Congressional leader backs protesters'call for justice for George Floyd

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Rep. Judy Chu issues a statement on the George Floyd demonstrations.

By Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA
Chair, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) 

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community stands with our brothers and sisters in the Black community in mourning the death of George Floyd and in demanding justice and accountability for his murder. 

Justice must mean investigating and punishing every officer who played a role in Mr. Floyd’s completely avoidable death – including those who watched it happen without even attempting to intercede. But justice must also mean real, lasting change. Because the sad truth is George Floyd is not the first Black person to be killed because of the color of his skin. Freddie Gray, Eric Gardner, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and countless others before them died similarly unjustifiable deaths at the hands of police. But still nothing has changed. And so true justice means ending a broken law enforcement and justice system where Black and Brown lives are disproportionately targeted and treated as disposable.

For centuries, racial inequality in America has hurt Black and Brown communities. African Americans have been told where to live, work, and play. They’ve been surveilled, intimidated, and lynched. They’ve had the police called on them for watching birds in the park, and have been killed for wearing a hoodie, going for a jog, or simply sitting in the comforts of their own home. And in almost every case, their skin color was the only evidence needed to justify lethal use of force and letting the guilty go free.

But for centuries, these obvious injustices have gone unaddressed. Pleas for justice have been unanswered, or worse, dismissed. Even those who peacefully took a knee before sporting events were called un-American as a way of dismissing any attempt to start a national conversation on the impact of centuries of systemic racism. But people will not be ignored forever. 

Martin Luther King Jr. said "a riot is the language of the unheard." And that is what we are seeing now as unheard and anguished Americans of all backgrounds fill the streets to demand justice. 

I support every American demanding justice and making their voice heard at this time. But violence is not the cure for violence, and I urge all protestors to avoid looting or the destruction of property. When righteous causes are usurped by looters and those seeking to inflict violence, it distracts from our purpose and does nothing to honor the memory of George Floyd.

Although our experiences are different, the AAPI community is painfully familiar with our own decades of oppression and inequality. From the Chinese Exclusion Act – which denied equality to people like my grandfather – to the shameful imprisonment of innocent Japanese Americans during WW II, AAPIs know the sting of racial prejudice as well. And that is why it is so important that we stand united right now. 

As the spread of coronavirus and anti-Asian xenophobia led to an increase in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans, the support and solidarity from the Black and Hispanic communities told us we were not alone, and gave us hope that unity could defeat bigotry. 

Today, the AAPI community must do the same. That is why CAPAC stands with the Congressional Black Caucus in condemning police brutality and calling for justice for the countless Black men, women, and children who have been murdered for no other reason than the color of their skin. We must work together to address systemic inequality and to ensure that all Americans, regardless of their race, feel safe and have equal justice under law.

Unemployment rate of Asians and Black inch up while some businesses reopen

The unemployment rate went up for Asians and Blacks.

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The unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped nationwide in May, but new figures released Friday show that so far Asians and Blacks are being left out of the recovery, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Reuters reports the unemployment rate of Asian Americans rose from 14.5% in April to 15% in May.

The rate for Blacks also rose to 16.7% in May, up 0.1% from April. This as overall, joblessness dropped to 13.3% in May, a significant drop from April’s 14.7%. Most of the jobs seemed to have gone to White employees. White employment increased 3.3%.

However, unemployment may be higher than reported and touted by Donald Trump in an unscheduled press conference. The BLS admitted an error in how furloughed workers were treated in the data sample would boost the actual unemployment rate just over to 16%.

Nevertheless, the latest numbers show that Asian Americans and Blacks were atill adversely affected by the economic slowdown caused by measures being used to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
In Minnesota, 24% of Asian Americans applied for unemployment compared to 22% of the overall population, according to MPR News.

“Little Mekong is a destination for Asian businesses and restaurants and culture, and so we’re really concerned that the Little Mekong district could disappear because of COVID-19,” said Va-Megn Thoj, executive director of the Asian Economic Development Association to MPR.

California, the state with the most Asian Americans, does not break down its numbers according to race.

In New York, with the second largest Asian American population, unemployment rose more then 4,000% in the latest statistics available for the week ended May 9.

Even as businesses begin to reopen, optimism is not high.

“Even though we may reopen by the end of this month or whatever, I don’t think people are going to be coming out to eat or shopping,” Gary Lin said to ABC News. “I don’t think that business will recover just like before.”

Sunday Read: What is race? An artificial construct placing Whites on top

Asian Americans took part in last week's demonstrations against racial injustice.

