California's schools chief encourages districts to become 'safe havens'

AAPI students fight for immigration rights.

IN A LETTER, California's top school official released a letter Wednesday (Dec. 21) encouraging all public schools in the state to be declared “safe havens” for students and their parents and to remind families about existing laws that protect students’ records from questions about immigration status.

“Unfortunately, since the presidential election, reports of bullying, harassment, and intimidation of K-12 students based on immigration status, religious, or ethnic identification are on the rise,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in his letter to county and school district superintendents, charter school administrators, and principals.

“As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, safety is my top priority. And my strongest commitment to you, your students, and their families is that schools remain safe places to learn. California serves more than 6.2 million kindergarten through twelfth grade students with the most diverse population in the nation,” said Torlakson. 

Citizenship status is not a condition for enrollment in California K-12 schools. All kids must go to school, regardless of their paperwork. Citizenship is also not a condition for enrollment in California's system of community and four-year colleges. It is estimated that one in ten California students are "unauthorized."

While the majority of California's unauthorized students are from Mexico and Latin America, the next biggest group is from Asia.

The California Department of Education (CDE) will continue to provide local educational agencies (LEAs) with guidelines about existing laws that protect student records, including the 1984 Plyler v. Doe U.S. Supreme Court decision that requires schools to enroll all eligible children regardless of immigration status.

Schools must verify a student’s age and residency, but they have extensive flexibility in what documents are used and do not need to use pertaining to immigration status. No records can be released to law enforcement without a parent’s written permission, a court order, or subpoena. Schools should not collect or maintain any documents pertaining to immigration status, Torlakson said.

Some California schools districts, including the Los Angeles Unified School District and Sacramento City Unified School District, have already declared themselves safe havens and let their communities know they will maintain a welcoming environment for all students and parents.

The full letter is available on the California Department of Education (CDE) Public Schools Remain Safe Havens Web page.

California Assembly's newest chaplain is a Buddhist

The Rev. Bob Oshida (at podum) led California's electors in prayer.

THE SOUND OF a Buddhist prayer bell rang through the chambers of the California Assembly Monday (Dec. 19) followed by the baritone of the Rev. Bob Oshita, the Assembly's new chaplain.

Oshita, the former reverend of the 117-year old Sacramento Buddhist Church, urged those in the room to engage in "calming self-reflection" in his opening prayer.

After the moment of silence and contemplation, California's 55 electors solemnly cast their votes for Hillary Clinton for President.

Oshita will open legislative sessions, serve as a spiritual counselor to members, and perform ceremonial and symbolic duties.

His appointment as chaplain was cheered by the body's AAPI members.

“His experience working with young people, tending to the spiritual needs of a variety of communities, and serving for many years in the capitol city as a compassionate and committed reverend will serve us well in his new role,” said Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), chair of the API Legislative Caucus and the only Filipino/American lawmaker.

Oshita, 67, and his wife, retired Rev. Patti Oshita, have made Buddhism accessible to people from various faiths and ethnic backgrounds. The church has long been a cornerstone of the Japanese/American community in Sacramento.

In a final expression of displeasure at the overall presidential vote in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million over eventual winner Donald Trump, the state's Electoral College members unanimously passed a resolution calling for an independent investigation into Russian activities that may have interfered with the U.S. elections.

The Japanese/American chaplain replaces Father Constantine Pappademos, a Greek Orthodox priest who served various roles at the Capitol, including Assembly chaplain from 2003 until this year. Oshita's counterpart in the Senate is Sister Michelle Gorman, a Roman Catholic nun who has served in the role since 2014.

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Chinese National Admits to Stealing Sensitive Military Program Documents From United Technologies

United Technologies helped design jet engines used in fighter craft similar to these jets.

A CHINESE national waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Monday after being caught giving U.S. military secrets to China three years ago.

Yu Long, a U.S. permanent resident who also is a citizen of China, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in the theft of trade secrets knowing that the offense would benefit a foreign government. He also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful export and attempted export of defense articles from the U.S.

Long, a former employee of United Technologies, faces maximum sentences of 15 to 20 years for those charges. He made his plea in New Haven federal court in Connecticut.

Yu Long

“Long admitted to stealing and exploiting highly sensitive military technology and documents, knowing his theft would benefit China’s defense industry and deliberately contravene the embargo on U.S. Munitions List technology the United States has imposed on China,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary B. McCord.

“Export laws exist as an important part of our national security framework and disrupting and prosecuting this kind of economic espionage is one of the National Security Division’s highest priorities,” she said.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately May 2008 to May 2014, Long worked as a Senior Engineer/Scientist at United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) in Connecticut. Long’s employment at UTRC included work on advanced fighter aircraft.

