VOL 38 NO 18 | APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

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VOL 38 NO 18 APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

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37 YEARS YOUR VOICE

Seattle Public School Superintendent Juneau has sights set on closing educational disparities

By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Photo from Seattle School District

On the way to her office, she must pass under the ranked row of photographs — former superintendents. They seem to glower across the lobby of the Seattle School District’s main office, as if unhappy and cognizant of the short tenure each served. Her predecessor served for four years. Many served less.

Some only served for one year.

The newest superintendent is aware of the brevity of their tenures.

“I knowww,” said Denise Juneau.

“My plan is to stay — that’s my goal.

On the surface, Juneau’s breezy, engaging style seems to belie the complexities of the challenges facing the Seattle School District right now.

Or maybe it is just what it needs.

Since taking up her office in July

of last year, she has visited 78 out of Seattle’s 102 public schools and engaged in a series of listen-and-learn sessions, meeting 2,500 people and asking communities from different parts of Seattle to share their concerns — she has built a student council of advisers — and she has just launched a new strategic plan aimed at closing the achievement gap for marginalized students through innovative techniques, building on nationally recognized (and hard-fought) successes she achieved while she was the superintendent of the Montana School District.

Perhaps most importantly, she seems to inspire everyone around her.

Last week, at her first state of the district address, just the anticipation of hearing Juneau speak was felt see JUNEAU on 15

Seattle School District Superintendent Denise Juneau

Author Thi Bui reimagines a shared history

By Sam Le NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY An audience of 200 gathered to hear insights from storyteller and author Thi Bui on her graphic novel, “The Best We Could Do.” The event was facilitated by local Seattleite and Vietnamese community member Julie Pham.

As an illustrated memoir capturing Bui and her family’s experiences of finding refuge in America, “The Best We Could Do” serves as an instrument connecting those with similar experiences, especially

Photo by Sam Le/NWAW

see BUI on 13

COMMUNITY NEWS See history: Chinese Exclusion Act case files available on web  7

Julie Pham (left) from Northwest Vietnamese News and Thi Bui, author of "The Best We Could Do."

Few people prepared for huge cost of aging, is Wash. first state with a solution?

By RACHEL LA CORTE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

■

OLYMPIA, Wash.

(AP) — Washington is poised to become the first state to establish an employee-paid program creating an insurance benefit to help offset the costs of long-term care, a step advocates say will help an aging population that is likely not prepared for the increasing costs needed for daily assistance.

The measure creates a benefit for those who pay into

the program, with a lifetime maximum of $36,500 per person, indexed to inflation, paid for by an employee payroll premium. It has cleared both the House and the Senate, but because the Senate made several changes before passing it earlier this month, the measure now heads back to the House for a final vote.

According to AARP of Washington, 70 percent of residents 65 and older will see INSURANCE BENEFIT on 6

NATIONAL NEWS White-owned NYC Chinese eatery heats up cultural appropriation debate  8

ON THE SHELF Book recs: Sisters doin’ it for themselves  9

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asianweekly northwest

37 YEARS

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ NAMES IN THE NEWS CAPAA celebrates 45 years, awards Narasaki and Pascua

headquartered in Shoreline, will focus his campaign on combating high housing costs, increased traffic, and managing rapid growth in Shoreline.

“We need to move our city forward by increasing housing options and services for seniors and families and by supporting strategic development that brings more small businesses and living wage jobs to our community,” Chen said.

Chen grew up in Lake Forest Park and graduated from Shorecrest High School before attending Western Washington University and Seattle University School of Law. 

Meet Port candidate Preeti Shridhar

CAPAA Executive Director Toshiko Hasegawa (center) with honorees Diane Narasaki (left) and Reynaldo Pascua (right)

On April 13, 300 people attended Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA)’s Sapphire Celebration, which observed 45 years of service to Asian and Pacific Islander communities statewide.

Honored at the event were Diane Narasaki with CAPAA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Reynaldo Pascua with CAPAA’s Vanguard Award. Both were named commissioners emeriti.

CAPAA raised $30,000 that night. 

David Chen to run for Shoreline City Council

David Chen

This month, David Chen announced he will run for Shoreline City Council Position 4. Position 4 is currently held by Deputy Mayor Doris McConnell, who was first elected in 2007 and has not yet filed to retain her seat.

Chen, a 34-year-old father of three and general counsel to an international nonprofit

Preeti Shridhar, 27, announced her candidacy for the Port of Seattle Commission, position 2, on April 17. This seat currently is held by Commissioner Courtney Gregoire, who will not run for re-election.

Shridhar brings 13 years of experience working with south King County cities, businesses, and community organizaPreeti Shridhar tions. She currently works for the City of Renton and has helped the city achieve significant growth, economic development, and recognition as one of the region’s leading cities.

Shridhar also helped to launch the City of Seattle’s Climate Protection Initiative and introduced the City’s recycling and water conservation programs. 

Okano and Pham win advocate award at Female Founders Alliance’s Champion Awards

On April 4, Julie Pham and Yoko Okano were among the winners at the Female Founders Alliance’s second annual Champion Awards, a gala held at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

More than 300 individuals and organizations were nominated for awards and some 1,000 people in the Puget Sound Julie Pham area cast votes to determine the winners.

Pham won the Advocate award, which is bestowed on an

individual or organization who uses their public platform to promote and advance women’s causes. Pham is vice president of community engagement and marketing at the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA).

Okano won the Investor award because she invests in women- and nonbinary-led businesses, helping founders succeed. Okano is an angel investor and founding member of Grubstakes.

Other winners include Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream, Karen Okonkwo, Jill Angelo, and Shelly Willis.  Yoko Okano

Singapore Airlines ushers inaugural flights with dinner

Photo by Assunta Ng/NWAW

2

From left: Seattle Pan Pacific Hotel’s Rebecca Carr, Singapore Tourism Board’s Inez Yang, Singapore Airlines’ Ephraim Zechariah, a raffle prize winner, Michael Wraight, and Laura Jones

On Feb. 20, Singapore Airlines, Singapore Tourism Board, and Changi Airport Group held a dinner at Museum of Flight to celebrate Singapore Airline’s upcoming inaugural flights from Seattle. The groups invited some of the state’s top travel agents. More than 70 people attended the event.