In today's tumultuous climate sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died under the weight of three police officers, one of whom had his knee pinning him at the neck. Before we start talking about the complexities of race relations, it might be a good idea to start at the beginning: the concept of "race."

As a result of public confusion about the meaning of "race," claims as to major biological differences among "races" continue to be advanced.

The following statement was adopted by the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association in 1998, based on a draft prepared by a committee of representative American anthropologists. It does not reflect a consensus of all members of the AAA, as individuals vary in their approaches to the study of "race." They believed that it represents a synopsis of contemporary thinking and scholarly positions of a majority of anthropologists.

Views From the Edge presents the AAA statement to spur further conversations on race -- in other words -- the future direction of America.

* * *

In the United States both scholars and the general public have been conditioned to viewing human races as natural and separate divisions within the human species based on visible physical differences. With the vast expansion of scientific knowledge in this century, however, it has become clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups. Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g., DNA) indicates that most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groups. Conventional geographic "racial" groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater variation within "racial" groups than between them. In neighboring populations there is much overlapping of genes and their phenotypic (physical) expressions. Throughout history whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred. The continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as a single species.

Physical variations in any given trait tend to occur gradually rather than abruptly over geographic areas. And because physical traits are inherited independently of one another, knowing the range of one trait does not predict the presence of others. For example, skin color varies largely from light in the temperate areas in the north to dark in the tropical areas in the south; its intensity is not related to nose shape or hair texture. Dark skin may be associated with frizzy or kinky hair or curly or wavy or straight hair, all of which are found among different indigenous peoples in tropical regions. These facts render any attempt to establish lines of division among biological populations both arbitrary and subjective.

Historical research has shown that the idea of "race" has always carried more meanings than mere physical differences; indeed, physical variations in the human species have no meaning except the social ones that humans put on them. Today scholars in many fields argue that "race" as it is understood in the United States of America was a social mechanism invented during the 18th century to refer to those populations brought together in colonial America: the English and other European settlers, the conquered Indian peoples, and those peoples of Africa brought in to provide slave labor.

From its inception, this modern concept of "race" was modeled after an ancient theorem of the Great Chain of Being, which posited natural categories on a hierarchy established by God or nature. Thus "race" was a mode of classification linked specifically to peoples in the colonial situation. It subsumed a growing ideology of inequality devised to rationalize European attitudes and treatment of the conquered and enslaved peoples. 

Proponents of slavery in particular during the 19th century used "race" to justify the retention of slavery. The ideology magnified the differences among Europeans, Africans, and Indians, established a rigid hierarchy of socially exclusive categories underscored and bolstered unequal rank and status differences, and provided the rationalization that the inequality was natural or God-given. The different physical traits of African-Americans and Indians became markers or symbols of their status differences.

As they were constructing US society, leaders among European Americans fabricated the cultural/behavioral characteristics associated with each "race," linking superior traits with Europeans and negative and inferior ones to Blacks and Native Americans. Numerous arbitrary and fictitious beliefs about the different peoples were institutionalized and deeply embedded in American thought.

Early in the 19th century the growing fields of science began to reflect the public consciousness about human differences. Differences among the "racial" categories were projected to their greatest extreme when the argument was posed that Africans, Indians, and Europeans were separate species, with Africans the least human and closer taxonomically to apes.

Ultimately "race" as an ideology about human differences was subsequently spread to other areas of the world. It became a strategy for dividing, ranking, and controlling colonized people used by colonial powers everywhere. But it was not limited to the colonial situation. In the latter part of the 19th century it was employed by Europeans to rank one another and to justify social, economic, and political inequalities among their peoples. During World War II, the Nazis under Adolf Hitler enjoined the expanded ideology of "race" and "racial" differences and took them to a logical end: the extermination of 11 million people of "inferior races" (e.g., Jews, ... Africans, homosexuals, and so forth) and other unspeakable brutalities of the Holocaust.

"Race" thus evolved as a worldview, a body of prejudgments that distorts our ideas about human differences and group behavior. Racial beliefs constitute myths about the diversity in the human species and about the abilities and behavior of people homogenized into "racial" categories. The myths fused behavior and physical features together in the public mind, impeding our comprehension of both biological variations and cultural behavior, implying that both are genetically determined. Racial myths bear no relationship to the reality of human capabilities or behavior. Scientists today find that reliance on such folk beliefs about human differences in research has led to countless errors.

At the end of the 20th century, we now understand that human cultural behavior is learned, conditioned into infants beginning at birth, and always subject to modification. No human is born with a built-in culture or language. Our temperaments, dispositions, and personalities, regardless of genetic propensities, are developed within sets of meanings and values that we call "culture." Studies of infant and early childhood learning and behavior attest to the reality of our cultures in forming who we are.

