2020 Review: Phew! That was one helluva year

ANALYSIS

2020 didn't turn out exactly  the way I thought it would. A year ago when I wrote the post on 2020 predictions, I had no idea what was going to happen a few weeks later.

The coronavirus pandemic turned everything on its head, affecting every aspect of everyday life from education and work to family gatherings and vacation plans.

My prediction that it would be a breakout year for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders did come true, but not in the way I anticipated.

Yes, we had an upsurge in political activity led by having the unprecedented three Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders running for the Democratic nomination for President. And then Kamala Harris made more history by being picked as the first AAPI Vice President candidate for a major party,

Yes, the U.S. Census got a host of AAPI agencies involved in trying to get an accurate count of our communities. But it was not an easy count as the Trump administration kept putting up roadblocks to try to undercount communities of color.

Yes, it appears that AAPI were making headway in the entertainment world with the result of perhaps having two films with AAPI directors -- Minari and Nomadland -- being touted as Oscar nominees. A half-dozen other projects in the movies and television gave AAPIs more of a presence in America's cultural scene.

KANLUNGAN

About one-third of the deaths among U.S. healthcare workers were
Filipino Americans.

TOLL OF COVID-19

But all of that occurred in the shadow of the deadly virus that swept across the world and no one could have predicted the way the U.S. -- specifically the Trump administration -- fell flat on its face with the American response with lies, denial and race-baiting that resulted in almost 84 million coronavirus victims worldwide and approaching 2 million deaths due to the disease.

Americans, sadly, can truly say the USA is No. 1 in this deadly statistic: 20 million cases and 344,000 have died from COVID-19. (As of the beginning of the last day of the year.)

If one is looking for the silver lining in the pandemic (if you can call it that) is the credit that was finally given to the huge role Filipino health care professionals are playing in caring for the coronavirus patients. The price they are paying though is that as a group, they have contracted the disease and died from it in far greater numbers than any other ethnic group.

The unsung role of Immigrant doctors from China and South Asia -- especially in underserved urban and rural areas -- was finally acknowledged too. Without them, many small towns and hospitals serving the poor would not have the health care they need.

RISE IN ANTI-ASIAN RACISM

The coronavirus also exposed the racist xenophobia against anybody who looked Asian. The FBI said last winter that we should expect more attacks and hate acts throughout the year.  Reports by community groups confirmed the unleashed racism harbored by Americans egged on by the White House by calling the pandemic the Wuhan Virus, Kung Flu or the China Virus. 

Businesses in the nation's Chinatowns, J-towns, Little Saigons, Filipinotowns and K-towns plummeted putting the future of these ethnic enclaves -- already feeling the pressures of rising rents due to gentrification -- in further jeopardy. Many mom-and-pop entrepreneurs continue to suffer and have had to lay off workers or shut down -- some may never reopen.

Despite the dampening effects of the coronavirus, AAPI's persisted and having felt the impact of their collective power, may never be satisfied with playing second-fiddle again.

POLITICAL GROWTH

Most symbolic of the renewed activism and progress by AAPIs is having Kamala Harris named as Joe Biden's running mate. The California Senator along with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and entrepreneur Andrew Yang gave AAPIs an unprecented presences in the national political scene. 

For many Americans who couldn't find American Samoa or Hawaii on the map, Gabbard may have been the first Samoan-Hawaiian-Hindu they've ever seen and to their astonishment, she spoke English. For many, what she said on international relations made sense and she went toe-to-toe against better known rivals during the Democrats' Primary drive.

Andrew Yang, a nonprofit entrepreneur, came out of nowhere to run in the Primary and outlasted better established politicians energizing young people and his talk about the fourth industrial revolution and his trademark vow of giving  every adult American $1000 a month. What may have sounded like pie-in-the-sky promises during the Primary, now appear feasible with Congress' penchant for trillion-dollar gifts and tax breaks to large corporations and 1-percenters.

Yang, who never ran for public office before 2019, is now a national figure recognized by pundits and political entities. He is a voice that will not disappear soon. If he doesn't get a position in the Biden administration, he is mulling over a run for Mayor of New York City.

THE KAMALA EFFECT

The Oakland-born Harris, the daughter of a South Asian mother and Jamaican father, and her rise from a little-known first-term senator to the Vice Presidency is the stuff of   storybooks. A tough-minded veteran of Northern California's political skirmishes, she knew when to soften her image with families and speak-one-on-one with little boys and girls. Her experience as San Francisco's District Attorney and her attempts to reform California's Attorney General's Office gave her a foundation that served her well on Capitol Hill.

She gained national attention with her proscutorial skill against Trump's nominees for the Supreme Court and Attorney General reducing well-versed nominees to stuttering and long pauses of silence. Would-be Attorney General Jeff Sessions, response to her questioning put her on the map. "I am not able to be rushed this fast, it makes me nervous." 