In 2013, he made it clear to agents outside of UTRC that he wanted to return to China to do research. During this period, he was able to appropriate UTRC secrets and share them with his colleagues in China, knowing full well their value to the Chinese military.

On Nov. 5, 2014, Long boarded a flight from Ithaca, New York to Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, with a final destination of China. During Long’s layover in Newark, CBP officers inspected Long’s checked baggage and discovered that it contained sensitive, proprietary and export controlled documents from another defense contractor.

Long was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on Nov. 7, 2014.

A review of Long’s digital media seized at the time of his arrest revealed voluminous files of military secrets. In short, the investigation revealed that Long took his laptop and a UTRC external hard drive with him to China in 2014, at which time there was a substantial body of highly sensitive, proprietary and export controlled materials present on that digital media. UTRC has confirmed that the hard drive that Long unlawfully retained and accessed in China contained not only documents and data from projects on which Long worked while employed at the company but also from projects on which he did not work to which he would have had access.

A sentencing date has not been set. Long has been detained since his arrest.

“In an effort to further his own career, this defendant stole an extraordinary amount of proprietary military program information from United Technologies and transported much of that stolen information to China,” said U.S. Attorney Deirdre M.Daly.

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Gap between rich and poor Asian Americans widening

By Louis Chan
ASAM NEWS

INCOME INEQUALITY became a volatile issue during the 2016 presidential election, propelling the candidacies of both Bernie Sanders and eventual President-elect Donald Trump.

A report by the Center for American Progress found that the wealth gap among rich and poor Asian/Americans exceeds that of Whites. This may in part explain why early in the primary season, a Gallup Poll found support for Sanders higher than any other presidential candidate.

Researchers with CAP found that Asian/Americans in the 90th percentile of income had 168 times the wealth than those in the bottom 20 percent. By contrast, the ratio among Whites is 121.3

“An unequal wealth distribution means that many people face economic uncertainties on a day-to-day basis because they cannot cover an emergency such as a layoff,” said Christian Weller, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Jeffrey Thompson, principal economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, said in their report. “It also means that many people cannot, for example, send their kids to the college of their choice, start and grow a business, or move to a new job and/or career.”

The gap between those Asian/Americans at the top of the economic ladder and those at the bottom has widened. The researchers found middle-class Asian/Americans had 6.6 times the wealth than those in the 20th percentile between 1992 and 1998. That increased to 11.8 between 2010 and 2013. During those same years income of wealthy Asian/Americans grew by 120 percent versus 36.4 percent for the median and 10.1 percent at the 20th percentile.

Although Asian/Americans have a reputation for putting high value in home ownership, they are less likely to own a home than Whites -- 73.9 versus 59.6 percent. However, the concentration of Asian/Americans on the East and West coasts where housing prices are higher has an impact.

“Asian/Americans tend to spend a disproportionate amount of their income on housing. The concomitant heavy mortgage indebtedness leaves many Asian Americans more vulnerable to potential house price declines than is the case for whites,” says the report.

Mortgage debt is much higher for Asian/Americans, which especially leaves those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder more vulnerable to the highs and lows of the housing market. Student debt and car loan debt are also rising faster among Asian Americans than Whites.

Other highlights of the CAP report include:

• Asian American average and median wealth has become comparable to white wealth.
• Asian Americans at the bottom of the income distribution have less wealth than whites at the bottom of the income distribution.
• Wealthy Asian Americans have more wealth than wealthy whites.
• Wealth inequality among Asian Americans is greater than among whites.
• Wealth inequality among Asian Americans has widened over time.
• Asian Americans have fewer retirement benefits than whites.
• Asian Americans have lower homeownership rates than whites.
• Asian Americans owe more debt than whites.

“The analysis of the data available for this report suggest that a large share of Asian/Americans are in need of effective wealth-building policies,” said Weller, a co-author of the report. 

“That could come, for example, in the shape of more efficient policy interventions to boost savings, or more access to retirement savings for workers whose employers do not offer retirement benefits. Whatever it is, we will continue to need more systematic and targeted data collection on Asian/Americans, Pacific Islanders, and all the communities represented therein.” (Views From the Edge contributed to this report.)

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49er exec no longer silent about the eating disorder that claimed his sister

49ers

Paraag Marathe

PARAAG MARATHE usually doesn't seek the limelight. He's used to working behind the scenes on the business side of the NFL's 49ers as executive vice president of football and business operations.

He's used to being in control, whether it be with the 49ers or in his earlier career in Silicon Valley. Until recently, the one topic he hasn't been able to handle was how anorexia claimed the life of his older sister 11 years ago 

At the time of the death of his sister Shipa, in 2011, she had withered down to a weight of 50 lbs. It took him years of battling regret and shame to be able to talk openly about his sister and her illness.