It is a basic tenet of anthropological knowledge that all normal human beings have the capacity to learn any cultural behavior. The American experience with immigrants from hundreds of different language and cultural backgrounds who have acquired some version of American culture traits and behavior is the clearest evidence of this fact. Moreover, people of all physical variations have learned different cultural behaviors and continue to do so as modern transportation moves millions of immigrants around the world.

How people have been accepted and treated within the context of a given society or culture has a direct impact on how they perform in that society. The "racial" worldview was invented to assign some groups to perpetual low status, while others were permitted access to privilege, power, and wealth. 

The tragedy in the United States has been that the policies and practices stemming from this worldview succeeded all too well in constructing unequal populations among Europeans, Native Americans, and peoples of African descent. Given what we know about the capacity of normal humans to achieve and function within any culture, we conclude that present-day inequalities between so-called "racial" groups are not consequences of their biological inheritance but products of historical and contemporary social, economic, educational, and political circumstances.

[Note: For further information on human biological variations, see the statement prepared and issued by the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, 1996 (AJPA 101:569-570).]

* * *

Commissioned by the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association, a position paper on race was authored by Audrey Smedley (Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview, 1993) and thrice reviewed by a working group of prominent anthropologists: George Armelagos, Michael Blakey, C. Loring Brace, Alan Goodman, Faye Harrison, Jonathan Marks, Yolanda Moses, and Carol Mukhopadhyay. 

A draft of the current paper was published in the September 1997 Anthropology Newsletter and posted on the AAA website for a number of months, and member comments were requested. While Smedley assumed authorship of the final draft, she received comments not only from the working group but also from the AAA membership and other interested readers. The paper above was adopted by the AAA Executive Board on May 17, 1998, as an official statement of AAA's position on "race."

Facebook, Instagram unblock #Sikh; apologize for 'mistake'

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After blocking hashtag #Sikh for nearly three months, Instagram and Facebook finally unblocked the hashtag after admitting that they made a “mistake.”

Tribune India reported users learned about the blocked hashtag after attempting to post about the injustices faced in Operation Blue Star of 1984. According to Independent, users were unable to search or post anything if they used hashtag #Sikh. Instead, users read an error message that said, “Posts for this hashtag are temporarily hidden because of unusual activity that may not meet Instagram’s Community Guidelines.”

This issue was recently brought to widespread public attention after Sikh Press Association, a national news agency representing the Sikh community, publicly questioned Instagram and Facebook on June 3rd. Sikh Press Associate wrote in a tweet, “In the same week that #Neverforget1984 trends on Twitter, Instagram seemingly conspires to suppress the truth about the atrocities of the 1984 Sikh genocide by censoring the faith of 27 million people.”

Times of India dubbed Operation Bluestar as a “painful memory” to the Sikh community. The Operation was carried out by the Indian Army in June 1984 to wipe out militants in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, a city in India. In the process, millions of Sikhs were killed.

Canada-based author Rupi Kaur also tweeted: “The hypocrisy of @facebook’s approach to free speech: Zuckerberg says fb’s [facebook’s] principles prohibit him from blocking trump as he incites violence & hate. Meanwhile as Sikhs raise their voice to mark the injustices of 1984: Sikh hashtags are blocked. @amy-xiaoshi-depaolainstagramcomms do better.

In response to Kaur, Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s chief executive said he had never heard about the issue before. “Not sure what’s going on here, but we’re looking into it and will circle back,” wrote Mosseri from his personal account.

Soon after, Instagram announced that the block had been reversed. In a tweet, Instagram wrote, “Thanks for your patience today. We investigated this issue and found that these hashtags were mistakenly blocked on March 7th following a report that was inaccurately reviewed by our teams.”

The social media platform claimed the tag was added to a ban list after a report was inaccurately filtered out by its teams. Instagram immediately owned up to its mistake by tweeting, “We became aware that these hashtags were blocked today following feedback we received from the community, and quickly moved to unblock them. Our processes fell down here, and we’re sorry.”

The company further stressed, “This is an incredibly important, painful time for the Sikh community. We designed hashtags to allow people to come together and share with one another. It’s never our intention to silence the voices of this community, we are taking the necessary steps so this doesn’t happen again.”

Earlier this week, Instagram tendered an apology for inadvertently blocking #BlackLivesMatter. Instagram explained that a defect in its spam detection system caused the latest glitch, according to India Today.

