Saying goodbye to AAPI personalities who died in 2017

Eddie Kamae

SOME NOTABLE deaths occurred in 2017. Some well known, but most remained under the radar, to most of America.Each - in their own way - had an impact on the AAPI community. We give them a final aloha.

Eddie Kamae, Singer, composer and legend. He was the founder of The Sons of Hawaii, which sought to emphasize the working-class origins of "real" Hawaiian music. He was inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame. Kamae died in Honolulu at age 89.

Srinivas Kuchibhotia

Srinivas Kuchibhotla made headlines earlier this year when he was shot and killed in Kansas by a man who screamed at him to "get out of [his] country." His widow, Dumala, has been outspoken against racial bigotry and violence and on immigration. Kuchibhotla was 32 when he was killed.

Alex Tizon, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist taught journalism as an assistant professor since 2011 at the University of Oregon. His last article published posthumously, was controversial because he confessed that his family had kept a Filipina as a servant/slave for most of his life. He was 57 when he died March 23.

Fresh Kid Ice

Aaron Lee used the pen name "Arun Likhati" to write his blog Angry Asian Buddhist. Lee's online persona wasn't always angry, though. He sensed a tension Asian/American Buddhists and white Buddhists, which make up the majority of the faith in the U.S. . Lee died on Oct. 21 at age 34.

Christopher Wong Won is better known as rapper Fresh Kid Ice. He co-founded of the rap group 2 Live Crew. Won later left the group to form his own label — Chinaman Records. He died in July at age 53.

Mayor Ed Lee

Wood Moy, trailblazing Asian/American acto ris best known for his iconic role as Jo in Wayne Wang’s classic 1982 film Chan is Missing. Moy died Nov. 8 at the age of 99.

Ed Lee, the first Asian/American mayor of San Francisco was a civil rights and affordable housing advocate. As mayor, he declared San Francisco as a "sanctuary" city,.

He was 65 when he died last month in San Francisco.

March Fong Eu, the first Asian/American woman to hold an elected constitutional statewide office in Calfiornia died at the age of 95.
________________________________________________________________________________

Ed Lee memorial: San Francisco says goodbye to the 'humble' public servant

Former Mayor Willie Brown pays tribute to the late Mayor Ed Lee during the memorial in the City Hall rotunda.

ASAM NEWS

A STANDING-ROOM only crowd packed into City Hall for the memorial service of late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

An overflow crowd also watched on a live stream in the San Francisco Main Library just a short walk away from city Hall and still more stood outside the steps of city hall and in front of hundreds of flowers left on the city hall steps.

Inside the crowd was gathered at the bottom of the steps with the Rotunda towering above them. An honor guard stood atop the steps before the memorial began.

Across the street from city hall, a giant American flag hung from two aerial ladders provided by the San Francisco Fire Department.

Lee was remembered as a genuine human being with no pretension. He genuinely cared about the people of San Francisco and the underrepresented.

Tania and Brianna Lee, the mayor’s two daughters, spoke on behalf of the family.

Holding back tears, the two thanked all those who have extended their condolences.

They talked about their father as an inspiration.

“Through out everything , his passion for service permeated everything he did.” They recalled their father taking them door knocking, campaigning and to community organizing meetings.

They joined their father during their high school years to paint over graffiti, despite their protest.But he always enticed them with promises of burritos later.

The two announced a charitable fund in their dad’s name at the San Francisco Foundation to continue his fight to end homelessness and other issues important to the city.

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom followed the daughters. It was Newsom who Lee replaced after Newsom’s election as Lieutenant Governor.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” said Newsom about Lee’s death. He described Lee’s charisma as public service. He was “uncool in some ways, but had friends like Willie Mays and Joe Montana.”

“Decent, honorable humble human being who always wanted to do the right thing,” said Newsom about Lee. ”Ed’s life was about triumphing together.”

Newsom said cries of “Chinese must go” are part of our distant memory.

“Ed Lee was my friend. Ed Lee cared deeply about everyone in this room,” said Newsom.

Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) recalled how both she and Rep Jackie Speier (D-California) cried when they learned during their morning Democratic Caucus meeting of Lee’s passing. She recalled the last time she was with Lee.

“He always had that smile. He smiled and gave you that feeling that it would happen,” said Pelosi about Lee’s optimism.

The wife and daughters of the late Mayor Ed Lee listen to tributes to San Francisco's first Asian/American mayor.