But it was her early withdrawal from the Primary that surprised experts may have been her best move. By announcing her departure from the hot contest in December of 2019, she avoided the negative image of "losing," before the nation's first vote in Iowa, where polls showed her not finishing in the top three despite putting all her resources into the state.

She was able to also begin her charm offensive by healing the rifts between her and the Democratic Party and the other candidates running for President, especially with Biden's campaign. Her if-you-can't-beat-them, join-them strategy was no guarantee but with her primary goal of seeing Trump removed from the White House worked and impressed Joe Biden.

The results speak for themselves. By accepting the role of Vice President, Harris not only made history as the first AAPI in such a high-profile role in the incoming administration, she put herself in a strong position for a run for the top job in 2024 or 2028, whenever the 78-year old Biden decides to leave public life.

Paralleling the candidacies of Harris, Yang and Gabbard, or perhaps inspired by their campaigns for the highest office in the land, AAPI voters went to the polls in unprecedented numbers, spurred by registration drives and get-out-the-vote campaigns waged by community agencies. The AAPI vote proved crucial in swing states red states to blue benefitting Biden and Harris.

AAPI voted heavily for the Democrats not only because Harris was on the ticket, but because of Trump's anti-immigrant positions that threatens family reunification, educational aspirations and the dreams of becoming U.S. citizens.

The AAPI political excitement and energy generated by 2020 bodes well for the future as both and Democratic and Republicans are beginning to notice the AAPI vote in their outreach campaigns and the danger of ignoring this small but potent electorate.

An unfortunate byproduct of the coronavirus pandemic is the rise in anti-Asian acts, harassment and physical attacks. AAPI -- the majority of whom are first-generation immigrants -- finally get a tiny hint of what it means to be an African American, who must face racial bias baked into institutions as well as individual acts of hate.

ANTI-ASIAN ATTACKS RISE

Because of the origin of the virus and the insistence of Donald Trump and his top advisors to call the pandemic the China Virus, Wuhan Virus or the Kung Flu, coupled with attacks against China for its trade policies and targetting Chinese-born students and researchers allegedly stealing or buying U.S. manufacturing secrets and research, Trump's followers used that as permission to attack Chinese Americans and since they are unable to distinguish the differences between other Asian Americans, that included all AAPIs.

Racists shouted at AAPI, telling them to go back to their country when that country is the USA, pushed and punched them on subways, burned their houses of worship, slashed at them in stores and streets, one woman had her clothes set on fire in New York and generally made everyday experiences like going to the grocery or grabbing a cup of coffee an uncomfortable experience for Asian Americans.

Realizing that they shared the common enemy of racism and the emboldenment of white supremacists, most Asian Americans aligned themselves to the Black Lives Matter movement and were outspoken in their support for police reform, joining the demonstrations and marches protesting police violence.

NEVER HAVE I EVER

POP GOES THE CULTURE

The success of Crazy Rich Asians in 2018 continues to ripple through the entertainment world.

While the edgy ruminations of Hassan Minhaj on his Patriot Act and the subtler but nonthreatening digs against racism in Fresh Off the Boat ended in 2020, new fare with AAPI stars and themes came in to take their places.

Awkwafina is Nora From Queens and Never Have I Ever are more outspoken about being Asian American than FOtB and unafraid to point out the differences that set Asians apart from other ethnicities and at the same time, in an understated way, show the similarities of human beings despite the color of their skin.

FOtB's six seasons may have opened the door for the new sitcoms, but Awkwafina and Mindy Kaling, the latter who wrote and produced Never Have I Ever, are not afraid to have their heroines break stereotypes. They are not the shy, retiring type but -- thank goodness -- resemble their creators' way of handling the slights of racism.

The same goes for Warrior, which took the action mantle from Into the Badlands. While Badlands existed in a dystopian, fictional world, Warrior takes place in the American West, circa late 1800s. Like the second-generation sitcoms, Warrior takes on racism head-on -- or should I say, with a quick fist and good roundhouse kick. 

Wu Assassins, another 2020 entry on Netflix, is a martial arts series that takes place in the present day. Like Warrior and because it is more contemporary, the series confronts the slings and arrows of racism and makes sure the audience understands the evil nature of racial bias. Hopefully, Netflix grants it a second season.

On the nonfictional side, the 5-part series Asian Americans by PBS told the history of Asian Americans with never-before seen footage and subjects. It may not be compete enough for everybody, but it was the best attempt so far to show how Asian American history should be part of any story about America's growth.

TIGERTAIL

Movies featuring AAPI actors and themes proved their crossover appeal and demonstrates the wealth of above-the-line and below-the-line talent that is just beginning to be noticed by studio heads.

To varying degrees of artistic and box office success, the following films released in 2020 opened the minds of Hollywood decision makers looking for new storylines and talent.