Singapore Airlines will begin flying from Seattle starting in Sept. 3 as part of a big U.S. expansion by the carrier.

This is Singapore Airlines’ first new market in the United States since 2008, when it added service from Houston. 

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asianweekly northwest

YOUR VOICE

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ COMMUNITY NEWS

Photo by Assunta Ng

ECCC labor laws workshops seeks more engagement from community

The ECCC workshop attendees at House of Hong on April 11, from left: Amy Lee, Michael Daniels, Michael Le, Martha Lee, Nicole Paik, Elizabeth Jiang, Ben Chen, Lawrence Pang, and Lucia Leung

Monisha Singh named executive director of CIDBIA

This week, the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA) Board of Directors announced that Monisha Singh is the organization’s new executive director. Singh joined the CIDBIA in 2015 as its events and programs manager, managing the neighborhood’s three large street festivals and the sanitation program.

In her most recent role as the organization’s communications and marketing director, Monisha developed marketing and promotional events, managed the neighborhood’s communication and marketing strategy, and created meaningful story to promote Chinatown-ID as a destination neighborhood.

“I’m excited to continue promoting CIDBIA’s mission and goals in the execu-

tive director position,” said Singh. “I’ve been part of this neighborhood for almost four years, and I’m motivated to continue to tell the story of Chinatown-ID and be a part of Monisha Singh its future in a meaningful way.”

Singh earned a Bachelor of Art in Communications from the University of Washington.

CIDBIA Board Chair Barry Blanton notes the board has “spent a lot of time reviewing applications and interviewing potential candidates and we are very pleased to have Monisha lead the CIDBIA as our executive director.” 

By Staff NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY For the past month, the Ethnic Chambers of Commerce Coalition (ECCC) has been hosting and organizing workshops and meet and greets, with the goal of engaging the local Asian and Pacific Islander (API) American communities with their workshops. In ECCC workshops, ECCC representatives and subject matter experts go to API-owned businesses to inform owners and managers of sustainable business practices and labor laws.

One workshop attendee did say, “Small business owners work hard to make their money, so I hate to see them lose some of what they have earned if they were ever audited and then penalized because they were unaware of certain laws.”

A panelist, in an example, also stated that businesses may pay a heavy penalty for not adhering to minimum wage laws. Small business owners also need to know what to do if they are ever audited.

The ECCC has been trying to get more APIowned businesses involved in these workshops and meet and greets, but ECCC has found that some businesses don’t want to engage because owners and managers feel they are too busy to, or maybe because a cultural, language, or some other type of barrier stands in the way of them understanding the importance of getting this education.

In past years, Northwest Asian Weekly has reported on local API-owned businesses that have suffered heavy fines (more than $100,000) because they did not adhere to certain laws, like sick leave laws — possibly because they were not aware of these laws. Immigrant communities are often hard to reach because of the aforementioned barriers. Some business owners may not be aware that there are serious consequences to ignoring these laws.

Martha Lee, ECCC president, said that the ECCC is willing to schedule one-on-one time with local businesses.

“And we will not share or report any information we get to the City. We just want to inform and educate the business community.

Everything you tell us is confidential.”  The next Seattle Labor Standards Workshop is on May 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is also one on June 27 at the same time. These workshops take place at Business Impact NW (1437 South Jackson Street). To register or to see a complete list of all upcoming workshops, visit businessimpactnw.org/services/classes.

For an one-on-one consultation or to schedule a group training, email ecccseattlewa@gmail. com.

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APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

37 YEARS

■ NATIONAL NEWS Years after Duck crash, Wash. legislature updates century-old law OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Legislature approved an update to the state’s wrongful death law on April 15, the latest reverberation from a fatal 2015 crash that cast a spotlight on a century-old state law.

The proposal would remove requirements that, after an accidental death in the state, family members must live in the United States and be economically dependent on the victim to be able to file a wrongful death claim here. The law dates to 1909.

The state House passed the bill on a 61–37 vote. Having previously passed the Senate, it went to Gov. Jay Inslee for his signature.

“This bill is correcting not only a vestige of a xenophobic era, it is correcting the idea that a parent’s love should become less when a child turns 18,” said Seattle Democratic Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, who sponsored a companion to the measure.

That echoed the sentiment of the bill’s sponsor, Seattle Democratic Sen. Bob Hasegawa, who earlier called the 1909 clause racist, and said it dated to rules intended to protect American businesses from claims by the families of migrant workers.

A fatal 2015 crash in Seattle drew attention to the law, when an amphibious “Ride the Ducks” tour vehicle veered

Photo from Seattle Fire Department

By Tom James THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Devastation from the fatal Duck bus collision on the Aurora Bridge. (File photo)

into oncoming traffic, killing five and injuring 69 when it struck a bus carrying mostly foreign college students.

Five international students died in the crash, but while a jury faulted Ride the Ducks for faulty maintenance, the company and a local subsidiary later invoked the state’s 1909 law as a defense against claims from one student’s family.

Widely used for road-and-water tours, amphibious vehicles like the one in the Seattle crash feature an angled hull with a pointed steel bow.

The vehicle involved in that Seattle incident was an Army surplus craft built in 1945 and later refurbished before a mechanical failure caused it to abruptly swerve into oncoming traffic on Seattle’s Aurora Bridge.

But Republicans broadly objected to the bill’s potential expansion of potential claimants — groups that would be able to sue for wrongful death damages.

Along with parents and siblings living outside the United States, the bill would include parents of adult children more broadly, where current law limits such claims except in cases of financial dependence on an adult son or daughter.

Under the bill, parents would only need to prove “emotional [or] psychological support” from their adult child to be eligible to file wrongful death claims.

“This bill says that you can sue for damages for loss of love,” said Rep. Brad Klippert, a Kennewick Republican, during debate over the bill.

Klippert added that he had heard from hospitals and business owners leading up to the debate, and that they had expressed concerns over increased costs from liability, and even being driven out of business by potential additional lawsuits.

“So many more people will now be able to sue,” Klippert said.

Santos said she understood the impulse behind similar concerns, but added that she saw allowing families to pursue claims as a basic form of justice. 

■ WORLD NEWS Paul Ryan says the rest of the world should be more like Taiwan

Paul Ryan

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said on April 15 that the United States wants the rest of the world to be more like Taiwan — praise that will likely anger Beijing, which has long been sensitive to cooperation between the United States and the democratically governed island that China claims as its own.