Charlotte Malliard Schultz, the chief of protocol for the city of San Francisco, recalled how Lee described his speeches as “short because he was short.”

Schultz read words from former President Clinton who said he liked Mayor Lee the moment he met him. President Barack Obama said he was grateful for everything he did to “advance our shared vision and shape a future of great prosperity in San Francisco and throughout the nation.”

“Your golden sun will shine for me and Mayor Lee was a golden sun,” wrote Tony Bennett in a letter also read by Schultz. Bennett then sang those famous words from his classic song, I Left my Heart in San Francisco via video.”

Her husband, former Secretary of State George Schultz, described Lee as one the people could trust.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who was among those who convinced Lee to run for Mayor after his interim appointment, also spoke. He talked about how Lee never really wanted to become mayor. “I’m not sure Ed Lee wanted any job except one. He was one of the lawyers who handled the integrating of our fire department.” He joked that he has accepted more credit for Lee’s accomplishments than Lee has himself.

Another former San Francisco mayor also spoke.

“He was incredibly effective in government management with a proud history in civil rights,” said U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Feinstein recalled how Lee met his wife Anita in Hong Kong when Anita tutored Ed in Mandarin.

She also recalled the Ping Yuen rent strike lead by Lee for the Asian Law Caucus and listed a long resume of public service.

“Ed Lee’s 27 years of public service to the city of San Francisco is truly compelling and unique,” she said.

“This community showed a Chinese/American could reach the pinnacle of public service,” recalled Feinstein about Lee’s election as the first Asian/American Mayor in a major city. “A new generation of Asian/Americans now knows an Asian American can hold the highest office in this city.”

“Ed Lee is a very unusual political leader,” said California Governor Jerry Brown. He described Lee’s “infectious smile.” Every call from Lee was always pleasant. He asked for things with a “charm and humanity that was always welcomed.”

“Ed Lee was a real person. He was a person who communicated integrity and a love of love,” said Brown.

Acting Mayor London Breed said Lee meant a lot to the city, meant a lot to the Chinese American community.

Mayor Lee was like Beyonce with a moustache,” recalled Breed about a trip to China she took with Lee.

She thanked the family for sharing him with the city of San Francisco.

“San Francisco has been fighting for its values. Mayor Lee was a guardian against dangerous winds,” referring to the Trump administration. “Our mayor served others before himself. He fought for his city with a quiet dignity.”

Rabbi Beth Singer started off the memorial telling the two daughters and Mayor Lee’s wife Anita that there father truly touched a lot of people.

“Mayor Lee was not looking for more attention from the NRA. He was interested in a safer city and was not seeking attention for himself,” she said. “We will remember him.”

The service ended with the singing of "He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands."

Music was provided by the San Francisco Symphony along with the Glide Memorial ensemble and Beach Blanket Babylon’s Misa Malone.

The body of Mayor Lee was not  at today’s memorial. A private burial may have already been held or is being planned for later.

Among those who was planning to come was Jeannie Kim, owner of Sam Diner where Lee had his final breakfast, according to ABC7.

“We are going to dedicate this table, we’ll have a little plaque for him,” she said.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Body of Mayor Ed Lee to lie in state at SF City Hall

ASAM NEWS

THE BODY of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee will lie under the rotunda of City Hall Friday (Dec. 15) for a day-long public viewing.

Viewing is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and close by 7 that evening. according to SFGate.

Lee died early Tuesday morning after he suffered a heart attack Monday night while shopping for groceries at Safeway.

A memorial is scheduled for Sunday beginning at 3 and is open to the public.

The first Asian/American mayor of a major mainland city is only the fifth person to be given such an honor at City Hall.

The others are former San Francisco mayor George Christopher (2000), Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk (1978) and Ella Hill Hutch (1981), the city’s first African/American female supervisor.

RELATED: SF Mayor Ed Lee dies

Reactions and condolences continue to pour in from friends and allies across the country.

“A terrible hole has been created in the hearts of San Franciscans and any who had the pleasure of knowing Ed Lee as family or friend, as I did," said Rep. Judy Chu of Los Angeles. 

"History will remember him as the first Asian/American mayor of San Francisco. His constituents will remember him as a principled leader who, while overseeing a period of historic growth and prosperity, chose to champion the homeless and vulnerable while also making his city a global symbol of success. And I will remember him as a dear and wise friend.

