The AAYA! Blog

HB 2281

Governor Jan Brewer has done it again. Just weeks after signing the controversial (and dumb) SB 1070, the law that allows officials to stop any suspected illegal immigrants and demand proof of citizenship, Brewer signs another bill targeting Mexican-American, African-American, and Native-American ethnic studies in the Tuscon school districts of Arizona.

HB 2281 bans schools from teaching classes that are specially designed for a particular ethnic group on the provisions that Arizona’s government:

Prohibits a school district or charter school from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that…promote the overthrow of the United States government…promote resentment toward a race or class of people…[and] advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

Do these people think ethnic studies classes involve the use of pitchforks and torches followed by plans for taking over America? Or is Jan Brewer just really really repulsed by the color brown?

Read more here!

“You’re in trouble if you’re really tan and you find yourself in Arizona…”

I actually don’t follow current events as much as I should, so it took me until yesterday to hear about Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signing some ridiculous bill on Friday. SB 1070, the Arizona law enabling and requiring police officers “to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials,” was met with immediate protests by immigrants and advocates for the illegal.

The law aims to “identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants,” but in actuality, will probably just increase harassment and racial profiling, especially of the Mexicans and Hispanics. Brewer did respond to critics’ concerns, “saying she would work to ensure that the police have proper training to carry out the law. But she sided with arguments by the law’s sponsors that it provides an indispensable tool for the police in a border state that is a leading magnet of illegal immigration. She said racial profiling would not be tolerated, adding, ‘We have to trust our law enforcement.’”

I guess I’m just wondering exactly what kind of training the police will be receiving. How to spot an illegal resident? Or as my friend Dan Ping pointed out in her blog, “tiny people with green skin and antennas jumping off spaceships or…people who look and are Mexican?” I also find the newly installed honor system to be quite amusing. Sorry, Arizonians, you’re just going to have to trust your police not to pull you over because they simply can’t be racists.

I wonder how this whole thing will work out. Will Obama follow through with his promise of a federal overhaul of immigration laws? In any case, like my professor said, “You’re in trouble if you’re really tan and you find yourself in Arizona…”

Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration

Oakland Assault - Hate Crime?

59-year-old Tian Sheng Yu and his son, Jin Cheng Yu, were brutally assaulted in broad daylight on April 16 in downtown Oakland, San Francisco. Jin Cheng was attacked by two men while shopping, and when his father confronted the two attackers, he was brutally attacked himself. Tian Sheng Yu was in critical condition and placed on life support. Four days later, he died.Two African-American men, Lavonte Drummer and Dominic Davis, have been arrested and are in custody without bail. While it is unclear whether the attack was motivated by race, it has “raised racial tensions.”

Community members held a vigil on the 1800 block of Telegraph Ave. today at 3pm.
 

Read more:

SFGate

Zimbio

-Jeff

CYI’s 10th Anniversary Celebration was a great success! Happy Birthday, CYI!!!

April 20, 2010 at the Red Egg Restaurant

More pictures here!

In addition to losing their homes and belongings to a seven-alarm fire, residents of the buildings at Grand and Eldridge also have to find money to replace their identification (i.e. green cards, driver’s licenses, safety deposit box keys). Help Asian Americans for Equality fundraise to ease the ID replacement fees for the fire victims and their families.

Click here to find out how to help AAFE and the fire victims!

I am authentically…Asian?

A friend of mine discussed what it meant to be authentic today. What is authentic Chinese food? What is authentic Chinese culture? What does it mean to be authentically Chinese?

The truth is, there is no authenticity. One can argue that authentic Chinese food is made by the people who came from the culture the food originated from. So if you want to eat authentic Shanghai food, you would go to a Shanghai restaurant with a Shanghai cook. Right?

I used to agree with such a definition. But it didn’t occur to me that food in NYC cannot be truly “authentic” because Shanghai chefs would probably alter their recipes based on location. They have to take into account what ingredients are cheaper, what kind of tastes the local people have, and which dishes are in popular demand. Therefore, a Shanghai chef in San Francisco might produce a much different tasting dish than a Shanghai chef in New York City might with the same dish.

Then what about being Chinese? Is there such a thing as being “authentically” Chinese? As my friend pointed out, “Does my listening to Avril Lavigne make me not Chinese? I am a Chinese person listening to Avril Lavigne, so my experience with the music is very much Chinese, no?” So maybe the question is not what is authentically Chinese, but perhaps what we do to define authentic Chinese. Everything we do is reflective of our personal choices and identities, just like whatever the Shanghai chef cooks up is reflective of how he altered his personal recipe.

-Jeff