Kelly Marie Tran in tears at premiere of 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

Vietnamese proud! Kelly Marie Tran's red carpet gown was designed by a Vietnamese fashion designer.

FOR MANY Asian American fans of the Star Wars franchise, it was a historical moment, assuring that there is a future for them in a galaxy far, far away and maybe, even in the tight-knit universe of Hollywood.

For Kelly Marie Tran, the premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi last Saturday (Dec. 9) in Los Angeles was a moment she'll never forget as she enters into a universe of glamor, fame with a role of a lifetime cemented into the lore and legend of one of entertainment's most famous movie franchises.

A year ago, people were saying, "Kelly Marie ... who?"as fans tried to determine what role the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants would play. 

And after the premiere of the latest episode of Star Wars, people are saying that she is the "breakout star" of the The Last Jedi, the third act of a three-movie arc in the nine movies depicting the war between the Empire and the The Resistance.

The moment was not lost on Tran, who was resplendent on the red carpet in her red gown designed by Vietnamese designer Thai Nguyen Atelier. Besides being her big break for her acting career, she knows the role her character plays in movie history of Asian Americans and in the American culture in a franchise that began in 1977's first Star Wars, directed by George Lucas, without any people of color to the racially diverse universe being depicted nine movies and 40 years later.

The moment almost got to be too big for newcomer Kelly Marie Tran as she is comforted by costar Daisy Ridley, whose own life was forever changed when she was cast as Rey, the central character in this third Star Wars trilogy, two years ago.

Before she was cast she was just doing odd jobs in L.A. Her biggest claim to fame was a series of Youtube videos for CollegeHumor. Tran says that she was always thought that her big break would come if she was cast as somebody's best friend in a supporting role.

Her role in the Asian/American pop culture continuum was not lost on her when she was asked by Rolling Stone what it meant to be the first Asian/American woman cast in a pivotal role in Star Wars.

"I wish it was just a nice little bonus, because it kind of feels like a lot of pressure in ways, I would love to live in a world where no one person has to represent a very large group of people just purely because of the fact that there's not many of those types of people in movies or TV – or writing or producing or directing. I would like to live in a world where there are a bunch of different types of people doing those things. But obviously we don't, and it's something I think about a lot. I don't take it lightly at all. I think from the moment I got this part - and it was also because this is a Star Wars movie - I just wanted to do the whole thing justice.

"And on a representation standpoint, I wanted to do that justice too. Me and John (Boyega) talked about that: Just the idea that we are people of color, that's something we always address in interviews. We actually had this one moment on set that I still hold really close to my heart. This one day we were shooting this scene and I remember John stopping and saying, "Kelly, we're making history right now" ... and we were. Because not only are we making a Star Wars movie, we have scenes where it's just John and myself."

Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and Finn (John Boyega) are key protagonists in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi.'

"Growing up I watched a lot of pop culture] and didn’t really get to see a lot of people that looked like me," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I think that I’m really lucky to be this person, and I get to be part of this franchise. I hope that it is a move in a better direction." 

When she heard she got the role in The Last Jedi she was working as a business assistant. Immediately, she had to act like the life-changing moment had never happened.

“But after I got the role, I had to work for another week!," she told Elle. "Then I told my job, my family, and my friends I was moving to Canada for an indie. I had to Google pictures of Canada to send them! It was so stressful.”

Nevertheless, Tran was quick to put her stamp on the notoriously top-secret saga. “Kelly has an infectious energy and creative spirit that actually ended up influencing her character,” says director Rian Johnson. Rose “may not be glorified in the Resistance the way Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) are,” Tran says, “but has an important story to tell. She can and will make a difference.”After the emotional evening, Tran posted on Instagram:

Kelly Marie Tran broke down again as she  thanks director Rian Johnson.

“My parents are both refugees from Vietnam, and they spent their whole lives working towards a reality where my sisters and I would have choice,” Tran told the outlet. “That was purely it. My parents never had the luxury of having a dream.”

After the emotional evening, Tran posted on Instagram:

“Last night was one of the best nights of my life, and honestly, I truly think it’s because I let myself feel ALL the feelings,” she wrote in an Instagram post following the event. “YOU GUYS. I cried my way through the ENTIRE red carpet! I was basically a ball of emotion — from pure excitement to overwhelming joy.” 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be released in theaters across the country Dec. 15.

