May 8, 2009 crossoutlinebox4 handptrightboxshadowupbox3square6lozenge6 3
Asian superheroes
Asian Americans still viewed
make the grade at
by mainstream as ‘outsiders’
library function
Special to ASIA democracy," said Helen Zia, Vice Chair for Media at C-100
and the author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of
M
ore than eight years An American People. "This survey underscores how our whole
after their revealing society benefits when attitudes and policies are based on factu-
report on perceptions al knowledge and attitudes that allow for the full participation
of Asian Americans, the of all Americans."
Committee of 100 (C-100) today A PDF copy of the report, which includes recommendations
released, Still the "Other?": based on findings, is available at: www.Committee100.org.
Public Attitudes Toward Chinese Some of the misperceptions contained in the report:
and Asian Americans, conducted * Despite the approximately 59,141 Asian Americans serv-
by Harris Interactive. ing in active duty in the U.S. Armed Services, and the more
The report indicates that, than 300 Asian Americans who have been injured or died in
despite a positive trend in atti- Operation Iraqi Freedom, there are still suspicions about the
tudes toward Asian Americans, loyalty of Asian Americans. Among the general population, 45
racial discrimination and suspi- percent believe Asian Americans are more loyal to their coun-
cions still exist. An underlying tries of ancestry than to the United States, up from 37 percent
“Secret Identity” hit bookshelves in spring of 2009.
current throughout the survey in the 2001 survey.
results is the recognition that – * While the Asian American community celebrated the cab-
The term “superheroes” often brings to mind even in 2009 – the majority of the inet appointments of members to the Obama administration –
Batman, or Superman, the familiar indestructible caped, general population cannot make a Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Commerce Secretary Gary
crime-fighters. On Saturday, May 30 from 2:30 – 4:30 distinction between Chinese Locke, and Veterans Affairs Secretary General Eric Shinseki –
pm, superheroes are seen through the eyes of Asian Americans and Asian Americans there is a significant lack of representation among other feder-
Americans as the Civic Center Library in Torrance hosts in general, treating all as one al, state and local elected leadership. There are currently six
an exciting presentation of “Secret Identities: The Asian generic, monolithic ethnic group, Asian American members of the House of representatives from
American with 28 percent or more saying continental U.S. states and two senators from Hawaii, and only
Superhero they rarely or never interact with one Governor, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Still, 36 percent of
Despite high-profile names
Anthology.”
around the
Asian Americans. such as Steven Chu, top, the general population thinks that Asian Americans have the
Put together
Southland
"Race is not black and white -
and General Eric Shinseki,
right amount of power and influence in Washington and 47
by Jeff Yang, literally nor figuratively.
Asian influence is fleeting.
percent, too little power.
Parry Shen, Whatever our own individual backgrounds or political prefer- * Sixty-five percent of the general population believes that
Keith Chow, Keiko Agena, and Jerry Ma, “Secret ences, the facts are clear – the face of the nation is changing as Asian American students are adequately represented on college
Identities” is a creation by 66 top Asian American writ- it never has before," said Frank H. Wu, Vice Chair for campuses, with 45 percent of Chinese Americans agreeing and
ers, artists, and comic professionals, who worked Research at C-100 and the author of Yellow: Race In America 36 percent arguing that they are underrepresented. In reality,
together to create 26 original stories centered around Beyond Black and White. "As we strive to make good on the out of some 3,200 college presidents in the United States, there
Asian American superheroes-stories set in a shadow his- American Dream that attracted so many of us and our ances- are only 33 Asian Americans, including Dr. Patricia Hsieh of
tory of our country. Join the editors for the presentation tors, we must see our shared interests in advancing civil rights San Diego’s Miramar College, in this position.
of this fresh take. Books will be available for purchase principles. All of us benefit from the principles of diversity and * Similarly, while Asian Americans hold only about 1.5 per-
and signing. The producers will be at the library to pres- inclusion. We cannot succeed without bridge building." cent of corporate board seats among Fortune 500 Companies, 3
ent and sign copies of their anthology. For more details, However, said Wu: "At a time when some pundits claim C-100’s report found that 50 percent of the general population
go to dvinke@torrnet.com that America has moved beyond race, this survey shows that believes Asian Americans are adequately represented on corpo-
there is broad ignorance of significant populations of rate boards, while only 23 percent of Chinese Americans agree.
The San Diego Asian Americans. In the absence of real information, harmful stereo- Forty-six percent of the general population also believes Asian
Film Foundation types still render Asian Americans as ‘Other’ outsiders to our Americans are promoted at the same pace as Caucasians.