“Growing up as the son of immigrants and one of six children in Seattle public housing, Ed faced both economic hardship and racial prejudice. As a lawyer, these experiences would continue to inspire his work, whether helping residents of a public housing project to organize or standing up for women and people of color in the workforce. His drive to succeed made him the first in his family to graduate college. Later, as mayor, his geniality made him a consensus builder, which enabled him to lift up communities so none would feel excluded," said Chu.

ABC7 reports flowers fill the Mayor’s office as well as part of the steps at City Hall.

The mayor’s staff is struggling to continue the city’s work, but say they know this is what Mayor Lee would have wanted.

(Views From the Edge contributed to this report.)

_______________________________________________________________________________

San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee dies

ASAM NEWS

SAN FRANCISCO Mayor Ed Lee, who became the nation’s first Asian/American mayor of a major U.S. city in 2011, died of a massive heart attack overnight at the age of 65.

ABC7 News reports Lee was grocery shopping last night when he suffered cardiac arrest.

Doctors at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital pronounced him dead at 1:11 a.m.

Lee was a non-politician politician. As a young activist attorney at the city’s Asian Law Caucus, he organized a rent strike at the Ping Yuen Housing Project in Chinatown in 1978. Despite some resistance from residents, the strike went on for six months and the city made improvements in living conditions.

Retired administrative law judge Steve Owyang who also served as Executive and Legal Affairs Secretary with California’s Fair Employment and Housing Commission, fondly remembers working with Lee.

“I am deeply saddened by Ed’s sudden passing, and my thoughts go out to his wife Anita and their daughters,” said Owyang to AsAmNews. “I remember working with him when we were law students in the mid-1970’s at Boalt Hall and at the Asian Law Caucus’s first San Francisco office on Waverly Place in Chinatown. Ed was completely dedicated to improving the lives of Chinatown residents.”

Lee had an affinity for affordable housing issues. He grew up in a government subsidized housing in Seattle. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, his parents struggled to raise six children. His father worked as a cook and his mother was a garment worker.

Lee worked his way up through the city bureaucracy. In 1989, Mayor Art Agnos appointed him as the city’s first investigator under the city’s Whistleblower Ordinance. Two years later, he became the executive director of the Human Rights Commission. By 2000, Mayor Willie Brown would appoint Lee the director of Public Works.

Lee became mayor in 2011 when then Mayor Gavin Newsom was elected Lieutenant Governor. The County Board of Supervisors struggled to rally around a temporary replacement for Newsom. After several votes, they settled on Lee who promised he would not run for election if appointed.

It was a believable promise. Lee had never run for public office before. He had no known ambitions to enter elective life.

He was just supposed to be a placeholder until his term expired in January 2012. But cries of Run Ed Run would be heard, largely coming from the city’s Chinese American community, who took pride in Lee becoming the city’s first Chinese American and Asian American mayor. One of the most outspoken supporters for Lee’s run was Chinatown power broker and consultant for the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce Rose Pak.

Not only did Lee run, but he won with the backing of the city’s moderate faction. In 2015, Lee won reelection without any major opposition.

However his popularity has waned since then due largely to San Francisco’s progressive faction who felt Lee did not do enough to increase the supply of affordable housing and catered too much to the business community, particularly the tech community.

Among his critics were members of Chinatown’s liberal faction. In fact, Pak turned on Lee when he appointed Julie Christensen to serve out the remainder of Supervisor David Chiu’s term in 2015 after Chiu won election to the State Assembly. Pak had lobbied Lee hard to appoint Cindy Chu, the chair of the city’s planning commission and a member of the Chinatown Community Development Center.

Lee has also been criticized by those to the extreme right. Twitter is full of hateful tweets from those who resent his strong support for San Francisco as a sanctuary city. Many of those trolls blamed Lee for the acquittal of the most serious charges against Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the undocumented immigrant who faced trial in the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle in San Francisco.

Lee is survived by his wife Anita, his two daughters, Brianna and Tania.

The President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, London Breed, has stepped in as acting mayor under the city’s charter.

_________________________________________________________________________________

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a breaking story. Check back later for more details.

Judge calls threat vs. sanctuary cities 'unconstitutional'

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Demonstrators at San Francisco's City Hall.

