking out,” Galusha said.

Another sister, Katy, was panic-stricken and “thought we were both dead but we were in the middle of that snowbank, laughing and laughing.”

After high school, Mangaliman was awarded a full scholarship to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., where he earned a B.A. in journalism and French. He started his journalism career by working summers at the Wagoner Tribune, and at the Muskogee Phoenix, soon moving on to full-time positions in Springfield, MO and at USA Today before joining New York Newsday in 1987.

All the while, from college onwards, he was undocumented. When he was asked to cover President George H.W. Bush’s amnesty program, he knew it would be a conflict of interest and told his editor at New York Newsday the truth. “I know I may lose my job but I feel I have to be honest with you,” he said, according to Galusha.

Instead of firing him, the newspaper found him a lawyer, telling Mangaliman: “We don’t want to lose you.” At Newsday, Mangaliman covered breaking news and became a vocal advocate for Asian American reporters. In 1990, he helped lead a newsroom revolt against powerful columnist Jimmy Breslin, who had shouted in the newsroom that a Korean American reporter who criticized his column was a “f-cking b-tch (who) doesn’t know her place. She’s a little dog, a little cur running along the street. She’s a yellow cur. Let’s make it racial. She’s a slant-eyed c-nt.”

Mangaliman wrote a letter of protest that was initially signed by at least 50 colleagues. Breslin issued an apology, then was suspended for two weeks without pay after mocking that apology on the radio.

“Though Breslin had the reputation of standing with ‘the common man,’ it was Jessie who exemplified standing for the dignity of all people, especially those on the margins,” said Helen Zia, who was president of the New York chapter of AAJA and participated in the meeting with executives called by Jessie and other Asian American news staff.

“He was not fired, as Jessie and I and so many of our appalled colleagues had hoped,” said Kay Foran, the paper’s transportation writer at the time. “Jessie was an ally long before that became fashionable.”

“He was an amazing support for a young journalist fresh out of college,” said Ji-Yeon Yuh, the Korean American reporter who criticized Breslin. “Jessie always felt to me like a deep, cool pond, gentle, refreshing, a bit melancholy and yet somehow joyful.”

In 1999, the San Jose Mercury News hired Mangaliman as a reporter on the groundbreaking Race & Demographics team at a time when Silicon Valley and the Bay Area was undergoing a major shift that would be reflected in the 2000 Census. By the time he left the badly depleted paper in 2011, he was night city editor.

Mangaliman was active for years as a board member of AAJA, which advocates for newsroom diversity and helps foster opportunities for Asian American journalists. He was also a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University and a Jefferson Fellow at the East West Center in Honolulu.

He was a distinctive figure — exacting and dedicated to order but also stylish and inclusive. “I still remember my first board meeting in Dallas,” said Sharon Chan, Vice President of Philanthropy at the New York Times and a former AAJA board member.

“We went around the table doing intros and he said, ‘I am just here to bring my fashion sensibility to AAJA.’ ”

Jose Antonio Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who came out as undocumented in 2011 and authored Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, said he saw Mangaliman as a role model.

“Seeing an openly gay Filipino American journalist in newsrooms like The Washington Post and the San Jose Mercury News was a validating and liberating thing,” Vargas said.“In life, you meet a lot of people, and there are those who, for one reason or another, you immediately feel comfortable, someone who makes you feel safe,” said Michael James Rocha, who also served on the AAJA board.

After journalism, Mangaliman worked as a PR and media relations manager for Kaiser Permanente, where he shaped stories, wrangled medical experts and adroitly managed crises for the country’s largest integrated health care system.

“I needed someone with his empathy and healing instincts to step into difficult situations and make it better,” said Marc Brown, a former editor at the San Jose Mercury News who recruited Mangaliman to Kaiser. “You feel better every single day just for knowing him.”

In his last job, he served as director of public relations at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where he developed strategy to explain the role of the Fed in the lives of everyday people. His skill at shaping and delivering stories, and his calm, responsive leadership landed him the job, Vice President for Public Affairs Jenny Mack said.


“He taught me and so many others how to find beauty in simple things,” such as the Redwood Regional Park and how to spend time during quarantine, Mack said. “Jessie was always a calm and gracious influence and that was never more evident than during the pandemic. He brought a sense of perspective and appreciation of the small joys in life.”

Mangaliman, fit from years of swimming laps and yoga, was careful about his eating habits. His sudden death at home was a shock to his family and friends. The cause of death is still pending.“We are so devastated,” said his sister Christina Mangaliman Alegre, who said Mangaliman paid for her college education.

“For years we have not been able to see each other, and now he’s gone.” “Jessie was a light to our life and we are having a hard time believing he has gone,” his sister Katy Galusha-White said Tuesday.

“We know Jessie and John have a great support system with so many wonderful friends. This brings us comfort.”In Manila, Mangaliman is predeceased by his parents Emilia M. Riogelon and Jose L. Magaliman.

When Riogelon put her son on a plane to America with a cardboard suitcase, she told him “Don’t come back. Your brains are your future,” Meier said. “Jessie believed in education, and he was so proud of his nieces and nephews. It’s the best legacy he could give his Mom.”