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Father fears missing girl is human trafficking victim

Tyla-Ann Placencia has been missing for two months.

ASAM NEWS

THE FATHER of a missing 14-year old girl fears his daughter may be the victim of human trafficking.

Tyla-Ann Placencia had just been elected class president at Oceana High School in Pacifica near San Francisco when she went missing on September 27.

“When you have a beautiful young lady that can make herself look almost 18-years-old, why would not some guy take advantage of that young lady? And that’s the worst nightmare,” said her father Aaron Placencia . “That’s the worst thing that can happen at this point.”

Her dad said she had good grades and they had talked about her college plans. She moved from Hawaii a year ago where she lived with her Filipina mother.

Police are treating the case as a runaway and believe Tyla-Ann does not want to be found. The anti-human trafficking group East Bay foundation Love Never Fails has been working with the father, according to NBC Bay Area.

“Children don’t plan on being exploited and abused when they run away but it’s a harsh reality,” Vanessa Russell said. “Within 48 hours, one-third of runaway youth will be recruited for human trafficking. That alone is reason enough to fervently search for a missing loved one.”

Police are asking people with information about the case to call 650-738-7314.

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Gallup Poll: More Republicans turning Blue

SCREEN CAPTURE / MSNBC

Republican-turned-Democrat Kurt Bardella can be seen frequently as a political commentator.

MORE AND MORE people are getting fed up with Donald Trump's actions, policies, tweets and obsession to erase every accomplishment of President Barack Obama, according to a new Gallup Poll.

Long-time Republicans are turning against the man in the White House because of the extreme positions taken by the Trump administration. Some are so upset at what is doing to the U.S. and the Republican Party that they are becoming Democrats.

In an oped published in USA Today, Kurt Bardella, who was once considered a rising star in the GOP, declared that the endorsement of Alabama Senatorial candidatie Roy Moore was the final straw.

The Republicans “would rather elect a sexual predator who preys on underage teenagers at the local mall, than a crime-fighting prosecutor who happens to be a Democrat,” wrote Bardella, a Korean/American adoptee.

“The embrace of Moore by the Republican Party’s top 'leadership' is all the proof you need to know that this is a party that no longer stands for anything,” he wrote. “I believe that the Democratic Party will do more to create equality in America than the Republican Party ever will.

“This is not a party I want to be associated with any longer. This is not a party that is trustworthy enough to protect innocent children from sexual predators,” wrote the Korean adoptee.

For Beth Fukumoto, one of the few Republican representatives in Hawaii's legislature, the decision to turn Democrat last Spring came when she was heavily criticized and ostracized by other Republicans for taking part in the Women's March, the day after Trump's inauguration.

"What ended up being very problematic for me was that my caucus and others said, 'If you want to stay in leadership, then you need to make a commitment to not criticize the president for the remainder of his term,'" the 34-year-old told NBC News at the time. "And with what we've been seeing in the news with the different executive orders coming out every day, I didn't believe I could make that commitment."

Fukumoto has announced her plans to run for Congress to represent District 1 ... as a Democrat in 2018.

Hawaii's GOP didn't take kindly to Beth Fukumoto's decision to become a Democrat.

Thirteen House Republicans have decided not to run for reelction thus far. Some Republican senators who have had enough of Trump have decided not to run for reelection including Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Flake has even contributed to the campaign of Doug Jones, the Democrat who is running in the Alabama senate race against Roy Moore.

In the year since Trump was elected, the percentage of people who identify as or lean Republican has fallen 5 points from 42 percent of the population to 37 percent, according to the poll comparing November 2016 with November 2017.

The biggest drop of support for Republican numbers was among white women: The percentage identifying with the GOP fell 5 points from 37 percent to just 32 percent over a year, according to an NBC News report.

The Gallup poll, which was released last week also showed the percentage of voters identifying as Democratic has remained at 44 percent. The biggest gain was among voters who consider themselves independents which shows an increase of 4 percent to 14%, compared with 10% t a year ago.

The newest study reinforces earlier polls that Republicans are growing more disenchanted wiht the direction of the GOP. 

The number of Republicans with a favorable view of their own party has dropped from 88% to just 66% in the last six months in new CNN polling in September. Three in 10 Republicans (31%) say they have an unfavorable view of the party.