(SDAFF) kicks off Asian
Pacific Heritage Month
with a special, free Historic journey ends in near disaster for Chinese boat crew
screening of “VINCENT
WHO?” Wednesday, May Special to ASIA
back to Taiwan and finishing their long
6, at the University of
journey,” said Chun Lee of the Chinese
San Diego’s Institute for When Capt. Nelson Liu appeared
Service Center Foundation, which is
Peace and Justice (5998 before a class of students at the San
affiliated with the Chinese language
Alcala Park, SD, CA Diego Chinese School last year, he
school where Liu gave his talk. A story
92110), with a reception regaled them with his stories of the high
about his journey was also featured on
following the screening seas and crossing the Pacific Ocean in
the cover of the Dec. 6 issue of ASIA,
at 7:30 p.m. The film is a exactly the same vessel used by Chinese
The Journal of Culture & Commerce.
documentary directed by Tony Lam and Curtis Chin, sailors more than 600 years ago.
“We had the pleasure of meeting
about the historic murder case of Vincent Chin and its On Sunday morning, Nelson and his
them and having them speak for the
impact on our community. Producers are the University crew of 11 barely survived a collision
school, so it’s really a tragic thing to
of San Diego Human Resources Department, KABA when their 54-foot Chinese junk
hear. Hopefully they can salvage some
(Korean American Bar Association), Pan Asian Lawyers “Princess Taiping” was run down and
records of their journey, but the impor-
of San Diego, Filipino American Lawyers of San Diego, sunk by a large freighter off the coast of
tant thing is that everyone, luckily, sur-
and the San Diego Asian American Journalists Taiwan, barely 30 miles from completing
vived,” Lee added.
Capt. Nelson Liu during his San Diego visit
Association. their historic 14,000 miles journey to
Liu said he was asleep when a crew
North America and back. The freighter,
was taken away in an instant,”
member awakened him at about 2 a.m.
Japanese internment camps circa World War II scar identified by the Taiwanese Coast Guard
One of the reasons Liu made the trip
The boat was making only two to three
our history. They affected the lives of thousands of as a Liberian flag tanker, did not stop
was to prove that Asian sailors might
knots, sailing at wind speed, so could not
Japanese Americans, but the effect on the lives of the after crashing head on into the Chinese
have reached North America before
get out of the way fast enough.
Japanese children has rarely been discussed. A powerful boat, splitting it in half.
Columbus, although on the West Coast.
Liu said he called the freighter on the
documentary, to be shown at the Civic Center Library "We were less than 30 miles from the
The junks, or boats of that period, in the
radio to say “You are on a collision
in Torrance, provides a glimpse into this painful world end of the voyage," Liu told the San
early 1300s, were much larger, in some
course," but the ship kept coming.
experienced by the children. Aptly titled, “The Children Francisco Chronicle by phone from
cases 10 times larger than the “Princess
One of the crew, an American,
of the Camps,” it shares the experiences, cultural and Taipei. "But I still feel lucky that every-
Taiping.”
Thomas Cook, suffered neck in juries;
familial issues, and the long internalized grief and one survived. It was a miracle.”
“I heard from a colleague who saw an
six of the crew members were
shame felt by six Japanese Americans who were only “It was very worrying and shocking
article in the Chinese news, and it was
Americans, the rest from Japan, Taiwan
children when they were sent to internment camps dur- news,” said Alex Chuang, director of the
hard to believe that something like that
and China. Liu, 61, is an experienced
ing World War II. The screening of this documentary San Diego Chinese Historical Museum,
happened. I don’t know the full details
sailor who sailed around the world sever-
will be followed by a discussion led by producer/ proj- who received the news via email.
about the accident, but it seems they lost
al times. Once, when crossing the
ect director Dr. Satsuki Ina, Ph.D. It will be screened on “Fortunately, everyone was saved,
all of their records, journals and work
Pacific, he ran into a typhoon. “The boat
Saturday May 9, from 2 – 3 pm at the Civic Center but it is such a shame. The crew devoted
which couldn’t be salvaged in the wreck-
was tested. It sailed wonderfully, but I
Library Community Meeting Room (3301 Torrance much time and effort into the trip, and
age. It’s a devastating thing, especially
was scared to death,” he told ASIA.
Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503). their near accomplishments to their goal
because they were so close to getting
If only it were a typhoon that Sunday.
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30