Congressional Gold Medal sought for Chinese/American WWII veterans

FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS of legislation that honored Japanese/American and Filipino/American WWII veterans by awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal, a new bill was introduced to extend the same honor to Chinese/American WWII vets.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif, and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., introduced on May 4, the Chinese American World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act (H.R. 2358). The bipartisan legislation recognizes the dedicated service of Chinese American veterans of World War II and collectively awards them the Congressional Gold Medal.

“The United States remains forever indebted to the bravery, valor, and dedication that the Chinese/American veterans of World War II displayed," said Royce. "Their commitment and sacrifice demonstrates a highly uncommon and commendable sense of patriotism and honor in the face of discrimination.

“To these brave veterans of World War II, thank you for your service and sacrifice. We are a grateful nation, and we honor your service by working towards a better world. We must promote diplomacy over conflict and ensure that war is the absolute last resort.” 

“As we observe this month of May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the introduction of our bill is a timely reminder of the many contributions AAPIs have made to our great nation, including serving in our military," added Lieu. 

By the start of World War II in 1941, slightly more than 100,000 Chinese/Americans had made a life for themselves in the U.S. Chinese/Americans faced major challenges, including discrimination, before the start of World War II due to laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, which limited the size of their population and their ability to build thriving communities. 

Nevertheless, and even with the Chinese Exclusion Act in place, almost 20,000 of these brave men and women served in the armed forces in every theater of battle and every branch of service, earning citations for their heroism and honorable service.

Francis B. Wai was awarded the Medal of Honor

One Chinese/American received the Distinguished Service Cross, Capt. Francis B. Wai. He was born in Hawaii, where his father was Chinese and his mother Native Hawaiian. After graduating from the Punahou School in Honolulu and the University of California at Los Angeles, Wai enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard and was called to active duty in 1940," said military historian James C. McNaughton of the Foreign Language Center of the Presidio of Monterey.

"Wai earned his commission through officers candidate school in 1941 and was assigned to the 34th Infantry, part of the 24th Infantry Division. On October 20, 1944, his unit landed at Leyte in the Philippines. He was killed in action while leading soldiers off the beach against accurate and concentrated enemy fire," said McNaughton. After the war, the award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for heroism during a war.

About one quarter of all Chinese/American soldiers served with the Army Air Forces. In 1943 the Army Air Forces organized some support units for the China-Burma-India theater, including the 14th Air Service Group, composed predominantly of Chinese-American personnel, according to  Other Chinese-Americans trained as pilots and aircrew and fought in Europe and the Pacific. However, most were assigned to regular ground units.

An estimated 40 percent of Chinese/American soldiers were not native-born citizens. After Congress repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943, many took advantage of their military service to become naturalized.

"From the Atlantic to the Pacific, Chinese/Americans served with courage and distinction during WWII and it is time for Congress to recognize them by awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal," said Lieu.

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Dec. 25 is a busy day for Chinese restaurants

ASAM NEWS

ONE OF THE BUSIEST DAYS of the year for Chinese restaurants is over.

The reason why so many Jews eat at Chinese restaurants on Christmas may not be what many people think.

The popular belief is that Jews had very little other options because only Chinese restaurants were opened on Christmas.

This ignores the fact that there are plenty of other eateries open Christmas day ranging from Indian to Thai.

Yet many Chinese restaurant owners say the tradition of Jews gathering at their businesses on Christmas can’t be overstated.

“Big is an understatement, said Wilson Tang. the owner of Nom Wah Tea Parlor in New York City, told Munchies. “It’s huge—easily one of the busiest days of the year.”

Some go as far as stating the tradition is even stronger today than yesteryear when perhaps there were less options.

“Christmas was a busy day, but not like it is now,” said Michael Solomonov, the award-winning chef who used to run Shun Lee in New York. “Now, Christmas in the New York City market, if you’re an upper-scale Chinese restaurant—it’s almost like you’re having the biggest sale of the year.”

Theories of why this tradition remains so popular are as varied as items on a Chinese menu.

Some say Jews who don’t follow strict kosher diets point out the pork in Chinese food is often hidden, chopped up in small pieces amidst a plate full of equally chopped up vegetables.

