women

Her ‘crime’ was different, having a relationship with and then marrying a Chinese man, but the result the same. Thrown in jail, stripped of citizenship and child, and forced abroad, Demerson offers a historical perspective on sexist laws that still deny Canadians their right to nationality. Another segment in the Vancouver Observer's Lost Canadian series shines light on a tragedy that has yet to be apologized for by the government.

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In 1939, Velma Demerson was 18 years old when she was arrested, convicted of being incorrigible, and locked up for ten months.

The dreadful “crime” for which Velma Demerson was imprisoned was to fall in love with a Chinese-Canadian, Harry Yip. The Chinese Exclusion Act was still in force, effectively keeping nearly all people from China from entering Canada, and stating quite boldly that it was government policy to put up a barrier to the intermingling of races.

Velma was a Caucasian and her relationship with an Asian was deeply frowned upon.

LOS ANGELES, CA --   The Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, welcomes long-time public interest attorney Doreena Wong as the project director for APALC's Health Access Project

Wong, a long-time civil rights lawyer and expert on health policy and language access issues, spent the prior 11 years as a senior staff attorney at the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), which is a national public interest law firm focused on health care issues.  Wong is also a well-known social justice advocate who has helped to found several Asian/Pacific Islander lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights group, including API Equality-LA. 

She has also worked at other notable civil rights and public interest organizations, including the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, the ACLU of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C. and a Los Angeles civil rights firm specializing in enforcement of consent decrees in race discrimination cases.

Contact: Britt Braaten
Multicultural History Society of Ontario
Phone: 416-979-2973
Email: mhso.mail@utoronto.ca
Website: www.mhso.ca/chinesecanadianwomen

New Educational Website Celebrates Chinese Canadian Women’s History  TORONTO

(Mar. 14, 2011) The Multicultural History Society of Ontario’s new educational  website Chinese Canadian Women, 1923-1967 launches on March 31, and features oral  history interviews with Chinese Canadian women from across Canada. The website presents  the experiences of Chinese Canadian women during a time of discriminatory immigration  restrictions. Visitors can explore exhibits and activities; teachers can download learning  resources; and researchers can examine over 1,000 items in an online database.

If you live in the New York City tri-state area, you can also catch the film FREE on Channel 13, the local PBS station starting tonight! Air times are:

Sat, Jan 22, 10:40pm
Sun, Jan 23, 2:00am
Wed, Jan 26, 1:00am

We're also screening at the Cornell Cinema in Ithaca, NY on February 9th, and will have a few more have university screenings and Q&As this year, and we're gonna be back on cable VOD soon--so check our screenings page from time to time.  

Louis Vuitton finally has given a nod to its most important demographic in Asia: Chinese men.

Last week, the French luxury brand unveiled a new advertising campaign featuring Godfrey Gao, a Taiwanese-Canadian actor and model — the first time the company has used an Asian man to showcase its products.

Mr. Gao, a Vancouver native, has appeared in a number of Taiwanese television dramas, including “Volleyball Lover” and “I Want to Become a Hard Persimmon.” His celebrity is prominent enough in Asia to attract Hong Kong paparazzi — in December they caught him canoodling with a local starlet, though one could argue it was because of the starlet that he got snapped.

Maclean's article sparked overdue rebellion against powerful voices claiming racial discrimination is not a problem

Maclean's magazine has struck a match. Now a firestorm of criticism is headed its way. Canada may never be the same.

On Nov. 25, Victoria city council unanimously adopted a motion, submitted by veteran councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe, criticizing Maclean's for their article 'Too Asian' in their widely read special university rankings feature edition (Nov. 2010). The motion, unanimously adopted, described the title of the Maclean's article as "offensive and intolerant" and criticized its contents for "propagating a litany of racial stereotypes."

I agree and Thornton-George and the council deserve credit for speaking out against a media giant. Their action demonstrates how far we have come from the bad old days.

