Paper Sons

The Museum of Chinese Americans reopened in New York this week. The museum now includes a permanent exhibit covering the life of Tun Funn Hom, who immigrated to the US under a false name in 1936.

The exhibit reminds visitors that illegal immigration cuts across many groups, far beyond media images of Southerners patrolling the US Mexico border for an opportunity to "protect their country". It reminds us that these human beings, who immigrated to the US at high physical and emotional cost build lives here that include contributing to the economy, raising children, and serving in the US army.

Immigration is a complicated cycle of recruitment and exclusion, circumvention and crackdowns. And at the heart of all these conversations are human stories.

Supporting a Good Cause

A youth organization in Boston is hosting a basketball tournament in October, called "Beasts of the Easts". I'm highlighting it because the name is killer and it should be a lot of fun for a good cause. CAPAY (the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth) has been serving Massachusetts APA youth since 1995, teaching political/cultural/social awareness and training them to be leaders in their communities.

Check out the Facebook invitation.

Yup. I'm biased. These are the people that first got me thinking that race wasn't a biological category, and that the Black Panthers might have been onto something. Also the people that keep their office so friendly it feels like a second home. So, you may see me promo some of their other events here, too.

Walk it out: Update

More on the walk out, from the Guardian.

Walk it out: Stop the Privatization of Public University

Tomorrow, UC Berkeley is walking out. Faculty, staff, students.

Fees are set to increase by 30%. Student enrollment will fall and classes will get more crowded. It all adds up to students paying more for less education. It means faculty and staff will have to work harder, stretch themselves thinner for less compensation. And they've decided that's not acceptable in any way.

I'm declaring my support for the walkout. Rising costs of education and declining quality are issues that reach far beyond UC Berkeley. I can't be there, but I'm standing in solidarity.

For more information, check out Hands Off UC.

Spread the word.

Fun Facts to Celebrate the Census

Next year, the US government will count and coordinate statistics for all the people living in its borders. One of my currently unemployed friends says that the Census offers pretty good jobs, short term. To celebrate the soon-to-come-kickoff, I thought I would share some fun facts about past censuses. (As a descendent of multiple races, its the facts about multiple races that have seemed most fun to me.)

1. The US Census has always been a little funny about racial classifications. They (who is they?) keep changing the names of the categories, making it harder to track statistics.

2. In the past, census takers would appear at your door and mark the category the person at the door most resembled. Self-reporting identity is a relatively new invention.

3. It wasn't until the 2000 Census that respondents were allowed to pick more than one race. And now, for statistical purposes, multiracial individuals count as a full person under each race he or she chooses. So, if I identify as white and Asian, the statistics for white goes up by one person and the statistic for Asian goes up by one person. Thus, the multiracial individual is a multividual on the US Census.

Today: Memorial for Ron Takaki

For those in the Bay Area.

Celebrate the Life & Legacy of Ron Takaki

Friday, September 18, 2009

Sponsored by UC Berkeley Asian American Studies Program, the Department of Ethnic Studies, & the Takaki Family

Memorial events from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at:

Chevron Auditorium, International House
2299 Piedmont Avenue at Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94720-2320

Reception immediately following from 3:30 to 5:00 pm at:

Ethnic Studies Library
30 Stephens Hall
UC Berkeley

Haha. A new video from WongFu Productions. Haven't heard of them? Check out their youtube channel.

History and Memory

The way Asian American history gets presented usually goes like this: history is important because the past affects the present. If Asian American history doesn't get taught, we remain invisible and it will be like we didn't exist. And to some extent, that's true. Asians came to the Americas before the US was a country, and if this fact isn't recognized, then this country can continue to treat us as if we've just arrived. The photographers at Promontory Point kept all the Asian Americans out of the picture so that people would think honest, white American sweat had connected the East and West Coast with the transcontinental railroad.

But let's not get too carried away. Let's not give history too much power. The things written in books and taught in schools was never the sum of history because history is only part of memory. Its the memory that everyone is supposed to share. Asian American history has been able to rewrite the "official history" because we preserved our memory. We trusted our memory.

Last Post on Music for a Minute

I've lost my internet connection at my house, and have resorted to coming into work early and leaving late in order to use the office internet connection. Life before internet must have been hard. Moving on...

The last Asian American artist I'm going to highlight in this unintentional series is Goh Nakamura. His concept album Ulysses is available for free download from his website. Its a complete dreamy event-- theme and variations on the idea of odyssey. (Did I use the term concept album correctly?)

Check him out at gohnakamura.com