Others explain Jews appreciate the family style dining at Chinese restaurants. Smaller, but numerous dishes, are shared at the table. Often those dishes are placed on a lazy susan

“Families that felt they wanted to be American, but weren’t highfalutin, loved it. You didn’t have to have great manners—you could share. And Jews have always like sharing food,” explained Joan Nathan, a Jewish culinary expert.

The tradition, it seems, is purely Jewish American. The custom hasn't expanded to other Jewish communities in other parts of the world, Others believe that it started when Jews moved out into the suburbs and out of their urban neighborhoods where kosher food is readily available.

Still others say Jews and Chinese have bonded over that feeling of “otherness,” that feeling that they are not fully accepted in mainstream America. How and why, may be debatable but it has definitely become a tradition that both Jewish and Chinese/Americans look forward to each year.

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Olympics: Behind the scenes with Lia Neal

YouTube

Simone Manuel, left, and Lia Neal, center, are media favorites.

LIA NEAL, who won a silver medal as a member of the U.S. 4x100 freestyle relay team, has been prolific on social media, especially on Youtube, giving us a glimpse of what an Olympic athlete's life is like outside of the arena - or in her case - outside the water.

As you can see, below, it is not all a life of glitz and glamor. Aside from the men's and women's basketball team who are housed on a cruise ship, athletes are placed in barely furnished apartments " during the Olympics which looks more like a locker room with beds.
 
"(All the Team USA athletes} live in the same building and as far as we're concerned, we have everything we need. We have so many resources - we brought our own I.T. guy and we have two maintenance people that we flew out here just to take care of us. So it's been great for us. Living hasn't been a hassle at all here because we've been taken care of."

Not surprising, Simone Manuel is among Lia's BFF's. When the teammates are not competing for the U.S., they swim for Stanford University and they get to know the world calibre swimmers in the PAC12, many of whom are on the Olympic swim team in Rio. They are constantly being sought for interviews by the multitudes of media from around the world at the Rio Games.

The significance of Manuel's historic feat, becoming the first African/American woman swimmer to win an individual gold medal, is not lost on Neal, who can count Chinese and African bloodlines in her own heritage. Her mother made sure that Manuel is also fluent in Cantonese. She said the constant questions about being a black swimmer can be difficult, “but I think that’s just what comes with the territory of making history. You’re going to be faced with the question a lot, because it’s so new,” she said before Manuel’s gold-medal race.

The Stanford teammates are articulate and nimble in their handling of the many media requirements place on the athletes and great representatives of the United States. Below, the BFF's go to a press conference. "You see athletes everywhere but the dining hall is the premiere spot to really people watch," she told Cosmopolitan. "Everyone has to go through the dining hall; it's one of the coolest places in the village, if not the coolest. It's massive. You're just sitting down, watching the world's best athletes walk by."

At the age of 17, Neal went to the Olympics in London and earned a bronze medal as part of the 4x100m relay team. This time, four years older, a little more mature, and no longer a naive teenager. 

"London was such a blur for me because I was just so young. I didn't know what to expect. I had a lot of fun, and I was like, How will anything ever top that?! But I've had so much fun this time around too! I think just being older has allowed me to form more bonds with the team. I've just realized how great everyone is - this team really melds together well."

"The first day, we saw the U.S. women's gymnastics team. Not only was I starstruck, but I was sitting with the rest of our swim team and everyone is like, 'Oh, my god, there they are! They're so cute! They're smaller in person!'"

The Brooklyn-born Neal took a year off of school to prepare for the Olympics so this fall it will be back to the books where she will be in her senior year.

RELATED

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• Asian/American swimmers win medals
• All Asian/American badminton team 
• Hawaiian volleyball players destined to excel 
• Six Asian/Americans make up the table tennis team 
• Woman with most medals fails to make Rio swim team
• Asian American fencers go to Rio to make a point
• Fencer makes history by winning a silver medal 
• Weightlifter's crazy dancing brings attention to climate change 

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Petition seeks President's apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act

By Shirley N Lew
Reprinted from AsAm News

Local political pressure is now on President Obama to make an official apology for the passing of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act before he leaves office.

