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• Immigration Battle Boiling Over in Virginia (Annabel and I in the middle)

  Sunday, Mar 30, 2008 1:25AM / Standard Entry

  As many of you know, Annabel and I are in the middle of the immigration battle in Virginia best summed up by this video essay we did for the Washington Post. (Click here to read our accompanying text essays.)

  Today, a news article in theWashington Post has touched off a firestorm in Virginia's political blogs. It is about an event that we actually filmed two nights ago, were Prince William County Police Chief Charlie Dean met with concerned members of the immigrant community to explain the new laws known as the "crackdown on illegals." On an exciting new centrist blog called AntiBVBL.net a virtual fight broke out when I suggested that America's ethnic make-up is not something we can control — nor should we. I wrote, "The only thing we can control is the values that unite and define us as a nation. I suggest equality, fairness, respect, opportunity, democracy." You can click here to read the whole insanity, but this exchange is what I wanted to share with you:

  SecondAlamo wrote: “The only thing we can control is the values that unite and define us as a nation.” And your point? That is exactly why most of us are upset at watching those very VALUES being downgraded by people who don’t share them! They come from the lowest socioeconomic levels of their countries, for the most part, and therefore don’t necessarily share the same values as the majority of those whose neighborhoods they are moving into. Just as I wouldn’t want the local back woods trailer park relocating next door. It’s ideals and values that will always cause people to either congregate together or keep them apart. Gang members hang with gang members, and church supporters hang with church supporters, regardless of ethnic backgrounds. Simple fact of life. Just as you’ll never hang with members of HSM regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. What is so hard to understand about that?

  This is my reply:

  EricByler wrote: SecondAlamo, your comments above make my point better than I probably will below, but let me try:

  Let’s take a step backward and see the word “values” as if it could be separated from the wedge issue buzz-word that used to define “them” vs. “us” for political purposes. After all, the architects of this strategy have proven themselves woefully incompetent leaders, and the vast majority of “values voters” no longer grant them credibility.

  Some are still rallying behind the politics of division, but a countervailing force is beginning to emerge. “Uniting Values” are replacing “Dividing Values.”

  I prefer Uniting Values because they are based on American ideals like equality and opportunity, tolerance and respect. This, in my view, better defines America than any particular race or religion. (The founding documents made no mention of an official race or religion, but they did hold certain truths to be self evident).

  If we wish to come together as a nation, I propose focusing on values that everyone can share. Most people do share these values if given an opportunity to become part of this society. Yes, there is a process of assimilation, but this is true of all immigrants whether they “look American” at first glance or not. Ask Jeb Bush!

  On the other hand, there are Dividing Values designed to split us apart — “they” are not Christians, “they” are not Patriotic, “they” are not heterosexual, “they” don’t speak English, “they” are gang members while “we” go to church. Your comments above also refer to socio-economic class, an age-old way of defining “they” vs. “we.” If we see the world that way, we fail to identify common interests, common goals, or common ground. Divisive politics might win an election. They might justify a law, a policy, or even a war. But inevitably, we end up regretting collective decisions made out of fear, anger, and distrust.

  Right now, as undocumented immigrants, their American citizen families, and other people of color flee Prince William County, those who are left behind are suffering the consequences. Property rates are falling here more precipitously than the rest of the nation. Why? Because we have considerably more foreclosures due to people abandoning their mortgages and leaving. If you see the world as “them” vs. “us” you might cheer this idea assuming those who are deserting us are from the “them” category (as HSM members did last August when this was just beginning). But, when a home is abandoned to the banks, the value of the home next door goes down too. When businesses and entire strip malls fold up and leave the county, it doesn’t only affect the business owners who leave; it affects the ones who stay. The shoe store and the video store have less customers now because the restaurant and the supermarket have folded or relocated. This means the shoe store and the video store are next.

  People of different ethnicities, religions, documentation status, AND socio-economic backgrounds are deeply interconnected. We can’t afford to make decisions based on what divides us rather than that which we have in common.