Tigertail, written and directed by Alan Yang (Master of None);

Yellow Rose, written and directed by Filipino American Diane Paragas;

The Half of It, written and directed by Alice Wu;

Mulan, Disney's live-action version of China's legendary woman warrior featured an all-Asian and Asian American cast;

To All the Boys I Ever Loved 2, based on the novels by Jenny Han and starring Lana Condor in the lead role may lead to a third film;

Hollywood featured Darren Criss portraying a Filipino American director introduced the legendary actress, Anna May Wong, played by Michelle Krusiec;

Over the Moon, Netflix's animated feature used an all-Asian all-star voice cast;

Minari, an Asian American film was written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, may be up for some industry awards;

Additionally, Nomadland, directed by Chloe Zhao, may reap some Oscar nominations.

2020 sets up 2021 to be another year in which Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders will make their mark in the United States. With the turning of the New Year, the pandemic is still with us and it will take most of next year to get it under control.

Although Biden and Harris will be installed, they will be spending most of their efforts in undoing what Trump had wrought including getting the coronavirus vaccines to the most people quickly as possible, tamping down the rise of white supremacists, immigration reform, reform in the justice system and getting the economy up and running again.

Last year at this time, I said 2020 would be a momentous year for AAPI peoples. Although I couldn't foresee the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing bumbling response by the Trump administration and the anti-Asian attacks, I wasn't wrong; It was one helluva year.

EDITOR'S NOTE; A word of caution. This is an opinion piece. Readers should consult several sources of news to form their own opinion.

Associated Press names Naomi Osaka 'Female Athlete of the Year'

SCREEN CAPTURE / ESPN

Tennis player Naomi Osaka brought attention to racial justice issues while winning the U.S. Open.

Naomi Osaka was named the Associated Press' Female Athlete of the Year. LeBron James was named Male Athlete of the Year.

While the Japanese American tennis player won the U.S. Open last Fall, her third Grand Slam title, it was her work as a racial justice advocate that brought her the most attention and praise.

“It was difficult to be isolated from my family for large parts of the year, but that’s nothing compared to others," she tole the AP. "It was sad to watch and read the news of people suffering from Covid-19, and the economic and social effect on so many — losing jobs, mental health. 

"It was such a tough year for so many people,” Osaka wrote in an email interview. “And then watching the police injustices like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake (to name just a few) in the summer broke my heart. I am proud of my U.S. Open victory, but more so that I got people talking about the real issues.”

In the lead-up tournament to the U.S. Open, on the eve of the title game, Osaka -- whose mother is Japanese and father from Haiti -- opted to not play in the title match, deciding she could not ignore the ongoing protests against police brutality resulting in the killing of George Floyd and so many others.

Tournament officials agreed to a pause in play.

“There are clearly so many worthy issues. This one especially resonated with me because of my own personal up-bringing; and also while the tennis tour was paused, I was able to watch and read news at length for the first time in my life. This summer in the U.S., tensions were high and reached boiling point,” Osaka said. “It was the right time for me to speak up.”

In the following week, during the U.S. Open she wore a mask for each match with the name of seven victims of police brutality stitched on it to bring attention to the Black Lives Matter movement asking for police reform.

The 23-year-old OsakaOsaka said she is looking forward to playing for Japan, which is hosting the Olympics in 2021 after it was canceled this year. Her goal for the new year, she said, was to “work hard, do better, speak up, be kind.”

"I am proud of my U.S. Open victory, but more so that I got people talking about the real issues,” she said.

The movie, 'Minari,' tells a uniquely quintessential American story but the Golden Globes call it 'foreign'

Minari director Lee Isaac Chung, left, and the cast of his Asian American film.

OPINION

The Golden Globes stirred up a hornets' nest when it decided the movie Minari should be placed in a foreign-language film category instead of the more prestigious "Best Picture" category.

Critics of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which awards the Golden Globe Awards every year, blast the decision to judge what is essentially an American story in the foreign category.

Minari is written and directed by an American, stars mostly an American cast, with a story located in rural Arkansas and tells the uniquely American story of immigrants adjusting to America. Although Minari is about a Korean family, it could just well have been about an Italian family, or an Irish family, or an Ethiopian family or a Central American family. The universal appeal of the story speaks volumns about America, a nation built by immigrants, 

However, because the Korean American immigrants spoke Korean throughout the majority of the movie, the HFPA placed Minari in the foreign language category.

The HFPA made a similar decision last year with The Farewell, the story of a Chinese American's visit with her grandmother who lived in China. 

With Minari being mentioned as possible contenders for film industry awards, for directing (Lee Isaac Chung), screenplay (Chung), best picture and acting (Steven Yeun for Best Actor and Youn Yuh-jung, who plays the grandmother, for best supporting actress).