In early May, Senior Director of the Chinese Freemasons, Karlin Chan created a “We The People” petition in an effort to have President Obama offer an official apology for the Chinese Exclusion Act, but it fell short of the 100,000 signatures required within the 30 days. It garnered about only 2,000 signatures.

Days earlier, Chan collaborated with Democratic Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim who pulled in 20 other local politicians to sign a letter Kim wrote to the president requesting a formal apology.

The letter was signed on Monday, June 20. A formal press conference is to follow in the next few days.

View Assemblyman Ron Kim’s letter to the president.

The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act violated the Chinese of their basic American civil rights solely because of their race. They were denied entry into the US, their right to become naturalized citizens and their right to vote. The Chinese were the first ethnic group to be denied their civil rights explicitly because of their race. The Chinese Exclusion Act was later renewed for an additional ten years in 1892 and eventually became permanent in 1902.

In 1943, it was repealed when Congress passed The Magnuson Act solely because China joined forces with the US in World War II.

Some feel that the passing of Congresswoman Judy Chu’s bill, H. Res 683 in 2012, to express regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act by Congress, fell short of a full apology, which prompted Chan last month to start his first petition.

When we last spoke with Chan, he knew the goal of 100,000 signatures for the petition would be difficult to meet even with the help of social media. However, he felt it was a good “warm-up” in creating awareness of the history of racism towards the Chinese and to create a second petition with no time deadline.

You can sign Chan’s new petition on Change.org to ask President Obama apologize for the passing of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act by clicking here.

Accused as spies, Asian/Am scientists still suffer repercussions even after charges dropped

Spy charges vs. Sherry Chen and Prof. Xiaoxing Xi were dropped but their ordeal continues. 

Reprinted from AsAm News

MORE THAN a year after charges were dropped against two Chinese/American scientists falsely accused of espionage in two separate cases, both remain haunted by their ordeal.

Their cases were profiled in a CBS 60 Minutes report last Sunday and the two have also given recent interviews to the Wall Street Journal and Philly.com.

“We cannot get rid of the thought that the FBI is reading every one of our emails and listening to our phone conversations to find something,” Xiaoxing Xi , 58, said to Philly.com. “I am determined to move on, but that’s there.”

Xi lost his temporary chairmanship of the Physics Department at Temple University after the charges, but remains as a professor. He still struggles to sleep at night.

Unlike Xi, Sherry Chen was unable to get her job back following her suspension from the National Weather Service and has since been fired for the same issues raised in the since dropped Justice Department complaint.

The Wall Street Journal reports she has filed a discrimination suit against the Commerce Department.

“The victim isn’t only me–it’s also our agency,” she said. “I have a lot of work unfinished. My [forecasting] model really saves people’s lives”

“If you took out the China connection, neither of those cases would have ever been brought in a millions years,” said Peter Zeidenberg, an attorney who represented both Chen and Xi. “Everything that has a China connection is scrutinized in a different way.”

Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), points out in a press release that what happened to Xi is not an isolated incident. Within the last 18 months, Chinese American scientists Guoqing Cao, Shuyu Li, Sherry Chen and Xiaoxing Xi have emerged in a string of cases in which espionage-related cases were brought forth and later dropped – without explanation.

“Their lives were turned upside down simply because they were emailing while being Asian American,” said Chu in the CAPAC release that noted the Department of Justice’s new oversight policy in regards to national security-related cases, yet questioned its efficacy. 

“The public is still being denied any investigation explaining why there appears to be a pattern of singling out Asian Americans by federal law enforcement … I demand that the Department of Justice launch a full, independent investigation into the cases of these wrongfully charged individuals. I also look forward to hearing directly from Attorney General (Loretta) Lynch regarding DOJ’s new policy to provide greater oversight on espionage-related cases, and the Department’s plans to avoid such egregious missteps in the future.”

It’s difficult for Chen and Xi to shake their experience from their conscious.

