The views and opinions expressed on this site and blog posts (excluding comments on blog posts left by others) are entirely my own and do not represent those of any employer or organization with whom I am currently or previously have been associated.
Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.
Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.
Here’s one that left me scratching my head — as the Associated Press reports, Mike Tyson wants to star in Bollywood movies:
Tyson said the energy on the sets of a music video he recently shot for a new comedy got him thinking about trying to do more Bollywood work, The Times of India reported Monday. . . . Tyson, 40, danced to Bollywood music at a two-day shoot in Las Vegas last month for a music video to promote “Fool n Final,” about a diamond heist. “The atmosphere was very congenial, happy and energetic,” the newspaper quoted Tyson as saying. Tyson plays himself in the music video, set for release later this month. . . .
Tyson said there are similarities between acting and boxing. “In both the fields, in order to survive and triumph, you need focus and to be highly disciplined and determined,” he said. . . . Tyson had been expected to travel to India this summer to film the dance sequence, but the scene was shot in Las Vegas due to security reasons.
Hey, if Mike can find a little piece of happiness and enjoyment in his life through acting in Bollywood movies, I’m all for it. If Bollywood can do that for someone as troubled as Mike Tyson, imagine what it can do for the average person . . .
This week, as the Senate continues the debate on the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) urges the Senate to take special notice of several amendments that will critically affect the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. . . . CAPAC supports the Clinton-Hagel-Menendez amendment, the Menendez-Hagel amendment, the Dodd amendment, and the Obama-Menendez amendment.
The Clinton-Hagel-Menendez amendment would amend the “immediate relative” category for family-visa petitions to include minor children and spouses of legal permanent residents (LPRs). This amendment would promote family reunification among LPRs who have played by the rules and are waiting patiently in line to reunite with their loved ones.
The Menendez-Hagel amendment would ensure fairness for U.S. citizens and their families. The current Senate immigration bill contains a provision that would address the current family backlog for green card applications, but only for those who applied before May 1, 2005. Applications filed by U.S. citizens to sponsor their family members after this cut-off date – an estimated 833,000 – would be nullified. The amendment would change this “cut off” date from May 1, 2005 to January 1, 2007. It would also add 110,000 green cards a year to ensure a meaningful backlog reduction.
The Dodd amendment would honor the bond between U.S. citizens and their parents by increasing the green card cap to 90,000 for parents, extending the duration of the parent visa, and ensuring that penalties imposed on overstays are not unfairly applied. Without this amendment, the proposed legislation would remove parents from the “immediate relatives” category, subjects them to an annual cap of 40,000 green cards, and creates a new parent visitor visa category that would allow them to stay in the United States for only 30 days.
The Obama-Menendez amendment would sunset the merit-based point system after five years. The point system as it stands is a substantial departure from the guiding principles of current immigration law. Particularly, the point system disproportionately favors those with higher education, and fails to adequately account for one of the touchstones of American immigration policy: family reunification. This amendment would provide Congress the opportunity to reevaluate the point system in five years.
Among the amendments that CAPAC opposes are the Cornyn amendments, the Inhofe amendment, and the Coleman-Bond amendment.
The Cornyn amendments would gut the immigration bill by making millions of undocumented immigrants ineligible for legalization. These amendments would undercut our nation’s principles of fairness and due process, and critically undermine the already scant due process protections available to immigrants, in an atmosphere that is already anti-immigrant.
The Inhofe amendment would declare English the national language and restrict the ability of the government to communicate effectively with American citizens, immigrants, and visitors.
The Coleman-Bond would task city and county officials, public health providers, and police and public safety personnel with the responsibility of enforcing federal immigration laws. This amendment would keep cities, public health officials, and police departments from deciding how to best protect and serve their communities.
I recently received an email from a White police officer from Michigan. He said that as a reflection of how Asian Americans now comprise close to 10% of his city’s population, he asked me for tips on how to attract more Asian American candidates to join his department. I commended him and his department on their efforts to try to make their membership more diverse, inclusive, and reflective of the communities they serve. I also have hope that Asian Americans will be more open to law enforcement as a career option.