The data gets even worse among Trump supporters: only 56% of them say they have a positive view of the GOP -- down from 76% in March. Overall opinion of the Republican Party among all Americans has slipped to just 29% -- its lowest mark since CNN started asking the question back in 1992.

ASAM NEWS contributed to this report.
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Alabama Senate Race: Moore's positions on race is so, so, 1850s

Roy Moore

ALLEGATIONS of sexual misconduct by Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore has grabbed all the headlines leading up to special election this Tuesday, Dec. 12 but don't forget  his positions on race.

Almost lost in all the furor from the women who claim Moore had acted inappropriately towards them when they were minors and his was a District Attorney in his 30s, is his attitudes towards race.

Based on his public statements, he is firmly entrenched in the mid-1800s who believes the last time America was "great" was during the Civil War and that the Civil Rights Act was the reason we have the racial problems of today.

Last September, in response to a question from one of the only African Americans in the audience — who asked when Moore thought America was last “great” -- Moore acknowledged the nation’s history of racial divisions, but said: “I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction.”

Later, he seemed to contradict himself when he said,  “We were torn apart in the Civil War — brother against brother, North against South, party against party,” he said. “What changed?"

He answered himself,  “Now we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting,” Moore added. “What’s going to unite us? What’s going to bring us back together? A president? A Congress? No. It’s going to be God.”

In case you're a new immigrant and not familiar with the term, the "yellows" he was talking about were people descended from Asia. The "reds" is a derogatory term describing Native Americans.

I hate to use a stereotype to argue against the use of stereotypes, but Moore does little to counter the negative stereotype of a culture that is often referred to as "Southern." Not the genteel, southern charm that former Confederate states like to describe themselves, but the racist, red-neck, good-old-boy, pick-up-driving, gun-toting stereotype that southerners hate. In Moore's case, add dating and molesting under-age girls to that.

This is the man Donald Trump and the Republican leadership has endorsed to become the next U.S. Senator for Alabama. 

With only 54,000 AAPIs in the entire state, and with only .6 percent of the registered voters, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders might have little impact on the outcome of Tuesday's election, but as we've seen in recent elections. Every single vote counts. A vote here and there could turn districts around in a close election. If enough districts turn ... well, it helps to be hopeful.

The key will be the white suburban voters, those who are better educated and little more moderate in their political and social positions and those most likely to have AAPI friends, co-workers or classmates.

Here's the racial breakdown of registered voters in Alabama:

• 2,332,607 white voters, 70.2 percent of the total.
• 883,736 black voters, 26.6 percent.
• 29,869 Hispanic voters, 0.9 percent.
• 20,225 Asian voters, 0.6 percent.
• 11,344 American Indians, 0.3 percent.

If you're a registered voter in Alabama, go out and vote. Vote for Doug Jones for U.S. Senate.

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AAPI civil rights group calls GOP immigration plans part of 'white nativist' agenda

Asian Americans joined other groups to protest GOP immigration plans.

AS MORE DETAILS become available about the meeting between the White House and Congressional leaders on Thursday (Dec. 8), leading civil rights organizations minced no words in describing the Republican plans for immigration reform part of a "white nativist agenda."

The Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a coalition of five legal aid organizations from across the country, issued a statement calling attention to the White House’s efforts to get Congress to eliminate the family immigration system and diversity lottery in exchange for passage of legislation for more than a million immigrant youth whose lives hang in the balance since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was terminated by the Trump administration on Sept. 5. 

Since the termination of the program, AAAJ has called for passage of a clean DREAM Act — a bipartisan piece of legislation that provides a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants without the attachment of any other provisions that would further negatively impact our immigration system.

The statement of Advancing Justice, follows:

"Congress must not cave to White House pressure to trade passage of a legislative solution for undocumented youth in exchange for supporting its white nativist agenda of building a border wall, more immigration enforcement, ending the family-based immigration system, and slashing the annual number of immigrants that receive green cards (referred to as “chain migration” in the White House press statement).

"Chain migration is a term used by anti-immigrant and white supremacist organizations to attack the United States' family-based immigration system. When Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, it finally ended the previous racist national origin quotas that began with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and heavily favored immigrants from Northern and Western Europe. The diversity lottery was included in the 1965 law as a way to ensure that people from all over the world would receive the opportunity to immigrate and reunite with or keep their families together. The vast majority of immigrants coming to the U.S. through the family-based system and diversity lottery are people of color.