“I see dangers all over the place,” said Xi. “I think I sound very annoyingly paranoid when I talk to my colleagues because I tell them, ‘You better be careful, what you’re doing is dangerous.’ ”

Forty members of congress have called for the Justice Department to conduct an investigation into racial profiling of Asian Americans. So far, Attorney General Loretta Lynch has not responded to the request.
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Another Chinatown falling on hard times

Oakland's Chinatown has come into some hard economic times.

LIKE OTHER CHINATOWNS in other cities, the cultural, spiritual and symbolic home of Chinese/Americans in San Francisco's East Bay, Oakland Chinatown's existence is threatened.

A confluence of factors has hobbled Oakland's Chinatown, several square blocks south of Broadway, sandwiched between downtown, Jack London Square and the Lake Merritt neighborhoods: rising rents that threaten to displace longtime residents and businesses; competition from Asian communities and business that have sprouted in the suburbs; the struggle by shop owners to adjust to changing tastes and a changing business climate that includes minimum wage increases; and younger generations of Chinatown residents who leave family retail businesses in favor of other professions.

RELATED: 'Progress' putting the squeeze on U.S. Chinatowns

An article in the East Bay Times outlined some of the problems facing Chinatown. Some business people believe that Chinatown is being neglected as other neighborhoods in the city get more attention from City Hall.

Some advocate more housing be brought to the neighborhood but in doing so might invite the gentrification that is plaguing other Chinatowns in Washington D.C, New York City, Boston and even on the edges of San Francisco's Chinatown, still home for thousands of Chinese immigrants and elderly despite becoming a major tourist attraction for the city.

RELATED: San Francisco's Chinatown fights off gentrification

But as the resident Chinese disperse to the outlying neighborhoods and suburbs, questions arise whether or not there is still a need for Chinatowns. The older Chinatowns grew out racist policies instituted by realtors, financial institutions and city officials. eThe quest for affordable housing is no longer relegated to the normally crowded conditions those policies create. Except for the higher-income neighborhoods, almost all other urban neighborhoods are also seeking affordable housing.

However, the Chinatowns allowed services to be delivered to a lot of clients in a small densely packed area. Social services, financial institutions, medical needs could focus on one area.

So I have two philosophical questions I pose to all of you: 

1. If those racist policies were in play today, would we allow the Chinatowns to form? Wouldn't there by boycotts and demonstrations protesting those policies in order to prevent the "ghettoization" of the Chinese community?

2. Or, would there be a movement afoot to form a "heritage district," in the same way that Filipinos were able to do in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood to preserve the neighborhood's Filipino/American character and institutions?

Just asking.

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

Illinois' pioneer jurist dies

Reprinted from AsAm News

Illinois’ first Chinese American judge and the first Asian American to serve on the state’s appellate court has died, reports the Chicago Trib.

Laura Liu, 49, died on April 15 of complications of breast cancer and was immediately remembered as someone who loved to serve others.

“Judge Liu loved the law, she loved her family, and she loved serving others through ensuring justice for every resident of Illinois,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. “As the first Asian/American justice to serve on the Illinois Appellate Court, Judge Liu broke barriers and blazed new trails of opportunity.”

Liu is the daughter of foreign exchange students. Although she was born in Illinois, she grew up speaking very little English. 

She received her law degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1991 and became a Cook County Circuit Court judge in 2010 before her appointment to the Appellate Court in 2014. She is also past president of the Chinese American Bar Association.

She battled breast cancer for five years.

“She didn’t hide the fact that she was ill, but she never dwelled on it,” fellow Appellate Court Justice Joy Cunningham said. “She said, ‘I got up in the morning, and I’m doing my work.’ And she was always upbeat. That’s why (her passing) took so many people by surprise, because she was always upbeat to the end. She was just a generally wonderful person and a thoughtful jurist.”

Asians in Politics: Tale of two cities

Ed Lee wins re-election in San Francisco.

THE RESULTS of the Nov. 3 off-year election put two Asian/American politicians from opposite coasts in the spotlight for entirely different reasons.

Ed Lee was easily reelected as Mayor of San Francisco, the propositions that he supported passed and the measures he opposed were rejected by the voters; so you would think he'd be riding high. His victories were offset by his single loss. One of his supervisors, Julie Christensen, lost to long-time critic and former president of the board of supervisors, Aaron Peskin. Peskin's victory could make Lee's next term a little rocky.