However, Mail Online suggested that unlike Facebook and Instagram’s other apparent mixups in the recent months, the word Sikh had been blocked because of the companies’ human error, instead of algorithm.

As the company failed to follow up on why and how the word ‘Sikh’ was blocked or how the ban escaped detection for so long, many netizens took on social media to portray their rage.

One user commented directly on Instagram Comms thread, “This is nowhere near enough information or a proper explanation. An entire community erased as a hashtag from Instagram and Facebook over an ‘inaccurately reviewed report.”

Many others demanded further explanation behind what happened how these global social media giants would never make the same mistake again.

ESPN airs 'Be Water' documentary about Bruce Lee

A documentary about actor and martial artist Bruce Lee will air on ESPN on Sunday.

The day after every episode of Green Hornet, my friends would gather in our place on campus designated for "outsiders" (a step just above "nerds") and discuss the intricacies of Kato's fights in the TV series.

Kato was played by martial arts legend Bruce Lee and the sight of an Asian man beating up on white dudes was cathartic for us who grew up with the yoke of the emasculated Asian male weighing us down.

Kato was the Green Hornet's sidekick, but to a generation of Asian American kids, he was the real hero, a kick-ass martial artist who got the clumsier Green Hornet out of many a jam.

I also have to admit that I kind of enjoyed walking around campus and not being picked on because everyone thought that all Asian boys knew martial arts and the myth Lee created gave the would-be bullies just enough pause to make school bearable.

Finally, someone was a heroic figure who looked like us. Lee was more than an actor and more than an action hero. The image he portrayed made him something of an idol, someone to be worshipped with almost religious fervor.

Of course, as I grew older, I would discover that Lee was just a man; a human being with flaws. The manner of his still-debated death at the age of 32 knocked him off the pedestal we put him on.

But you cannot argue the impact he had and what he represented to Asian American boys. He allowed us to dream bigger dreams, set higher goals and the wherewithal to fight those fights on campus and in the workplace that would otherwise hammer us down.

In other words, be like water, as Lee advised. "Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless -- like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

'Be Water' director Bao Nguyen

Be Water is a documentary that ESPN will air this Sunday (June 7) as part of the sports network's 30 on 30 series, which just finished the The Last Dance about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

“Obviously, Bruce Lee is this global icon, but for me, he was this myth. Who was he as a person, his struggles as an Asian American male in 1960s Hollywood? I wanted to explore that,” says director Bao Nguyen.

Nguyen is a lauded filmmaker, with projects at PBS, HBO, and films premiering at the top film festivals. His latest project, Be Water, is about the legacy of Bruce Lee, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

In addition to being a documentary and narrative filmmaker, he also launched a new venture, East Films, which is a film company with offices in Vietnam and Los Angeles, the two places he currently calls home. The goal of the new film company is to create high quality content in Asia and bring more Vietnamese cinema across the globe.

"He's become more than just a man. He's become an icon that anyone can project their story on," Nguyen said. "But in order for heroes to become relatable, for people to really want to be like them, you have to know their human side. Their struggles. Their fears. You need to be able to say, 'He had the same insecurities that I have, but he believed in himself and fought his way through it.' I find that to be the most aspirational part of Bruce Lee."

How to watch Be Water:

Be Water, airs tomorrow on June 7 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on ESPN. The documentary will be available to stream on ESPN+ immediately after the broadcast. 

• Watch on ESPN: Download the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV
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Hasan Minhaj is not joking in a powerful message to Asian Americans, "We cannot stay silent about George Floyd

Hasan Minhaj, host of Netflix's Patriot Act, gave an impassioned plea aimed directly at Asian Americans and why AAPI need to support the George Floyd protestors and for equal justice for all People of Color, especially Black Americans.

The comedian wasn't joking when he dropped a Patriot Act Digital Exclusive episode on YouTube titled ‘We Cannot Stay Silent About George Floyd.’ that excoriated the anti-black sentiment that permeates through AAPI communities.

In the 12-minute long episode, that has since gone viral on social media, he starts in his typical style pointing out the absurdity of some situations:

“Asians, we love seeing Black excellence — Barack, Michelle, JAY [-Z], Beyoncé, the Travis Scott [Air Jordan] 4s. We spent the last five weeks praying at the altar of Michael Jordan. How could we be afraid? We love Black America. Yeah, on screen in our living rooms. But if a Black man walks in your living room or wants to date, God forbid, marry your daughter, you call the cops.”

Then he dives into the colorism that exists in Asian culture where lighter skin is coveted and dark skin is looked down on.