Asian American celebrities strongly objected to the HPFA decision that minimizes the film's accomplishments. About the categorization of Minari, "The film equivalent of being told to go back to your country when that country is America," actor Daniel Dae Kim wrote in a tweet. 

Maybe because they are the "foreign" press, the HFPA members don't know America as I know it even though most of them have lived in Southern California for years.

I certainly don't want to tell them to "Go back where you came from," (heavens no) but I also don't want them defining to the rest of the world what is American.

What began as a controversy within movie industry bubble has grown to ask the larger existential question, "What is American?"

 One of the racist barbs I've had to endure in my life is, "You speak really good English." 

Exc-u-use me? I was raised in this country and -- in fact, and rather regretfully -- English is the only language I speak fluently (most of the time.) 

In fact, I even have a picture of myself remarkably similar to the publicity photo (below) of Dale Kim as David in the movie, wearing a cowboy hat, a Roy Rogers vest and toy pistols in my holster.

Alan Kim as David in 'Minari.'

Over 70 years in the U.S. and people still view me as a foreigner.

Being seen as a foreigner, -- an outsider, an "other" -- because of the color of our skin and hair and the slant of our eyes is one of the racist slights Asian Americans have endured since the first Filipinos set foot on the continent's western shore in 1587.

Mass media and a stilted education system are big parts of why people have that perception. In the culture we grew up in -- by school textbooks and pop culture, the dolls favored by children, the beauty we seek to attain, the heroes we are supposed to emulate and even the Christian images we see in or churches -- being American meant being white, Anglo-Saxon and being blond and blue-eyed was an extra added bonus.

Minari is not a Korean story. Its the story of all immigrants who come to our country having to learn the customs, the laws and the way of American life. Yes, that includes learning the language too -- no matter how long. 

For those fearful of the balkanization of the U.S. and want to make a law mandating that English the official language of the U.S., recent studies have shown that by the third-generation of an immigrant family, English becomes the language most spoken in the home.

What the Hollywood foreign press doesn't realize and the recently outspoken celebrities are saying, is something that poets, creators, sociologists and mental health experts have known all along: 

Being American is not the color of your skin or the slant of your eyes, or even, the language you speak. Being American is not the singular act of raising your right hand reciting a pledge. Being American -- like the country itself -- is always seeking a better way, a better idea, a better life and a better self. An American is not just "being" an American, but a shared process; a continuous state of evolving not only as individuals (which is only part of the American mythology) but also as a family, a community and as a society. 

The questions surrounding Minari comes as the definition of "American" is being debated today, when immigration from Asia is higher than from any other part of the world; Asian Americans impacted the choosing of Joe Biden; and an Asian American is the Vice President-elect.

It is no coincidence that the debate is occurring today, when immigration from Asia is higher than from any other part of the world; Asian Americans impactin the Presidential election, an Asian American is the Vice President-elect, hate acts against Asian Americans are spiking and the country ever-so slowly is realizing that its future lies in the nations of Asia; a revolutionary 180-degree shift from the Eurocentric mindset that has ruled the economy and culture of this country for centuries. 

The debate over Minari is just one step in the evolution of our country. It requires a cultural shift in the minds of the 80-plus HFPA members -- not an easy task, but one that should start with the HFPA members working for Asian publications and networks.

Minari is in limited release now but will have a general release in February, 2021,

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.

Supervisor introduces measure to help Chinatown restaurants

The fabled Far East Cafe is set to close at the end of the year.

This holiday season, there's a glimmer of hope that help will be coming to San Francisco's Chinatown's struggling businesses.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Chinatown, introduced a measure Tuesday that would give $1.9 million to restaurants to feed people in need in the neighborhood.

Peskin is hoping to secure $1.9 million to pay restaurants to feed people in need in the neighborhood.

Peskin's action came after it was learned last week that the iconic 100-year old Far East Cafe was planning to close its doors at the end of the year.

Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle that he will try to speed up the process for the funding assistance that would normally take 30 days to approve.

Far East Cafe's manager Bill Lee told NBC News that he doesn't know if the assistance will change his plans closing. He said he will talk to investors about the city's rescue plan.

The decision to close the Grant Street restaurant was because the health measures meant to combat the coronavirus pandemic such as social distancing, stay-at-home suggestions and a ban on indoor dining has hurt his business. Not only did the restaurant lose regular customers, but the money from tourists have completely disappeared.

Twitter's #MyNameIs trend morphs into a campaign ad against Georgia's Senator Perdue

It is no longer any doubt that Georgia's Asian American voters are going to vote for the two Democratic candidates for Senate Jan. 5 next year. The only remaining question is: will enough AAPI voters turn out to make a difference.

Besides the huge question about the Republican incumbents' refusal to address accusations of insider trading from which both of the Georgia senators benefitted from, one of the reasons the AAPI vote is so overwhelmingly committed to the challengers may hinge on the perceived racial insensitivity of Perdue.