One of the ways he has been able to get through the grieving process is to become a spokesperson for treating eating disorders. He can cite the statistics from memory: 30 million Americans are believed to suffer from eating disorders; anorexia, the illness that claimed his sister, has the highest fatality rate among mental illnesses; the illness affects men as well as young, white girls.

The goal of being skinny or conforming to the "petite" stereotype afflicts Asian and Asian/American women as well. Earlier this year, the social media trend that emanated from Asia, dubbed the A4 Waist Challenge, had women holding a sheet of paper vertically against their midsection to show how “paper thin” they are. Participants posted photos of themselves with the paper on social media using the hashtag #A4Waist.

In Asian cultures, thin is the default body type, and there's collective pressure to maintain it. "It's a given that women are supposed to be thin, and people think it's your fault if you're not," says says Juliana Chang, a Chinese-American who moved from California to Taiwan when she was 11 and had disordered eating habits throughout high school.

"Asians want women to be small, thin, and quiet, and I think that has a lot to do with sexist ideals that say women should be docile and obedient," she says. Even though Marathe welcomes his new role, he still has difficulty discussing what happened to his sister with his parents, immigrants from India. They raised their children in well-to-do San Jose suburb, Saratoga, Calif., a stones' throw from Silicon Valley.

He went to UC-Berkeley and received his MBA from Stanford. His sister went to UCLA to receive her law degree where she excelled academically.
Marathe told the San Jose Mercury News he never heard his parents talk openly about what was happening to their family. And he hasn’t figured out how to break the silence, although he plans to do so soon.

“Immigrant families are particularly susceptible, because of the whole Tiger Mother, Tiger Father concept,” Marathe said. “You don’t talk about your feelings. There’s no such thing as mental illness. You don’t want to bring shame on the family by being put in an inpatient facility.”

A native of Saratoga, Calif., Marathe received his bachelor’s degree with high honors from the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley and his MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Merger of two U.S. theater chains heats up anti-Chinese concerns

AMC is poised to become the largest theater chain in the world with the pending purchase of Carmine Cinemas.

AMC Entertainment Holdings has taken a giant step to becoming the world's largest exhibitor heating up anti-Chinese sentiment by protectionist interests.

AMC, the second-largest U.S. theater chain, today (Dec. 20) secured shareholder approval from Carmike Cinemas for a $1.2 billion merger and some AMC stock. "We are pleased with the outcome of today's vote," David Passman, Carmike president and CEO, said a statement following the shareholder meeting in Atlanta.

If the Department of Justice approves the buyout, by the end of the year AMC is set to leap ahead of the Regal Entertainment Group, which has 564 theaters, to become the biggest theater circuit in the U.S. and around the world. AMC's 387 theaters would be bolstered by Carmike's 276 outlets. 

AMC was bought in 2012 by China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Dalian Wanda conglomerate. That acquisition, along with other Chinese investments in Hollywood entertainment industry, raised concerns about their influence on what goes on the silver screen.

RELATED: How China is changing Hollywood

“There is no political point of view,” Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Dalian Wanda, who is also China’s richest man, told a crowd in Los Angeles in October. “I am a businessman.”

Others in the film industry, such as Hollywood producer Janet Yang, attribute the backlash against Chinese media control to xenophobia and discomfort with China’s rising global power.

“If you grew up on John Wayne or Clint Eastwood or superhero movies, or these very powerful iconic pieces of content, that does affect what you think the world order looks like,” she says. “That’s a paradigm shift; some people can’t handle it.”

Much of the opposition is being led by Washington lobbying firm Berman and Company, which uses a network of front organizations to carry out campaigns on behalf of anonymous clients, is led by Rick Berman, a veteran lobbyist who 60 Minutes once called “Dr Evil”, for defense of issues such as second-hand smoke, trans-fats, tanning beds and payday loans and attacking the Humane Society, labor unions and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

One of the front organizations called “China Owns Us” put up anti-Chinese billboards in L.A., wrote opeds and met with members of Congresss to warn them of the potential danger of China buying up American businesses.

"What I’m trying to do is stop somebody else from managing the culture here,” Berman says. 

Berman claims credit for the letter from 16 congress members that asked the government to look into the role of a federal committee known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), in determining whether deals such the AMC and Carmike merger weakens national security. 

Berman won't reveal who is paying him for his anti-Chinese campaign, only that his clients  are wealthy and concerned about national security.

"AMC is completely run by its American management in Leawood, Kansas, as American as an American place in the heartland you can find,” says AMC’s chief executive, Adam Aron. “We’re in the business of selling movie tickets and popcorn, and we don’t involve ourselves in what goes on in China.”

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REPORT: Hate groups emerging from the shadows

Social media has allowed groups to share their ideology of hate with millions.

I HAVE A LOT of white friends. I work alongside many white people and we get along rather well. I have white people in my family. I fear those statements might sound like the  cliche, "I have a lot of (fill in the blank) friends." Nevertheless, they're true.