"In addition to blocking families from reuniting, the White House requests for increased immigration enforcement will also tear apart families already in the U.S. This two-pronged attack to curb immigration and increase deportations is part of a white supremacist agenda to reduce the number of people of color in the U.S. 

"We call upon every member of Congress in support of undocumented youth to do the right thing and continue pushing for the DREAM Act before they go home for the holidays. With every passing day, 122 immigrant youth lose their status. More than 11,400 have already lost their protections and hundreds of thousands of others’ lives are hanging in the balance.

"If you are a member of Congress who claims to stand with undocumented youth, you must also stand up to this administration’s attempts to further its agenda by separating families through deportations and slashing immigration by ending the family immigration system and diversity lottery.

"The time is now to pass a clean DREAM Act before the holidays. Congress, we’re holding you accountable to make it happen without concessions that dismantle the family immigration system or harsh enforcement policies that would further tear families apart and terrorize immigrant communities."
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Marvel Rising: superheroes of color in feature film next year

ASAM NEWS

MARVEL COMICS has unveiled its new multi-platform offering, Marvel Rising: Secret Warrior and it’s going to feature quite a diverse cast.

The featured length animated film includes a number of prominent Asian/Americans already part of the Marvel universe. Chloe Bennet will voice Quake, the S.H.I.E.L.D operative and inhuman from ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Bennet’s S.H.I.E.L.D. castmate, Ming Na Wen, will play the villain, Hala. Kathreen Khavari will return as Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, Marvel’s first Muslim hero.

“To have this brown girl who’s a Muslim, who’s a superhero, who doesn’t fall under these stereotypes … [and] is just a good, decent human being who wants to bring that out in other people — I feel really fortunate to be able to portray her,” Khavari told BuzzFeed.

Sana Amanat of Marvel

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• Unprecedented gathering of AAPI superheroes 
• It's a a bird, it's a plane, it's ... Superheroes of color

Among the champions leading the project is Marvel’s director of content and character development, the New Jersey-born Pakistani/American, Sana Amanat.

“It came out of a desire to be able to tell stories about characters that we think are the next great heroes of the Marvel Universe,” she said.

AV Club reports the plan is to launch the project with a few shorts before diving into the full length feature. The cast will showcase much of Marvel’s younger characters and a strong women cast.

“It’s all stuff you can connect with and feel like, these heroes are a lot like me,” Cort Lane, executive producer on the project, said to ABC News.

Watch for Marvel Rising: Secret Warrior in 2018.

It's completely amazing to see that the world of comics, so often derided as a form of literature, is coming into its own and that the industry is doing what it can to reshape pop culture, especially in the impressionable minds of its readers.

The more young people see characters of color, even in comic form, represented in all forms of media, the more accepting our society will be of people who are different from what was considered -- up to this point -- the norm as defined by the dominant culture. The new normal includes people -- as well as fictional characters -- of color.

(Views From the Edge contributed to this post.)

Kamala Khan will provide the voice for Ms. Marvel.

Chloe Bennett will provide the voice for Quake.

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First Vietnamese/American Catholic bishop dies

Bishop Dominic Dinh Mai Luong

BISHOP Dominic Dinh Mai Luong, the first Vietnam-born bishop to serve in the U.S., died Thursday, Dec. 6, after a long illness. He was 77.

His appointment by Pope John Paul II to the office of episcopacy on April 25, 2003, was because of the enormous growth of the Catholic Church in Orange County and, more specifically, the burgeoning Vietnamese Catholic community in the region in need of a shepherd on the hierarchical level.

The words on the bishop's coat of arms summarized his journey geographically and spiritually: ‘You are Strangers and Aliens No Longer.’

At the time of his appointment, Luong acknowledged: “By calling me the first Vietnamese priest to the office of episcopacy, His Holiness in particular, and the Church in the United States in general, recognize the many contributions with which 400,000 Vietnamese Catholics, over 600 priests, and more than 500 religious have enriched the Church in the United States, especially in the area of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.”

Luong was born on Dec. 20, 1940 in Minh Cuong, about 50 miles from Hanoi in the Province of Bui Chu in North Vietnam.He attended a French-Vietnamese school and then a minor seminary. In 1956, at the age of 16, his bishop sent him to the U.S. to continue his priestly formation. He would not return home until 1979 because of the Vietnam War.