The Insider Advantage/Fox 5 Atlanta poll has Warnock, senior pastor at a civil rights landmark, the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, is ahead of Republican Kelly Loeffler by a 2% margin at 49%-47%. Incumbent Loeffler was appointed to the Senate when Senator Johnny Isakson resigned a year ago.

The same survey had GOP incumbent Sen. David Perdue ahead of Democratic rival Jon Ossoff, a media executive, by a razor-thin 1% margin,

The polls have both races within the margin of error so every vote will count in two races that could determine the ability of Joe Biden, the President-elect, to implement all his campaign promises and return the country to the realm of sanity.

Perdue's deliberate mispronouncing of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' name at an October rally for Donald Trump could very well may be the deciding factor for many AAPI people who have been humiliated or bullied because of their names.

"Ka-MAL-a, Ka-MAL-a or Kamala, Kamala, Ka-mala, -mala, -mala, I don't know, whatever," mocked Perdue drawing laughter from the partisan crowd.

For the record, Harris' first name is pronounced "comma-LA," which means "Lotus Flower" in Sanskrit.

Most Asian Americans who have a name that has been mispronounced, mocked or bullied in school can recall the sting of of humiliation or shame that arose when they were kids.

But when an adult of Perdue's stature does it, it is because  -- not having anything weightier to say -- he has to resort to the playground taunt. It is a tactic meant to "otherize" or underline the "foreigness" of the Vice President-elect and -- Ossoff, by association.

In a race as close as Perdue vs. Ossoff, a little incident like the mocking incident, could spell the difference between victory or looking for a new job.

A video clip of the incident went viral, drawing angry social media responses from the AAPI community carrying the #MyNameIs hashtag. Celebrities and politicians such as Daniel Dae Kim, Ilhan Omar, Michelle Kwan, Ken Jeong and more joined in sharing the origins of their names in solidarity with Harris.

The viral #MyNameIs social media response has been revived by Harris' niece Meena Harris and her Phenomenal Productions and the Indian American Impact Fund (IMPACT) for a series of pro-Democrat  videos launched last week. The videos will air online ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff election and during Georgia's early, mail-in  and absentee voting period.

"South Asian Americans helped build this country even though at times we've been pushed aside and put down or made into a punchline," Nanjiani says at the top of the video. "In 2020, when our leaders insulted and disrespected us, they know exactly what they're doing. And so do we," referring to castsing their vote for Ossoff.

Perdue's mockery of Indian American Harris comes on top of the racist rhetoric coming from the White House in referring tot he cornavirus as the Wuhan Flue or Kung Fu.

According to a report by United Nations officials, hate crimes against Asian Americans have reached an “alarming level” across the United States since 2016 due to the weaponizing of words by the Trump administration and his supporters like Perdue. These words negatively impact the AAPI community and were emboldened during the pandemic when the former host of The Celebrity Apprentice referred to the coronavirus as the “Kung Flu” and the “China Virus”.

IMPACT, an Indian American advocacy and political action committee, has donated a historic $2.5 million to the campaign.

The joke -- as it turns out -- may be on Perdue.

"South Asian and Asian American voters played a pivotal role in delivering Georgia to President-elect Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris. An additional 42,000 AAPI voters voted in 2020 over 2016, and more than 30,000 AAPI voters voted for the first time ever. Biden won Georgia by just over 14,000 votes. But the work isn’t finished yet," IMPACT said in statement. 

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.

Trump wants to end program reuniting Filipino WWII vets with their families

CNN

Filipino WWII vets celebrated when the Parole program passed during the Obama administration.

In the waning days of the Donald Trump administration, it is continuing to try and limit immigrants, the people he has attacked since the day he announced his intention to run for President. 

The U.S.  Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Wednesday (Dec. 23) its intent to terminate the Filipino WWII Veterans Parole program and the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program by publishing a Federal Register notice on Dec. 28. There will be a 60-day comment period and the termination of these programs would not become final unless the termination is finalized by the Biden administration.

“To serve his pathological need to treat immigrants as cruelly as possible, and to undo any program ever created by Barack Obama, Donald Trump is dishonoring Filipino World War II veterans by ending the program that allows them to reunite their families in the United States," said Hawaii's Sen. Mazie Hirono when Trump first broached the idea last year. 

"The president’s decision means many of these veterans in their 90s will likely die without seeing their families again," she said.

Filipino veterans were granted citizenship in recognition of their service to the U.S. during World War II. Many of their children, however, were not. Due to the volume of immigrant visa applications from the Philippines, it can take more than 20 years for families to be reunited.