A Recap on the past news about "Too Asian" in Maclean's publication that triggered off public anger over it's racist content targeting Asian Canadians in higher education.

CCNC Statement on Dialogue with Maclean’s
Monday November 22, 2010

The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO) held a media briefing today to report back on the dialogue with Maclean’s magazine on their article entitled “Too Asian”?

Toronto, ON – The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO) held a media briefing today to report back on the dialogue with Maclean’s magazine on their article entitled “Too Asian”?

CCNC and CCNCTO and a number of community organizations met with Maclean’s on November 12th and again on November 17th for hour each time. Maclean’s had offered to publish a letter from CCNC in a future edition. CCNC and CCNCTO, after consulting with various community organizations responded with a 4 point proposal:

Just five gold medals were presented Saturday at the Asian Games in a rather rather slow-paced denouement for an event the Olympic Council of Asia president referred to as “one of the best ever.”

Zhou Chunxiu won the women’s marathon in the morning, giving China its 198th gold medal of the games, one shy of its eventual record total, and Myanmar took its first two—in the men’s and women’s doubles finals in sepaktakraw.

OCA chief Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah told a closing news conference that even a military conflict on the Korean peninsula during the games could not damage its image.

North and South Korean “athletes stood shoulder-to-shoulder to compete even though there had been some problems in their countries,” Al-Sabah said.

The closing ceremony on Saturday evening began with an impressive display of fireworks from the 600-meter (2,000-foot) Canton Tower and along the Pearl River, the focal point of China’s third-largest city of 10 million.

From our work at WTC, we have come to see racism and the internalization of racism as the primary assaults on our love for ourselves and each other. I understand love here as our ability to care for ourselves and each other spiritually, emotionally, physically and intellectually and to do it in a way that does not split us off from ourselves - body from mind, spirit from emotion, individual from community and so forth.

Like most progressive anti-racism trainers, we define racism as having to do with power. Separating it from the human flaws we all share such as prejudice and scapegoating, we see racism as a system of oppression based on race that in this country is perpetrated by white people against people of color.

It involves an unequal distribution of systemic power for people with white-skin privilege in four main areas:

1. the power to make and enforce decisions;
2. access to resources, broadly defined;
3. the ability to set and determine standards for what is considered appropriate behavior; and
4. the ability to define reality.

Privy.net Highlights 360 Must-Visit Places to Eat, Drink, Stay, Play, Shop, and Relax in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES – (U.S. ASIAN WIRE) -- November 17, 2010 -- Private travelers’ network Privy.net has launched the “Privy 5 Los Angeles Guide” to help visitors and locals discover the best LA has to offer, particularly in the realm of authentic Asian cuisines such as the very top restaurants that serve Korean Barbeque, Shanghainese, Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup, Dim Sum, Japanese Sushi, Hotpot and Vietnamese Pho.

Far East Movement reaching the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 this fall with "Like a G6," a musical high-five to better living through beautiful women and bottle service, probably didn't strike most pop-music listeners as pioneering. It's the latest in a long line of hits celebrating playboy partying and living stretch-limo large.

But for Eric Nakamura, publisher/editor of Giant Robot, a magazine devoted to Asian pop culture, who also launched Giant Robot retail outlets in Los Angeles and San Francisco, it's so much more. Far East Movement, who came together in Los Angeles' Koreatown neighborhood and are of Chinese, Japanese-Korean and Filipino ancestry, is the first Asian-American hip-hop act to break through to a wide audience.

Nakamura compares it to Jeremy Lin signing with the Golden State Warriors in July to become the first Asian-American in the NBA since 1947, back when it was known as the Basketball Association of America.

"I didn't know when it was going to happen but I knew it was going to happen and they made it happen this year," he enthuses. "These are amazing times. There've been amazing changes."