Peskin's upset of Christensen for the District 3 seat gives the progressives a 6-5 edge on the board of supervisors. During the campaign, he lost one of his top allies, power broker Rose Pak, who wanted him to endorse another candidate. 

The new majority among the 11 supervisors is more likely to temper Lee's efforts to woo more high-tech firms. It is also more likely to take positions that would slow or halt the gentrification of working class neighborhoods like the SoMa, the neighborhood where thousands of Filipinos have made their home, and Chinatown, supposedly Lee's base but where his candidate lost to one of his harshest critics.

RELATED: Filipino district proposed

Both those neighborhoods, along with the predominantly Latino Mission District, are under siege by developers and landlords who are eager to raise their rents, driving out the very people who make those neighborhoods unique.

The importance of affordable housing was evidenced by the passage of Proposition A, the affordable housing bond strongly supported by the mayor. It provides up to $310 million for below-market-rate housing for low- and middle-income residents.

RELATED: Chinatown fights gentrification

Lee, despite his personal history of fighting for tenants rights, was backed the traditional power brokers including the developers, the high-tech industry, Democratic Party, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Peskin drew his broad-based support from organized labor and tenants' unions.

With the new Board of Supervisors, Lee will find it harder to find approval for his megaprojects that bring in loads of revenue to the city coffers. But a stronger emphasis will be put on protecting existing affordable housing, building more low-rent units. So expect developers to put up a howl when stronger conditions are put on them to add affordable housing to their projects.


The hurdles ahead for Lee can be in this quote, from Peskin: “It’s really about whether we are going to have a Board of Supervisors that is independent, that’s willing to stand up to the tech billionaires.”

Lewiston, Maine received the attention of Asian Americans when its mayor's race turned nasty.

Meanwhile, three-thousand miles away, in a city about as different from San Francisco as can be, mayoral candidate Ben Chin garnered the most votes but he didn't get enough win the mayorship of Lewiston, Maine. Underlying the mayoral contest was the question of race.

Chin, a Democrat running for mayor in Maine's second-largest city who was targeted last month with signs viewed widely viewed as racist, will face a runoff with the GOP incumbent on Dec. 8.

The 30-year-old, who is half-Chinese, was one of five candidates for mayor. As of early Wednesday morning, Chin had received 44 percent of the vote, according to the local newspaper, the Sun Journal. Incumbent Mayor Robert E. Macdonald received 37 percent. 

The Lewiston city charter says a runoff is needed when no candidate receives a majority of all votes. The runoff election is scheduled to take place on Dec. 8.

The mayor's race in Lewiston, (pop. about 36,000) grabbed national headlines when a McDonald supporter put up racist posters on buildings asking voters to "Don't vote for Ho Chi Chin," along with an image of a hammer and sickle. 

Ben Chin

Joseph Dunne, the property manager of Sullivan Property Management, which owns the buildings, told the Portland Press Herald he put up the signs because Chin had labeled him a "slumlord." when, as political director for Maine People's Alliance, issued a report last summer calling Dunne and two others "three of the city's worst landlords." 

Dunne later apologized and took down the signs saying the signs were intended to oppose Chin's policies.

Lewiston, a former mill town with a dying economy, is a small city undergoing a dramatic demographic change with the arrival of immigrants from Africa. The new residents are changing the complexion of the city with an Anglo-French heritage. By some estimates, 4,000 new immigrants have moved to Lewiston since 2001, and dozens are still arriving every month. Downtown still has the traditional pawnshops and bars, but scattered between them are stores catering to the immigrants. The public schools which were losing students for years saw a sudden spurt in enrollment. Local colleges like Andover College saw its enrollment increase  because incoming students preferred the diversity of the town over predominantly white college towns.

Lewiston, like several other small cities in the Northeast, are seeing their cities revived by the arrival of immigrants. And because they are relatively small, the immigrants' impact is greater than, say, in a city like San Francisco, which likes to tout its diversity.

Sure, change in cities like Lewiston is inevitable but the way its older residents react to the newcomers, will point the direction America will likely take in handling the growing diversity of its people. 