Under the FWVP program, the adult children of Filipino World War II veterans, along with their spouses and children

"This action is cruel and heartless and yet unsurprising from an administration that has gone to great lengths to separate Black, Latino, Asian American, Arab, and Muslim families," Marita Etcubañez, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

During World War II, approximately 250,000 Filipino soldiers fought alongside U.S. forces. Even though the Philippines was still occupied by the U.S. at the time we entered WWII, many of these soldiers were not able to become U.S. citizens following their military service.

It was not until 1990, 45 years after the end of the war, that the U.S. finally passed legislation allowing Filipino WWII veterans to apply for U.S. citizenship. By this time, since most of the veterans’ children were no longer minors, their children were not eligible for derivative citizenship. The veterans had to apply for visas for their children and these applications were subject to the growing backlogs in family preference categories. Since Filipino nationals already faced some of the longest visa backlogs, there are family members of Filipino veterans that are still awaiting approval of their green card applications, 75 years after the end of World War II.

The Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program is a temporary administrative fix that allows these veterans to request parole for their children or siblings. Parole in this context means that the veterans’ family members are able to enter and live in the U.S. pending processing of their permanent resident applications. Many family members who received parole have not yet been able to obtain their green cards, and therefore, Wednesday’s announcement places them at risk of losing their status and being deported.

"Our veterans have endured so much. Those who are still with us are very elderly and should not have to face the upheaval of being separated from their family members once again. We need a permanent legislative solution for these families that would make green cards immediately available for their family members," said Etcubañez

"We call on President-elect Biden to continue the Filipino WWII Veterans Parole Program and the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program and to support passage of Representative Judy Chu’s Reuniting Families Act, which includes the bipartisan Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act."

100-year old Chinatown restaurant closure imminent; rescue plan on the way

PINTEREST

Only one row of private booths remain at the Far East Cafe, that used to have all booths for diners.

OPINION

Updated Dec. 24, 10:30 a.m. to include Aaron Peskin's proposal.

One of San Francisco Chinatown's oldest restaurants, the fabled Far East Cafe, will be closing Dec. 31 -- victimized by the necessary safety restrictions imposed in order to fight the coronavirus.

But on Wednesday, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin pleaded with the restaurant owner Bill Lee, not to shutter his restaurant. The supervisor says he's introducing a $1.9 million relief proposal aimed at helping Chinatown's struggling restaurants. 

I loved taking out-of-town visitors to the Far East. It wasn't the food so much, as the atmosphere the 100-year old restaurant evoked. It was like stepping into a movie with dark wood paneling and ornate Chinese lanterns. 

In an impromptu news conference in front of the restaurant on Grant Avenue, Peskn blamed anti-Chinese racism fueld by Trump blaming China for the pandemic. He pleaded for Lee and his investors to hold off on plans to closed down Dec. 31.

I always asked for a table in one of the booths. Along the way, as we passed the other wood-paneled booths I'd take a peek behind the curtain, hoping to uncover a  politicians making a deal, business people closing a transaction or perhaps a spy in a clandestine meeting.

Hearing Peskin's plea, Lee just shrugged. "We keep losing money each day. All our shareholders have a few meetings. We decide to close down the end of this month," Lee told a KTVU reporter.

Without the tourists, the Far East was having problems when outdoor dining was allowed, but under the stricter guidelines allowing only takeout, owner Lee told the Wnd Newspaper that takeout isn't enough to pay the rent and pay the staff. 

The Far East opened in 1920 in the midst of the Chinese Exclusion Act in a segregated San Francisco. It has survived the changing palates of the Bay Area's foodies to continue serving  familiar Cantonese and American Chinese fare.

Far East is one of the last Chinatown restaurants that had the banquet space to host  the large weddings, birthdays, family reunions and celebrations like Chinese New Year's (which has been cancelled in 2021). It is noisy and when it's busy, the waiters can be brusque, but it was an experience that is disappearing under the coronavirus pandemic.

The fate of the Far East is just the latest  sign of the economic distress being felt by all the businesses in tourist-oriented Chinatown.

The family-owned restaurants and souvenir shops in Chinatown are getting hit hard by the coronavirus and might not be able to survive the pandemic restrictions. 

Businesses say they have been appealing to the city for financial assistance, and claiming they were denied federal loans, most of which are going to big corporations instead the multitude of small businesses. Sam Chen of Magical Ice Cream tells ABC News that he attempted to get a small business loan but was denied, and the same goes for New Age Camera.

Eva Lee of the Chinatown Merchants Association says that San Francisco is at risk of seeing the ethnic enclave in a wholesale death spiral if Peskin's relief plan doesn't materialize.

RELATED: America's Chinatowns fighting gentrification

In addition to the coronavirus, Chinatowns are feeling pressure from rising rents. Because most Chinatowns are located in high-valued downtown areas, rents have been increasing and the threat of gentrification is driving many of the low-income residents and small businesses out of the area.

The U.S. Census reported that there are over 2 million Asian American-owned businesses across the nation. With 42% of them in "Accommodation and Food Services" and "Retail" industries, versus just 21% of all businesses, Asian American businesses have been hard hit.