Luong was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Da Nang on May 21, 1966 by Bishop James A. McNulty at the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, N.Y.

After ordination he received a bachelor’s degree in physics and master’s degrees in biology and psychology. He taught biology at a junior seminary in Buffalo, where he also served as associate pastor at Saint Louis Parish.

RELATED: Steve Bannon says Catholic Church needs immigrants for economic reasons

When a wave of Vietnamese refugees began to make their way to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon and the communist takeover in 1975, Luong was transferred to New Orleans where a large number of refugees were landing.

He served many refugees in New Orleans, where he would become director of the archdiocese’s Vietnamese apostolate and became founding pastor of Mary, Queen of Vietnam parish. He was incardinated into the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1976.

Luong was a big part of refugee resettlement efforts in Louisiana and was viewed as “the godfather of the Vietnamese Catholic community” there, said Father John Nhan Tran, pastor of Mary Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mandeville, La. Luong was his spiritual director in seminary.

“(Luong) was involved in anything that had to do with helping Vietnamese people getting acclimated to the new environment,” Tran told the Orange County Register.

He worked as director of the National Center for the Vietnamese Apostolate and directed the U.S. bishops’ pastoral care for migrants and refugees.

Bishop Luong, who retired in 2015, remained active in the Church while based at St. Bonaventure Church in Huntington Beach, Calif. – a parish with a strong Vietnamese contingent. He told OC Catholic in a recent interview that he liked “to keep in contact with my people.”

A vigil for Luong will be held at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13 in the Arboretum at Christ Cathedral. The funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 14 at Holy Family Cathedral, 566 S. Glassell St. in Orange, Calif.

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High number of Asian Americans say they've experienced discrimination

ASAM NEWS

A POLL of a representative sample of 500 Asian/Americans found a significant number in the community say they have personally experienced discrimination.

The survey conducted by National Public Radio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is part of a larger survey of African Americans, Latinos, Asian/Americans, Native Americans, whites, men, women and LGBTQ adults.

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• Hate crimes rising against Asian Americans
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“Our poll shows that Asian/American families have the highest average income among the groups we’ve surveyed, and yet the poll still finds that Asian/Americans experience persistent discrimination in housing, jobs and at college,” said Robert Blendon to NPR.

"Over the course of our series, we are seeing again and again that income is not a shield from discrimination.” Blendon co-directed the survey and is a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard Chan School.

More than one out of four Asian/Americans say they have been personally discriminated against because they are Asian.

Twenty-seven percent have experienced discrimination when applying for jobs, 25% when being paid or applying for promotions, and also 25 percent when renting or buying a home.

Slightly more Asian/Americans, about one out of three, say they have experienced racial or ethnic slurs. 35% say they have been subjected to offensive comments about their race and ethnicity.

Sixty-one percent of Asian/Americans surveyed believe members of their community face discrimination. 

Younger Asian Americans are more likely to feel this than older Americans. 68% believe this discrimination is based on individual prejudice while 16% say both government policies and individuals are equally to blame. 14% blame institutional racism.

You can read the entire report here.

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Iowa Congressman: 'Diversity is not our strength'

THERE'S NOT MUCH more I can say about this tweet from Congressman Steve King of Iowa. It speaks for itself.

King's tweet this morning (Dec. 9) is frightenly similar to the views held by Adolf Hitler as he writes in Mein Kamph:

The Jew uses every possible means to undermine the racialfoundations of a subjugated people. In his systematic efforts to ruingirls and women he strives to break down the last barriers ofdiscrimination between him and other peoples. The Jews were responsiblefor bringing negroes into the Rhineland, with the ultimate idea ofbastardizing the white race which they hate and thus lowering itscultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate.

What can you expect from a man who regularly makes outlandish statements about people of color.

Last July, King was on Chris Hayes’s MSNBC show, and he objected to the journalist Charlie Pierce’s emphasis on Donald Trump’s reliance on white support.

“This whole white-people business, though, does get a little tired, Charlie,” King said. “I'd ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about. Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?”


“Than white people?” Hayes asked, taken aback. “Than Western Civilization itself,” King said.

People of Iowa ... really? This is 2017, not 1939.
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TGIF FEATURE; Aquaman like you've never seen him; 2018 teaser trailer

Hawaiian/American actor Jason Momoa as Aquaman will be moodier, more badass.