IN ANOTHER LEGAL SETBACK, a judge ruled that Donald Trump's threats to cut federal funding to so-called sancturary cities is "unconstitutional on its face."
U.S. District Judge William Orrick Monday (Nov. 20) permanently blocked Trump's executive order that sought cities' assistance in arresting, detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants.

The Trump administration had threatened to cut federal law enforcement grants from cities or counties that fought Trump’s efforts to combat undocumented immigration and said it would publicly shame localities that failed to comply with attempts to increase deportations.

“The counties have demonstrated that the executive order has caused and will cause them constitutional injuries by violating the separation of powers doctrine and depriving them of their Tenth and Fifth Amendment rights,” Orrick wrote.

The city and county of San Francisco and Santa Clara County argued that cooperating with immigration authorities in its efforts to deport immigrants would hurt its own law enforcement efforts, especially among immigrant communities.

RELATED: Orrick upholds ruling against Trump punishing 'sanctuary' cities

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee applauded the ruling, declaring the city “is and will remain a sanctuary city. We know that sanctuary cities are safer, healthier and more productive places to live.” 

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration, called the decision “a victory for the American people” and said the case was “a check on the president’s abuse of power.”

“This executive order was unconstitutional before the ink on it was even dry,” Herrera said in a statement. “This president and his administration have been trying to twist facts, stoke fears and demonize immigrants to score cheap political points. The American people are too smart for that.”

"The only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him. That’s what San Francisco has done," said Herrera.

Orrick strongly considered Trump’s own statements and threats in writing his ruling, including an instance where the president said he would use the executive order as “a weapon” against jurisdictions that disagreed with his policies.

A lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice  argued during a hearing before Orrick in April that the executive order applied to only a few grants for Santa Clara County and possibly no money for San Francisco.

READ Judge Orrick's decision here.

But the judge disagreed, saying in his rulings that the order was written broadly to "reach all federal grants" and potentially jeopardized hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to San Francisco and Santa Clara.

He cited comments by the president and Attorney General Jeff Sessions as evidence that the order was intended to target a wide array of federal funding. And he said the president himself had called it a "weapon" to use against recalcitrant cities.

As recently as last Wednesday, the Justice Department told 29 states, cities or counties it believes they are violating a law prohibiting them from limiting information sharing with U.S. immigration officials, and it asked them for details on their compliance.

The move, which could result in the jurisdictions being added to a list of five other cities and counties the government says are violating federal law, widens the effort by President Donald Trump to cut money to so-called sanctuary cities. His administration says these places shelter immigrants living in the country illegally.

The DOJ said that it would appeal Orrick's decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ten days after Trump's Inauguration, San Francisco became the first entity to sue Trump over his executive order to strip federal funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions.” Santa Clara County and other local governments soon followed.

San Francisco had about $2 billion at stake. That included $1.2 billion in annual operating funds, or about 13 percent of San Francisco’s budget; and another $800 million in multi-year federal grants that are not part of the annual operating budget and used primarily for large infrastructure projects, like bridges, roads and public transportation.

That lawsuit is the first of two that Herrera has brought against the Trump administration over federal funding for sanctuary cities.

The second lawsuit, filed Aug. 11, seeks to invalidate grant conditions that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions separately sought to place on a group of U.S. Department of Justice grants for local law enforcement. Those conditions came after the court preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the first executive order in April. That case is ongoing.

_________________________________________________________________________

Sunday ruminations: The Resistance will be televised (& live-streamed)

 NPS GRAPHIC

When the National Park Service tweeted out these photos comparing the inauguration crowds of Obama and Trump, the NPS was ordered to shut down its social media accounts.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, there is a silver lining to President Donald Trump's attempts to add America to his long list of money-making ventures for him and his billionaire friends.

While it might be easy to fall into a state of despair because of Trump's attempting to turn back all the progressive actions of the last 20 years, there has been reason to hope.

The good comes from people stepping up, speaking out, writing letters to the editor, voicing their concerns to their representatives, taking action out of their comfort zones, making donations to their favorite civil rights organization and just showing up at protests, rallies and marches.

From CNN, we hear that the Jewish community of Victoria, Texas, has stepped up to aid the town's Muslim community after their mosque was destroyed in a fire last weekend, hours after Trump signed his executive order restricting immigration of Muslims.

"I never doubted the support that we were going to get," said Dr. Shahid Hashmi, the president of the Victoria Islamic Center. "We've always had a good relationship with the community here."