“Taiwan is a democratic success story, a reliable partner, and a force for good in the world,” Ryan said at a celebration for the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, which guides U.S. policy toward Taiwan.

While the United States does not have formal

diplomatic ties with the island, the act requires Washington to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself.

“We want the rest of the world to be more like Taiwan,” said Ryan, who led an American delegation to the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy. He said both parties care deeply about the “critically important relationship” between the United States and Taiwan.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who also spoke at the event, praised the two parties’ “enduring partnership” as one that has “withstood the test of time.”

Taiwan split from mainland China during a

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civil war in 1949, and only 17 mainly small, developing nations recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Over the past year, Beijing has employed increasingly strident rhetoric around “re-unifying” the island with Communist Party-ruled mainland China, declaring that it has not ruled out the use of force.

Ryan said the United States’ “commitment to Taiwan’s security remains rock-solid.”

Last month, Taiwan asked to purchase new fighter jets and tanks from the United States, its main supplier of military weapons. American arms sales to Taiwan have long been a thorn in U.S. relations with China. 

asianweekly northwest

YOUR VOICE

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ WORLD NEWS

5

Protesters in Bangladesh demand justice after girl is burned to death

By Julhas Alam THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Dozens of protesters gathered in Bangladesh’s capital on April 19 to demand justice for an 18-year-old woman who died after being set on fire for refusing to drop sexual harassment charges against her Islamic school’s principal.

Nusrat Jahan Rafi told her family she was lured to the roof of her rural school in the town of Feni on April 6 and asked to withdraw the charges by five people clad in burqas. When she refused, she said her hands were tied and she was doused in kerosene and set alight.

Rafi told the story to her brother in an ambulance on

the way to the hospital and he recorded her testimony on his mobile phone. She died four days later in a Dhaka hospital with burns covering 80 percent of her body.

The violence has shaken Bangladesh, triggering protests and raising concerns over Picture of Nusrat Jahan the plight of women and girls Rafi on a protester's poster in the conservative Muslimmajority nation of 160 million people, where sexual harassment and violence are often unreported, victims are intimidated, and the legal process

is often lengthy. Many avoid reporting to police because of social stigma.

“We want justice. Our girls must grow up safely and with dignity,” Alisha Pradhan, a model and actress, told The Associated Press during the April 19 demonstration.

“We protest any forms of violence against women, and authorities must ensure justice.”

Tens of thousands of people attended Rafi’s funeral prayers in Feni, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised Rafi’s family when they met in Dhaka that those responsible would be punished.

At least 17 people, including students, have been arrested see RAFI on 12

India’s chief justice accused of sexual harassment NEW DELHI (AP) — A former employee of India’s Supreme Court has accused the country’s chief justice of sexual harassment, an accusation that was vehemently denied by the judge, the nation’s largest news agency reported on April 20.

The 35-year-old woman filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on April 19, alleging two instances of misconduct in October last year shortly after Ranjan Gogoi took over as India’s most senior judge, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said.

Gogoi convened an urgent court session with the other two justices on April 20 and said the charges were part

of a conspiracy by some “bigger force,” according to PTI. He denied the accusation, calling it an attempt to destabilize the judiciary.

“I do not think I should stoop too low even to deny these allegations. But that comes after 20 years of selfless Ranjan Gogoi service as a judge,” PTI quoted Gogoi as saying.

The former staffer had worked at Gogoi’s office at his official residence in New Delhi.

The Supreme Court’s secretary general, Sanjeev

Thailand says U.S. man’s seasteading home violates sovereignty

By Grant Peck THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities have raided a floating home in the Andaman Sea belonging to an American man and his Thai partner who sought to be pioneers in the “seasteading” movement, which promotes living in international waters to be free of any nation’s laws.

Thailand’s navy said Chad Elwartowski

and Supranee Thepdet endangered national sovereignty, an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death.

It filed a complaint against them with police on the southern resort island of Phuket. Thai authorities said they have revoked Elwartowski’s visa.

Elwartowski said in an email on April 18 that he believes he and Supranee —

By Christopher Bodeen and Wang Shanshan THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING (AP) — Chinese e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma has long been an example of how the power of big dreams, strong leadership, and sheer elbow grease can create massive fortunes in China’s go-go economy.

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Alibaba head’s remarks spark debate over China working hours Yet, recent remarks by the head of Chinese online business giant Alibaba that young people should be prepared to work 12-hour days, six days a week, have prompted a public debate over work-life balance in the country.

Ma is one of China’s richest men and his comments brought both condemnation see ALIBABA on 12

Sudhakar Kalgaonkar, said the allegations made by the woman had no basis.

Court and government officials were unavailable for comment on April 20.

Last year, Indian actresses and writers flooded social media with allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

India’s junior external affairs minister resigned last year amid accusations by 20 women of sexual harassment during his previous career as one of the country’s most prominent news editors.

India has framed laws for women’s safety, but critics say they have done little to change the status quo. 

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APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

37 YEARS

■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR APR 26

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INSURANCE BENEFIT from 1 require some type of assistance to live independently.

Only an estimated 7 million to 8 million Americans have private long-term care insurance, which is costly and generally requires applicants to pass a health screening.

Many assume that Medicare covers long-term care, but that’s not the case except for limited care for skilled nursing care or rehabilitation.

Qualifying for public coverage under Medicaid, which covers low-income people, involves spending down lifetime savings.

“This is a way to try and give people a benefit that they’ve paid into that will be able to keep them out of poverty and accessing a broad array of services they may need,” said Democratic Rep. Laurie Jinkins of Tacoma, the bill’s sponsor.

Opponents call it an unnecessary intrusion by government and an additional tax on employees who haven’t had a say on whether they want such a program. Proposed referendum amendments to require voters to weigh in were rejected by lawmakers.

“I do believe people need long-term care insurance,” said Republican Sen. Maureen

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Walsh of Walla Walla. “But to have a staterun government program instead of just incentivizing people who are already doing this work in the private sector, this is crazy.”

Under the proposal, premiums of 0.58 percent of wages would start being collected from employees on Jan. 1, 2022, meaning an employee who makes $50,000 a year would pay about $24 a month. Employers would not be required to pay into the program. Starting Jan. 1, 2025, people who need assistance with at least three “activities of daily living,” such as bathing, dressing, or administration of medication, could tap into the fund to pay for things like in-home care, home modifications like a wheelchair ramp, and rides to the doctor. The benefit also covers home-delivered meals, and reimbursement to unpaid family caregivers.

