Biden reportedly considering Indian American to head Office of Management and Budget

Neera Tanden expected to be named to head the office of Management and Budget.

This week, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name his team who will manage the future of the United States economy under the future Biden administration.

Among the names mentioned, Neera Tanden is expected to be nominated to lead the Office of Management and Budget. The Indian American is president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and the former domestic policy director for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign.

Also expected to be nominated is Janet Yellen for Secretary of the Treasury and Cecilia Rouse to chair the Council of Economic Advisers. If Yellen's nomination survives the GOP-dominated Senate gauntlet, it would put  a woman in charge of the Treasury for the first time in its 231-year history.

Tanden faces tough sledding in the Senate.

Republicans, who are expected to retain control of the Senate, are likely push back against Tanden, who advised Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and has been one of the most outspoken critics of President Trump.

Acceptance of her nomination by the Senate hinges on the outcome of the Jan. 5 runoff elections for Georgia's two Senate seats. If both posts go to Democrats, they would have a 51 to 49 edge. If they lose both seats, the Republicans would retain control. 

If the Democrats can pull off winning one of the seats, the Senate would have a 50-50 tie and the tie-breaking vote will be Vice President Kamala Harris.

Tanden is the first Asian American to be named to Biden's future team of advisors. Pressure to name more AAPI to the White House's inner circle continues to mount after Biden didn't include any AAPIs on the foreign policy and international relations team that he named last week.

A failure to appoint any from the racial groups to the Cabinet, said Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Caucus of Asian Pacific Americans in Congress. She told told NBC Asian America that overlooking Asian Americans would send a “terrible message that being inclusive does not require including AAPIs.”

“As a consequence, more AAPIs will feel excluded and invisible, and fewer will see a future for themselves in government,” Chu said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

2020 Election: Next generation of AAPI politicians make history at the state level

While the Presidential election sucked all the media attention, a new generation of mostly young Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders began their political careers at the state level, building up a bench of up-and-coming AAPI lawmakers. 

Among this year's group of AAPI lawmakers -- all Democrats --  who won seats in state legislatures also made history with some "Firsts.' Among their ranks are:

• The youngest AAPI legislator in California;
• The first South Asians in New York's state legislature;
• Hawaii picked its first openly LGBTQ lawmaker;
• Wisconsin elected its first Asian American to its state legislature;
• Pennsylvania will have its first South Asian in the state Senate;
• The first woman of color to serve in the Vermont Senate;
• Georgia picked its first Filipino American immigrant to the legislature.

Local political races, from city councils and school boards to state legislatures is where the next generation of politicians will learn the ins-and-outs of politicking and hone their political muscles for the next level of law making.

The increasing willingness to dive into politics is a testament to the growing political awareness of the AAPI community. Several sources say that turnout among AAPI voters increased 300% among early voters alone. In some swing states such as Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, AAPI voters proved to be crucial.

AAPI Data points out that 158 Asian Americans were running for legislatures in 30 states, an increase of 21 Asian American state legislature candidates since the 2018 midterms.

Out of the 158 candidates, 75% (117) are Democrats and 25% (39) are Republicans, a reflection of a national trend moving the AAPI political views to left of center, according to AAPI Data. 

Following are some of the new lawmakers who made history at the state level:

* * *

Alex Lee, the youngest member of the California legislature.

Alex Lee made history in a few ways when he won California’s 25th District Assembly race on Nov. 3. At 25, he’ll become California’s youngest Asian American state legislator ever, the first openly bisexual state legislator and the first assembly member from Generation Z.

The district, which encompasses Fremont, Santa Clara, San Jose, Milpitas and Newark, and straddles the East Bay and Silicon Valley, is one of the heaviest Asian state legislative districts in the state.

“It’s incredibly exhilarating because our campaign was really the underdog, and we were outspent 15 to 1,” Lee told NBC Asian America. “The establishment didn’t support us, but after we knocked on 30,000 doors, it paid off and we had a great victory.”

* * *

Zohran Mamdani,  left, and Jenifer Rajkumar

Two Indian Americans were elected to the New York state Assembly on Tuesday — making them the first South Asians voted into the lower house of the state Legislature.

Both Jenifer Rajkumar and Zohran Mamdani are Democrats representing parts of Queens, New York City.

The 2010 census reported that more than 300,000 South Asians lived in New York City — about a third of the total Asian American population with the largest concentration in Queens.