In addition to Meier, Mangaliman is survived by the Wagoner, Okla. family he adopted as his own: parents Richard and Tish Galusha, his sister Kim Galusha, brother Keith Galusha, sister Katy Galusha-White and brother in law Scott White, his sister Kelly Galusha, and his brother Kris Galusha, as well as four nieces and two nephews.

In the Philippines, Mangaliman is survived by two sisters, Cristina Mangaliman Alegre and Mila Mangaliman Gaoaten, a brother, Bayani Mangaliman, and 14 nieces and nephews, most of whose college education Mangaliman supported. He is survived by a third sister, Selia Mangaliman, in Canada.

A remembrance is planned for a later date. Donations may be made to the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, 1111 Market Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103. (415) 538- 8100. Email: sfinfo@iibayarea.org.


New York Chinatown stages march against hate

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS
Asian Americans stage  a march against hate in New York City.


ASAM NEWS

Scores of demonstrators took part in a march in New York City's Chinatown protesting the anti-Asian hate that has spurred attacks against AAPI since the coronavirus hit the U.S.

Community activists say people of Asian descent are being blamed for the spread of the coronavirus.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been more than 2,000 reported hate crimes against Asian Americans nationwide.

“There’s been reports of Asians being attacked or verbally harassed,” community activist Shirley Ng said. “People are judging us by our skin. They think we’re the virus or we brought it here, but we have nothing to do with it.”

The “Stop the Hate” campaign includes posters in several languages explaining how to report an attack.


Volunteers also formed a group called Chinatown Block Watch. Members patrol the streets to report any hate incidents that might occur.

“Pretty much everybody on the Block Watch knows somebody who has experienced some kind of racial abuse,” said Greyson Chin, one of the volunteers. “Some people have been spit on, just kind of racial bullying passing by on the streets.”

The Chinatown Block Watch patrols three time a week, checking in on local businesses and making sure the neighborhood’s most vulnerable – seniors and children – are safe.

Professor's body found in a landfill, 2 suspects arrested

The body of Junseok Chae was found July 17.

ASAM NEWS

Police arrested two people following the discovery of the body of a Arizona State University professor missing since March, reports NBC News.

Authorities confirmed they found the body of ASU engineering professor Junseok Chae in a landfill. They believe the killers threw his body in a dumpster and that’s how Chae ended up in a landfill.

Under arrest are 18-year old Gabrielle Austin and 19-year old Javian Ezell, according to the Daily Beast. Authorities arrested the pair in Shreveport, Louisiana after they were caught driving the professor’s car.

They are being held on $1 million bail and face first-degree murder, vehicle theft, and armed robbery charges.

According to ABC15, Chae worked as the Associate Dean for Research at ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He has four US patents and a dozen research papers to his credit. He began working at ASU in 2005.

Authorities searched the landfill for 67 days before discovering the body.

"I continue to be impressed by the hard work of our deputies. Their perseverance in an extremely complex and demanding case will now allow the victim’s family closure to what has surely been a difficult period. Investigative efforts to recover a body from a landfill are rarely successful,” said Sheriff Penzone in a statement.

The Arizona National Guard unit and Waste Management used heavy equipment provided by a local construction company, to search the landfill from May 11 to July 17, when human remains later identified as Chae were located along with related evidence, the statement said.

Ezell and Austin were recently extradited to Arizona, where they were arrested on July 15 and charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and theft of means of transportation, according to the statement. Bail is set for $1 million each for the suspects. Arraignment is set for Sept. 3.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Colorado finally classifies car assault on Sikh as a hate crime



Nearly three months after a Sikh business man suffered serious injuries when a driver rammed his car into him, authorities have filed a hate crime charge to the case.

Suspect Eric Breemen now faces a class 5 felony hate crime charge in addition to 16 other counts from the incident on April 29 in Lakewood, CO. near Denver, reported 9 News.

The announcement of an additional charge in the attack on Lakhwant Singh was welcomed by members of the Sikh community who were critical of prosecutors for not filing the charge earlier.

“The attacker started going off on them, telling them that they didn’t belong in this country, telling them that they were from the Middle East,” Amrith Kaur Aakre, legal director for the Sikh Coalition said to the Denver News Channel in June.

Prosecutors explained the delay in announcing the new charge earlier this week.

“We would have preferred to have had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Singh personally closer to the time of his assault as we made decisions in this case,” said District Attorney Pete Weir to 9 News. “However, the severity of Singh’s injuries and health concerns related to the pandemic only recently permitted a thorough, in-person, interview with Singh by law enforcement.”

Singh expressed his gratitude for all the support he’s received.

“I am so very grateful to everyone–Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike, from Lakewood, elsewhere in Colorado, across the country, and beyond–who have stood with me and my family in this incredibly difficult time,” Singh said in a statement provided to Denver7. “I appreciate the Jefferson County authorities hearing my story and, through these charges, recognizing the role that hate played in my horrible attack.”