As a result, unemployment among Asian Americans, once low, has spiked to unprecedented levels since so many Asian Americans work in those hard-hit service industries.

During the pandemic, however, Asians experienced unemployment rates higher than Whites, peaking at 15% in May 2020. Even as the economy started to improve and the unemployment rate began to drop in recent months, the recovery for Asians was slow, and unemployment remained uncharacteristically high.

Chinatowns across the country were already seeing a decline in business due to the  Trump administration's trade war with China, and racial profiling of Chinese visitors, students and researchers and amplified with Trump's xenophobic rhetoric and with the coming of the coronavirus at the beginning of the year, fear replaced anxiety. With the advent of social distancing, self-quarantines and the mandated dining restrictions, business only got worse.

If the Far East Cafe closes its doors at the end of the year, not only will San Francisco's Chinatown  be left with only one restaurant able to handle the large banquets popular in the Asian American community, the city will lose a part of its heritage.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is news laced with opinion. We encourage you to review several news sources to form your own opinion.

Sugar Pie DSanto receives new honor for her legendary career as a songwriter and singer

Just in case you wondered what ever happened to Sugar Pie DeSanto legendary Filipino American R&B artist, while performing at a recent San Francisco street festival, she did one of her trademark somersaults.

Sugar Pie DeSanto, the female James Brown, just released a new album, "Sugar's Suite 7" at the age of 85 and on Dec. 10, she received the prestigious Arhoolie Award for 2020.  

RELATED: Meet legend Sugar Pie DeSanto

Named after her grandmother, she was born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton in Brooklyn, NY, her father was Filipino American and her mother was African American. 

Sugar Pie’s DeSanto's latest album, Sugar’s Suite, can be
 obtained directly fromher producer’s label, Jasman Records. 

She was dubbed Little Miss Sugar Pie by the legendary Johnny Otis. He signed her to her first professional contract in 1954, after which she had her first hit record in 1959.

“While it is important to us that we do represent the Bay Area at large, we are especially proud to honor Oakland’s Sugar Pie DeSanto, who fits squarely into the richness of the East Bay, where Arhoolie is,” Arhoolie Foundation Executive Director Chris Machado told OaklandSide.org.

When Arhoolie Foundation board member Larry Batiste gave DeSanto, an Oakland resident, the news of the hefty award, DeSanto was characteristically nonplussed. “See, I didn’t come here yesterday. I’ve been acknowledged, voted on, rooted for, and talked about all my life. Been there, done that. So I didn’t fall out with excitement. But it’s a nice thing. I’m enthused and feel lucky to be chosen.”

“I’m not as strong as I think I am. I’m not worried about it, though,” said DeSanto. “I’m just doin’ what God says for me to do. I’m still tryin’ to push but it’s hard. I ain’t fallin’ apart, but I’m damn near fallin’! I do want people to know that I always gave it all I had.”

Asian American voters can be difference makers in Georgia

Georgia's AAPI community were energized by the 2020 Presidential race.

Now that it has been established by a host of mainstream media that the Asian American vote helped push Georgia towards Democrat Joe Biden, a coalition of AAPI organizations are joining the Democratic Party to replicate the Nov. 3 record turnout in order to elect the two Democratic candidates to the U.S. Senate.

The stakes are enormous. If Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat incumbent Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, Democrats would wrest control of the Senate from Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. If the GOP keeps the majority in the Senate, the upper house would make it difficult for Biden to pass major legislation and reform,

FiveThirty-eight has both races a virtual toss-up with only .1 or .2 percentage points separating the candidates, well within the margin of error.

This year, Georgia saw a 91% increase in AAPI voter turnout over 2016, and exit polls showed Asian American voters preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump by a 2 to 1 margin. 

Surveys show that 42,000 more AAPI voters voted in 2020 over 2016;  more than 30,000 of those voters voted for the first time ever.  Biden's winning margin was only 14,000 votes.

It's no wonder that the Democratic Party is concentrating to improve those numbers and Republicans are trying their best to dissuade AAPI voters from casting their ballots.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who is of Black and South Asian heritage, campaigned in Georgia Monday (Dec. 21) to energize African American and Asian American voters. Her visit comes a week after Joe Biden came to the state.

Republicans have countered with Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, an Indian American.

One of the stops on Harris' itinerary was supposed to be in Suwanee, is located in Gwinett County – a county the president narrowly won in November 49.6% to 48.4%. CBS News voter files show that 17% of registered voters in the county are Asian American, a number that is higher than the state's average.However, that stop was canceled because she had to return to Washington to vote on the $900-billion stimulus bill.

But in Columbus, she was greeted with large energetic crowds. “As far as I’m concerned Georgia — Columbus — 2020 ain’t over until Jan. 5,” said Harris. “That’s when 2020 will be over. That’s when we’ll get this thing done. Because as you know, everything is at stake.”