HERE'S AN EARLY PEEK at Jason Momoa as Aquaman looking more badass than ever in the new movie due a year from now. The "look" is quite different from the Aquaman we saw in this year's Justice League.

Director James Wan (The Conjuring and Furious 7) says in a piece in Entertainment Weekly: “It’s going to look very different, it will feel very different — aesthetically, tonally, story-wise — it’s my own take,” Wan tells EW. “It’s a much more a traditional action-adventure quest movie.”

RELATED: Want to have a body like Jason Momoa?

Unlike the Aquaman in the D.C. comic books, Momoa will go shirtless much of the time. That look is also different from his appearance in the Justice League where his upper torso wore body-hugging armor.

The movie, a solo vehicle for the King of Atlantis, will go into Tim Curry's backstory and how the half-Atlantean and half-human becomes a superhero. His version of Aquaman will include a plenty of scenes in fabled Atlantis, guarantees Wan, a Malaysian/Australian.

Aquaman, due to be released in December 2018, also features Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Willem Defoe and Dolph Lundgren.

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Congresswoman Judy Chu arrested at pro-DACA rally

SCREEN CAPTURE

Demonstrators await their arrests Wednesday after attending a demonstration asking for a vote for the Dream Act.

ASAM NEWS contributed to this report

TWO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS -- Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, and Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., —were among the 182 demonstrators arrested during a rally demandingt that Congress pass a clean Dream Act.

The arrests came after a rally and march to the Capitol where about 15,000 people called for a vote on the DREAM Act. Chu and Gutierrez were charged with “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding,” They were processed and released.

“‘Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.’ Those are the words written by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during his own, far more dire, arrest in Birmingham." said Chu after being released. She apparently was expecting to be arrested because Wednesday morning she had posted on social media that she was off to get arrested.

"And while my brush with the law today was planned and civil, those words from his famous letter continue to inspire our civil disobedience. Then it was on behalf of black citizens treated as less than human. Today it is on behalf of immigrants who are facing threats of deportation and separation from family and the only home they have ever known," said Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Concus.

Rep. Judy Chu of California.

“Black and AAPI Immigrant are joining hands on this historic day of action to reject the lie that our people are disposable and that we are each other’s enemies," said Jung Woo Kim speaking on behalf of the Korean Resource Center and the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC). 

"We are centering and uplifting our own voices, hold elected officials accountable and demand a clean Dream Act and a permanent solution for TPS holders together. The time is now and congress needs to act on both before the end of the year,“ said Kim.

The protestors presented a petition of 400,000 signatures in support of DREAMers and TPS holders to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, R-KY, Speaker Paul Ryan’, (R-WI, Senator Chuck Schumer’s, D-NY, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s, D-CA Capitol Hill offices.

Under DACA, nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children have been given work permits and protection from deportation. Trump wants to end the program by March 2018 and challenged Congress to come up with legislation to protect this group before the deadline.

"There is a bipartisan bill ready to be voted on that I know could gain a majority vote if only Speaker Ryan would let us bring it to the floor," said Chu. "We have tried everything from large scale rallies to a small meeting with the Speaker to make our case. But each time, we have been ignored. Today, I know our words were heard, but will Republicans have the courage to act on them? 

Trump’s decision to end TPS will impact 420,000 immigrants from over 10 countries, the majority of which have populations that are majority Black including Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, Somalia, Yemen, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua. 

Activists said they hoped their rally would help destroy the stereotype that the black and Asian-Americans communities are at odds.

The protest was sponsored by the AAPI Immigrant Rights Organizing Table and UndocuBlack. The day of action by the two groups highlighted the exclusion of both Blacks and Asian/Americans from the immigration debate. It might signal more joint actions by the two ethnic groups that conservatives try to divide by using the Asian stereotype of the model minority myth against African/Americans.

“Black and Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders] immigrants are joining hands on this historic day of action to reject the lie that our people are disposable and that we are each other’s enemies,” said Jonathan Jayes-Green, co-creator and national coordinator for the UndocuBlack Network.

"Through coalitions, we are stronger. By joining together, we increase our power tremendously,” Chu said.

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Asian American senators call for Franken to step down; he announces decision to leave office

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Hawaii's Sen. Mazie Hirono called for Sen. Al Franken's resignation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post has been re-edited to include Al Franken's intention to resign.