Mamdani, 29, who will represent Astoria, a multiethnic neighborhood in Queens, beat incumbent Aravella Simotas in the Democratic primary this year and faced no Republican opponent in the general election. Rajkumar, 38, who will represent parts of Queens that are largely made up of immigrants, won her primary in the state election cycle and defeated Republican Giovanni Perna on Tuesday.

* * *

Hawaii's Adrian Tam beat a Proud Boy member.

Progressive Democrat Adrian Tam won the race for Hawaii’s District 22, becoming the first openly LGBTQ elected official in the state legislature, reported political action committee Victory Fund.

Tam, the son of immigrant parents from Hong Kong and Taiwan, defeated Republican Nick Ochs, who leads the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist and anti-LGBTQ paramilitary group. Tam garnered over 63% of the vote while Ochs took less than 30%, according to KITV.

* * * 

Chef Francesca Hong hopes to cook up new laws for small laws.

Chef and restaurant owner Francesca Hong is the first Asian American to be elected as a representative for Wisconsin’s state legislature, Wisconsin State Journal reports.

According to Madison365, election results from Dane County report that Hong won in a landslide, receiving 88% of the total votes, beating Republican candidate Patrick Hull for the 76th Assembly District seat.

Born and raised in Wsiconsin and the daughter of immigrants, she ran a campaign focused on racial justice. 

“We must strive to help working class individuals and families to improve conditions in housing, public education, job security and wealth building,” she said. “We must invest in our main streets, taking the lead from independent small business owners, to work towards more equitable economic infrastructure. But above all, we must prioritize racial equity and work to invest in communities that have been defunded and decimated by irresponsible and apathetic GOP leadership.”

* * * 

Nikil Saval, 37, became the first South Asian American elected to Pennsylvania’s state Senate Nov. 3. 

Elected to represent Philadelphia’s diverse District 1, Saval was co-editor-in-chief of the literary magazine n+1. From 2012-19, he helped lead the Brooklyn-based publication, prioritizing coverage of issues like social justice and labor unions. He also wrote about architecture, urban planning and design as a contributor at The New York Times and the New Yorker.

“I do think working at n+1 and writing about culture and politics intellectually helped give me clarity on how to think about these subjects together,” Saval told NBC News.

Saval, whose parents emigrated from Bangalore, India,, talked about what his victory means for Asian American representation.

“I feel the significance of that especially when I walk into a room with a number of white people in it, which is Pennsylvania’s state Senate, for the most part,” he said. “Even more so, it’s when I encounter other Asian Americans who get pleasantly shocked that I won. There’s a pan-Asian solidarity that immediately develops.”

* * *

Marvin Lim's win was the result of the changing demographics of Georgia, especially the growth of the Asian American population.

Lim is the first Filipino American to be elected to the state legislature in the Nov. 3 elections. Lim won the primary with 62% of the vote and since the GOP didn't have a candidate to run against him. 

The Philippine-born Lim, 36, will represent House District 99, an Atlanta suburb comprised of 85% minorities, 53% of whom are immigrants.

* * *

Kesha Ram won in Vermont, a predominantly white state.

Democrat Kesha Ram, the daughter of an Indian immigrant father and a Jewish mother, made history Nov. 3 when she became the first woman of color to be elected to the Vermont Senate in a state that’s more than 94 percent white.

Throughout her campaign, Ram focused on a racial justice platform that included addressing disparities in access to health care, climate justice and support for criminal justice reform.

This is not her first foray into politics. At the age of 22, she became Vermont's youngest state legislature when she was elected to the state's House.

She hopes her win inspires other people of color to get involved in the political process.

“Particularly for young Asian American women, I think that we are really taught culturally and socially not to fail. And that it's a personal shortcoming if you fail,” she said. “That's just simply not true.” Ram knows this firsthand, as her 2016 run for lieutenant governor ended in her finishing third. “We can't live safe lives the way everybody wants us to if we want things to change,” she said. “Because, otherwise we won't change who's at the table.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

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Filipino American Congressman in danger of losing his seat, holds out until all votes counted

California's Rep. TJ Cox, left,  is holding out hope in his tight congressional race against
former Congressman David Valadao.

Republican David Valadao declared victory Wednesday; the Fresno Bee headlined a Valadao win last week, the Washington Post agrees, and on Friday the Associated Press called the District 21 race for the Republican. But incumbent Rep. TJ Cox still has not conceded for the Congressional seat for California's 21st district.

"Almost three years ago, I entered this race as an underdog. But we out-worked our opponent and pulled off the most stunning upset in Central Valley history. However, it took a while," Cox wrote on Facebook.