Andrew Yang, former Democratic Presidential candidate, was among the first Asian American "names" to go all in to encourage AAPI voters to take part in the runoffs. He hosted rallies and coffee gatherings with AAPI Georgians for both Ossoff and Warnock.

“The Democratic Party couldn’t win the presidency or the Senate without Asian Americans," said IMPACT Executive Director Neil Makhija.

IMPACT, an Indian American advocacy and political action committee, has launched a historic $2.5 million campaign to turnout Asian American voters in Georgia ahead of the January 5 Senate runoffs. The funds will be spent on digital, mail, and turnout operations.

"In November, South Asian and Asian American voters were the critical difference between victory and defeat in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona," Makhija said. "The numbers are striking: Asian Americans increased turnout more than any other demographic, nearly doubling in Georgia. Asian Americans are becoming a core constituency of the Democratic Party, but they can’t be taken for granted.”

Some groups have started to focus on the AAPI vote in Georgia since Nov. 3. The AAPI Victory Fund launched a full scale Senatorial campaign in rural Georgia to mobilize the AAPI vote for Ossoff and Warnock.

“This Southern strategy has since paid off, but much work into infrastructure remains and particularly into identifying AAPI voter sub-ethnicities in order to properly target our voters. 

"In the 2020 election where Biden won Georgia by only 12,000 votes, there were 30,500 who were first-time AAPI voters. ... At least 15,000 rural AAPI voters came out to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," said the Victory Fund in a statement.

According to a study by by the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund, 68% of Asian Americans were contacted by a campaign, a political party or a community organization, compared to just over 50% of Asian Americans nationwide. 

Sam Park, Georgia's first Democrat state legislator of Korean American descent,  said that during the general election, the party and both candidates put forth coordinated multilingual outreach programs, conducted in-language phone banks and invested in ads in ethnic media. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made a six-figure investment, hiring organizers to contact Georgia's communities of color, including Asian Americans.

"They've got some great folks on the ground who know what they're doing. They know how to organize within the Asian American community," Park told NBC News. "But also, I think, which is important to note, they have long-standing ties and relationships to Asian American communities, given that they're from these communities here in Georgia."

Anjali Enjeti, who co-leads the Georgia chapter of the mobilization group They See Blue, said the key to wooing Asian American voters, they say: a candidate they respect with a coherent plan for the pandemic.

“That's going to get them to the polls more than saying, ‘Oh, we need to flip the Senate and dethrone [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell,’” Enjeti told Politico.

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Bilingual outreach was effective in reaching out to AAPI voters.

This week, They See Blue launched in-language phone banking in Punjabi, Gujarati, Nepali, and Telegu. They also, along with other Asian American groups in the state, deployed door knockers as early voting got underway -- three weeks out from the election, according to Politico.

Person-to-person outreach is critical for new AAPI voters. Before the last Presidential election campaign, neither major party paid attention to the community. But the Biden-Harris ticket and growing anti-Trump sentiment among younger voters pushed staffers and volunteers in community groups such as AAsian American Advocacy Fund and Advancing Justice-Atlanta to produce multi-lingual campaign material; bilingual door-knockers canvassed Asian neighborhoods speaking to voters in Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and any number of Asian Indian languages.

"Language access is always a big thing for us," Yaqoob Mahmood of the Asian American Advocacy Fund told NPR. "We also make sure that outreach is available, and when we're knocking on doors, or talking to voters on the phone, that we have in-language volunteers and staff making those calls, but also having two way communication to let voters know that they can always reach back out to us if they have questions."

An important turning point for Asian-American voters came in 2018, several Democratic activists said, when Stacey Abrams in her race for governor had a staff member assigned to Asian immigrant communities. Exit polls later showed that 78 percent of Asian-American voters cast their ballots for her.

But what made the turnout in Georgia unique, said Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood, director of the Asian American Advocacy Fund, was that coalition-building across community groups eventually paid off. Through multilingual, multiethnic, multigenerational organizations, she said, the communities in the state were able to chart a new path.

As community organizations across cultures focused on issues from immigration reform to ending cash bail to getting police out of schools, Mahmood told NBC News, people of color were able to see changes occurring.

"I think the biggest value in our work is not just in how we organized in Asian American communities, but the way that we build community with other Black and Brown voters. That's the story for Georgia," she said.

"It's not just Asian voters," NBC reported her saying. "It's how Asian Americans, Latinos and Black voters really changed the electorate and changed the future of our state, and the future of our country. ... It's always tied into how can we make sure that we're achieving these victories for all of our Black and brown brothers and sisters."

“There’s a saying that the Asian American community has gone from being a marginalized community to being the margin of victory,” said Assemblyman Park. “That could be very true here in Georgia.” 

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.