  So as we are deciding how we feel about our Police Chief, let’s look at the values he is struggling to uphold– fairness, trust, openness, public safety, and equal protection under the law. Too many people (on both sides) are judging him in terms of “which side is he on?”

  Much is now being made of Chief Deane’s warning of 7-10-07. Well here’s another warning: the WORST THING WE COULD DO to make this cultural and economic disaster EVEN WORSE is to cause Chief Deane to leave us in the hands of a someone like the infamous KKK Sheriff in Arizona. That would represent the point no return.

  
  

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• Dodgers' Chan Ho Park: Glory, A Fall, Near Death, and Now...?

  Monday, Mar 24, 2008 5:45PM / Standard Entry

  Last Feb. 18, I did something rare: while flying between Los Angeles and Washington DC, I was so pleased with a newspaper article that I clipped it out and saved it. No, it wasn’t about Barack Obama… It was a sports article by Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times about the first Korean born star in major league baseball, Chan Ho Park. This was the part that jumped out at me, describing how he almost died 2 years ago while pitching for the San Diego Padres:
  
  "Finding massive amounts of blood in his stool in late July, Park had a stint on the
  disabled list but returned to action without discovering the source of the bleeding.
  
  The bleeding returned on a day Park was scheduled to pitch and only an angry phone
  call from teammate Woody Williams convinced him to go to the operating table
  instead of the mound.
  
  As it was, Park said, he lost half of his blood.
  
  "[Williams] was yelling," Park recalled. "He said, ’Think about your family. You have a
  daughter on the way.’ If I was single, I probably would’ve pitched. My wife and baby
  probably saved my life."
  
  Backing up a bit.... I’m a life-long baseball fan -- my grandfather was a professional and I still play the game today -- but I was beginning to lose interest in the Major Leagues until Hideo Nomo and Chan Ho Park came to the Dodgers in the mid 1990’s. For the next 10 years, Dodgers baseball was more than a spectator sport for me; it was about identity. It was about Asian pride in a way that I related to even more than movies and TV (believe it or not). Each summer for the next decade, I would time the purchase of Dodger tickets to watch only those games that Nomo or Park were scheduled to pitch.
  
  Although there are many sports heros today for Asians and Asian Americans, Nomo was the first to rise to the top of his profession, starting in the All-Star game in his rookie year and winning the Rookie of the Year award at season’s end. Unlike Nomo, who had already established himself in the Japanese Major Leagues, Park was a high school draftee who had to compete in the Dodgers’ minor league system for a chance to prove himself in the Majors. Seeing Nomo leave Japan to dominate the best hitters in baseball was exciting and empowering. But with Park, it was more than that, because it was like watching a kid, filled with big dreams, joy and wonderment, growing up before your eyes. He battled nerves in his first few outings, pitching with, not only the pressure of competing at baseball’s highest level, but also the pressure of being a national obsession in South Korea. At only 22 years of age, he was also faced with the psychological obstacle of competing in a team sport in a foreign country -- where cultural differences can cause you to feel isolated and uncertain rather than backed by your teammates. To top it all off, Park faced a looming, mandatory 26-month stint in the South Korean military. The Dodgers had drafted him in spite of this law, but no one, least of all Park, wanted to see his promising career interrupted just when he was hitting his stride. In 1998, the Dodgers worked out a deal with the South Korean government: Park could be exempted from military service IF AND ONLY IF he led South Korea to a gold medal in baseball at the Asian Games that December. So, he went out and did it allowing only 1 run in the Gold Medal game.
  
  By 2002, Park had become one of the best pitchers in baseball. That’s when he left the Dodgers to do what most successful Major League ballplayers do – sign a big free agent contract and go where the money is. Feeling pressure to perform for his new team (the Texas Rangers), he played through a serious injury, leading to other injuries and a string of sub-par seasons.
  
  Most people thought Park’s career was over after 2007 season in which he languished in the minors for the New York Mets. For 2008, he told his agent to get him back in Dodger Blue (regardless of salary) for one last attempt at redemption. Provided a minor league contract, it looked like Park had a slim chance of cracking the starting rotation for the pitching-rich Dodgers.
  