And to drive his point home, he shows of picture of former Minneapolis police officer Tuo Thao, one of the four officers who were involved in the arrest and death of Floyd. While three officers restrained Floyd, Thao stood in front of the onlookers videotaping the incident.

"That is America. A black man was murdered in cold blood, and we were on the f**king sidelines watching," said Minhaj, calling for non-black POC to take a more active role. "I'm not saying we were the ones who killed George Floyd. But we have to be the ones who pull that cop off his neck!"

"We think we're not a part of the story, but we're at the scene of the crime! That's why the full picture matters. This doesn't happen in a vacuum — it happens in a system," he continued.

"We have to donate our money and time to black organizations," said the second-generation Indian American. "We have got to get our civics law school nerd shit on right now."

He specifically challenged Asian immigrants: "America's story didn't start when we got here," said Minhaj. "When you became an American citizen you don't just get to own the country's excellence. You have to own its failures. That is the deal."

He concluded with a direct appeal to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is on a first-name basis with his fellow Muslim American to aggressively prosecute the four former officers, "to set a precedent, so the next time we see a cop with a knee on a black man's neck, we see it for what it is -- murder.!"

Philadelphia Inquirer's disrespectful headline angers journalists of color

Most of the minority journalists at the Philadelphia Inquirer stayed home "sick" Thursday to protest a headline, "Buildings Matter, Too," an obvious riff on Black Lives Matter.
The headline for an article about the possible harm to historical buildings caused by some of the people taking part in the demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

“It’s not just three words. Those three words on top of years and years of complaints within the Philadelphia Inquirer that we were not devoted to diversity,” said NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia President Diane Mastrull.

Organizers said on Wednesday 44 of 57 journalists of color signed an open letter to their editors that indicated their displeasure ranged wider than a poor headline.

"We’re tired of shouldering the burden of dragging this 200-year-old institution kicking and screaming into a more equitable age," said the letter. "We’re tired of being told of the progress the company has made and being served platitudes about “diversity and inclusion” when we raise our concerns. We’re tired of seeing our words and photos twisted to fit a narrative that does not reflect our reality. We’re tired of being told to show both sides of issues there are no two sides of..

"... On June 4, we’re calling in sick and tired. Sick and tired of pretending things are OK. Sick and tired of not being heard," reads the letter.

"If we are to walk into a better world, we need to do it with our chests forward—acknowledge and accept where we make mistakes, and show how we learn from them. Your embarrassment is not worth more than our humanity."

"This is what it means to 'give a damn,'” the letter concluded.

The letter cam about after a stafff Zoom meeting focused on the headline, race and diversity in the newsroom.

The editors wrote an apology to the staff and to the newspaper's readers which it published Friday (June 5).

The apology was signed by executive editor Stan Wischnowski, editor Gabriel Escobar and managing editor Patrick Kerkstra.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer published a headline in Tuesday's edition that was deeply offensive," it read. "We should not have printed it. We're sorry, and regret that we did. We also know that an apology on its own is not sufficient."

"The headline offensively riffed on the Black Lives Matter movement, and suggested an equivalence between the loss of buildings and the lives of black Americans. That is unacceptable," the editors apology continued.

Lisa Hughes, the Inquirer’s publisher said in a statement, “As the first female publisher in the 190-year history of The Inquirer, I can tell you firsthand that we have been too slow to change to reflect the community we serve.”

"Black lives matter, and we know that we have a critical role to play in making sure that the work we do every day reflects the community we serve. We know that we -- as a news organization and as a community -- have (a) lot of work to do," said Hughs.

The newspaper employs 213 journalists, 57 of whom, or 26.8%, are people of color. He also noted that seven of the newsroom's first eight new hires in 2020 were journalists of color, according to Evan Benn, the paper's director of special projects and editorial events.

The Philadelphia chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) joined with the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists - Philadelphia, and Free Press in their own letter supporting the Inquirer's journalists of color.

"The important work of the Philadelphia Inquirer, though, will continue to be undermined if the public it serves cannot trust it to stand with them and its reporters of color in the struggle to create a more just and equitable world," their letter said.

"It should go without saying, that Black lives matter more than buildings," said the joint letter.

Who is Tou Thao, the Hmong American charged in George Floyd's death?

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Fomer Minnesota police officer Tou Thao was arrested in the death of George Floyd.

Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao, the Hmong American, who was involved in the arrest and death of George Floyd, a black man. dream about being a cop may be shattered.

Thao, 34, was one of four officers who arrested and restrained Floyd, eventually leading to Floyd's death. Besides Thao, the other officers were  Derek Michael Chauvin, Thomas Kiernan Lane and J. Alexander Kueng.