Visits of foreign leaders raises the age-old questions for Asian/Americans

Indian Prime Minister Nerandra Modi is visiting Silicon Valley this week.

IF YOU'RE Chinese/American or Indian/American - have you been asked your opinion about the visits of Indian Prime Minister Nerandra Modi or Chinese President Xi Jinping?

Xi is in the U.S. on an official state visit and Modi is visiting Silicon Valley to try and get more assistance for his country's exploding tech industry.

Now, their visits are important, don't get me wrong, it's important for us to maintain and acknowledge our roots, especially for our families back home or if we have business ties to the original countries, but many of us have been here for generations. We're Americans.

We should be interested in international relations and trade agreements as they might affect our country - the good ol' U.S.A. 

But at the same time, non-Asians generally view us as foreigners, no matter how long we've lived here, no matter if we speak with a southern accent or grew up in Brooklyn, no matter if we root for our favorite baseball team by wearing their colors and painting out faces, no matter if we're grew up with the Partridge Family as our role models (that's another post all-together), no matter if we served in the U.S. military in Iraq or Afghanistan or even fought against the citizens of other Asian nations on behalf of "Our Country." No matter! 

Being asked our opinions of Xi or Modi is akin to being asked, "Where are you from?" and you answer, "San Francisco" or fill-in-the-blank, and are asked again, "No, really! Where are you REALLY from?"

Because of the color of our skin, the shape of our eyes, the color of our hair, people (the non-Asian/Americans) still tend to view us as "others," "exotic" "strangers," "aliens" or "foreigners."

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Racist spray-painting suspect arrested

San Francisco residents redeemed themselves by altering one of the a racist graffiti.

SAN FRANCISCO'S police department is thanking the public for their help after an arrest was made Tuesday in a vandalism case that is being considered a hate crime. 62-year-old John Schenone of San Francisco has been charged with five counts of felony vandalism and five counts of felony hate crime after it is believed he's the person responsible for spray-painting the words 'NO MORE CHINESE' in multiple locations Monday in the Portola and Bayview districts.

As KRON 4 reported Tuesday, the graffiti raised serious concerns in the neighborhoods "about a growing racial divide in the city."

Per a release from the SFPD:

"On the morning of September 7, 2015... the words “NO MORE CHINESE” ... [were found] sprayed in orange paint at the following 6 locations: Palega Park, Somerset Street/Silver Avenue at a vacant grocery store, University Street/Bacon Street on the fence of a vacant lot, the 100 Block of Brussels Street on a house under construction, the 100 Block of Brussels Street on a house for sale, and the 1300 Block of Silver on an office building. This incident was immediately determined to be hate motivated and investigated by SFPD’s Special Investigations Division Hate Crime Unit. SID investigators were immediately able to identify a vehicle and person of interest. A crime alert was subsequently distributed throughout the department in an effort to identify the suspect in these incidents."

Suspect John Schenone

RELATED: Sign of hate mars neighborhood

Then on Tuesday, September 8, officers spotted an individual and vehicle matching the description from the crime alert, and detained him. Based on evidence they were able to make the arrest, and Schenone was booked in the county jail.

San Francisco Supervisor Julie Christensen issued a statement saying the suspect was arrested on Tuesday night. She credited “the diligent and swift actions of our city staff.” Christensen said, “Disrespect for our fellow residents and visitors, especially based on ethnicity, is not and will not be tolerated in San Francisco.”

This was the latest of a recent series of incidents that could be linked to racist motives.

• On Sept. 1, vandals broke into the Saint Paul Tabernacle Baptist Church, where they covered the walls with what was described as "hate-filled and racist graffiti." The office of the church's pastor, Rev. Greg Valentine, was also vandalized, large mirrors were smashed, and bleach was poured onto every single pew. 

• Less than a month ago, Twitch founder Justin Kan had the phrase "F**k you Gook!" written in black marker on his garage in the up-and-coming Duboce Triangle neighborhood by a white, bearded stranger. The crime was caught on security camera installed by Kan. 

• Also this past August, in the predominantly Latino neighborhood called The Mission District, someone spray painted "White Power" on two Latino-themed murals and a swastika on the nearby McDonalds.

