Tag: Asian-Americans

Asian-American Filmmaker Tells Her Father’s Story in Every Day Is a Holiday – Airing this Weekend on PBS

Theresa Loong’s documentary about her father, Paul Loong, will air on PBS stations this weekend. She sent us a reporter’s notebook about the making of the film.

AudioStories

A Growing Asian Immigrant Presence in Organized Labor

The rank and file membership of American labor unions is increasingly made up of immigrants. In this podcast Fi2W’s Cristina Pastor talks about the influence of Asians on organized labor.

Reflections of an Indian-American Daughter: Amy Chua, Tiger Moms, and Raising the Perfect Kid

Aswini Anburajan’s Indian immigrant parents set high standards for her and her younger sister. One sister followed the rules, the other defied them, with surprising results for the entire family.

Lawyers Aid Undocumented Filipino Immigrants

A group of Filipino lawyers is providing free legal clinics to help their community navigate a complicated immigration system.

Between A Rock and A Hard Place: Asian Immigrants and Foreclosures in NYC

Asian immigrants in New York City continue to reel from the economic recession, particularly the aftermath of the housing market collapse.

Stories

An Uphill Struggle to Count Korean Immigrants in the Census

Korean is one of 6 official languages that the census questionnaire can be completed in. That doesn’t mean counting Koreans in New York is easy.

Stimulus Package Includes Long-Awaited Reward for Filipinos Who Fought for the U.S.

After a decades-long fight, Filipinos who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II see their claim recognized by the American government thanks to the Obama administration’s stimulus package.

Liu Becomes First Asian Elected to Citywide Office in New York

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, Polish Daily News and FI2W reporter
Liu and his son Joey during Tuesday's victory party - Photo: Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska.

Liu and his son Joey during Tuesday’s victory party. (Photo: Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska)

[* Editor’s note: This article was amended to correct election results in the last paragraph.]

John C. Liu’s victory in the race for New York City comptroller on Tuesday marks the first time an Asian American has been elected to citywide office.

Ever since Liu won the Democratic nomination in a primary runoff on Sept. 29, excitement had been building in Asian neighborhoods — in Chinatown and Sunset Park, but especially in Flushing, Queens, the neighborhood where Liu lives and which he has represented for the last eight years in the city council. People constantly kept stopping him on the street to congratulate him.

“It takes a long time to walk now,” Liu said with a laugh recently.

Liu’s believes that his victory in the general election over Republican rival Joseph A. Mendola, and over three other Democratic candidates in the primary, was no accident. “We won this election in the streets,” he said, referring to his busy campaign schedule, which often included meeting average New Yorkers. Liu, 42, is also extremely meticulous and proper in his relations with people. He pays attention to the details and always returns phone calls from reporters.

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Stories

Queen of ‘Jazzipino’ Charmaine Clamor Breaks Ground in America

This is an excerpt from a story on New America Media. Reproduced with permission.
By New America Now TV. Anchor & Producer: Odette Keeley. Videographer & Master Editor: Mike Siv. Editor: Jeremiah Ysip.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Many jazz artists and aficionados consider jazz as the immigrant’s music — embracing and absorbing into a big pot, the many styles, elements and talents coming from musicians from all over the globe.

Charmaine Clamor, recently hailed as America’s leading Filipina jazz and world music vocalist, believes the “Filipino spice” may have found its renaissance in this pot in recent years, through the hybrid genre she created, “Jazzipino”. It’s a blend of the soul and swing of American jazz with Filipino music, languages and instruments. It’s the perfect pairing of her two great loves, Clamor says – of jazz and her Filipino soul, and it has catapulted her into the American jazz stratosphere.

Multi-Awarded Filipina Artist Breaks New Ground With “Jazzipino’ from New America Media on Vimeo.

Now living in Los Angeles, Clamor was born in the Philippine town of Subic-Zambales, and her mother, a soprano singer inculcated in her a deep love for the Great American Songbook and Filipino music. Clamor relates that growing up, their home was filled with jazz and opera, alongside Philippine kundimans (torch songs), harana songs (serenades) and folk music.

In 2007, Clamor’s second album, “Flippin’ Out,” made the Top 5 on both JazzWeek’s World and Traditional Jazz radio charts simultaneously. And in 2008, her third album, “My Harana: A Filipino Serenade” made the Top 10 in the world music charts, making her the first Filipino to place two consecutive albums in the Top 10 world music radio charts.

She has been featured in several Filipino-American and mainstream media, including ABS-CBN International – The Filipino Channel, Asian Journal, NPR, BBC, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. 18, and has become one of the Philippines’ newest singing icons.

Clamor has also received numerous prestigious awards here and in the Philippines including as the “Philippines Pride – Best Jazz Singer” from FAMAS – the Philippine equivalent to the Oscars, as well as a 2009 Asian Heritage Award in the Performing Arts, organized by ASIA Magazine.

Visit New America Media to read the complete story.

Asian American Watchdog Group Cites Voting Day Irregularities

NEW YORK – Yan Tai, World Journal reporter

As Election Day drew to an end, an Asian American watchdog group said there were more problems among Asian American voters than people thought.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a civil rights organization based in New York, said Tuesday that for many Asian American voters things did not go that smoothly. The group sent 1,400 attorneys, law students and community volunteers to cover 130 polling sites in eleven states with large Asian American populations which have seen election day glitches for Asian American voters in the past.

Problems cited by the group included long lines, delays, and poll-worker confusion over ID requirements, as well as anecdotes of voting rights violations. These problems were also experienced by other voters, but the group argues that the problems hit Asian American voters harder because of language barriers.

The group received hundreds of complaints via its Election Day hot line, said Margaret Fung, AALDEF’s executive director.

The problems reported included:

— Voters who could not find their names on the voter rolls. For instance, at P.S. 250 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, several voters claimed they had voted in previous elections but their names were not on the voter rolls.

— Improper requests for voter ID. At P.S. 94 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, one voter was told to go home to get an ID in order to vote. No interpreters were available to explain why this was needed.

— Racial remarks used against immigrant voters. At P.S. 94 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, two Arab American voters asked a few questions, and after they walked out, AALDEF volunteers heard a poll worker say, “They look like terrorists to me.”

— Violation of voters’ civil rights. In Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a Chinese American grandmother needed assistance voting and asked her granddaughter to help her cast her ballot. A poll worker prevented her from bringing her family member into the voting booth, in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

— Inadequate assistance in Asian languages.

— Broken voting machines.

— Delays and long lines and scarcity of poll workers. In New Orleans, some Vietnamese American voters had to wait two hours to vote at Sarah T. Reed High School in Orleans Parish, while at Mary Queens of Viet Nam Church, voters had to wait almost three hours to vote.