Homework May, 9th : Letter

April 17th, 1942

Dear Danielle,

I was overwhelmed with joy to hear from you. I was very interested to read about your doll collection, I know that I should worry about other things but since my father was brought here my little world is as fine as it could be in an internment camp like this. At least my family is united again. My father made some chairs, a table and a closet, since we didn’t have those things, it was really great. But there are some terrifying things going on here, too: In my last letter I said the fence was torn down -- well, it is up again. This time a few feet further out. We have been told that the reason for the fence building was so the cattle won't come near our homes. In other words, cattle is going to be grazed outside the fence. But as yet, we have not seen any. Yes, I think the fence tends to weaken the morale of the people.

Also, I received a letter from a friend who is now in Lamas, Colorado. During the days they were on the train, they had -- fried eggs for breakfast -- fried chicken, fried turkey, cookies, cakes, and canned fruits. When I read this, my mouth watered and I certainly envied them. If I can only eat fried eggs and fried chicken just once more -- maybe, as the saying goes, if I am a nice girl my wish will soon be granted.

I still don’t know why we are here, every time I ask my mom or my dad they don’t want to tell my I think.

Well… I will soon write another letter to you. My parents say that we will be brought to another camp next week.

So
take care & have a happy Easter,

Lucy

Homework May, 24th : A Letter to a newspaper as a reaction to the layoffs at SFO

April, 14th 2002

Dear Sir or Madam,

After working for the San Francisco International Airport for more than 5 years, I received my pink slip today. The statutory period of notice was not adhered, too.

About twelve co-workers and colleagues –including me- were simply fired because of our Filipino citizenship and/or heritage. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act – which was enacted by the 107th United States Congress in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks – requires screeners to be U.S. citizens.

Many incumbent screeners — who are immigrants — had to take assessment tests, which included English grammar and comprehension. Many contended that this was discriminatory and had nothing to do with airport security. Forty-eight-year-old Felix Carvellida, who is Filipino American, said he took the test and thought he did very well. But when he got his results, he was surprised. “My manager came out and said, ‘No, you didn’t pass,’’’ said Carvellida, who’s been a screener at SFO for nine months. “But they didn’t give me a score, they didn’t tell me what questions I missed, or how I performed in a certain area. They only said by mouth that I didn’t pass. But I never saw my test again. What kind of government picks who they want to work?”

This act can be offhand subsumed in the sad history of institutional racism in the states – the land of the free. 1942 – the Japanese Internment, the weapons pointed inside the camps, 1982 – the Vincent Chin murder, with a judge who fined the murderers 3700$ for a human life, 1992 – The L.A. race riots and finally November, 2001, the Act which ruined life for hundreds of Filipino Americans.

There is absolutely NO reason for those layoffs, we are no terrorists. We are as slicked to the U.S. color than every American.

But this constant and seemingly never ending discrimination weakens our toghetherness to the States.

Please make those things public.

“I don’t know what terrorism has to do with whether you’re a citizen or not. To me, this is a racist
( security) act.”

Manny Diaz, Assemblyman

Yours sincerely,

The ‚ching-chong’ incident – a radio documentary

*This is not Mr. Liu speaking, FAKE!*

---------------------------------------------

Speaker

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. For this episode of ‘Asian American studies’ we are connected to John C. Liu, a New York City councilman, to talk about the so called ‚ching-chong’ incident.

John C. Liu

Good evening.

Speaker

Mr. Liu, could you tell us what happened?

John C. Liu

Well, on December 5th 2006, Rosie O’Donnell made a comment in regard of the appearance of Daniel DeVito at her show ‘The View’. She stated that she was astonished by the reactions and claimed that people all over the world were talking about Danny DeVito even as far away as in China. "You know, you can imagine in China it's like, 'Ching-chong, ching-chong. Danny DeVito. Ching-chong, ching-chong-chong. Drunk. The View. Ching-chong.'“. Many Asians and Asian-Americans all over the world felt offended by her.