"2018 taught us it’s not over until every vote is counted. Taking that lesson to heart, I do not plan to make a statement on the outcome of the election until every vote is counted and we have the final results, certified by all four counties in this district." posted Cox, one of only two members of Congress of Filipino descent.

Cox won the 2018 contest by just over 865 votes and was the last congressional district in the nation to declare the winner. In that race, AP also called the race for Valadao before Cox pulled ahead in the final vote count.

On the day before Thanksgiving, the California Secretary of State reported that Valadao had 50.5 percent of the vote, and Cox had 49.5 percent -- a razor-thin margin of 1,754 votes.

The sprawling 21st Congressional District in California's Central Valley includes Kings County and parts of Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties with powerful agricultural interests, most of whom supported Valadao. 

Despite Democrats having an edge in the 21st District, Central Valley Republicans are more reliable voters. The neighboring 22nd and 23rd districts are represented, respectively, by Congressman Devin Nunes and Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

According to the Secretary of State's "unprocessed ballot report" made available on Thanksgiving Day, Fresno County completed its vote count, while Kern had 10,837, Tulare had 1,979 and Kings had 419 still to count. However, it wasn't known how many of those ballots contained votes in the 21st Congressional District race.

Valadao's win makes three districts Republicans flipped in California after losing seven in 2018.

On his Facebook page posted before AP's announcement, Cox wrote: "I do not plan to make a statement on the outcome of the election until every vote is counted and we have the final results, certified by all four counties in this district."

Tonight: Lea Salonga concert on PBS "Great Performances"

Tired of all the football on TV? Stuffed with turkey and need to take a mental health break from the nonsense coming out of the White House or the latest depressing figures of the pandemic?

Broadway star and Disney queen Lea Salonga invites you to watch her CAAM-produced "Lea Salonga In Concert With the Sydney Symphony Orchestra" on Great Performances @GPerfPBS #BroadwayOnPBS tonight, Friday, November 27 9/8c. 

More than anything, Salonga wants viewers to come away from the program feeling uplifted after a particularly tumultuous year.

This isn’t the first time the legendary vocalist has worked with CAAM; in 2015, she recorded an introduction to a CAAM-produced PBS broadcast documentary called Filipino American Lives which included films like Harana and Jeepney.

Her concert will feature songs from musical hits from Les Miserables and Miss Saigon that she made famous to iconic Disney songs from Aladdin and Mulan that she sang for the animated features

“I hope that the excitement that we all feel is contagious and that everybody that watches it feels our joy and our spirit,” Salonga says. “Hopefully that comes through the screen [and] people feel… optimism that things will get better.”

Thanksgiving Day Parade floats The Rock's balloon into history

For those of you who didn't get up early enough on Thanksgiving Day to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, you missed the first Samoan American balloon in the annual event ushering in the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season.

The balloon advertised Young Rock, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's upcoming TV series on NBC set to debut in February next year.

The float features everything including Johnson's now-iconic haircut, his chain necklace and the fanny pack he can be seen wearing in a photo loved by his legions of fans.

The upcoming autobiographical series will -- as its name suggests -- tell the story of Johnson during his childhood years. The sitcom stars Bradley Constant and Uli Latukefu, who will play the 15-year-old Johnson, while Latukefu will portray him as a young adult.

Before taping began, Johnson, a prolific social media star, posted: "A comedy series about my wild and often unbelievable childhood and crazy teen years," he continued. "Before you understand where I’m comin’ from, you gotta understand where I came from. I’ve never done anything like this before. This one’s special and I think you’re gonna like it. Life’s unpredictable journey... Let’s shoot."

Johnson, who was born in Hayward, Calif. spent his teenage years in Hawaii. He is of Samoan and Black heritage.

Johnson, one of the highest paid A-listers, is the producer of the NBC series along with Nahnatchka Khan, who turned Fresh Off the Boat into a hit.

Are you ready for HBO Max's 'House of Ho'? Reality show premieres Dec. 10

The Ho family of Houston will star in their own reality show.

The much anticipated reality show featuring a rich -- I mean 1-percenter rich --Vietnamese American family is set to debut on Dec. 10 on HBO Max.

The show follows the real-life adventures of the wealthy Ho family headed by the patriarch/entrepreneur Binh Ho and his wife Hue. 