To be eligible, workers will have had to have paid the premium working at least 500 hours per year for three of the previous six years in which they’re seeking the benefit or for a total of 10 years, with at least five of those paid without interruption. The Senate boosted that requirement from the original House version. The Senate proposal exempts workers who show they already have long-

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term care insurance.

“We know both in our state and nationally we have a tidal wave of folks who are going to be in a position to need support later in life,” said Gov. Jay Inslee, who supports the measure.

Washington isn’t the only state that has contemplated long-term care, but it has moved the fastest on creating a defined insurance policy.

While Maine voters last year rejected a referendum that would have provided home care to all seniors and disabled people regardless of income, other states have explored various options.

Hawaii has adopted a public cash benefit for caregivers of the elderly, California is considering a ballot initiative on a public long-term care financing program, Michigan and Illinois are beginning to study public programs for those not on Medicaid, and Minnesota’s human services department has proposed two alternative private financing options, according to Howard Gleckman, a senior researcher at the nonpartisan Urban Institute think tank.

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in at least getting close to the goal line,” Gleckman said.

About two-thirds of adults favor a longterm care program similar to Medicare, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last year. That includes 76 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans.

The Medicare for All bills introduced

by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., expand coverage for long-term care, emphasizing home and community based services.

Advocates say that while any federal plan could complement state efforts, legislators should not wait on Congress.

“What they’re proposing right now could take years to actually be realized,” said AARP Washington Advocacy Director Cathy MacCaul, who noted that the median retirement savings for people over 65 is just $148,000, while the lifetime cost of care can average as high as $266,000. “The challenge exists now.”  AP reporter Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed from Washington, D.C.

View the solution on page 14

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asianweekly northwest

YOUR VOICE

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ COMMUNITY NEWS

7

See history: Chinese Exclusion Act case files available on web

By Trish Hackett Nicola SPECIAL TO NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed in order to limit the number of Chinese laborers entering the United States and prevent the Chinese already here from becoming naturalized citizens.

When the Act was renewed 10 years later, it required the Chinese to register and obtain a certificate of residency or identity as proof of their right to be in the United States. This created voluminous amounts of paperwork.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was extended every 10 years until it was repealed. Each time it was renewed, there were more restrictions. Those who did not have the proper paperwork or witnesses could be deported or imprisoned.

By the time the law was repealed in 1943, thousands and thousands of case files with valuable genealogical information had been created, some of which is featured on ChineseExclusionFiles.com.

Many of these records are available to researchers at the National Archives facility in Seattle. The records are indexed by name and file number, but a more comprehensive index is being created. The index includes the name of the individual and all aliases, date and place of birth, age when entering the country, occupation, gender, marital status, citizenship category, certificate of

Photo from the National Archives at Seattle

Editor’s note: Trish Hackett Nicola writes the Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files Blog (ChineseExclusionFiles.com), which showcases the variety of information found in the Chinese Exclusion Act case files and to give guidance on how to locate information in the files. This piece gives background on the Act as well as illustrating the value of preserving its history.

Lo Gun family portrait, 1909, from Chinese Exclusion Act immigration case files. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85, National Archives at Seattle, case 1904.

residence or identity number, date and port of entry, name of the vessel, residence or destination, if a photograph and interrogation are included, and disposition (admitted, rejected, or deported). Maps, family photos, vital records, affidavits, and any unusual items are also listed in blog entries.

History of the Act In the 1870s, the United States needed cheap labor for the mining and the railroad industry, and the Chinese were willing to provide it. Immigration peaked in 1873, and most were residing in California. Many were here to make money and planned to return to their families back in China.

There was an economic depression in the United States after the completion of the building of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869. White workers were becoming unemployed and they blamed Chinese

EPIC VIEW CONDOS IN EDMONDS

immigrants. Anti-Chinese riots occurred.

Soon anti-immigration laws were passed to limit the number of Chinese coming into the country. These laws were also fueled on racial and cultural fears. It was difficult for Chinese to assimilate into American culture.

They would never look Anglo-Saxon. Many U.S. laborers, although recent immigrants themselves, resented the Chinese being in the United States and taking jobs away from white workers.

In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. It excluded laborers and Chinese employed in mining. The Chinese already living in the United States could no longer obtain their U.S. citizenship and if they left for China (or anywhere), they were required to obtain certificates to re-enter. Merchants, teachers, students, and Chinese travelers were exempt from exclusion but needed to prove their exemption. The burden of proof was always on the Chinese applicant.

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In 1943, Congress repealed the exclusion act and gave foreign-born Chinese the right to become naturalized.

At that point, there was a quota given, and ironically, it more severely restricted newcomers.

However, native-born Chinese no longer had to register if they left the country.

Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files Blog In May 2015, the blog was started to showcase the variety of information found in the Chinese Exclusion Act case files and to give guidance on how to find the records. The focus of the files at the National Archives at Seattle pertains to the Chinese who entered the United States at the ports of Seattle, Sumas and Port Townsend, Wash., and Portland, Ore. Although these files are located in Seattle, the subject of the file may have lived anywhere in the United States.

As with many records, it is unfortunate how these files came about, but the information provided is priceless. I would like to encourage more people of Chinese ancestry to use these records to find the rich details of their ancestors’ lives in the late 19th and early 20th century.  About 50,000 Chinese Exclusion Act case files are located at the National Archives at Seattle, 6125 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle 98115. To contact them, email seattle.archives@nara.gov or call 206336-5115.

To see sample of the case files, visit ChineseExclusionFiles.com.

Trish can be reached at info@ nwasianweekly.com.

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asianweekly northwest

8

37 YEARS

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ NATIONAL NEWS

White-owned NYC Chinese eatery heats up cultural appropriation debate

Photo by May S. Young

A New York City restaurant owner who touted her “clean” American Chinese cuisine and derided Chinese dishes as swimming in “globs of processed butter,” sodium and MSG is renewing the longsimmering debate about stereotyping and cultural appropriation in the restaurant world.