Introducing the ultimate world wide Asian food guide with reviews by Asian and Asian American celebrities.
Private travelers' network Privy.net has launched the "Privy 5 Los Angeles Guide" to help visitors and locals discover the best LA has to offer, particularly in the realm of authentic Asian cuisines such as the very top restaurants that serve Korean Barbeque,Shanghainese, Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup, Dim Sum, Japanese Sushi,Hotpot and Vietnamese Pho.

Join VisualizAsian TONIGHT: Meet Jeff Yang and Bernard Chang! Editor of “Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology” & Bernard Chang, “Superman” Artitst.

Two experts in Asian American pop culture and comics. You'll hear the history of (or lack of) Asian superheroes in comic books, and what it's like to be drawing the Superman comic book! You can learn more about Jeff and Bernard

CSU Fullerton - Eleven students and their professor spent the past year engaged in a community project that has resulted in heightened awareness of sexual and reproductive health issues in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in Orange County.

Through a $9,000 grant from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Tu-Uyen N. Nguyen, assistant professor of Asian American studies, conducted a year-long service-learning course that produced surveys and delivered results in the form of health education campaigns.

“Prior to taking the class, I had little awareness of reproductive health issues that Asian American and Pacific Islander women face,” said Juliane Nguyen, a senior health science and Asian American studies major, who is continuing work on the project. “I didn’t know what to expect from this class at first, but I was very interested about learning how many factors affect health. I learned about reproductive justice and how women are still fighting to have sovereignty over their sexuality, gender and reproduction.”

UC Davis Cancer Center is now home to the National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities, the only such national center for Asian-Americans designated by the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities to research populations disproportionately affected by the disease.

The $5.6 million research grant builds upon more than a decade of accomplishments by the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness Research and Training (AANCART) that has increased cancer awareness and builds community-centered research capacity to address cancer issues among Asian-Americans.

The center will continue to function as a consortium of organizations, including UC Davis, UC San Francisco, Chinese Community Health Resource Center in San Francisco, Hmong Women’s Heritage Association in Sacramento, UCLA, University of Hawaii and the University of Washington.

The Khmer Rouge ran what is regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most brutal regimes. Yet the Killing Fields of Cambodia remain unexplained. Until now.

In ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE the men and women who perpetrated the massacres – from the foot-soldiers who slit throats to the party’s ideological leader, Nuon Chea aka Brother Number Two – break a 30-year silence to give testimony never before heard or seen.

Mavericks of Asian Pacific Islander Descent and Award Winning Actress/Director Elizabeth Sung and Producer Ken Choy Present Access Acting

A 6 week intensive Film acting course facilitating Access to artistic and business essentials Class limited to 10 max.

New Studies Show Huge Health Disparities Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Asian Immigrant Populations

Critical Avenues to Prevent Cancer Overlooked; Immigrant Women at High Risk of Death from Breast Cancer
WASHINGTON

By Blogger Orvillelloyddouglas

Yu-Na Kim of South Korea earned her gold medal. Her free skate was excellent, flawless, and wonderful. Kim is the Olympic champion, and the judges got that result right. However, some critics on the Internet are suggesting that the judges are racists and they did not want an Asian female sweep of the Olympic medals in figure skating. I agree with this cogent assessment. Since Joannie Rochette is a white Canadian woman, the judges made sure a white female slipped into third place to prevent an Asian sweep.

As explained in section IV of Remember, the Asian-American Man and Woman are a couple under siege from mainstream America.

Those that choose to remain with each other are stamped as 'Asian and foreign', while on an unspoken but quite apparent level - only Asian women are afforded the opportunity to mingle and integrate into white social circles and white families.

The psychological pressure on the Asian woman to conform becomes immensely powerful, given the life-long indoctrination she is given by a mainstream American media that is completely devoid of images of Asian faces and depictions of viable Asian-American couples/families. This will gradually and inevitably destroy the kindred bond the Asian female shares with the Asian male from a young age, and the damage is thorough and complete.