HBO Max has described House of Ho this way on its site: “House of Ho…chronicles the daily lives of patriarch Binh Ho, matriarch Hue Ho, their daughter Judy Ho, their son Washington Ho and his wife Lesley Ho, Aunt Tina, and Cousin Sammy. Power couple Binh and his wife Hue immigrated from Vietnam to the United States with little money, relying on hard work to establish the ultimate American dream. They have built a multi-million dollar bank, a real estate development company and a new generation of American Hos. The series pulls back the curtain of their lavish Houston lifestyle and showcases the tight family connections that unite them as well as the multi-generational outrageous drama that ensues.”

The streaming network released a new trailer and if it is any indication of what the rest of the show is like, it could shatter a lot stereotypes of Asian Americans. 

HBO is betting that House of Ho will have an appeal beyond the obvious AAPI audience and attract people of all races, much in the same way Crazy Rich Asians busted through the racial barriers.

Middle America loves to watch rich people and in a perverse way,expose the rich as human beings who  make mistakes, argue among themselves to cut them down to size -- all to make the audience feel better about their own situation: Not as much money, but at least I don't have to put up with that shi*t. 

The culture site Vulture is already licking its lips in anticipation, saying, "Oh, thank God, family drama to meddle in and it’s not your own. For everyone staying away from their folks for the holidays, HBO Max is filling that void with its upcoming reality show House of Ho, following the luxurious and stressful lives of a wealthy multigenerational family."

In the same vein, based on the trailer, the show could provide some cringe-worthy moments for AAPI, who will no doubt explain at the water cooler the next day, "Of course, not all of us are like that."

And that's the rub, like the criticism hurled at Crazy Rich Asians, the Ho family is not representative of the vast majority of Asian America: the kids being bullied in school, the shop keepers struggling to keep their head above water, the nurses putting their lives at risk taking care of COVID patients, the majority of us working at our jobs every day without recognition.

And here comes House of Ho, a prime example of how how Asians can achieve the American dream. Can you say "model minority?" Thanks, but no thanks.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

As Trump prepares to leave Washington, talks about birthright citizenship heats up

As a final middle-finger to the Americans who didn't vote for him, the Donald Trump administration is reportedly planning to do away with birthright citizenship, according to The Hill.

The threatened executive order, is part of the slash-and-burn practice of the Trump administration before it gives up the power of the presidency. By throwing a monkey wrench in the machinery of government, the current administration hopes to gum up the works so that the incoming Joe Biden team would start up -- wasting their time, actually -- cleaning up the wreckage left behind by Trump and his people.

Besides Trump, the man who will miss his power the most is Stephen Miller, a senior advisor with links to white supremacists who is Trump's point man on immigration. Under Miller's advice, Trump has done everything he could to reduce immigration, the lifeblood that keeps the United States from stagnating; separated infants from their parents seeking refugee status, cut back work and student visas and implemented a Muslim ban.

Trump has threatened often about ending birthright citizenship. Drafts of a possible order have been circulating for some time, and there is now internal discussion about finalizing it before the Biden administration takes over in January, sources told The Hill.

The administration is aware the order would be promptly challenged in court, but officials would hope to get a ruling on whether birthright citizenship is protected under the 14th Amendment, according to one source familiar with the plans. Many lawmakers and experts have argued it is protected, but the courts have not definitively ruled on the issue and Trump hopes the conservative-heavy Supreme Court to rule in his favor.

“Since taking office, President Trump has never shied away from using his lawful executive authority to advance bold policies and fulfill the promises he made to the American people, but I won’t speculate or comment on potential executive action,” White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.

Currently, anyone born in the United States are automatically given citizenship, even if the parents are here illegally or in the country with some other visa.

The language of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution clearly and explicitly provides for birthright citizenship. The amendment, adopted in 1866, provides that “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” 

In 1898, the Supreme Court decided US v. Wong Kim Ark. Wong was born in San Francisco to Chinese parents in 1873. He lived in the U.S. all his life. His parents eventually left the country and he visited them in China in his late teens and again in his early twenties. 

When he tried to re-enter the U.S. in 1895, a customs agent refused him entry, stating that Wong was not a U.S. citizen based on the Chinese Exclusion Acts, federal laws that barred Chinese immigration, originally passed in 1882 and extended in various forms until 1943.

Wong challenged the exclusion, arguing that he was a U.S. citizen based on the 14th Amendment. Wong successfully argued that the Chinese Exclusion Acts, which barred immigrants, did not apply to him because he was American by virtue of birth on US soil.