Arielle Haspel, who is white and a certified health coach, told the dining website Eater that she wanted to offer modified, “clean” versions of typical Chinese menu items. In a now deleted Instagram post, Haspel said that a Chinese noodle dish, lo mein, can make people feel “bloated and icky.”

Online critics pounced, including New York Baohaus restaurateur and author Eddie Huang who dismissed Lucky Lee’s as “the Fyre Fest of food & ‘wellness,”’ on the restaurant’s Instagram page.

Eddie Huang

Haspel has since apologized, but her comments are the latest misstep in a succession of restaurateurs and TV chefs who have been criticized for insensitivity when dealing with food from a culture that’s not their own.

Robert Ku, a professor of Asian American studies and food studies at Binghamton University, New York, said Haspel came off as relying on ageold stereotypes of Chinese food being unsanitary or grotesque. It was especially

Screenshot from Lucky Lee's Instagram

By Terry Tang THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

tone-deaf in New York City where most locals regularly eat Chinese food, he added.

“These are long-standing tropes that have followed specifically Chinese food more than any other cuisine,” said Ku, who has written about the cultural politics of Asian food in the U.S. “What she’s focused on is health and being clean, which implies the others were not.”

He also said it’s a myth that ChineseAmerican restaurants use MSG. Most cut it out of their kitchens in the 1970s because it was so unpopular, making Haspel’s reference problematic, Ku said.

Haspel was apologetic in an interview on April 12 with the New York Times .

“We were never trying to do something against the Chinese community. We thought we were complementing an incredibly important cuisine, in a way that would cater to people that had certain dietary requirements,” she said. “Shame on us for not being smarter about cultural sensitivities.

She previously acknowledged the uproar via Instagram and promised to listen and reflect on people’s comments.

She did not return messages from the AP seeking comment.

White TV chefs like Andrew Zimmern see CHINESE EATERY on 12

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asianweekly northwest

YOUR VOICE

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ ON THE SHELF

9

NWAW’s book recs

Sisters doin’ it for themselves

By Samantha Pak NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

“Not Your Sidekick”

By C.B. Lee Duet Books, 2016

“96 Words for Love”

By Rachel Roy and Ava Dash Jimmy Patterson Books, 2019 Raya Liston has just been accepted to UCLA. It’s what she has been working toward her whole life. But instead of being excited, she’s freaking out, feeling lost and trapped in a future that feels set in stone.

So when her grandmother dies, Raya jumps to fulfill her Daadee’s dying wish to go with her cousin Anandi to the Indian ashram that meant so much to the older woman.

Raya hopes the trip to India will help her find her way and get some clarity on her future. What she doesn’t expect is for her life to change in a number of ways.

She falls in love with the country, learns a surprising secret about her cousin,

connects with a local girl who loves reading, and meets a boy, Kiran, who teaches her that in Sanskrit, there are 96 different ways to say the word “love.” “96 Words” is a modern retelling of the Indian legend about Dushyanta and Shakuntala, a pair of star-crossed lovers who overcome many obstacles to be together. But in addition to Raya and Kiran’s love story, the mother-daughter author duo of Roy and Dash touch on difficult topics ranging from racism to sex trafficking, adding a bit of depth to the story, taking it beyond a YA romance.

Roy and Dash also do a great job of portraying Raya’s relationships with others, from how much she misses her grandmother and how close she becomes see SHELF on 12

ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH CELEBRATION In Andover, superpowers are commonplace. And as the daughter of the city’s two dedicated superheroes, Smasher and Shockwave, it’s easy to assume Jessica Tran would also have superpowers.

But as it starts to look like she will remain powerless, Jess starts looking for ways to pad her resume for college and lands an internship at robotics and tech company, Monroe Industries. Once she arrives, she learns she’s working for none other than Master and Mistress Mischief, her parents’ nemeses. On the bright side, Jess is working with her long-time crush, Abby Jones, as well as the mysterious “M,” who never seems to be in the same place as Abby.

In a world where there is a seemingly clear line between good and evil, Jess soon learns that things aren’t all what they seem to be and begins to wonder if she really wants to be a superhero — especially when she learns of a plot bigger than the fight between the good guys and the baddies.

“Sidekick” is a story about learning to be true to yourself, instead of trying to live up to people’s expectations, or even your own.

Because of her heroic lineage, Jess, who is of Chinese and Vietnamese heritage, feels the pressure of needing to have her own superpowers. But as the story moves along, she grows into her own person.

In addition to a fun story with a few surprises and plot twists, Lee introduces readers to a diverse mix of characters with different racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as sexual and gender identities and expressions. Jess is openly bisexual and there are a few instances throughout the book in which characters’ preferred pronouns are discussed, which is not something I have seen often. And to have this in a middle school reader-level book is a good way to introduce readers (the young and not-so-young) to the concept of gender identity and gender fluidity.

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asianweekly northwest

10

■ EDITORIAL

37 YEARS

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

Tiger Woods proves second chances possible with resilience and hard work comeback.

It’s remarkable that, with so many setbacks, upsets, and personal turbulence, Woods did the work he needed to do to get himself right again.

There are many lessons to be gleaned here. First of all, Asians are competing in the Masters in record numbers. Asian women have also been dominating the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). This rise in athletes signals a shift in the composition of the world’s economies. The world is no longer dominated

by Western economies. With high GDP growth raise in China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, golf — a game previously exclusive, expensive, and white — is now more accessible to these countries than ever before.

The high number of Asian golfers reflect a robust, growing Asian middle class — a population that is young, upwardly mobile, vocal, and ready to change the world.

On a quieter scale, Woods’ win also reflects the kind of resilience we rarely see. We see a lot of people, people of color especially, succumb to their demons and then fall into a hole that they never end up climbing out of.

But Woods climbed. And not only did he come back, he actually won it all. This is quite a redemption story!

And, if nothing else, what we should take away from him is that life is long and no matter how devastating a mistake or setback may seem, it’s possible to overcome through resilience and hard work. 

AP Photo/John Amis

This week on April 24, Tiger Woods, 43, made history. He won another Masters Tournament — the 15th major one of his entire career — but notably, his first major win in more than a decade. It was a decade filled with controversy and setbacks — professional and personal.

Woods, the son of Thai mother and a Black father, was a golf prodigy who started playing the sport at age 2. He went pro at the age of 20 and was ranked number one in the world rankings within a year. From then on, he was unstoppable. He was the top ranked golfer in the world for almost a decade straight, from 1999 to 2010.