I had to get that paragraph stated right away because I don't want readers to think I'm talking about ALL white people. There is a small segment who have re-emerged in American society in a more vocal way and, some say, in a more powerful presence largely due to the recent presidential campaign.

Vox has an interesting report that should worry Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders. It says most of our country's hate groups are rooted in white supremacy. This confirmation is nothing new for people of color but it might open a few eyes among Vox's readers.

In an extensive 2015 analysis, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) determined that 892 hate groups exist in America. Of these groups, 528 — or roughly 60 percent — subscribe to white supremacist ideologies.

“White supremacy” is a very broad term, says the Vox report, "referring to the racist ideology that whites are superior to nonwhites and should maintain political, economic, and social authority.

But under that umbrella, there are a number of factions, each slightly different in its set of beliefs. Specifically, SPLC breaks down America’s white supremacists into six subgroups: the Ku Klux Klan, white nationalists, racist skinheads, neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates, and followers of Christian Identity, says Vox.

I'm not sure when the study concluded but 2015 shows a marked spike in membership among these groups, but the highest membership grown occurred in President Obama's first term, 2008-2011. The groups membership showed a sharp decline in 2014 when Obama's popularity surged and Americans began to believe that an economic recovery was occurring. 

We can surmise - with some degree of confidence - that with the so-called alt-right wing bold enough to do Nazi salutes and shouting "Sieg Heil" in the shadow of the nation's capitol, 2016 might literally be off the charts.

How America's white supremacist hate groups have fluctuated in the 21st century

Of particular concern of the SPLC authors is  the growth of the "lone wolf" racist who are impossible to track.

“There is a social stigma attached with hate groups,” says Lenz. “In recent years, people join forums online anTrumd find confirmation of their beliefs without joining a group. And now, with Trump {nd his recent appointment of Steve Bannon, the head honcho of the alt-right website Breitbart), they can find it in mainstream politics too.”

The decline in traditional hate groups here may be, in part, a result of the alt-right movement’s growth. Ignited in 2010 with the creation of Richard Spencer’s Alternative Right blog, the alt-right has offered a community that both confirms its members’ beliefs and offers full anonymity.

RELATED:

• Trump-inspired hsate continues to ooze out of America's sewers
• Hate groups increase as campaign rhetoric incites fear, anger
• Steve Bannon thinks there are too many Asians in Silicon Valley

Hate groups aren’t truly declining — they’re just becoming more covert and secretive, says the authors. I'm not sure I agree with that. With Bannon whispering racist sweet nothings into president-elect Donald Trump's ear and some of his Cabinet picks repeating the same complaints about what they call "socialist" government programs, that isn't exactly secretive.

The so-called alt-right, a term created by Bannon, may be the newest brand, but it's belief system borrows from its predecessors in the white-nationalist movement. Combining its racist ideas with anti-women and anti-LGBTQ platforms, the alt-right has just branded itself in more palatable, modern terms. 

The more moderate GOP members have to be wary about the very volatile formula brewing among Trumps more extreme supporters. They need to be brave enough to denounce the racist, misogynistic and homophobic rhetoric and actions. All Americans should beware of this dangerous breed of haters and at the same time, support those that expose and fight against the actions of the extremists. 

The growth of the white supremacist hate groups should concern us all -- no matter what color we are. Those upcoming battles could very well occur in the streets, the Internet, the courts, the halls of Congress ... and even (irony upon irony) in the White House.

White supremacist groups are no longer hiding in the shadows or keeping their beliefs to themselves.

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Study: Do white people trust Asians?

By Louis Chan

ASAM NEWS

I RAN across an episode of Freakonomics on NPR Radio which quoted an interesting study about trust.

Researchers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted an experiment intended to measure trust. It found that Whites were more likely to cheat Asians than members of their own racial group.

The study is from 2000, but given the current political divide in the country, one has to wonder if we would get the same results today.

Almost 200 Harvard undergraduates were asked to participate in an experiment. More than 35 percent of the study’s participants were Asian. The students are paired up. First they are given $15 and asked to pass the money on to the next person without knowing if they would get that money back. Each time the money is passed, the researchers double the amount that is received. Researchers found that Whites were more likely to take some or even all of the money before passing it to the other when that person was of another racial group.

Ninety-two percent of the cases where the recipient sent back nothing occurred when the recipients were of a different race, while only 59 percent of the pairings were racially diverse.

“A lot of the cheating was across racial and ethnic lines,” said Harvard researcher Ed Glaeser on NPR. “And this was primarily White on Asian, meaning the Whites were cheating the Asians. And I think there are lots of cases in the world in which we’ve seen racial fractionalization be related to less-than-perfectly functioning social relations.”