Other areas where Trump's middle finger has been raised as he prepares to leave Washington includes: complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, securing more oil drilling leases in Alaska, weaken environmental standards and pushing more unqualified conservative judges onto the federal bench and eliminating the Affordable Care Act.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

FBI Report: A record number of hate crimes

SHUTTER STOCK

Hate crime murders surged to a record high in 2019 and overall hate crime incidents also rose, according to annual data released last week by the FBI.

Hate crimes in the United States rose to the highest level in more than a decade last year. Hate crimes have been increasing almost every year since 2014. Community groups warn this comes amid rising bigotry and racist rhetoric.

Of the 6,406 known hate crimes committed in the U.S. in 2019, 52.5% of them were committed by white people, according to the FBI's Hate Crime Statistics, 2019, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s latest compilation about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation. 

The annual report said that Blacks committed 23.9%. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 1.1% were American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.9% were Asian, 0.3% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 6.6% were of a group of multiple races. The race was unknown for 14.6%.

"Yet another year with alarming levels of bias-motivated crimes underscores just how urgent it is to address this hate crimes epidemic," Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement.

Hate acts against Asians made up 4.4% of the incidents. The FBI data does not contain the reports being compiled this year by Asian American community groups since Donald Trump began blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic. His use of the racist terms "Chinese virus" "Wuhan virus" or "Kung flu" while blaming China was a strong factor in the sharp rise of anti-Asian incidents.

On a parallel track, the Trump's administration's continuing use of racist rhetoric to rile up his base and apparent reluctance to strongly condemn white extremists has emboldened white supremacists and vigilantism.

The proliferation of white supremacist ideology online combined with a culture of gun violence in the U.S. has resulted in some perpetrators of mass shootings targeting victims for their race, religion, or other protected characteristic, said Kami Chavis, professor of law and director of the criminal justice program at Wake Forest University.

Chavis said there's been a lack of urgency to stem a growing threat of domestic terrorism in the U.S., including the threat from white supremacists, many of whom are radicalized through social media.

Earlier this year when the spike in anti-Asian acts began, the FBI warned that a surge of hate Asians and Asian Americans is likely to occur. Various websites collecting incidents against AAPI have recorded thousands of reports.

The FBI had elevated its assessment of the threat posed by racially-motivated violent extremists in the U.S. to a "national threat priority" for the 2020 fiscal year.

"There is an inextricable link between armed white supremacists and the increase in hate crimes, particularly deadly ones," Chavis said.

In one of the better known incidents, James Alex Fields, Jr., who participated in a white nationalist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to hate crimes charges that resulted in the death of a victim, caused bodily injury, and involved an attempt to kill other people after he drove into a group of counter-protestors.

The FBI data, submitted by 15,588 law enforcement agencies, provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes.

Law enforcement agencies submitted incident reports involving 7,314 criminal incidents and 8,559 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity. Please note the UCR Program does not estimate offenses for the jurisdictions of agencies that do not submit reports. Highlights of Hate Crime Statistics, 2019 follow.

The actual number of hate crimes is most likely higher than reported because law enforcement agencies are not mandated to report hate crimes and agencies have different definitions and criteria of what constitutes a hate crime. 

Victims of Hate Crime Incidents

• There were 7,103 single-bias incidents involving 8,552 victims. A percent distribution of victims by bias type shows that 57.6% of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 20.1% were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias; 16.7% were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias; 2.7% were targeted because of the offenders’ gender identity bias; 2.0% were victimized because of the offenders’ disability bias; and 0.9% were victimized because of the offenders’ gender bias.
• There were 211 multiple-bias hate crime incidents, which involved 260 victims.

Offenses by Crime Category

• Of the 5,512 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2019, 40% were for intimidation, 36.7% were for simple assault, and 21% were for aggravated assault. Fifty-one murders; 30 rapes; and three offenses of human trafficking (commercial sex acts) were reported as hate crimes. The remaining 41 hate crime offenses were reported in the category of other.
• There were 2,811 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property. The majority of these, 76.6% were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. Robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses accounted for the remaining 23.4% of crimes against property.
• Two hundred thirty-six additional offenses were classified as crimes against society. This crime category represents society’s prohibition against engaging in certain types of activity such as gambling, prostitution, and drug violations. These are typically victimless crimes in which property is not the object.

