LOS ANGELES –

APALC News Release:

October 10, 2011

Bill co-sponsored by APALC requires the disaggregation of data on Asian ethnic groups in key state departments.

Legislation requiring key state agencies to collect and post information about job programs participation and employment and housing discrimination faced by Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday.

Assembly Bill (AB) 1088, introduced by Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park) and co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), a member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice; Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE); and Asian and Pacific Islanders California Action Network (APIsCAN), requires two key state agencies to include the full spectrum of Asian American (AA), as well as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) ethnicities in their data collection, consistent with those groups reported by the U.S. Census.

Events are conspiring to hurtle me into my distant past, to my childhood years in Oakland’s Chinatown, where my sisters, brothers and I served time at our restaurant, the New Eastern Café.

First, there was the closing of the Silver Dragon, an institution among restaurants in Chinatown; one of the first ones built for banquets and special events. Since 1974, when it settled in at Ninth and Webster Streets, it was a gathering place for the community, whether it was a young couple on a date or a family hosting a red egg and ginger party or a wedding banquet.

It’s being replaced by Asian Health Services, and that organization had a fundraising dinner gala the other night at the nearby Marriott, with 600 people in attendance. The featured entertainment was a tribute to the Chee family, the clan behind the Dragon.

Sherry Hu, the MC for the event, asked me to speak as part of the tribute, and, although I didn’t have the time, I made time.

You see, my family’s restaurant was sold, in 1954, to the Chees, who turned it into the first Silver Dragon. I was nine years old then, but my time at 710 Webster Street helped shape my life.

As I told the audience at the Marriott, the title of my memoirs, The Rice Room, is about a space in the back of that restaurant. “We were all in the rice room,” I said, “where rice, soy sauce and children were stored.

You Are Good Enough

By Marilyn Tam

They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them. 

 ~Mahatma Gandhi

Jeremy Lin graces the cover of the November issue of GQ Magazine, hitting news stands October 23. 

AsianConnections thanks GQ and Conde Nast for permission to use these knock-out images of Jeremy by Paola Kudacki/GQ Magazine.

The slogan on GQ's cover is "Look Sharp - Live Smart" - Jeremy Lin certainly looks sharp in these photos, he's one photogenic guy. 

Lin talks with GQ writer Will Leitch who spent time with him when he was in the Big Apple to do the GQ photo shoot and attend other events. It was Lin's first trip to New York since it was announced that he would no longer be a Knicks player. 

Lin talks about how the fans and Linsanity affected him, the Knicks, the Houston Rockets, and being Asian American. 

Read the GQ article and view more images of Jeremy by Paola Kudacki and a behind the scenes video by Matt Baron here.  

"There's a lot of perceptions and stereotypes of Asian-Americans that are out there today, and the fact that I'm Asian-American makes it harder to believe, even crazier, more unexpected," he says. "I'm going to have to play well for a longer period of time for certain people to believe it, because I'm Asian.

And that's just the reality of it." It's not all that dissimilar from what Yao Ming went through. 

With a nation grieving over the loss of loved ones and the destruction from Hurricane Sandy on the East coast, a relief concert "Coming Together" with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel and Sting raised funds for Hurricane Sandy victims at NYC's Rockefeller Center which aired on NBC, HBO, and other outlets. With more recovery and fundraising efforts underway, our spirits are uplifted by the countless stories of courage and heroism by people helping people in the face of Hurricane Sandy. On the West coast, Ben Fong-Torres describes the dancing in the streets of San Francisco, and a thumbs up by Mayor Ed Lee over a World Series win with people from all walks of life and ethnicities coming together. The capacity of the human spirit is boundless. There is hope after all. - Suzanne Joe Kai, editor, AsianConnections.com

By Ben Fong-Torres

Yes, there was the joyful craziness, the dancing in the streets of San Francisco when Giants closer Sergio Romo struck out triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera in Detroit to win the World Series. (click here to full story with images)

And yes, there was the victory parade and Civic Center celebration, drawing more than a million fans into San Francisco, from all over Northern California.

But I also think of the line of 15 or 20 people in front of a tiny Taco Bell/KFC place on a recent late Tuesday afternoon. Taco Bell had promised free tacos if any player in the Series stole a base.