Researchers say that trust is built up through interaction. In other words, the more interaction you have with other people, the more trust is built up.

“People that go to university end up trusting much more than those who don’t, particularly when they go away residentially," said David Halpern of Britain’s Behavioral Insights Team.

“It doesn’t look like it’s explained by income alone. So there’s something about the experience of going off as a young person in an environment where you have lots of other young people from different backgrounds and so on, hopefully, and different ethnicities. You learn the habits of trust because you’re in an environment where you can trust other people; they are trustworthy. And you internalize these habits and you take them with you the rest of your life.”

However, they also found that its harder to build up trust in diverse societies than it is in homogeneous societies. Societies where people trust one another are healthier and wealthier. In the U.S. (and the U.K. and elsewhere), social trust has been falling for decades — in part because our populations are more diverse.

The Harvard study on trust was conducted in 2000 (before the Great Recession, before President Obama was elected, before the 2016 presidential campaign) If it were conducted today, do you think they’d get the same results?

You'd be surprised but the podcast ends on a hopeful note. In the past, with each wave of immigration, there was initial distrust, but eventually, says one of the researchers, the "others" became "us."

For more information about building trust and the impact of diversity on trust, listen to the podcast or read the transcript here. (Views From the Edge contributed to this report)

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Margaret Cho talks to Tilda Swinton about Dr. Strange

Comedian Margaret Cho

ASAM NEWS

A SERIES OF EMAILS between comedian Margaret Cho and actress Tilda Swinton over the recent whitewashing controversy of the Dr. Strange movie has been made public.

It all started when Cho went on Bobby Lee’s podcast Tiger Belly and described their conversation that took place prior to the release of the movie as tense. Swinton played the part of the Ancient One, a part that upset many Asian Americans since the character was originally a Tibetan man in the original comic book, but was changed for the movie.

Cho portrayed Swinton as being more interested in quelling the controversy than learning about why so many were upset.

“I felt like a house Asian, like I’m her servant,” said Cho. “It was so weird.” It felt like “a fight about why the part should not have gone to her. That’s what I thought.”

Cho said Swinton asked her to keep their discussion private.

After the podcast, Swinton responded by releasing a series of emails between the two with Vanity Fair.

The emails appeared less tense in tone and more cordial than Cho described on the podcast. Vanity however did not print Cho’s part of the email exchange, just Swinton’s. Swinton’s team says the five emails they released represent Cho and Swinton’s conversation in its entirety. The exchange began on May 13.

“The diversity debate – ALL STRENGTH to it – has come knocking at the door of Marvel’s new movie DR STRANGE,” wrote Swinton to Cho. “I am told that you are aware of this. But since I am that extinct beast that does no social media, I am unaware of what exactly anybody has said about any of it…I would really love to hear your thoughts and have a – private – conversation about it. Are you up for this? Can we e-mai

Tilda Swinton, left, as The Ancient One in the Dr. Strange movie.

Swinton repeats the line of thinking Marvel Studio put out during the controversy saying the studio wanted to avoid the “tired cliche.”

“The Ancient One may have been written as a Tibetan man in the comics, but Marvel, in a conscious effort to shake up stereotypes, wanted to avoid tired cliché,” she said. “They cast Chiwetel Ejiofor as the second lead – a white Transylvanian in the books. And wrote a significant Asian character to be played by Benedict Wong.”

For her part, Cho said “the part should not have gone to her. We’d fight about it and basically it ended with her saying, ‘Well I’m producing a movie and Steven Yeun is starring.’

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Haikus on Hotties: Reimagining the Asian male?

This calendar is available by clicking here.

YOU KNOW that tired old stereotype for As an males that won't go away? The sexless, nerdish, unwanted, inconsequential and laughable one? The one that keeps popping up, even today?

There are a couple of efforts to counter that stereotype and I have mixed feelings about it and would appreciate your feedback.

There is a calendar (just in time for gift-giving) featuring Asian men, the  2017 Haikus on Hotties calendar put out by Dragonlady Productions, an all woman crew. It features hunky Asian guys in various poses emphasizing their muscular physiques, rippling abs and their come-hither smoldering gazes.

Actor Yoshi Sudarso, who is featured in the calendar and in a short film called "It's Asian Men," lamented the roles that Asian actors are assigned: "There's the evil Yellow Peril stereotype, like Fu Manchu. And then there's the stoic monk-like martial arts master and the nerd, like Long Duk Dong, 'Sixteen Candles.' It's kind of the most notorious example."

Asian/American men very rarely get the romantic lead. (Tony Leung Ka-fai. in The Lover, James Shigeta in The Crimson Kimono and Steven Yeun in TV's The Walking Dead are exceptions.)

At best, they are the best friend, the helpful computer geek or the loyal chauffeur or servant. No one that matters, just characters in the background while the (usually white male) lead is the hero and gets the girl.