Do you think that some San Francisco residents are starting to feel uncomfortable with being a minority? In fact, they already are. In San Francisco, whites make up about 48% of the population according to the 2010 Census. Asians make up a third of the city; Latinos are 15% and African Americans about 6%.

San Francisco is just a microcosm of the demographic shift that is happening all over California. On July 1, 2014, there were about 14.99 million Latinos living in California, edging out the 14.92 million whites in the state.

RELATED: America's challenge is to learn to live with itself

If whites are feeling edgy now, imagine how they'll feel in 2040 when demographers estimate whites will be less than 50% in the United States.

I may be wrong, but, let's assume that the comparatively benign (compared to cross-burning and beatings) graffiti in San Francisco was done by whites. If that sentiment can arise in tolerant, liberal, diversity-celebrating San Francisco, imagine what can happen in less open-minded parts of our nation. Throw in a political campaign based on racist rhetoric stoking the fears that have thus far been suppressed, it's like lighting a match to leaking gasoline. It all adds up to a dangerous formula for a very heated 14 months ahead of us in the short term; and the potential for a nation divided in the long-term. 

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Message of hate mars San Francisco neighborhood

Neighbors changed this message to "(heart) more Chinese" before city workers painted it over.

SOMEBODY is spray painting "No More Chinese" in the Portola district of San Francisco. 

The Portola neighborhood has changed in the last few years with Asians making up more than half of the households. That apparently, doesn't sit well with some of the old-timers. 

Over the Labor Day Weekend, someone scrawled this anti-Chinese message throughout the Portola district, one of the few remaining neighborhoods in the city where homes are still affordable for middle-class families.

It is being investigated by the police not just as acts of vandalism, but as hate crimes. The paint color, the message and the writing style seems to indicate it was done by the same person.

The graffiti took place Sunday, according to a police statement, with the message spray-painted at several locations in the Portola neighborhood, just south of where Highway 101 and Interstate 280 merge.

Among the targets were the Palega Recreation Center, an out-of-business supermarket, the 100 block of Brussels Street and the 1300 block of Silver Avenue.

Vickie Chau saw the offensive graffiti and posted photos of them on Facebook. Phil Yu of Angry Asian Man blog reposted the photos on Monday. Her post has been shared over 1,100 times as of Monday afternoon.

“I’ve seen graffiti in my neighborhood before, but never with this type of message,” Chau said. “Overall based on the messages I’ve received, the community has been supportive and want to find the culprit.”

Chau said some neighbors have painted over the “NO” and left “MORE CHINESE” to make the message more positive.

Police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandanm a Filipina/American, said they are handling this as a vandalism and hate crime investigation. Hate crimes carry heavier fines and jail terms.

UPDATE: Neighbors respond.

What's most disturbing about this incident is that this is happening in San Francisco with one of the largest concentrations of Asians of any U.S. mainland city. You would think that anyone - ANYONE - in San Francisco would have social interactions with Asians, in particularly Chinese, since they make up the largest Asian group in the city.

If this type of sentiment is being expressed in a city that is supposedly Asian-friendly, imagine what can happen in other cities? Even more hateful messages or deeds against Asians is even more likely since 2012 when immigrants from Asia became the largest number of immigrants entering the United States.

Anyone with information regarding the graffiti is encouraged to contact the SFPD Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.

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Daily Show's newest correspondent tells Chinese jokes

Standup comedian Ronny Chieng joins the "Daily Show" regulars.

COMEDY CENTRAL'S The Daily Show searched far and wide for its "correspondents" for the program's  reboot with Trevor Noah, taking over the hosting duties from comedian John Stewart.

Among the new "correspondents" will be Chinese/American Ronny Chieng via way of  Melbourne, Australia. He was in the middle of a world tour when he was notified that he was accepted by The Daily Show. "I'm excited to bring my attention to detail & knowledge of current affairs to working with Jon Stewart @TheDailyShow," he tweeted.

Chieng has been touring Australia with sold-out shows all summer. He's also performed at major comedy festivals in Montreal, Edinburgh and Auckland.