Sally Yates

America found a new hero in former acting Attorney General Sally Yates when she ordered the Department of Justice lawyers not to defend Trump's anti-Muslim order because she doubted the legality of the order. As a result Trump had her replaced. Overnight, the career government employee, found herself the subject of social media praising her action.

Yates wasn't alone. Plenty in the legal community agreed with her. Civil rights attorneys rushed to the airports to provide free legal services to those affected by the travel ban.

The attorneys general of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York and Washington filed legal challenges to Tate Trump order resulting in a nationwide stay preventing Homeland Security from implementing the ban. 

A DOJ appeal to overturn a judge's stay was denied allowing the nationwide stay to continue through the weekend.

How about the underreported quiet revolt occurring in the federal government? Besides Yates, employees in the State Department and CIA have voiced their serious concerns about Trump's policies affecting international relations. There is some dispute on this but State's senior management team either resigned their posts or were "reassigned" because their opinions countered the administration's directions.

Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, USDA, CDC, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service and National Park Service have created private social media accounts - with tags of alt.NPSto counter the 
"gag order" after they began tweeting about climate change, their research and other facts, which the administration doesn't believe in.

 Using  names such as @altUSDA, @altUSEPA, @rogue_NOAA and @alternativeNWS, employees began tweeting about climate change and its impacts. 

According to Scientific American, the runaway popularity of @AltNatParkSer's tweets — the account quickly gathered over 14,000 followers — appeared to raise its founders' concerns regarding their continued involvement. On Jan. 26, the anonymous team tweeted that the members were handing the account over to activists and journalists who have science backgrounds but who are not federal employees, saying that they were making the decision "for the sake of our colleagues."

Our Democratic politicians were outspoken in their opposition to Trump's series of executive orders and tried to block the appointments of Trump's questionable cabinet members but thus far, have not been able to overcome the numbers game in the Senate. 

AAPI representatives were active: going to the airport demonstrations, denouncing the immigration and Muslim ban orders and encouraging their followers.

SCREEN CAPTURE

S.F. Mayor Ed Lee along with mayors of other cities have
refused to be cowed by Trump threats.

Mayors of sanctuary cities have by and large have stood fast against Trump's threats to cut federal funding but that drama still has to play out.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee reaffirmed the commitment of his city to remain a sanctuary city despite threats from President Donald Trump.

Last week, the president signed an executive order to deny federal grant funds to “sanctuary cities.” These cities have policies in place to restrict local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration agents, with the exception of extreme cases.

“Our city is still a sanctuary city and we are going to remain a sanctuary city,” said Lee. The sanctuary city policy intends to increase cooperation between local law enforcement and immigrant communities by establishing a sense of trust, reports ABC7 News. The policy also permits undocumented immigrants to access services, such as health care and education, that they would not necessarily receive in cities not protected by the sanctuary city policy. 

Other U.S. cities who have declared sanctuary cities have joined in the chorus. Only Miami appears to have backed off.

The Women's March has Held the day after Trump's inauguration sparked a resistance  movement that appears to have legs. When Trump signed the Muslim Exclusioni order, thousands of demonstrators across the country spontaneously protested at the nation's airports. Unlike the Women's March that attracted millions, there were no months of planning involved, people fed up with Trump's king-like proclamations showed up to demonstrate their displeasure.

As Muslim immigrants allowed to join their awaiting relatives at LAX, the LAPD joined in singing the chorus of "This Land is Your Land," along with the protesters.

Over the weekend, some Republican lawmakers staged town halls in their districts and were surprised to see the crowds in attendance, demanding that Obamacare be left alone.

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), one of the relatively few members of Congress who has held public town hall meetings in 2017, was beset by protesters in the city of Roseville, Calif. More than 1,000 people gathered in front of a venue that could seat 200, and many of those who got inside protested McClintock, a conservative who represents one of the state’s few safe Republican seats, for favoring the president’s executive orders on refugees and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

According to social media reports from attendees, the event was raucous; according to video clips taken in its aftermath, McClintock left under police protection as critics, many organized by the local branch of the Indivisible activist organization, followed closely.

“If anyone is wondering what a town hall meeting in a conservative district looks like, welcome to Roseville,” wrote protester Troy Kuersten on Facebook.

Other GOP representatives, including Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wis.), had visits from groups opposed to Trump policies.

The resistance, good people, is gaining momenturm. You are not alone.