  But with his health in tact and renewed zip on his fastball, Park has pitched unexpectedly well in spring training -- he didn’t even give up an earned run in his first five outings (that’s good) including a stellar performance when the Dodgers played an in Beijing, China after which he clashed with Chinese police trying to stop him from signing autographs.
  
  Right now, Park is competing with Estaban Loaiza for the fifth and final starting spot in the Dodgers rotation. Even though Park has pitched much better this spring, Loiza is said to have the edge because the Dodgers have agreed to pay him $6.5 million this season whether he makes the team or not. Park would be paid half a million, only if he makes the team.
  
  According to the Dodgers website, Loaiza and Park will both pitch this Saturday against the Red Sox at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum -- the final tune-up for both pitchers before the start of the regular season.
  
  So if you’re in Los Angeles, in Asia, or wherever you are, please root with me for Chan Ho Park to pitch well on Saturday, make the team, and have an awesome season in Dodger blue. Baseball needs a story like this, and so does America.
  
  

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• News Story on Bigotry in America Shocked Me Twice

  Friday, Mar 21, 2008 2:29AM / Standard Entry

  Maybe it’s just me, but this brought tears to my eyes, both eyes! And it’s only a news report:
  
  
  I was shocked once by the reinforcement bigotry, and shocked twice by the courage in standing up to bigotry. In the end, more people did nothing. This is how we became the America of the Bush years, an America many of us can’t even recognize at times. Acts of courage were a rarity, while the majority of us did nothing.
  
  

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• Back in the U.S. -- Obama speech today -- Annabel blog today

  Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008 2:45PM / Standard Entry

  I arrived in DC this morning after traveling across the Pacific, then across the country three times, as well as up the California coast all in the past few days. I slept for an hour, woke up for Obama’s speech, and then went back to sleep until 10 PM. I guess we can safely say my schedule has been thrown out of whack by my travels. Tomorrow morning Annabel and I will talk to students at Georgetown about immigration and our documentary 9500 Liberty. We gave a similar talk at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan a week ago.
  
  My last blog was written while in Seoul, Korea. Among several other amazing experiences that occurred since that post, we traveled to the House of Sharing, where many "Comfort Station" survivors live together, and we met and talked with Lee Ok Sun, the second of two women whose stories we told in this YouTube video (Lee Ok Sun’s translated testimony was read by Kimberly-Rose Wolter). As soon as I recuperate, I promise to post footage from this encounter, and many other experiences during the past two weeks in Asia and in Houston, Texas (for Obama). Annabel wrote eloquently about the "Comfort Women" issue, her philosophy, and our experience in her first addition to our new blog for AsianWeek.
  
  During a very brief visit to San Francisco over the weekend, I encountered several people who thanked me for writing for AsianWeek, confessing that they had been embarrassed by current and past columnists such as Kenneth Ng and Emil Amok (that’s what they call him but this is not his name). I’ve long struggled with the question: to what extent should we be embarrassed by people who come from the same community? Perhaps I’ll address this in a future column.
  
  In a related issue, I wanted to briefly reference Barack Obama’s speech today -- click here to see it as broadcast on CNN, with the text of the speech included or click here to see it in high resolution (but it takes some navigating).
  
  In my view, this speech was historic, much more so than the Iowa speech (during which I chased down a 10-year-old and made her watch it for posterity), or any of the speeches I have seen Obama make in person. I would encourage anyone reading this to watch the speech in it’s entirety before reading my or anyone else’s commentary on it. I think the message here is deeply personal, both for the speaker, and for all those of us he is speaking to. How you respond should be your own choice. After all, this choice is fundamental to your personal identity, and, I collectively, will be fundamental to our identity as a nation.
  
