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In 1943, it was repealed when Congress passed The Magnuson Act solely because China joined forces with the US in World War II.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

Asian/Americans condemn SCOTUS ruling against Obama's immigrant plans

Protestors outside the Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAm News

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S executive order protecting millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and allowing them to work has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The justices deadlocked 4-4 and that means the Texas appeals court ruling blocking the plan remains in affect.

"For more than two decades now our immigration system, everybody acknowledges, has been broken," Obama said. "And the fact that the Supreme Court wasn't able to issue a decision today doesn't just set the system back even further, it takes us further from the country that we aspire to be."

Obama’s plan known as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) would have allowed parents of American citizens or permanent residents to apply for the program. It would affect almost 4 million people.

RELATED: Ruling may impact 400,000 in California

The justices who voted against DAPA acknowledged the president had the authority to prevent the deportation of individuals, but objected to the blanket protection DAPA offered.

“As a national civil rights organization that advocates for fair immigration policies, we strongly supported the president’s immigration actions that would have provided relief from deportation and employment authorization to almost 1.5 million undocumented Asian immigrants in this country,” said Margaret Fung, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund to AsAmNews. “While the Court’s 4-4 decision is a setback that has delayed the hopes of millions of undocumented immigrants and their families, we will explore all options in continuing the fight for immigrant rights.”

RELATED: Asians are part of the immigration debate

“The anti-immigrant forces and the Supreme Court are ignoring a clear truth,” said Grace Shim, executive director of the MinKwon Center. “Enforcement and deportation cannot solve the broken immigration system. Congress has repeatedly failed to enact large scale immigration reform, most recently in 2013 when the Senate passed a comprehensive reform measure but the House refused to even consider it. The Obama administration has also not been able to deliver on its initial promise of comprehensive immigration reform and has provided relief for a very select populations of DREAMers through his first executive action.”

The Supreme Court Justices who voted. 

“Each day these programs are delayed means that millions of immigrants and their families are left to live with fear and uncertainty,” said Sally Kinoshita, deputy director of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, which leads Ready California. “Today’s Supreme Court decision denies valuable members of our communities the opportunity to live and work without the constant risk of being torn from their families while more fully contributing to their local economies. When and if these programs become available, we are determined to help eligible Californians realize the full benefits of these critical immigration benefits and prepare for eventual immigration reform.”

According to Ready California,the original DACA program launched in 2012, continues to be available to more than a million qualified applicants and is not affected by the Supreme Court decision. Eligible undocumented immigrants can continue to apply for and renew DACA in order to access its many benefits, including a temporary reprieve from deportation, access to a work permit, and a social security number.

“I believe we are stronger together. When we embrace immigrants, not denigrate them. When we build bridges, not walls,” said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. “That is why, as president, I will continue to defend DAPA and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and do everything possible under the law to go further to protect families. It is also why I will introduce comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship within my first 100 days. Because when families are strong—America is strong.”

“Among the things America, its history and its people has really taught me: You don’t give up. You move forward. You fight on," said Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define America and an undocumented immigrant himself.

"By definition, immigrants are resilient, resourceful, courageous people. We will not give up. I will not give up.”

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

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No more Whoppers for me; join the boycott

JOIN ME in boycotting Burger King for it's recent gambit for avoiding paying taxes to the U.S.

Yesterday (Aug. 26) the fast-food Whopper maker completed its purchase of Canadian-based Tim Horton's, thus making Burger King the third-biggest of the fast-food chains in America.

The tax-saving maneuver has been denounced by political leaders and at least one senator has called for a boycott.

Burger King's decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders," said Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio). "Burger King has always said, 'Have it your way'; well  my way is to support two Ohio companies that haven't abandoned their country or customers." Wendy's is based in Dublin, Ohio while White Castle is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Burger King will move its corporate headquarters from Miami to Canada. It is owned by a Brazilian conglomerate and they don't care what country the headquarters is as long as it saves the struggling company money.

While Burger King downplays the tax benefits it would receive, many believe that the move to purchase a foreign company and transfer its headquarters to Canada is in response to President Obama's recent denunciation of American companies strategy to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

News of the deal came out over the weekend and people flooded the fast-food chains Facebook page with boycott threats.

President Obama spoke out about the strategy of "tax inversion" last month and threatened to place restrictions on companies who wanted to pursue that route. Tax Inversion is a situation wherein an American company buys a company based in another country with a lower tax rate, opts out of its American corporate citizenship and becomes a corporate citizen of the foreign country. What it comes down to is tax avoidance.

America gives a company its start, U.S. banks finance it, goods are shipped on government-built roads, American job training programs trains its workers and American colleges produces its management, American-built roads deliver the goods, American customers give it a solid financial foundation. Hell, government granted businesses like Burger King to incorporate with rights and privileges. Corporations like Burger King want to turn its back on America and the taxpayer-funded system that allowed and encouraged it to thrive and grow.

The U.S. corporate tax is high, 35%, but through our loophole-laced tax code, the average American corporation's tax rate is 12-15%, much lower than most households of middle class America. Some corporations are so good at dodging taxes they pay zero, nada, nothing -- in taxes. (That's not fair or right either.)

I gladly pay my taxes and I'm sure most of you pay your taxes because we are part of a larger community. Our taxes comes back to us in our infrastructure, our education, our water delivery systems, sewage, electricity and other government services, Social Security, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.

Earlier this month, drugstore giant Walgreens also was seeking a tax inversion but after the bad publicity and customer backlash, it decided to abandon those plans.

If Burger King doesn't appreciate what our system of government and economy allowed the company to do; if Burger King doesn't care about our country; if Burger King doesn't need us, well, -- WE DON'T NEED IT. There are plenty of other burger joints in town.