“I actually found out last week that I got it and I’ve had to keep radio silence for a week,” the Chinese Malaysian-born comic told Guardian Australia on the phone from London, where he is performing at Soho theatre after another successful Edinburgh fringe run.

In the style of a more likable Don Rickles, Chieng is not afraid to draw in his audience by insulting them.

In a set at the Melbourne Comedy Festival gala, Chieng addresses the latent racism in Australian culture, talking about the most common question he gets asked: “Are your parents ok with you doing stand up?”

“The insinuation behind that is downright racist,” he says.

“You only ask me that because I’m Asian. You would never ask these other white comedians that question, because you know their parents don’t give a fuck about them.”

Point made!

As you can see from the video, he's also not afraid to turn the spotlight on his own people: “Chinese people, we invented chopsticks because forks are too easy. I don’t know about you but I enjoy a challenge when I’m doing a daily activity that’s required for my survival. What is that, a spoon? Get that shit away from me you pussy. I enjoy drinking soup with two sticks.”

Cheng was born in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire and Singapore. He has been a rising star on the comedy scene in Australia where he moved to attend the University of Melbourne. 

Embarking on a stand-up comedy career after graduating with a degree in commerce and a degree in law, Chieng’s career began to take off in 2012 when he was named one of the “Top 10 Rising Comedians in Australia” by The Age, the Herald Sun and The Sydney Morning Herald and received the “Best Newcomer” award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for his debut stand-up special, “The Ron Way.” Earlier this year Chieng made his U.S. television debut on The Late Late Show.

As the Daily Show's newest correspondent, he will be joining Desi Lydic and Roy Wood Jr. as the new talent as well as the show's regulars: Jordan Klepper, Hasan Minhaj, Jessica Williams, Lewis Black, John Hodgman, Al Madrigal, Aasif Mandvi and Kristen Schaal.

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Carly Fiorina steps into a pile of ... when she makes some remarks about the Chinese

Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference last summer.

NORMALLY, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina wouldn't meet the parameters to be mentioned in Views From The Edge, ... BUT, she gets our attention when she says something like this:

“I’ve been doing business in China for decades, and I will tell you that yeah, the Chinese can take a test, but what they can’t do is innovate. They’re not terribly imaginative. They’re not entrepreneurial. They don’t innovate. That’s why they’re stealing our intellectual property.”

She made those remarks in January and they went practically unnoticed until Buzzfeed released the video below in which she also seems to advocate doing away with the Department of Education.



That's not the first time Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, made disparaging remarks about the Chinese. In her new book, "Rising to the Challenge: My Leadership Journey," she wrote:

"Proponents of Common Core argue that we must compete with the Chinese in subjects like math and science. I agree that we must compete, but we will not win by becoming more centralized and standardizedin our education methods. Although The Chinese are a gifted people, innovation an entrepreneurship are not their strong suits. Their society, as well as their educational system is too homogenized and controlled to encourage imagination an risk taking."

There goes the Chinese American vote! I guess you could argue that in contest, she was talking about the Chinese citizens of the Peoples' Republic of China, not our good ol', homegrown, born-in-the-USA, American-as-apple pie Chinese. But that doesn't take away the sting of her statements since so most Americans who don't have Asian roots don't make that distinction between Chinese Americans and Chinese from China.

It's always dangerous to use such sweeping generalities when referring to a whole country or lumping all Chinese into a single bloc. She should know better, especially if she sees herself one day dealing with China in the international scene on a whole gamut of issues beyond trade.

She seems to have a penchant for making controversial statements. When she got the Hewlett-Packard job - as an outsider and with zero experience in high tech or engineering - she made a statement saying: "I hope that we are at a point that everyone has figured out that there is not a glass ceiling.” As you might guess, the remark angered many women, especially those in the tech industry, which is under fire for its lack of racial and gender diversity. 

Fiorina's tenure at Hewlet-Packard was rocky because it was at the same time when the tech-bubble burst. As Hewlett-Packard's stock fell, she was forced out under a cloud with a $21-million severance check. Not bad for a Stanford grad majoring in medieval history and philosophy.

Five years ago she made her first foray into politics by running an unsuccessful campaign against incumbent U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.

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