  

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• Update from Seoul, reaction to Obama Win in Mississippi

  Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008 2:44PM / Standard Entry

  The stuff my camera has seen in the past week... I couldn’t begin to describe. Annabel and I have been in Tokyo and Seoul to meet with progressives, politicians, and activists about next steps for "Comfort Women" truth and reconciliation. The best part of today was spending quality time with Lee Young Soo, a survivor of a "Comfort Station" set up in Taiwan, and the most wonderful person on earth. You can see her in this video, but she is not the regal pillar of strength that she appeared to be at our White House protest. She is a warm, joyful, spunky lady, 79 years old, but so full of life and energy. Lee Halmoni spoke at a Congressional Hearing early in 2007 in Washington DC. Annabel, who was in the audience, became inspired to lead the national movement that led to a historic breakthrough just six months later. We are producing a documentary on the subject, which I hope will do justice to it. Annabel and I have worked with and hung out with (even karaoked with) Lee Halmoni in DC, LA, and San Fran. But today, we met a survivor for the first time. Kim Koon Ja also testified that fateful day in Washington. She is the person that Karin Anna Cheung gave voice to in our first 121 Coalition video. Koon Ja normally lives with other survivors in Seoul at The House of Sharing. But right now she is in a rehab hospital in a suburb of Seoul because of a broken hip. We had a lovely visit with her. Annabel presented her with an American flag, one of three that was flown over the US Capitol on the day that House Resolution 121 was passed. I’ll post video soon. Like Lee Young Soo, Koon Ja is a warm and loving woman, the kind of grandmother we all love dearly, especially those of us with Asian grandmothers.... Anyway, we attended the weekly protest in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. I’m proud to say I made the sign that all the reporters snapped photos of. Lee Halmoni held it, and it read: "Thank you USA for H. Res 121, A Step Toward Peace and Reconciliation." Then, Annabel did a press conference. Then, she gave a lecture at a university. Then, we went out to dinner. Then, I passed out during the car ride back to our hotel. Luckily I wasn’t driving.
  
  Meanwhile, Barack Obama was winning the Mississippi primary. I’m really concerned that the Clinton camp has resorted to stirring up racial division in an attempt to turn white voters (and others susceptible to prejudice) against Obama. This latest Ferror ofiasco is only one of many attempts to dismiss Obama’s global appeal as some form of affirmative action. Every time Obama wins a state with some African Americans in it, we get the statistical analysis breaking down voting patterns by race. At least the media doesn’t bother us with such breakdowns when Obama wins a state like Iowa or Wyoming. "He’s only winning because he’s Black" is obviously a Clinton campaign talking point, only some are better at finessing it than others. I’ve been working on a new column for our blog on AsianWeek that will try to address some of this. Here are some preliminary thoughts:
  
  Why Does The Clinton Campaign Sound Like A Republican Campaign???
  
  In 1996, Bill Clinton won reelection to the White House without resorting to the types of tactics his wife’s campaign is employing now. With a booming economy and American prestige soaring around the world, Clinton’s campaign required little more than a turn a of phrase on challenger Bob Dole’s unfortunate platform. The 68-year-old Senator said his plan was to build a bridge to the past. Clinton offered a bridge to the future and that was that. In 2008, the Clinton dynasty has become the establishment, and a candidate in Barack Obama could effectively use the same "bridge" analogy if he didn’t have several even more convincing arguments. So how has it come to pass that the Clintons are resorting to "Republican" tactics made famous by George Bush and Karl Rove? The answer is simple. For the first time in their careers, the Clintons finds themselves in the disadvantaged position that Republican candidates so predictably endeavor to smokescreen: they have a weaker candidate, weaker arguments, and a less realistic vision than their Democratic opponent.
  
  Why Do Some Washington and Democratic Party Insiders STILL Support Hillary?
  
  Bill Clinton left office 8 years ago with a promise that he would return, and all those who demonstrated continued loyalty would be rewarded with high paying jobs that would set them up for career advancement in the private sector. Some have maintained such loyalty simply to keep their word. While others, in particular those who rested a little too much on their laurels during the lost years of the Bush Administration, find themselves painted into a Clinton corner, unable to reassess the choice we face as an electorate because they have too much at stake in seeing the old guard return. Meanwhile, policy experts and Washington insiders who have remained neutral or endorsed Obama are the types whose accomplishments and credentials are enough to recommend them for jobs or appointments under any Democratic administration.
  
  

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