In other words, the internalized racism that Asian-American children learn from the American Media destroys their ethnic self-esteem - and this in turn erodes the ability of the Asian-American boy and girl to love each other as adults.

The Moustache Brothers Burmese comedy troop, a tribute to Asian American activist Chris Ijima, Taiwan’s ”foreign brides,” America’s Next Top Immigrant, a mock game show and a fresh look at eyelid surgery, a rite of passage for Korean American women are among the subjects realized by filmmakers at the 32nd Asian American International Film Festival 2009 (AAIFF09).
Asian CineVision proudly presents the 2009/10 National Festival Tour featuring the year’s best independent cinema - narrative and documentary features and shorts - from AAIFF09. The National Festival Tour offers institutions and organizations the rare opportunity to bring many Asian and Asian American films to local communities across the country.

By Professor Hyeouk Chris Hahm

Working with diverse immigrant populations who suffered from various mental health disorders in New York City, Professor Hyeouk Chris Hahm had a first-hand look at health disparities among Asian American communities. As a psychiatric social worker for 10 years, she saw a growing prevalence of young Asian American adults dealing with substance use and sexually transmitted disease (STDs). This led her to question the factors associated with risky health behavior patterns, as well as the protective factors of those behaviors including substance use and HIV/STDs risk behaviors among young Asian Americans.

Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun is set to appear alongside Chinese movie star Zhang Ziyi in a new film by Wayne Wang, according to her agency Sidus HQ on Wednesday.

The film, titled "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", will be based on the 2005 novel of the same title by Chinese-American writer Lisa See.

Set in 19th century China, the film chronicles the lives of two women -- Lily and Snow Flower -- and their intimate lifelong friendship. Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is set to play the main character Snow Flower while Jun's role in the film has not been decided as of yet.

Wanye Wang, a Chinese-American filmmaker, has directed several notable movies such as "The Joy Luck Club" (1993), "Maid in Manhattan" (2002) and "Smoke (1995)", for which he won the Silver Bear award at Berlin International Film Festival.

Trevor Middleton, 23, of Sutton, was convicted Dec. 15 in a Newmarket court of four counts of aggravated assault and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

Middleton had been charged with trying to run Liu's Honda off the road, not for the dunking of Liu and Hogan.

The incident on the Mossington Park Bridge is an extreme example of attacks and harassment that have been inflicted scores of times in the past few years on Asian fishermen in the Greater Toronto Area. It has become so common that the attacks have nicknames by some Georgina Township locals: "nip-tipping" and "nipper-tipping."

What's unique about the attack on Liu and Hogan – apart from the near-fatal and crippling injury to Berwick – is the huge attention it has garnered from Asian community leaders, activists and media members.

 Are you currently unemployed? According to the new Canadian citizenship guidebook for prospective immigrants, over 8.6% of unemployed Canadians are not fulfilling the Canadian responsibility of having a job, which now comes with the rights of having a Canadian citizenship.

The new Canadian citizenship guidebook was unveiled last week, redefining what it means to be Canadian. After all, new Canadian immigrants are more likely to be unemployed, which must mean—according to the authors of the guidebook—that their economic difficulties are a result of their failure adopt Canadian values. In addition, the new guidebook tells prospective immigrants, “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, “honour killings,” female genital mutilation, or other gender-based violence.”

The six men on stage included a poet, a break dancer and a filmmaker. They pounded rhythms on the dhol drum, modeled fresh fashions, slathered whipped cream on bare skin and discussed their passion for community service.

This is the "Mr. Hyphen" contest, a faux pageant in the San Francisco Bay area aimed at redefining the image of Asian-American men beyond nerdy, sexless stereotypes.

Conspicuously absent from the stage were computer experts, doctors, lawyers or dry cleaners. There were, however, martial arts - with a twist.

Pahole Sookkasikon, an American-born graduate student partial to drawing, cooking, and "flirting for free drinks at the bar," knew that his hobbies would not translate well to the talent portion of the show.