Known Offenders

• In the UCR Program, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known; rather, the term indicates that some aspect of the suspect was identified, thus distinguishing the suspect from an unknown offender. Law enforcement agencies specify the number of offenders and, when possible, the race of the offender or offenders as a group. Beginning in 2013, law enforcement began reporting whether suspects were juveniles or adults, as well as the suspect’s ethnicity when possible.
• Of the 6,406 known offenders, 52.5% were white, and 23.9% were Black or African American. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 1.1% were American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.9% were Asian, 0.3% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 6.6% were of a group of multiple races. The race was unknown for 14.6%.
• Of the 5,443 known offenders for whom ethnicity was reported, 33.1% were Not Hispanic or Latino, 10% were Hispanic or Latino, and 1.9% were in a group of multiple ethnicities. Ethnicity was unknown for 55.0% of these offenders.
• Of the 5,599 known offenders for whom ages were known, 84.6% were 18 years of age or older.

The data revealed "a harrowing trend of increasing hate crimes being reported in the United States, even as fewer law enforcement agencies provided data to the FBI," the anti-Defamation League responded in a press release.

"The total severity of the impact and damage caused by hate crimes cannot be fully measured without complete participation in the FBI's data collection process," ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt said.

'Interior Chinatown' author Charles Yu wins National Book Award; popes at Asian male stereotype

Charles Yu dressed up for the virtual awards announcement.

Just about every Asian American male has had to contend with the stereotype imposed on Asian American men and boys by American society.

Charles Yu has taken the hurt and anguish caused by the Asian Male Stereotype (AMS), and laughed at it, thereby taking away its power of shame and self-hatred. Along the way, the author won the National Book Award for fiction for his novel "Interior Chinatown."

His satiric novel, written in the form of a screenplay, (hence, the title) tackles the ASM in all its forms -- the nerd, the techie, the second banana, the asexual object of derision. and put them together in his award-winning book.

In this year's coronavirus-affected virtual ceremony, Yu was clearly taken by surprise and admitted he was so sure he wasn't going to win that he didn't prepare any remarks when his name was announced.

“I can’t feel anything in my body right now,” Yu said during his acceptance speech. “I’m going to go melt into a puddle right now.” 

“By turns hilarious and flat-out heartbreaking, Charles Yu’s ‘Interior Chinatown’ is a bright, bold, gut punch of a novel,” the judges said.

The novel's protagonist, Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as a leading man, even in his own life: He’s merely Generic Asian man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but he is always relegated to a prop. Yet every day he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. At least that’s what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more.

Although, trained as a lawyer, the Taiwan-born Yu doesn't see himself as a writer even though this is not the first time his writing has brought him attention.

Yu is the author of three books, including the novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (a New York Times Notable Book and a Time magazine best book of the year). He was a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and was nominated for two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the HBO series, Westworld. He has also written for shows on FX, AMC, and HBO. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Wired, among other publications.

The National Book Award, which dates back to 1950, is one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world and has been given to literary icons like W.H. Auden, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor, reports the New York Times.

Last month, Hulu announced the streaming network will turn Interior Chinatown into a series.

Yu himself will produce the series too, with executive producers Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore and Elsie Choi for Rideback, and Miura Kite for Participant.

Besides Wu, the National Book Award judges awarded the prize for translated literature went to Yu Miri’s novel “Tokyo Ueno Station,” which was translated from Japanese by Morgan Giles, and is narrated by a ghost who visits a park where he lived when he was homeless.

Oscars: Chloe Zhao touted in Best Director category

'Nomadland' director Chloe Zhao may be up for an Oscar ... or two, or three.

We may see unprecedented Asian representation in the race for the Oscars this year. Chloe Zhao is receiving almost universal praise for her directing of Nomadland. In fact, she may be the leading contender in that category.

If nominated, Zhao would be joining Lee Isaac Chung, director of the Asian American movie, Minari, who is also being touted as a candidate in the same category.

Unlike Asian American directors of her generation, Zhao didn't start her movie-making career within the genre of "ethnic" films dealing identity or fitting into white culture. The Beijing-raised director made a name for herself with her films about the modern American West, Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider, all starring non-Asians.

In Nomadland, Zhao is still exploring the American West, but instead of rodeo riders, she has her focus on the subculture of homeless senior citizens, who wander in their trailers and campers from job to job, a byproduct of the country's increasing corporate and global culture.

She may also be in nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for her work on Nomadland, adapted from the nonfiction book of the same name by Jessica Bruder. 

Zhao's latest work is a hit with audiences (currently at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes) and film critics, winning high praise in the film festival circuit, including the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In recent years, both of these festivals have been strong indicators for a Best Picture nomination.

Zhao also edited and produced the picture, which will be released on December 4, qualifying her for the Oscars.