“The decision to add a bias-motivated charge against Breemen is a resounding victory not just for Mr. Singh, but for minority communities who are threatened by bias and bigotry every day,” said Amrith Kaur, Sikh Coalition Legal Director, according to the Denver Channel. “Adding these charges sends a clear message: Hatred is not welcome in Jefferson County, and those who are targeted for being different know that this community will acknowledge it and stand with them in solidarity.”

Alleged researcher leaves Chinese Consulate then gets arrested by FBI




The Chinese Consulate in San Francisco is in Japantown.

A Chinese national who took refuge in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco after allegedly lying to investigators about her Chinese military service was arrested and will appear in court on Monday, according to a senior Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Thursday evening, the FBI arrested Tang, who had avoided arrest by taking refuge in the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. If convicted, Tang faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. 

Juan Tang is one of four individuals recently charged with visa fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about their status as members of the People’s Republic of China’s military forces, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), while in the United States conducting research. 

Three of these individuals -- Xin Wang, Chen Song and KaiKai Zhao -- were arrested earlier. The arrests were described as “a microcosm of a broader network of individuals in more than 25 cities,” the Justice Department official said.

According to court documents unsealed earlier this week in the Eastern District of California, Tang, was a researcher at the University of California, Davis. She applied for a nonimmigrant J1 visa in October 2019, in which she disavowed any connection with the Chinese military. The visa was issued in November 2019 and Tang entered the United States a month later.

An FBI investigation learned that Tang was an officer of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force after photographs of her were uncovered on electronic media seized in accordance with a search warrant.

“I won’t discuss the circumstances of the arrest,” said the official, who spoke to NBC, adding that the individual did not have diplomatic immunity. The person said that the details of the arrest could be released when the defendant appears before the Eastern District of California court on Monday.

“The issue here is that their true status wasn’t disclosed by visa application,” the official said, adding that the arrest was not a tit-for-tat move as tensions between Washington and Beijing simmer.

“By their very nature consulates are a base of operations for foreign governments to the United States, including their intelligence services and it’s understood that there will be some activity here by those services,” the person said.

“But because of their location within the United States and their status of sovereign territory of a foreign country, they can be exploited and the espionage and influence activities run out of a consulate can rise, ultimately to a level that threatens our national security,” the person added.

Friday, July 24, 2020

TGIF Feature: Don't be alarmed! 2020 Census moves into its door-to-door phase


US Census enumerators may be knocking 
on your door to help you fill out 
your Census form of 10 questions. 
They can be identified with 
an ID card (right). 
They will not ask 
about your 
immigration 
status. 


Remember the Census? Along with the Presidential election this November, it was suppose to be one of the big stories of 2020.

The pandemic and Donald Trump's inaction have changed that prediction with the coronavirus dominating the news.

The bureau began its soft launch of non-response follow-up on Monday, sending 10,000 enumerators out to areas that include New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Missouri.

The second wave of enumerators began knocking on doors July 23 in the following areas:
  • Crystal City, Virginia,
  • Hartford, Connecticut,
  • State College Pennsylvania,
  • Evansville, Indiana,
  • Wichita, Kansas,
  • Tacoma, Washington
A third wave of door-to-door enumerators from 40 area census offices will begin knocking on doors July 30.

Enumerators will interview less than 40% of households in the United States that did not yet mail back a 2020 Census questionnaire, or complete it over the phone or online.

Nearly 62% of households have filled out the 2020 Census — exceeding the bureau’s goal of 60.5% — and about 80% of responses were completed online.

The Census Bureau has launched a “final-push campaign” that reminds households to self-respond before enumerators begin going door-to-door nationwide in August.

The US Census is making an effort to count Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, a group that historically been difficult to tally.



The bureau no longer actively recruits for more applicants, but Olson said it has 3 million applicants available for consideration and receives about 1,500 new applications every day on its online job portal.

The bureau expects to hire as many as 500,000 enumerators, and is urging applicants to complete the fingerprinting and background checks in time for training that begins nationwide July 31.

Given pandemic conditions, Olson said enumerators will follow social distancing practices when knocking on doors.

“They would knock, they would ring a doorbell, and then they would maintain the minimum six-foot social distancing in the interaction with the person,” Olson said.

While the bureau in previous counts never explicitly prevented enumerators from entering someone’s residence when conducting a census interview, Olson said the bureau now prohibits its temporary workers from doing so.

The bureau has also stocked up on personal protective equipment kits for enumerators, having purchased more than 2 million masks, 14 million gloves and a million disinfecting wipes, as well as 48,000 gallons of hand sanitizer.


Besides its own PSA's, local community groups have created their out outreach videos, like this one from Georgia.

Under normal conditions, the bureau allows 12 weeks to complete non-response follow-up across the country, but under the pandemic, enumerators will complete that work in six-to-seven weeks.

“That gives us an incredible amount of flexibility — that if there are areas, geographies where we cannot begin, as our plan is, on Aug. 11, we could then open them up a little bit later,” Olson said.

Area census offices that complete their work before fieldwork ends on Oct. 31 could also send their enumerators to help nearby areas that have not yet been completed.