But I also told him that in terms of trying to attract more Asian American applicants, the practical reality is that many police departments have a negative image problem to overcome. The sad truth is that many Asian Americans do not see police departments to be a welcoming environment. They are see that in many cases, there continues to be an “insider vs. outside” mentality within many police departments that result in non-White officers feeling discriminated against, marginalized, and unwelcomed.
It also does not help that there continues to be publicized incidents in which predominantly White law enforcement officers allegedly commit brutality and racial profiling against members of the Asian American community. As New American Media reports, the latest example involves alleged police brutality committed in San Jose, CA, ironically one of the most prosperous and culturally diverse cities in the U.S.:
Supporters allege that during a routine traffic stop, Marlo Custodio, age 18, was dragged from his car and tackled by eight San Jose police officers while two others stood by and watched. They say Custodio managed to place a call to his mother on his cell phone, asking for help, before being repeatedly tasered by officers.
When she arrived, Marilou Alvarado Custodio, age 50, accompanied by Marlo’s two brothers, was violently restrained, her head repeatedly slammed against the side of a police car. Though cooperative, Romel Custodio, 25, was subdued, tasered and kneed in the face. All three were then arrested and booked into San Jose county jail. . . .
Many who attended [a subsequent protest rally] saw the incident as part of a bigger problem of police violence in San Jose. Speakers cited the case of Cau Tran, a young Vietnamese woman shot to death by San Jose police in 2003 when her vegetable peeler was mistaken for a weapon. They also cited the case of Rudy Cardenas, a San Jose man shot in the back and killed by a state narcotics agent in 2004. Unarmed, Cardenas was mistaken by the agent for another man.
Both cases ended with officers cleared of any misconduct. “Police brutality does not have a color, or a personality or even an age. It happens to Asians as well as blacks and Latinos,†said Mark Serrano, program director for the Filipino Youth Coalition. “It’s a power trip,†he added.
Unfortunately, this incident in San Jose is another in a continuous line of similar incidents of police brutality and racial profiling committed against Asian Americans through the years. It is indeed sad and ironic that on the one hand, we apparently see efforts like that in Michigan to recruit more Asian American police officers, but at the same time, we also continuing incidents of brutality against such Asian Americans.
As I’ve always said, if anything, the U.S. is increasingly the Land of Contradictions.
As I’ve written about before, assimilation can come in many different forms these days. In the past, assimilation usually meant the immigrant or “newcomer” group had to conform to virtually all aspects of the majority culture in order to be accepted. However, as American society and the world in general becomes increasingly globalized and transnational, the rules have changed. And as the New York Times reports, at the forefront of these changes are Asian Americans such as those in the Queens borough of New York City:
Pitched battles have been fought over language in Flushing, whose white ethnic population has receded as Korean and Chinese immigrants have arrived. In the late 1980s, when City Councilwoman Julia Harrison proposed a bill requiring businesses to post signs in English, a public divide seemed to open: On one side were the waves of Asian newcomers; on the other, longtime residents who felt displaced and alienated. . . .
So on a rainy Wednesday evening, she was back in the basement room of the Queens housing project where two dozen adults gather every week to learn Mandarin. The free classes at the James A. Bland Houses draw a motley assortment of students; the current session includes an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, a black woman who grew up in the housing project and the practical-minded daughter of Hungarian immigrants.
They have in common these two attributes: They have lived in Flushing since before it was Asian, and they have decided that the time has come to adapt. “Kind of like, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,’ †said Ms. Farren, whose Italian-American relatives cannot fathom why she hasn’t left for New Jersey.
As the article describes, there are still several obstacles on the road to full acceptance of how “Asian American” Queens has become. There are many residents — new and longtime, and of all races and ethnicities — who are still resistant to the demographic and cultural realities surrounding them. Nonetheless, it is gratifying to see that increasing, there seem to be many more residents who are embracing these trends and realize that Asian Americans add to Queens’ vibrant culture, rather than detracting from it.
Like I keep saying, assimilation comes in many forms these days.