In 2010, however, Woods’ personal life took center stage and eclipsed his professional accomplishments.

Media outlets heavily reported on his extramarital affairs, which led to his divorce from Elin Nordegren and also the loss of lucrative endorsements and the loss of esteem in the eyes of the American public. He fell from number 1 to number 58.

After that, he suffered injuries that led to four back surgeries and four knee surgeries. He barely played in recent years, completing only one tournament between August 2015 and January 2018. He was arrested on May 29, 2017, near his home for driving under the influence.

So to come back from that and win the Masters — that’s a feat. And honestly, not a lot of people, especially those of us who are more casual observers of golf than ardent fans, were betting on him to make this kind of

Tiger Woods holds Calamity Jane the official trophy of the tournament after winning the Tour Championship golf tournament on Sept. 23, 2018. (File photo)

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asianweekly northwest

YOUR VOICE

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ COMMENTARY

11

California Asian American firm uses systems thinking to improve education

By August Champlin SPECIAL TO NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Over a lunch of allyou-can-eat sushi, a friend excitedly pulled out his cell phone and showed me an animated Chinese lesson his daughters were using to learn Mandarin. In the lesson, a river flowed through a Chinese landscape. Emerging from the currents, as if by magic, the Chinese character for water appeared. It looked just like the pattern in the underlying currents. It rose into the air and morphed into the modern character for water in Chinese. The animation made the link between the Chinese character and its meaning instantly clear.

I was impressed and wanted to use lessons like these to learn Chinese.

Unfortunately for me, Koala Know’s Online Chinese Course is only for “overseas Chinese children … 4 to 11 years old,” as their website makes clear.

Nonetheless, their program so impressed me as a university professor and language teacher that I knew I wanted to learn more about it.

With the help of my friend, I would have the opportunity to visit the Koala Know headquarters in the City of Industry, Calif., and meet its founders Thomas Nie and Patrick Wang. As I listened to them describe Koala Know, observed online lessons, and toured their facilities, I was impressed by what they had achieved.

Koala Know has used “systems thinking” to improve education.

TechTarget.com defines systems thinking as “a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way that a system’s constituent parts interrelate … work over time and within the context of larger systems.” Traditional Western science analyzes problems by dividing them into their constituent parts. In contrast, modern systems science helps us to see the whole and understand its complex interactions, which often cannot be predicted based on an understanding of its parts. For example, if I examined every instrument in a symphony orchestra, I could not predict a Beethoven symphony.

Only when researchers began to look at systems as a whole did they see the advantages of systems thinking, not only for understanding the world and how it works, but for improving human affairs.

In an increasingly complex, politically divisive world, we must find ways to function as an integrated system to solve our greatest problems — problems such as global warming, environmental pollution, ecosystem degradation, growing income disparity, racism, and hate crimes.

Though we have millennia of tradition prompting us to function as individual nation states, we must look beyond our individual differences to find solutions that will work for all of us as a whole.

The reason is simple: Our future depends on it. Moreover, what we do really does affect others. In fact, it affects our world.

No action is without consequence to the greater whole.

As an educator, I am interested in applying systems thinking to education.

I have learned from Koala Know how

Screencap from Koala Know

August Champlin

this can be done simply, effectively, and elegantly.

Koala Know Koala Know’s system emerged when it integrated several components into an educational ecology. For example, research suggests that the most important variable in students’ learning is the quality of their teacher. Of the teachers Koala Know screens, it hires only about 4 percent. These undergo six months of stringent training, while receiving a full salary. This illustrates Koala Know’s commitment to its personnel and, of course, it inspires its personnel to feel that same commitment to Koala Know.

While teachers are important to education, so is a quality curriculum. To create its curriculum, Koala Know drew on Xu Shen’s classic method of analyzing Chinese characters based on their radicals.

They created animated lessons that show

how Chinese ideographs evolved from their ancient to modern forms. These animations promote a deeper understanding of Chinese characters than any method of flash card memorization could. They make the link between the form of the character and its meaning immediately obvious. Koala Know embeds these lessons in simple narratives, featuring animated characters that children can relate to.

Having an effective curriculum is beneficial. Having one that evolves is exceptional. Koala Know’s curriculum experts continually work with teachers and the big data they collect from the company’s computer systems to improve their curriculum, creating more effective activities that better engage students in learning.

How different this is from how many schools, especially in low-income areas, rely on out-of-date textbooks, which change on average every five to 10 years. Indeed,

UNESCO published a report suggesting that out-of-date textbooks threaten progress in education globally. Koala Know shows us a solution for this problem.

Class sizes are limited to three students to maximize student participation.

According to Thomas, one of Koala Know’s founders, they found that larger class sizes did not promote student participation, as some students sat by quietly, while others dominate class discussions. We know from much educational research that all other factors being equal, smaller class sizes promote greater learning than larger ones, yet class sizes often inflate when educational spending decreases.

Obviously, it would be unrealistic to expect schools to have a 3:1 student ratio. However, in her report for the National Education Policy Center, Diane Schanzenbach cites research that suggests that “students’ achievement on math and reading standardized tests improved by … 5 percentile rank points … from being assigned to a small class of 13-17 students instead of a regular-sized class of 22-25 students.” Are we willing to do what it takes as a nation to improve education by limiting class sizes?

Koala Know’s system would be nothing new were it only to integrate the components described above. Ample educational research supports each of these components. What distinguishes Koala Know from traditional schooling is its use of the latest computer technology.

Its computer systems record big data on student and teacher performance.

Artificial intelligence software crunches the data and makes recommendations in real time to improve performance. For example, Koala Know uses facial recognition software to analyze students’ attentiveness.

If they appear bored, it recommends that the teacher change the activity or play an educational game. Moreover, behind the scenes, its IT staff monitors the Internet see KOALA KNOW on 14

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asianweekly northwest

12

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

ALIBABA from 5 and support as China’s maturing economy enters a period of slower growth — and young people look to escape the drudgery their parents often had to endure.

Even the People’s Daily newspaper, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece, issued an editorial this week saying mandatory overtime reflects managerial arrogance and is “impractical and unfair” for workers. Online complaints included blaming long work hours for a lower birth rate.

“The anxiety of companies is understandable, but the way to alleviate anxiety is not making employees work overtime as much as possible,” the People’s Daily said.