The success of the calendar led Dragonlady Productions' to create a short film called "It's Asian Men," that features Sudarso and three other Asian/American. It is a parody of the movie Magic Mike, that centered on male strippers.

“I just really want people to notice the talent that they have as well as their good looks, because there’s a lot of actors like that available,” Korean/American director Ahn told NPR. “They just aren’t being recognized by mainstream entertainment.”

Well, thanks! But ... and here's my dilemma.

I see what the women of Dragonlady Productions is trying to do to break that stereotyped that has dogged all Asian/American men that I know. Asian men have been so negatively portrayed in America that it might take an extreme measure in order to counteract that image.

But in doing so, and with such a strong emphasis on the physical appearance of the men - I mean, they are handsome and well-built - they don't look like your average-looking Asian male any more than the Victoria Secret models look like the average American woman? 

The infamous Long Duk Dong (Gordon Watanabe) of 'Sixteen Candles.'

Aren't the women objectifying men? They are doing what society has been condemned for doing to women by emphasizing their physical appearance to the point that they are no longer human beings that we care about but mere objects for whom we lust?

I know, I know. There are some Asian/American guys who will welcome the new image and say, "Alright! Make me a sex symbol. Objectify me all you want!"

The roots of the sexually, impotent Asian male stereotype is worthy of a book - several books - so I won't go into detail here. (I'm assuming readers of this blog are familiar with the reasons that image came to be.) In short, it came down to white males being sexually threatened by Asian males so popular media - controlled by white men - began to belittle the sexual prowess of Asian men.

Thus, the negative stereotype for Asian males has become so ingrained in American society that several studies have shown that Asian males are the least desirable on online dating sites (even among Asian women!) despite Yeun, Bruce Lee and a growing number of other good-looking men. The physically appealing Asian men have been out there all along and they just need to have attention heaped upon them to counter Sixteen Candles' Long Duk Dongs of pop culture. 

Even with Dragonlady's admirable effort, the scale is still heavily tipped towards Bonanaza's Hop Sing and Two Broke Girls' Han Lee. Certainly, a calendar of hot guys - no matter how well-intentioned - can't undo the negative stereotype but any small step to correct that can't do any harm, right?

I don't look anything like the guys in their calendar or on this short video accompanying this post. Are we replacing a negative stereotype with an impossible-to-achieve physical appearance? Is too much emphasis being placed on abductor muscles rather than on the values, intelligence, humor and personality of an individual?

Am I right? Or, am I wrong? Or am I just overreacting?

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Obama signs bill; Filipino WWII veterans awarded Congressional Gold Medal

Filipino WWII veterans have been fighting for recognition and benefits from the U.S. government for decades.

By Louis Chan
ASAM NEWS

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA  signed a bill Dec. 14 into law that awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Filipino and Filipino/American World War II war veterans.

The bill sponsored by Rep Tulsi Gabbard and Senator Mazie Hirono, both Democrats from Hawaii, honors the contributions of 260,000 Filipino veterans. Only 18,000 of them remain alive, according to Gabbard.

“These loyal and courageous soldiers, suffered, fought, with many giving up their lives alongside their American counterparts throughout the war,” said Gabbard.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the nation’s highest civilian honor from Congress.

“After enduring 75 years of injustice and humiliation, our Filipino World War II veterans regained their honor and dignity when Congress passed the Congressional Gold Medal Award — a historic bill President Obama signed into law today,” said retired Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba.

RELATED:

• Senate passes bill to honor WWII Filipino vets
• Shameful anniversary for U.S. Congress

The bill, in part, is in response to past acts by the U.S. which denied promised U.S. benefits to these veterans. Although some of those veterans have in recent years recovered those benefits, others continue the struggle.

Both Gabbard and Hirono have bills pending to rectify that.

“The Filipino veterans of World War II overcame many challenges in their fight for compensation, family reunification, and verification of wartime service,” said Hirono.

President Barack Obama has signed a measure into law that honors Filipino and Filipino-American World War II veterans with the Congressional Gold Medal.

“By signing our bill into law, President Obama recognized these veterans’ courage and perseverance, both during the war and in the decades of battles for benefits that followed,” said U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono in a news release.

“This day is only possible thanks to the commitment of veterans, families and advocates in Hawaii and across the country who worked tirelessly to see this effort through Congress. While this recognition is long-overdue, the Congressional Gold Medal is a fitting tribute to the sacrifice that these veterans made for our country,” she said.

The House and Senate passed their respective bills unanimously. The Senate version was sponsored by Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Dean Heller (R-NV), Harry Reid (D-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Brian Schatz (D-HI). 

The House version (H.R.2737) was sponsored by Representatives Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Joseph Heck (R-NV), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Mark Takai (D-HI), and Jackie Speier (D-CA). Both bills were introduced on 11 June 2015.