The senior officer at the scene of the arrest, Chauvin, had his knee on Floyd's neck for almost 9 minutes, apparently cutting off blood and oxygen to his brain, according to one of two autopsies.

The following day, all four officers were fired from the department.

Floyd's death has led to widespread outrage, protests and unrest across the nation. The Minneapolis officer seen kneeling on Floyd's neck, Derek Chauvin, was charged last week with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that the charge against Chuvin was upgraded to 2nd-degree murder. The other three officers, includingThao, was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Thao, along with Kueng and Lane, was taken into custody Wednesday and is being held on $1 million bail, according to county jail documents.

Although Thao didn't touch Floyd, he stood between onlookers and the other three officers who were restraining Floyd. 

Tuo Thao is a common name among the Hmong and has led to problems with other individuals with that name, including a supposed connection with Kellie Chauvin, the officer's Hmong wife. Thao is not related to Kellie Chauvin, who is reportedly in the midst of divorcing Chauvin.

After Thao graduated in 2004 from Fridley High School in Fridley, Minnesota, he attended North Hennepin Community College in nearby Brooklyn Park, Minn. with the intention to earn an associate degree in law enforcement. However, he never graduated.

While attending college, he worked as a part-time police officer.

In 2008, the Minneapolis Police Dept. hired him a community service officer. He went through the Minneapolis Police Academy but was laid off because of budget cuts.

He was recalled in 2011 and hired in 2012 as a full-time officer.

At least six complaints were filed against him during his career with the Minneapolis police before the Floyd incident but didn't receive any disciplinary action, according to Communities United Against Police Brutality.

The most serious complaint against Thao occurred in Oct., 2014, when he and another police officer arrested Lamar Ferguson. Thao allegedly physically assaulted the arrestee and took him to the hospital before putting him to jail.

In 2017, both officers were sued by Ferguson for excessive use of force and the case was closed in 2018 with the Minneapolis Police Department settling with Ferguson for $25,000.

Defending him in the Floyd case, is Attorney Robert Paule, reportedly one of the top-rated criminal defense lawyers  in Minneapolis with more than three decades of experience in general practice.

Thao listed that he can speak Hmong. Minnesota has a large Hmong population, mostly concentrated in the Twin Cities area. The Hmong community in Minnesota is one of two large concentrations of Hmong in the U.S., the other being around the Fresno area in California. According to 2010 census data, some 64,000 Hmong live in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Hmong came to the US as refugees after the Vietnam War because they were part of the CIA's "secret army" in Laos, Vietnam and China who were enlisted to fight the Vietnamese from North and South Vietnam seeking to overthrow the South Vietnamese government.

Thao's involvement in Floyd's death has caused Asian Americans across the country and the black community to re-examine biases and tensions between the communities.

For the Twin Cities' Hmong community, the debate over anti-blackness is mostly being talked about behind closed doors. But much of the rest of Asian America seems to be experiencing a more public reckoning, with social media discussions over not just anti-blackness sentiment but also about solidarity with communities of color.

The perceived tension goes back to the 1970s, when the Hmong arrived as refugees and were "plopped into the most affordable parts of town," says Bo Thao-Urabe, a Hmong refugee and head of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders in St. Paul. She has no known relation to former officer Thao.

"So we live in proximity to black and brown people," she says because the Hmong were seen as rivals by the blacks as the two groups battled over the same crumbs.

People who tend to defend Thao believe that the former officer shouldn't be judged as a "white" cop with assumed privilege.

Hmong Americans rank lowest among Southeast Asian American ethnic groups "across multiple measures of income," with 60% of them low income and more than 1 of 4 living in poverty, according to a recent study from the group Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

"People have this preconceived notion that if you are Asian American, you must be educated. You must make a lot of money — and that is not the experience of this community," says Thao-Urabe.

Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang call for a $2,000 stimulus check per month

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Former Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, and tech CEO Andrew Yang continued their support for a monthly $2,000 stimulus check during a virtual town hall hosted by The Appeal.

Stimulus checks and regular payment plans have been written in both Harris and Yang’s political platforms. Yang famously ran his presidential campaign on universal basic income, which would provide $1,000 per month to every citizen over 18.

The basic income would have been funded through value-added tax, economic growth and taxes.

“We’re facing a new Great Depression, but there are legislators that have bills on the table that, if enough Americans get behind [them], we can pass today,” Yang said, Inquisitr reported.

Harris has recently introduced legislation that would provide up to $2,000 to each individual. Harris, alongside Senators Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and Ed Markey, D-MA, announced the Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act. It would provide $2,000 a month with an income cap, expanding access to any U.S. resident regardless of tax status and is retroactive to March 2020, according to Forbes.