The debate has exposed contradictions in modern Chinese society, where the Communist Party was officially founded on improving conditions for workers and peasants, but also calls for huge sacrifices to build a powerful and prosperous nation.

Wang Dao, 29, who works in the media industry, said long working hours should not be compulsory, though hard chargers will inevitably put in the extra time.

“For startups and strivers, [long hours)] are valuable, but it should not be advocated for everyone,” he said.

Ma, 54 and with a fortune estimated at around $40 billion, has responded to the criticism by saying work should be a joy and also include time for study, reflection,

37 YEARS

and self-improvement.

“Real ‘996’ is not simply working overtime,” Ma posted on his Weibo microblog this week, referring to the concept of working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days out of the week. “It’s not tedious physical work and not related to exploitation.”

Attitudes toward lengthy work hours are changing as Chinese incomes rise, and employees have more options for entertainment and relaxation, said Han Jun, a professor at School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University in Beijing.

“Employees want to enjoy their leisure time more and are less willing to work long hours,” Han said. As Chinese industry develops, companies need more than just hard work, and firms that pressure employees to work too many hours might be hurting themselves, he said.

“The need for skills and creativity is getting higher,” said Han. “Asking employees to work too long will cause work quality and employee efficiency to decline.”

Just as Chinese schools require hours of homework and extra study from students, Chinese companies demand overtime from their workers without putting that in writing, said Yang Baoquan, senior partner at the Zhong Yin Law Firm in Beijing.

That allows employers to avoid violating Chinese labor law and puts their workers at a disadvantage when seeking

to assert their rights, Yang said.

“There is a certain connection between personal hard work and happiness and wealth growth. But it is not necessarily at the cost of the right to rest and at the cost of crossing the legal red line,” Yang said.

With growth slowing, companies are under more pressure than ever to demand overtime from their workers, even if they don’t declare so openly, said Zhang Liyun, an associate professor at the China University of Labor Relations.

Advocacy of “996” by business leaders such as Ma is their way of sending a semi-covert warning to less motivated workers, Zhang said.

“They clearly know that forcing employees this way will not receive positive social impact and will harm their corporate culture, image, and invisible assets,” she added.

For Jin Linyan, 29, who works in finance, it all comes down to necessity and the level of compensation.

“If it gets really busy, [996] is unavoidable,” she said, while adding that if such hours became the norm, mental and physical health would be affected.

“Honestly, it’s OK if the salary is high,” Jin said. “What’s most fearful is having 996 with a low income.”  Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report.

SHELF from 9

and Gordon Ramsay have been skewered for their respective Asian restaurants (both of which also use the adjective “lucky” in their name).

Zimmern last year said in an interview that his Lucky Cricket restaurant in Minnesota was saving the souls of people who dine at “(expletive) restaurants masquerading as Chinese food” in the Midwest. The “Bizarre Foods” host later apologized.

Ramsay, who is British, is opening the Japanese-inspired Lucky Cat restaurant in London this summer. In a press release in February, the “Kitchen Nightmares” star promised a restaurant that would be “revolutionary” and “authentic,” but many noted the lack of Asians in key executive positions.

On the flipside, there are chefs who have earned reputations as visionaries for mixing cuisines. Chef Roy Choi elevated the food truck when his Kogi BBQ hit the streets of Los Angeles in 2008. Choi combined his Korean roots with tortillas and came up with mouthwatering munchies like Korean short rib tacos.

Being against cultural appropriation doesn’t necessarily mean being against anyone cooking outside of their own ethnicity or culture, said Ku, the professor.

It’s the line between appropriation and appreciation where things can get tenuous.

“What people are reacting to is saying ‘For generations, Chinese in America were doing stuff but they did it horribly. As a white person, I can do it better,’” Ku said.

New York restaurateur Stratis Morfogen, who is of Greek descent, doesn’t worry about the cultural appropriation accusations against his steakhouse for its Chineseinspired items.

Brooklyn Chop House, which opened last fall, offers cheeseburgers, pastrami

with the students at the village school, where she volunteers as part of her service while at the ashram, to the friendship she forms with another teenage girl staying at the monastery.

Raya is a young woman who is at a crossroads in her life, trying to figure out her next steps — a place many people have been at various stages in life. The struggle and anxiety she goes through is realistic.

She feels the pressure from her parents to be successful and it takes her grandmother’s death for her to learn that she has to do what’s right for her.

RAFI from 5 in connection with the case, said Banaj Kumar Majumder, the head of the Police Bureau of Investigation.

In late March, Rafi filed a complaint with police that the principal of her madrasa, or Islamic school, had called her into his office and touched her inappropriately and repeatedly. Her family agreed to help her to file the police complaint, which prompted police to arrest the principal, infuriating him and his supporters. Influential local politicians backed the principal, and ruling party members were also among the

Screenshot from Lucky Lee's Instagram

CHINESE EATERY from 8

and French onion soup encapsulated in Chinese-dumpling form. Morfogen is collaborating with singer Patti LaBelle to bring the dumplings to frozen food aisles later this year, packaged in reusable bamboo steamers.

“If people didn’t move forward or innovate or create and fuse different cultures together, the culinary landscape would be pretty boring,” Morfogen said.

Morfogen employs more than 15 chefs from China across his restaurants and a Chinese chef is also one of his partners.

He thinks restaurant owners worried about inadvertently stereotyping just need to think twice before they speak.

“I really believe that those words are insensitive and it hurts people,” Morfogen said. “I don’t think that is what food is meant to be. I think food is meant to bring all the cultures together and respect each other.” 

arrested.

Police said the arrested suspects told them during interrogations that the attack on Rafi was planned and ordered by the school’s principal from prison when his men went to see him. It was timed for daytime so that it would look like a suicide attempt, Majumder said.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Rafi’s family said that they had received death threats before the attack telling them to drop the case.

While Rafi’s case is now being treated with urgency, that wasn’t the case until her death.

“Can’t Escape Love”

By Alyssa Cole HarperCollins Publishers, 2019 Regina Hobbs’ pop culture media enterprise, Girls with Glasses, is taking off, but instead of basking in her success, she is stressed and losing sleep. In the past, she would watch and listen to videos of puzzleobsessed Gustave Nguyen, whose voice helped soothe her to sleep. But all those videos have been deleted.