There's a sadness in her films, devoid of special effects and action sequences, as she concentrates on the characters making their way through a changing world, as they find a way to survive or get left behind by the inevitable shift, but in the background, the landscape, bare, rough and beautiful, remains.

Because of the outstanding work by the directors, both Nomadland and Minari, are also potential nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

If both Zhao and Chung get that nomination -- and likewise if both Nomadland and Minari get nominated in the Best Picture category -- that will mark a real change in Hollywood culture as the older establishment yields its influence to the incoming generation of diverse filmmakers. 

It may be hoping for too much for both films and both directors to get nominate; but if they did, that would be going against precedence. They both must pass muster from the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts, which hand out the awards. Despite recent efforts to add diversity to its membership, it is still overwhelming older, white and male.

Can the Oscars have another Asian motion picture be awarded Best Picture. After last year's Parasite from Korea, can artistic merit overcome the institutional bias? This year, one Asian nominee might be a possibility, but to have both films nominated might be too much for the out-of-touch membership -- even though they deserve it.

The Oscar nominations will be announce March 15, 2021 and the awards ceremony will air April 25, 2021 on ABC. Details of the format for the awards show is yet to be determined because of the coronavirus limitations.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

UC Berkeley removes names of racists, including a 'colonizer' of the Philippines

SCREEN CAPTURE

A workman begins to remove the name of Barrows Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.

OPINION:

At the time I was taking sociology classes in Barrows Hall on the University of California, Berkeley campus, I never knew that the man the building was named after, David Prescott Barrows, was the man responsible for making English the primary language of instruction and governing in the Philippines. 

UC Berkeley removed his name from the building last week, part of a university initiative to remove links to the country's racist past.

As Superintendent of Schools in the Philippines, right after the Philippine American War, Barrows advocated the use of English asIronically, the building formerly known as Barrows Hall houses the Department of Ethnic Studies. Tagalog is taught there. Classes on the history of the Philippines and Filipino American history are held there.

In its letter to Chancellor Carol Christ recommending the unnaming of Barrows Hall, the Building Name Review Committee quoted Barrows’ claim that Filipinos had “an intrinsic inability for self-governance” and were an “illiterate and ignorant class’ to be brought into modernity through the benevolence of American rule.”

In Barrows Hall I took classes that helped me understand what led to the divisions in our society and the social trends that  urbanization and the suburbanization of our society. I took enough classes there I could have minored in sociology.

The unnaming, capped a formal review process, made in response to growing awareness of the controversial legacies of the halls’ namesakes — all of them early, prominent members of the UC faculty — that clash with UC Berkeley’s mission and values.

LeConte Hall, named after a pair of racist brothers, also had its name covered up. I took advanced calculus at the former LeConte Hall, which was named after former faculty. The brothers who were officers in the Confederate Army, fled the South after the Civil War because the Reconstruction and the rights granted to former slaves was destroying the life that they held dear. That included owning 200 slaves. 

The name of Le Conte Hall is covered up.

The naming of the buildings after these individuals are another insidious example of how history has been twisted to glorify white men and keep people of color in their place.

Since 2015, students, faculty, and staff members of the UC Berkeley community have been calling for the renaming of Barrows Hall due to Barrows’ advocacy of white supremacy and his legacy of racism towards Filipinos, Black people, and Indigenous peoples.

Barrows, UC president from 1919 to 1923, was a colonizer of the Philippines’ education system in the early 1900s and wrote, reflecting the U.S. “humanitarian imperialism” of his time, that “the white, or European, race is, above all others, the great historical race.”

His role as a colonizer, said Joi Barrios-LeBlanc, a lecturer in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies who teaches Tagalog and Philippine literature, “was responsible for the colonial education that privileged English over the Native languages, shaped minds to believe in the superiority of Western culture and reinforced feudal, colonial and pro-imperialist ways of thinking.”

In 1905, Barrows created a stilted textbook for Filipino high school students that reinforced the idea of white superiority. "A History of the Philippines" was used by Philippine schools until 1924. In it, he “framed a disturbing view of history and race, where people of color are most often considered in relation to whites,” the unnaming proposal states, “and where races can seemingly be ordered in a hierarchy of linear-temporal advancement, relative intelligence, physical attractiveness, and as members of either civil or savage societies.”

Barrios-Leblanc told the East Bay Express that the activism surrounding Barrows Hall was part of a psychological process she calls "decolonization."

"The renaming of Barrows Hall can be considered a part of the rectification of the Philippine-American War and the colonization of the Philippines," said Barrios-Leblanc.