“The government should be here for the people in a moment of crisis,” Harris, a potential running mate for Joe Biden, said. “People should be able to count on their government to see them and to create a safety net for them, so that these people don’t fall into poverty—or further into poverty—during the course of this pandemic.”

The bill, backed by prominent Democratic senators, may be getting traction in Washington, given the great economic need and an impending recession that economists warned can be devastating.

However, the possibility of the legislation being passed is debated, according to Forbes. Senate Republicans have been opposed to a monthly payment plan, and some Democrats may be adjusting their approach to authorizing unemployment benefits and other programs that would provide relief to the most economically impacted.

Minnesota AG: All four arresting officers face increased charges for death of George Floyd

INSTAGRAM / Samjohnson3photography

ASAM NEWS

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer shown pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck, is now being charged with second-degree murder. Former officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, are being charged with aiding and abetting, CNN reports.

Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison announced the charges at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Kueng, Lane and Thao face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Kueng, 26, was taken into custody on Wednesday, according to county jail records. Warrants were issued for Lane, 37, and Thao, 34. In the video Kueng and Lane can be seen restraining Floyd. Thao is later seen standing by as Chauvin presses his knee into Floyd’s neck.

Chauvin, 44, was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He now faces second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges. According to The New York Times, the second-degree murder charges require prosecutors to prove either that Mr. Chauvin intended to kill Mr. Floyd, or that he did so while committing another felony. Second-degree murder is punishable by up to 40 years in prison.

Lane, Kueng and Thao now face up to 40 years in prison if found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

SCREENCAPTURE / MSNBC

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced new charges in the death of George Floyd.

The presence of Thao, a Hmong American, during the arrest and death of Floyd, has raised a national debate among Asian Americans and their relationship with the Black community. 

Much of the discussion on social debate called for Asian Americans to support the call for equal justice and police reform.  Floyd’s death came six weeks after police in Louisville, Kentucky, fatally shot Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, during a midnight “no-knock” raid on her home. It came 10 weeks after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, who was chased down by a white father and son in a pickup truck as he jogged in his neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia.

“This is a bittersweet moment,” Ben Crump, a lawyer for Mr. Floyd’s family, said in a statement. “This is a significant step forward on the road toward justice, and we are gratified that this important action was brought before George Floyd’s body was laid to rest. That is a source of peace for George’s family in this painful time.”

VIEWS FROM THE EDGE contributed to this report.

Whither Asian Americans? United States politics strongly divided along lines of race and education

DEMOCRATIC ASIANS OF VIRGINIA

Since 2016, Asian Americans have leaned towards Democratic candidates.

The divisions within America that have been on display the last week will likely be even more evident in November when the nation's electorate votes for president between the Republicans' Donald Trump and the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.

A portrait of the demographic, geographic and religious breakdowns within each party reveals changes within America's two major parties that could drive them further apart, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

Adding to the fears of white supremacists, over the last few decades, the American electorate and both of the two major parties have become less white. 

As more people take to streets to express their angst and anger at the death of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers, the unwillingness of white supremacists to live in a society where they no longer hold the position of power could threaten the the stability of the nation.

Refining the parties' bases further, the groups that the Pew report identifies as the strongest for each side are nearly polar opposites: If we were to use broad strokes and paint a picture of the Trump supporter, he would be an older white man with a high school degree living in a rural part of the country, probably the South.

In contrast, the "typical" Democrat would be a young woman (could very well be a woman  of color), with some college education and living in the urban centers either on the West Coast or Northeast.

In surveys conducted in 1996, 85% of registered voters were whites who are not of Hispanic descent. In the 2018 and 2019 data, that figure stands at 69%. 

It has also dropped in both parties, but by a larger share among Democrats (from 76% to 59%) than among Republicans (from 94% to 81%). That is not due to fewer Democratic voters but more than likely because of the concerted effort to register voters of color.

Asian Americans included in the survey data have become increasingly Democratic in recent years, though, and now 72% consider themselves Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents vs. just 17% who say they are Republicans or Republican-leaners. The survey data, however, can only reflect the views of English-speaking Asian Americans because the surveys were not administered in other Asian languages.

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing segment of eligible voters out of the major racial and ethnic groups in the United States. More than 11 million will be able to vote this year, making up nearly 5% of the nation’s eligible voters, Pew reported in an earlier survey.