In the news release, retired Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who heads the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project, said, “After enduring 75 years of injustice and humiliation, our Filipino World War II veterans regained their honor and dignity when Congress passed the Congressional Gold Medal Award — a historic bill President Obama signed into law today.

“With deep gratitude, our nation has now come to fully recognize the service and sacrifice of our brave heroes who fought valiantly under the American flag,” he added.

(Views From the Edge contributed to this report.)

Filipino/American lands role of Spider-Man's best friend

Filipino/American actor Jacob Batalon, left, plays Ned Leeds and his best friend Peter Parker (AKA Spider-Man) played by Tom Holland, are smitten by a girl in their high school.

SPIDERMAN'S best buddy in high school - it turns out - is a Filipino.

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, the latest chapter in the Marvel superhero's franchise, Hawaiian-born Jacob Batalon plays Ned Leeds, the best friend of Peter Parker's (AKA Spider-Man).

"I play Peter Parker's best friend in the film," Batalon told KHON2. "We are both in high school; we are about fifteen. And it's just about Peter dealing with being a superhero and going through puberty. He still has to worry about homework; he still has to worry about his crush liking him, while trying to save someone who's probably in a burning building. He can't tell anyone because he's not the cool kid, so he's just stuck with this really cool life that he can't tell anyone about."

After high school, Battalion attended the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts before getting his breakthrough role as Ned Leeds. 

This new interpretation of Spider-Man takes place when he was only 15 years old, younger than previous iterations of the superhero. Thank back when you were a sophomore in high school. Pretty socially awkward and struggling with that irrepressible need to interact with the opposite sex. That's the environment Parker and Ned find themselves in.

The Spider-Man movie will have a very diverse cast including Batalon, Tom Holland (Peter Parker) Zendaya, Donald Glover, Laura Harrier and Kenneth Choi, veteran stars Marisa Tomei, Michael Keaton and Robert Downey, Jr.

The film will be released July, 2017. Catch Batalon in the trailer below:

TGIF FEATURE: Dwayne Johnson's 'Jailhouse Rock' rocks the troops

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON is enjoying quite a year. He's got a couple of movies coming out, his HBO series Ballers is coming back for another season, he was named People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive and he's earning the most money of any actor in the U.S. 

 He's taking creative chances. He surprised most people with his singing in Moana.

Johnson hosted his annual Rock the Troops special at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. The showk, which aired Dec. 13 on Spike, aims to honor, inspire, and entertain the brave men and women of the Armed Services, and features tributes and performances from Nick Jonas, Matthew McConaughey, and Dwayne's BFF Kevin Hart — but The Rock took the stage himself during the show for a rousing, spot-on rendition of the Elvis Presley classic "Jailhouse Rock." 

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How China is changing Hollywood

Wang Jianlin

DONALD TRUMP isn't even president yet and he's already gotten off to rocky start in foreign relations when he talked with the President of Taiwan, an office the U.S. hasn't officially recognized since 1979.

In response to his critics, Trump claims he is using Taiwan as a "bargaining chip," in his future negotiations with China. In response, China didn't fool around. It ominously flew bombers over the South China Seas. Round One goes to China.

Another area of possible contention won't be in the South China Seas, it won't be the proposed TPP Treaty; it won't be over arms sales to third party countries. It will be in Hollywood.

At the center of it all is the richest man in China - Wang Jianlin of the Dalian Wanda conglomerate. He has made it clear that he wants to be a major player in the world's entertainment industry. Forbes puts Wang's worth at $33 billion.

He paid $2.6 billion to buy theater chain AMC Entertainment in 2012. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wanda put out $3.5 billion deal for Burbank-based studio Legendary Entertainment. He invested in theme parks, digital marketing, merchandising and the accession of Dick Clark Productions pending and is building the world's largest film studio, for $8.2 billion, on China's northeast coast.

He has eyes on purchasing one of the major Hollywood studios when one becomes available - either Sony, Fox, Universal, Paramount, Disney or Warner Bros. In the meantime, he is investing millions in all six Hollywood-based studios.

"We will continue to work on a potential acquisition," Wang told the Hollywood Reporter. "But it won't hurt to start by doing what we can. Participating via investment seems like a wise choice for the time being."

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for greater scrutiny of China's aggressive dealmaking in Hollywood, lending Democratic support to an issue raised by President-elect Donald Trump and his allies.

Schumer said Chinese acquisitions of U.S. media companies should be examined to determine whether they are being orchestrated by the Chinese government. The letter reportedly highlighted Dalian Wanda Group by name.

During the recent presidential campaign, Trump often said he intended to take a harder line on Chinese takeovers of U.S. companies — among other hawkish stances towards the world's no. 2 economy. With Schumer offering bipartisan support for such scrutiny, a change to the regulatory landscape looks increasingly likely.

