Anti-Muslim Sentiment on the Air

Apparently Rush isn't the only bigot on the airwaves today. ABC Radio
Network commentator Paul Harvey contributed to last week's xenophobic
hysteria regarding the federal building bombing in Oklahoma City by
emphasizing that only a few months ago, there was a Muslim convention
in the area. Of course, like most early press coverage of the bombing,
Harvey failed to note the strong presence of white nationalists in the
region, choosing instead to exploit anti-Muslim sentiment. Sketches of
the suspects in the crime, released hours after the bombing, which
clearly marked them as white men, were ignored by the mainstream media
in their furor to find the Muslim extremists responsible for what has
turned out to be the single largest violent "domestic" attack in US
history. [Resisting and Organizing Against Prop 187 email list]



Asian American Encyclopedia

Historian Franklin Ng, a Hawaii-born Asian American, has edited the
first ever Asian American Encyclopedia, released last February by New
York publisher Marshall Cavendish. The 1,900 page, six volume set
contains more than 2,000 entries on a range of subjects like the
"model minority" image, Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, and a demographic
profile of Hmong people. Ng notes that the encyclopedia is for
non-Asian, as well as Asian American readers saying, "It might answer
the questions of people on the street, but even Asian Americans have a
lot to learn about their own backgrounds." Collaborators on the
project included Elaine Kim, professor of Asian American Studies at
the University of California at Berkeley; Him Mark Lai, adjunct
professor at San Francisco State University and former president of
the Chinese Historical Society of America; and Don Nakanishi, director
of the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California
at Los Angeles. Asian Americans are the fastest growing minority group
in in the US, and the encyclopedia notes that they are a
multicultural, multilingual people whose experiences are unique and
complex. [San Francisco Examiner]



Gingrich Sibling Rivalry

Candace Gingrich, House Speaker Newt Gingrich's lesbian half-sister, has a new job as the new spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign Fund's (HRCF) National Coming Out Project, which urges gays and lesbians to tell people about their sexual orientation as a method for defeating discrimination. On a 34-city speaking tour, Gingrich will tell audiences, "Your brother doesn't have to be Speaker of the House for your voice to be heard." In addition, she will work as an intern at the HRCF's Washington office, shaping the Fund's lesbian health policy. Previously, Gingrich was a computer technician and box-sorter at United Parcel Service in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She had very little political involvement, trying to ignore what her brother was doing, admitting that she may have missed an opportunity to shape his thinking about homosexuality. Newt Gingrich opposes federal legislation to prohibit job or housing discrimination against gays and lesbians. [AP, Reuter]



Asian American Hunger Strike

As a last resort, students agitating for an Asian American studies
program at Northwestern University began a hunger strike. For the last
three years, the Asian American Advisory Board (AAAB) has led a fight
against the administration to address Asian American experience in its
courses. Last February, the AAAB wrote a two-hundred page proposal
that would implement an Asian American studies program over a ten year
period, which was turned down by university president
Bienen. Attempting to compromise, the AAAB then requested the hiring
of a visiting professor to teach an Asian American studies-type
course, and a tenure-tracked professor for the following year, but the
administration again refused, offering no new options. The AAAB plans
to continue the hunger strike until the university relents, rotating
hunger strike participants if necessary. In the 1970s Northwestern
created an African American studies program only after students had a
sit-in, forcing the administration to take their demands
seriously. [Asian American Advisory Board]



Remember Haiti?

On April 6, the Coast Guard cutter Confidence stopped a fifty-foot
sailboat 25 miles east of Miami, which was carrying 128 passengers
from Haiti and 12 from the Dominican Republic. According to the State
Department, the boat was intercepted because it was dangerously
overcrowded and it was believed that the people on board sought to
immigrate illegally to the US. They were taken to Port-au-Prince on
April 14. Aboard the cutter, the passengers were allowed to speak with
interpreters about whether they were seeking refugee status because
they feared persecution in their home countries. Two Haitians were
flown to Florida by helicopter for medical treatment. This was the
first time since October of last year that such a boat had been picked
up by the Coast Guard en route. [New York Times]



JACL with PFLAG at Gay Pride Parade

At a recent board of directors meeting, the New York City chapter of
the Japanese American Citizen's League (JACL) decided to march in the
Gay Pride Parade with Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
(PFLAG). The topic of the meeting was coalition building, and the JACL
had two speakers come to talk about the experiences of Asian lesbians
and gays. According to Valerie Kameya, who spoke at the meeting, there
is "the tendency for some aplbs [Asian Pacific lesbians and bisexuals]
to choose to identify by sexual orientation over ethnicity when they
have been rejected by their ethnic group." The decision to march at
Pride came about because the chapter wanted to show their support for
queer people in a more visible way.  The JACL has been extremely
supportive of gay and lesbian issues by taking a positive stand on the
issues of gays and lesbians in the military and same-sex marriage
rights in Hawaii. [Asian Pacific Lesbian and Bisexual Network email
list]



First Asian and Latino Judges in INS

Earlier this month, the Executive Office for Immigration Review got
its first Latino and Asian judges for Northern California, twelve
years after its establishment. Phan-Quang Tue and Alberto Gonzalez now
serve under the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a branch of
the US Justice Department, reviewing appeals from foreigners who want
to live in the United States. An Immigration Review office
spokesperson said there was no particular reason why no Asian or
Latino judges had been appointed previously. Tue fled Saigon in 1975
to Washington, DC as a refugee, washing dishes and delivering
newspapers to support his family and rebuild a career in law. Gonzalez
was born in Texas, but as a child lived in Juarez, Mexico and attended
school across the border in El Paso. Commented Mary Hernandez,
president of the Hispanic National Bar Association, "It is absolutely
incredible that Alberto Gonzalez is the first Latino immigration judge
in an area where more than half of the matters presented to the court
concern persons from Latin America. It is also shocking that there has
never before been an appointment of an Asian American." [San Francisco
Chronicle]



Los Angeles Janitors Win Contract

Justice for Janitors, the four month long campaign of the Los Angeles
Service Employees Local 399, won a tentative agreement for a master
contract with twenty janitorial firms. At 5am on April 3, two hours
before the group planned to take over the Harbor Freeway in downtown
Los Angeles, they won a tentative 5-year contract including phased-in
fully paid family health care, wage parity throughout the city, and
protection against staffing reductions. Janitors will receive
immediate raises of between four and fourteen percent, depending on
their current salary.
	Local 399 represents 8,500 janitors, about 70 percent of those
who clean large commercial buildings, 95 percent of whom are Latina
and Latino. Women make up a large part of the leadership of the
Justice campaign. On March 8, International Women's Day, thirty women
janitors went to jail for having a sit-in on Wilshire Blvd. At a
subsequent demonstration on March 29, attended by 1500 janitors and
supporters, fifty janitors and supporters were arrested for sitting in
the intersection of Wilshire and Rodeo Drive in protest, among the
luxury boutiques of Beverly Hills. [L.A. Labor Review] {body}