‘From shadows to spotlight’

From the New York Times:

Frail and dignified at 88, the man leaned on his cane and smiled as the story of his immigration in 1936 flashed behind him on a museum wall. Like tens of thousands of others who managed to come to the United States from China during a 60-year period when the law singled them out for exclusion, the man, Tun Funn Hom, had entered as a “paper son,” with false identity papers that claimed his father was a native citizen.

His daughter’s quote:

“One’s status being legal or illegal, it’s two seconds apart at any point,” Dorothy said. “For some, the process is more difficult than others.”

Grace! Lee! Boggs!

Grace Lee Boggs with Democracy Now, part I

Grace Lee Boggs with Democracy Now, part II

Taped this month.  An oldie but goody, Grace Lee Boggs with Bill Moyers.

I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Grace Lee Boggs.  She is truly an amazing woman and an inspiration.  And a reminder to me to get busy.

The Boggs Center website is here.

Asian behaving badly

So nineteen-year-old Thomson Vo was arrested along with four other people for painting “swastikas and racial slurs” at an elementary school.   One of the guys arrested was 15.  Vo was the oldest of the five.

Dude, it’s seriously a mistake to be the oldest guy doing stupid shit like that. And if you really are with a white supremac!st group, then you’re even stupider.

The article takes pains to mention that none of the suspects attend the school.  I would hope not, since it’s an elementary school.

Although I saw photographs of the damage, and one of the spray-painted epithets is “poop.”  I am not making this up.

Still debating the SOS

University of North Dakota faces deadline on Fighting Sioux name

Brett Potas is so angry the University of North Dakota may drop its Fighting Sioux nickname that he’s canceled his season hockey tickets and says he won’t give his alma mater another dime.

“They tried to get me to think about it. I said that I’ve been thinking about it for years,” Potas said. He says he doesn’t want to be associated with a university that takes a politically correct position.

Lucy Ganje, an art professor who led protests against the name, said the school not only should drop its nickname and Indian head logo, it should also apologize to the Sioux tribes and the school’s American Indian students.

The two views illustrate the debate over the nickname that has nagged the school for years and could finally be resolved this fall. Unless the school gets the support of the state’s two Sioux tribes by Oct. 1, which appears unlikely, the state Board of Higher Education says it must drop the nickname.

There’s always one

Remember the Miley Cyrus picture where she and her friends are making the racist “slant-eye” gesture?  Poor old Chuck is the lone Asian in the photograph.  But that made it okay, because Hey!  An Asian guy is doing it too!  Miley can’t be racist–she has an Asian friend!  He obviously has a sense of humor.

There’s always one.

From Tufts comes a college freshman who created a poster playing off one made by an Asian American running for the Tufts senate.  His poster reads “squinty eyes.  BIG VISION,” “Kimchi!” and “Prease vote me! I work rearry hard!”  (Both posters shown here.)

The creator of the poster is In-Goo Kwak.  Here’s what he has to say:

‘Milwaukee gun store owner accuses police of racial profiling’

Video here.

Yes, I know it’s Fox.

Update: Valley Swim Club

Remember this story about the African American kids who had their membership to a swim club cancelled because it would “change the complexion” of the club?  No real surprise, a state panel found probable cause of discrimination.  The club plans to appeal.

The part the AP story didn’t reveal, however, is that some of the negative comments came from teachers of some of the campers.  Columnist Annette John-Hall notes that many of the club members who complained were careful to include denials that race had anything to do with their objections:  “This has nothing to do with the children being African American,” read one e-mail. Yet club board member George Whitehill noted “Race is an issue since every email of complaint mentioned race.”

Kee-riminy

Last night I dreamed I was in a physical altercation.  So I threw a high roundhouse kick.  Which actually landed up at the headboard of the bed and made enough noise to partially wake me up.

Now I have a bruise on the top of my foot.

There’s probably some weird name for this, like somuaythaibulism, or something.

Got any weird nighttime escapades to tell?

The new status symbol

Along with the right type of adopted kid, that is.

For the past several years, Tibetan nannies have been all the rage in New York City. On message boards and playgrounds, some parents claimed Tibetan nannies were “very balanced and Zen” and aided in children’s “spiritual development,” whereas in areas such as Dallas, for example, Latino nannies have been more in demand for their Spanish-speaking abilities.

“Wrong-embryo baby’s parents laud ‘guardian angel’”

An Ohio woman who gave birth to a baby boy after a fertility clinic implanted her with the wrong embryo is a “guardian angel,” the boy’s biological parents said Saturday.

Paul and Shannon Morell of suburban Detroit said in a statement that they would be “eternally grateful” to Carolyn Savage, of Sylvania, Ohio, for her decision to give birth to their child despite the clinic’s mistake.

Savage gave the baby to the Morells. Story here.