THE THREE SENATORS of Asian descent joined over 30 of their colleagues in asking for the resignation of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., because of the mounting allegations against him for sexual misconduct.

Senators Mazie Hirono, Tammy Duckworth and Kamala Harris were among the 13 female and 19 senators who said the embattled Sen. Al Franken resign Wednesday (Dec. 6).

Thursday morning, Franken yielded to the pressure and took to the Senate floor to announce his plans to resign. He stopped short of a full admission and that disappointed a lot of people.

“I am sad that he took that time to still deny and say that some of this stuff wasn’t true,” said Leeann Tweeden, the Filipino/American KABC deejay who was the first woman to reveal Franken's inappropriate behavior that occurred during a 2006 USO tour.

The picture she posted of a smiling Franken groping her breasts while she was asleep was damning for the senator.

After that incident seven other women have come forth to show that Franken's sexual misconduct was apparently a reoccurring behavioral problem. As the incidents mounted, it became too much for his fellow senators, most of them Democrats, to ignore or leave to an ethics committee investigation .

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-HI,  issued this statement in a press release:

“Today, I am calling on my colleague Al Franken to step aside. I’ve struggled with this decision because he’s been a good Senator and I consider him a friend. But that cannot excuse his behavior and his mistreatment of women.

“TIME Magazine, by naming ‘The Silence Breakers’ as their ‘Person of the Year,’ is recognizing what women have always known: there are men among us who use their positions of power and influence to manipulate, harass, and assault women. What is new here is the women. We are, all of us, speaking out, naming names and demanding that the harassers take responsibility for their behavior.

“I am proud of each of the women who has come forward, and heartened by the changing climate that has received their stories with acceptance and compassion.

“My hope is that this moment for a cultural change will result in women no longer being viewed as objects or toys, but recognized for their abilities and achievements. As regular human beings. Women have endured this behavior, which for too long has been ignored and tolerated. But no longer.

“We can only create a culture where women are respected as equals if we all step forward and be part of the change by holding everyone, especially our leaders, accountable.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-ILL, released this statement:

“I am deeply disappointed by Senator Franken’s behavior. He must step aside. To all those across America who have come forward to share their stories over the past few months: thank you. Your courage and strength in driving this long-overdue national conversation is awe-inspiring. As national leaders, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard—and we must lead by example to ensure every person is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans, it’s about our society. It’s about who we are as a people and the kind of country we want our daughters—and our sons—to grow up in.”

On Facebook, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, posted:

"Sexual harassment and misconduct should not be allowed by anyone and should not occur anywhere. I believe the best thing is for Senator Franken to step down.

"However, this conversation does not begin or end with any one individual. It is clear that Congress needs a fundamental overhaul in how we deal with sexual harassment and assault. The process is too slow and too murky. What we need is swift action and transparency.

"We also need to take a look at this across all industries and all professions. I am equally concerned about the waitresses, domestic workers, and women working on factory lines who have come forward to share their experiences with harassment and violence. If today is the end of this conversation, then we will have failed not only those women working now, not only the courageous women who have come forward, but the next generation of women who will enter the workplace.

"I will continue to work with my colleagues on efforts to address the issue of sexual assault and misconduct in Congress or anywhere else."

Franken's behavior towards women came to light in November when Filipino/American deejay Leeann Velez Tweeden revealed on her KABC blog that Franken aggresively kissed her without her consent and included a picture of Franken fondling her breasts while she was asleep during a 2006 USO Tour in the Middle East. 

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Franken personally apologized to Tweeden and she accepted the senator's apparent regret. However, she was disappointed at Franken's apology of Thursday (Dec. 7).

“It’s a lose-lose situation here. It’s not like I’m jumping up and down rejoicing," told the Washington Post. "You are watching somebody probably having the worst day of his life. I feel bad, and feel bad for his family.”

Since Tweeden's revelation, other women have cme forth describing incidents of sexual harassment and groping by Franken. The most recent accusations came in a Politico report Wednesday (Dec. 6) in which, a woman who chose not to be identified alleged Franken tried to forcibly kiss her after a taping of his radio show in 2006; and this morning (Dec. 7), The Atlantic included an essay by another woman, a former Congressional staffer, who wrote about the senator touching her inappropriately during a picture-taking event.
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