"While China's government has aggressively pursued policies that encourage strategic acquisition in the U.S., U.S. companies continue to face steep barriers to market access in China," Schumer wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, U.S. trade representative Michael From an and Trump.

Wang said if something happens to jeopardize his Hollywood investments, 20,000 American jobs could be lost.

China is on its way to becoming the world's largest market for movies surpassing the U.S. In 2015, China’s moviegoing market earned a staggering $6.78 billion and it could close in on, or even surpass, the average $10 billion haul grossed annually in the U.S. next year.

The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon  and a host of Chinese stars is an example of a Hollywood-Chinese co-production that will likely become more frequent as U.S. studios seek a way to get into the Chinese market.

American companies that want to access China's growing markets are required to establish joint ventures with local operators, the terms of which typically require handing over operational control and intellectual property, according to THR. The Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros and DreamWorks Animation each have a similar Chinese partnership in order to operate theme parks or engage in movie-making in the country. Schumer characterized China's requirements as an unfair "pay to play system."

Wang is not the only Chinese businessman who wants a piece of Tinsletown and its glamor.

Alibaba's Jack Ma recently reached agreement with Dreamwork's Steven Spielberg to distribute films in Hollywood and China. The move aims to benefit Alibaba’s ambitious media strategy and gives Dreamworks a toe in the door to a highly regulated market while bridging a cultural gap between the two countries, says Business Insider.

Fosun Group and Huayi Brothers are other Chinese conglomerates investing in U.S. media entertainment.

One would think that the China-Hollywood partnerships would benefit Asian/American actors but that doesn't necessarily bear out.

When director John Chu announced that he would us an all-Asian cast for the movie version of Crazy Rich Asians, a lot of Asian/American actors were excited about the opportunity to have a shot at lead roles and portraying contemporary, complicated characters. However, with the growing influence of China, many of the roles in the movie, which mostly takes place in Singapore, will likely go to actors based in Asia.

The role of The Ancient One in Marvel's Dr. Strange was switched from a Tibetan monk to a Celtic priestess played by Tilda Swinton, ostensibly, to avoid offending Chinese government officials to whom Tibet is still a sensitive topic.

Perhaps, it is no coincidence that two of the major characters in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is portrayed by two of China's big-name stars - Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen - instead of using Asian/American actors, who might be more familiar to U.S. audiences. 

Chinese influence has been growing in Hollywood for several years. The 2012 remake of Red Dawn originally featured Chinese soldiers invading an American town, yet producers changed the invaders into North Koreans pre-release without even receiving a formal complaint from Beijing.

Whoever controls the movie experience can subtly influence public opinion in North America as well as China. And the Chinese government — Wang’s staunch supporter according to Politico , has not been subtle about that goal. The Communist Party has banned or currently bans thousands of books deemed controversial. It heavily censors the Internet, while Facebook and Twitter remain prohibited in China.

The potential for harm is enough to raise red flags (no pun intended). 

"To be sure, we’ve seen this movie before — and it didn’t have an unhappy ending. Roughly a quarter-century ago, Japanese firms spent billions of their surplus dollars to take over Columbia Pictures and Universal, amid much media hand-wringing about an Asian 'invasion' of Hollywood," wrote the Washington Post in an editorial. "The Japanese took financial losses and were forced to retreat. The same might happen to Dalian Wanda. Still, there is a fundamental difference between today’s Chinese buying spree and the Japanese prequel: Japan is a strategic ally of the United States and a democracy committed to free expression. China, by contrast, is adversarial and ruled by a dictator, Mr. Xi, who has openly declared a global propaganda agenda, based on the idea that “Chinese art will further develop only when we make foreign things serve China.”

We are tiptoeing on a fine line here because we don't want to demonize the Chinese people or individuals because of their government's policies. We certainly don't want to stir up further the current cauldron of hate and fear bubbling in the conservative media and among Trump's white nationalist supporters. We also know that American attitudes towards China - especially if Trump continues to paint them as "the other," will spill over towards Chinese/Americans and other Asian/Americans.

Nevertheless, the increasing influence in Hollywood by China could spark an outbreak of China-bashing that we haven't seen in some time. In this regard, therefore, from an Asian/American's point of view, it bears watching closely.

In the science fiction movie Looper, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a time-traveling character. The time-travel-business pays well. In the film, Gordon-Levitt’s character is learning French and saving his money so that he can move to Paris. But his boss, who is from the future, does not recommend it.

“Go to China,” he tells Gordon-Levitt. When Gordon-Levitt protests, he adds, “I’m from the future, go to China.”

The rest of the film takes place in Shanghai; not Paris. The switch paid off: Looper became the first new Hollywood film to make more money in its opening weekend in China than the U.S.

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