Even as the racial makeup of the electorate has changed, overall partisan leanings among whites, blacks and Latinos have held roughly steady in the last few years. In the most recent data, Republicans outpace Democrats among whites 53% to 42%, while Democrats hold a massive advantage among blacks (83% Democratic vs. 10% Republican) and a smaller but still substantial edge among Latinos (63% to 29%). 

Democrats hold an 80-point advantage in partisan affiliation among black women, Republicans have a 32-point edge in affiliation among white non-college men. Republicans have a 61-point lead in identification among white evangelicals, while Democrats have a 43-point lead among the religiously unaffiliated. And Democrats have a 49-point advantage among urban Northeasterners, while Republicans have a 27-point lead among rural Southerners.

Other findings of the Pew analysis:

• Education and race. Just as the nation has become more racially and ethnically diverse, it also has become better educated. Still, just 36% of registered voters have a four-year college degree or more while a sizable majority (64%) has not completed college. Democrats increasingly dominate in party identification among white college graduates and maintain wide and long-standing advantages among black, Hispanic and Asian American voters. Republicans increasingly dominate in party affiliation among white non-college voters, who continue to make up a majority (57%) of all GOP voters.

• The gender gap in party identification is as large as at any point in the past two decades: 56% of women align with the Democratic Party, compared with 42% of men. Gender differences are evident across subgroups: For example, women who have not completed college are 11 percentage points more likely than men to identify as Democrats or lean Democratic (51% to 40%). The gap is even wider among those who have at least a four-year degree (65% of women, 48% of men).

• Age and generations. The electorate is slowly aging: A 52% majority of registered voters are ages 50 and older; in both 1996 and 2004, majorities of voters were younger than 50. Two decades ago, about four-in-ten voters in both parties were 50 and older; today, these voters make up a majority of Republicans (56%) and half of Democrats. Looking at the electorate through a generational lens, Millennials (ages 24 to 39 in 2020) are more Democratic leaning than older generations.

• Religious affiliation. As the share of Christians in the population has declined, this is reflected differently in the composition of the partisan coalitions. Today, Christians make up about half of Democratic voters (52%); in 2008, about three-quarters of Democrats (73%) were Christians. The share of Democratic voters who are religiously unaffiliated has approximately doubled over this period (from 18% to 38%). The changes among Republicans have been far more modest: Christians constitute 79% of Republican voters, down from 87% in 2008.

Burmese restaurants awarded workers $1.3M in class action suit

BURMA SUPERSTAR

Workers at Burma Superstar restaurants were awarded $1.3 million 

The Alameda County Superior Court in California entered judgment Tuesday (June 2) approving a $1.3 million class action settlement between current and former kitchen employees of the popular Bay Area Burma Superstar restaurants, and the owners and operators of the local chain.

“I’m really proud that we spoke up for ourselves and the other kitchen workers and made real changes,” said William Navarrette, one of the class representatives. “Burma Superstar kitchen workers work very hard to make the restaurants so successful,” said William Navarrete, a former dishwasher, kitchen helper, and cook at three of the restaurants.

The settlement is for a class of about 350 current and former kitchen workers at the Burma Superstar, Burma Love, and B star restaurants in San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda. The workers alleged that the chain failed to pay minimum and overtime wages, split shift premiums, and sick leave, did not provide adequate meal and rest breaks, and unlawfully retaliated against employees.

The allegations fit into an unfortunately widespread pattern of restaurants taking advantage of immigrant workers with limited English skills who are unaware of their rights — or who fear retaliation if they assert their rights. Most or all of the workers the lawsuit aims to cover are immigrants who speak Spanish, Chinese, or Burmese.

The class is represented by Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (ALC), Centro Legal de la Raza, and Legal Aid at Work.

“This case specifically alleges wage violations at Burma Superstar, but these allegations reflect a business model that Centro Legal has seen at far too many other restaurants across the Bay Area,” says Jesse Newmark, litigation director at Centro Legal de la Raza. “Especially in increasingly affluent Bay Area neighborhoods, it is unacceptable to boost profits by underpaying low-income workers.”

“We are honored to represent the lead plaintiffs, who chose to bring this case not just for themselves but for all the kitchen staff in the restaurants, across different languages and cultural backgrounds,” said Winnie Kao, Senior Counsel at Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus.

As the restaurant industry strives to recover, workers cannot be left behind. “We hope that this settlement will inspire better working conditions for kitchen staff in restaurants across the Bay Area, one of the food capitals of the world,” said Carole Vigne, Director of the Wage Protection Program at Legal Aid at Work. “

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the gaping holes in our country’s safety nets and widened the inequalities that exist. We hope better jobs await restaurant workers as they return to work.”

For additional information about the settlement, click here.