Speaker

Yeah, I can see that. Besides other – Asian and Caucasian- people, you wrote a open letter addressed at her, too. Could you say a few words?

John C. Liu

Of course, I will read out a few passages:

"The 'ching-chong' bit is not a trivial matter, it really hits a raw nerve for many people in the community - many like myself, who grew up with these kinds of taunts. We all know that it never ends at the taunts."

“It's just stupidity, and it's stupidity that justifies a response," Liu said of O'Donnell's behavior, adding the comments came "from someone who has been indignant herself when it comes to comments made by other people where she has perceived it as being negative against a particular community… “

Speaker

…you are obviously alluding to her homosexuality…

John C. Liu

Yes, for me it’s just plain stupid, to be racist when it comes to an other culture, but to sue people if they say something negative about you own homosexuality.

Speaker

Needless to say. But you weren’t the only one who actually did something.

John C. Liu

Thank God not, there were several people who did something. For example Beau Sia - an Asian American slam poet- with a video titled “an open letter to all the Rosie O’Donnells” featured on YouTube and the Asian-American rapper Jin, who wrote a track about his feelings called “You’re fired” – not p.i.c. but I think that was just the younger generation talking.

Speaker

So there was a quite considerable media backlash. Did Mrs. O’Donnell apologize?

John C. Liu

She did. At first her response via her publicist was, "She's a comedian in addition to being a talk show co-host. I certainly hope that one day they will be able to grasp her humor." Later on she apologized, but you could tell that she did it because she had to and not because she wanted to.

But finally she apologized a second time, in February this year – about 2 months after her faux-pas.

Speaker

Thank you very much for having taken the time.

John C. Liu

It was my pleasure to contribute something to your show. Good Night.

Speaker

I will crosslink all the material we referred to at my website. That was ‘Asian American studies’.

there is a 1.5 generation of "Korean Americans"?

What is the 1.5 generation?

Korean-born. Raised abroad. Sent away to study by parents desperate to give their children the competitive edge of a foreign education, they describe themselves as feeling neither fully Korean nor American. That is the 1.5 generation.


The Problems they have

1.5 generation Korean Americans are torn between two cultures. On the one hand they speak with a strained English pronuciation, but commonly they aren't really accepted in the States -in some cases even the second generation treats them condescendenly and with disdain- because of their looks; and on the other hand if they return to Korea, they feel like they have no place; no place in a society, based on a very strong family; in a society which defines itself through the ethnic identity.


Cho Seung-Hui and the Virginia Tech Massacre




(notice: 0:54 - 1:04 '...my brothers and sisters...')

The Virginia Tech Massacre was a so called school-shooting, that took place on April 16th. The person running amok was a 1.5er: Cho Seung-Hui. He killed 32 people, before he turned the weapon around for a last shot. Hui was a typical member of the 1.5 generation ( of course besides the fact that he was mentally ill, and a mass murderer), he grew up in South Korea, and had immigrated to the US at the age of eight. He was a senior English major at Virginia Tech.

This murder-suicide is capping the climax in every way. The death toll is enormous, the lenght and the incompetence of teachers, the police and all the people around him is unbelievable.
But its not only an undescribable tragedy, besides that, it's a kind of lifted forefinger that shows the probable consequences of mobbing, parallel cultures ( Now a bit "lobbyism": although it was stated, that he was a fan of shooting video games, there weren't any copies of such games in his dorm. He didn't even have an internet connection and a roommate said, that he wasn't interessted in such games at all) and most of all a torned person without help.

Because of the extended-family concept mentioned above, the Korean Americans fear backlashes motivated by racism and that Cho's actions could be regarded as caused by his Asian culture/heritage.
And most of the Koreans share a sense of guilt and shame. Roh Moo Hyun, President of South Korea, conveyed his deepest condolences to the victims and their families.