“Unnamings are just the tip of the issue. They’re a step in the right direction — a necessary step, but a small step,” said Melissa Charles, UC Berkeley’s assistant director of African American student development. Charles co-authored the proposal to unname Barrows Hall with her colleague, Takiyah Jackson.

Last January, Cal removed the name of Boalt Hall and is now referred to as The Law Building. The attorney John Boalt was an outspoken advocate of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

While some argue that unnaming a building is removing the history of the person it was named after, and their contribution -- questionable though it be --  to Cal's heritage, Raka Ray, dean of Cal's Division of Social Sciences and a professor of sociology and South Asian studies, disagreed. 

“Unnaming is not an erasure of history, but a profound acknowledgment of history,” said Ray. The removal of Barrows from the building is “a reckoning of the present with the past. The unnaming of Barrows represents this acknowledgement and pledges commitment to a future that Berkeley stands for.”

The students of Barrios-LeBlanc, in learning of Barrows’ racist legacy, she said, experienced surprise, anger and then “a deep desire to forward the struggle for justice.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

Asian Americans make their case for Kamala Harris' soon-to-be available Senate seat

TWITTER

Gov. Gavin Newsom must name a replacement for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

OPINION:

The ideal person to take California's Sen. Kamala Harris' Senate seat would be a seasoned politician with statewide appeal, a Democrat, a woman, a member of the LGBTQ community, come from a union family with roots in Northern and Southern California and be of Asian, Latino and African American heritage.

Unfortunately, for Gov. Gavin Newsom, no such person exists.

When Harris is sworn in as Vice President, Newsom will have the onerous task of choosing her replacement. As a woman and having immigrant parents from India and Jamaica, and being born in NorCal but presently residing in SoCal, Harris checked off a lot of those boxes so Newsom is being urged with a similar resume.

“This (selection) is not something that I wish even on my worst enemy," said Newsom prior to the Nov. 3 election. "because you create enemies in this process … not just friends. And it’s a vexing decision. It’s a challenging one.”

Newsom is under strong pressure to name a Latino to take Harris' place. California has never had an Hispanic represent the state in the Senate despite making up about 40% of California's population. The influential LGBTQ community wants someone who can speak for their issues and the relatively small but vocal African American community want someone who can build to their moral and political presence on Capitol Hill.

Former Congressman Mike Honda and Madakebe Suan-Trang Mielke, president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) and chair of ReflectUS wrote an oped for the San Francisco Chronicle listing a number of Asian Americans with the political credentials to fill that role.

Fortunately, there is a deep bench of qualified candidates who might check off some of the boxes. According to the authors, they include:

• State Controller Betty Yee, who previously served on the California Board of Equalization.

• State Treasurer Fiona Ma, who previously served on the Board of Equalization, in the State Assembly and on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

• Former State Treasurer John Chiang, a former candidate for governor. He previously served as state controller and on the Board of Equalization.

• Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. The first Chinese American woman elected to Congress, she previously served as mayor of Monterey Park, in the State Assembly and on the Board of Equalization.

• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara), who defeated incumbent Honda in 2016 to represent the 17th Congressional District. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce under President Obama and co-chaired Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

• Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), who previously served as a California state senator and assemblyman.

• Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), the first openly gay person of Asian descent in Congress. He previously served on the Riverside Community College Board of Trustees.

• Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell), who previously served as mayor and councilmember in Campbell. He was a national co-chair of Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign.

• Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), who is mayor-elect of San Diego, where he previously served as a councilmember and interim mayor.

To their list, I would add Assemblymember Rob Bonta, a Filipino American whose diverse district is across the bay from San Francisco includes Oakland and Alameda; who as chair of the California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, he  has developed relationships with Latino political leaders in the southland. The son of union organizers for the powerful United Farm Workers, he has inherited those emotional ties with the Latino community.

In their opinion piece, Honda and Mielke reminded Newsom that the AAPI population is 16% of the state's population and is the fastest growing group in California.

With the exception of Harris, there are only two Asian Americans serving in the U.S. Senate: Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.

It won't be easy, but Newsom can't please everyone.No matter who his choice is, he will offend some other group.

If Newsom picks a current officeholder, he can heal some of the bad feelings by picking a replacement to fill in the just-vacated spot.

In an interview with KQED, PBS' San Francisco affiliate, the governor said of his decision: "I do take it very seriously. It's a sobering responsibility to make that decision. And it has national, not just domestic, ramifications as it relates to the state itself. And so it's a weight of responsibility. And we'll figure it out."

That's politics, folks!

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.