So when Reggie finds Gus online and reaches out to him for videos of him just talking, the two make a trade. Gus’ voice for Reggie’s help on an escape room he has been tasked with, themed around a romance anime. And when they meet in person, their friendship slowly becomes more.

Both Gus and Reggie are under a lot of pressure professionally and find themselves stressing to deliver. When they come together, we see a partnership form between the two of them in which they help and support each other.

“Escape” is a novella in Cole’s Reluctant Royals series and shows us Reggie’s story in finding love. Reggie is a strong character who is very sure of herself. She embraces

A video taken on March 27 while Rafi reported the assault shows the local police chief registering her complaint, but telling her that the incident was “not a big deal.”

The chief was later removed from the police station for negligence in dealing with the case.

For Bangladeshi women, it is often not easy to file sensitive complaints with police.

Victims often fear further harassment and bullying. Police also often show an unwillingness to investigate such cases and are often accused of being influenced by local politics or bribes.

But the call for dealing with violence

her love of all things nerd culture and has even found a way to turn it into a business.

And it should be noted that while she is in a wheelchair — as a result of falling ill when she was younger — Cole balances Reggie’s vulnerability over it with the fact that being in a chair is just a part of her everyday life.

Gus’ open, honest, and earnest personality makes for a good balance with Reggie. As someone who is on the autism spectrum, he may not always understand romance, but he is certain about his feelings about Reggie and is not afraid of letting her know that. It may not always have the desired response, but that doesn’t stop Gus. Reggie and Gus’ relationship shows readers that you shouldn’t be afraid to put yourself out there because you never know what good might come from it.  Samantha Pak can be reached at info@ nwasianweekly.com.

against women, especially related to sexual harassment and assault, is also getting louder.

“The horrifying murder of a brave woman who sought justice shows how badly the Bangladesh government has failed victims of sexual assault,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s death highlights the need for the Bangladesh government to take survivors of sexual assault seriously and ensure that they can safely seek a legal remedy and be protected from retaliation.” 

asianweekly northwest

YOUR VOICE

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

■ ASTROLOGY

13

Predictions and advice for the week of April 27–May 3, 2019

By Sun Lee Chang Rat — Are you on the fence about accepting a recent invitation? If you want to be part of the action, then it is probably a good idea to go.

Dragon — Even the best laid plans are not immune to some revision or adjustment. In fact, building in a little flexibility should make it that much better.

Ox — Does it seem like there are more interruptions than usual this week? It could be helpful to set aside time dedicated to what you need to get done.

Snake — Is the amount of activity making it hard to decide what to tackle first? The mere act of starting is more important than what you actually start with.

Tiger — Too busy looking backwards to see what is in front of you? In order to steer in the right direction, you will need to shift your focus.

Horse — Have you been frustrated when information turns out to be not as reliable as you had hoped? If it is important, then you should consider doing your own research.

Rabbit — Sidestepping the difficult questions won’t make them go away. As you face each one, the next won’t seem as daunting.

Monkey — Is your window of opportunity a bit narrower than you would like? Following someone else’s timeline won’t be as satisfying as creating your own.

Rooster — You have weathered many a storm to be in the position you are in now. At the top of your game, you are a force to be reckoned with.

Dog — Credibility is built with one fulfilled promise after another over time. It is a precious thing and should not be taken lightly.

Goat — Something you crave is just out of reach.

If you can’t have the real thing, then a substitution might be in order.

Pig — Your talents are suddenly in high demand.

Don’t just accept the first offer, but wait for the one that is the best fit overall.

WHAT’S YOUR ANIMAL SIGN? RAT 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 OX 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 TIGER 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010 RABBIT 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 DRAGON 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 SNAKE 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 HORSE 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 GOAT 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 MONKEY 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 ROOSTER 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 DOG 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 PIG 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.

SOVEREIGNTY from 5 also known as Nadia Summergirl — did nothing wrong.

“This is ridiculous,” he said in an earlier statement posted online. “We lived on a floating house boat for a few weeks and now Thailand wants us killed.”

The couple, who have gone into hiding, had been living part-time on a small structure they said was anchored outside Thailand’s territorial waters, just over 12 nautical miles from shore. They were not there when the navy carried out their raid on April 20.

The Thai deputy naval commander responsible for the area said the project was a challenge to the country’s authorities.

“This affects our national security and cannot be allowed,” Rear Adm. Wintharat Kotchaseni told Thai media. He said the floating house also posed a safety threat to navigation if it broke loose because the area is considered a shipping lane.

Seasteading has had a revival in recent years as libertarian ideas of living free from state interference — such as by

BUI from 1 other Vietnamese refugees.

In partnership with the Wing Luke Museum, the Vietnamese Friendship Association, the Northwest African American Museum, Friends of Little Saigon, Book-It Repertory Theatre, the Asian Counseling and Referral Service, and hosted by the Seattle Public Library, the discussion with Bui was accompanied by a staged reading by local Vietnamese American performer Susan Lieu and directed by Kathy Hsieh.

Audience members heard Bui reflect on the journey of writing “The Best We Could Do.” They heard her explain whether the book helped fill the void created by intergenerational trauma between her and her parents.

“There was a need to write this book because it’s focused on the stories of the Vietnam ‘we’ lost,” shared Bui, referring to the Vietnamese in the room, many of whom were refugees or the children of refugees who escaped Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. “My parents never really shared about their full experiences.”

When asked by Pham and Bui to do so, many in the audience raised their hands showing their Vietnamese heritage — and nearly just as many showed their roots as refugees in the United States.

Intergenerational trauma

One of the significant challenges within the Vietnamese refugee community is intergenerational trauma, which is trauma that is passed down from one generation to the next.

Many of the first generation refugees experienced severe trauma before the end of the war, and those who fled Vietnam after the 1975 fall continued to carry post traumatic stress disorder as they navigated through a foreign new country, as a marginalized and vulnerable population.

“Many South Vietnamese can’t heal from their

using crypto-currency including Bitcoin — have become more popular, including among influential Silicon Valley figures such as entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Elwartowski, an IT specialist, has been involved in Bitcoin since 2010.

Several larger-scale projects are under development, but some in the seasteading community have credited the Andaman Sea house with being the first modern implementation of seasteading.

“The first thing to do is whatever I can to help Chad and Nadia, because living on a weird self-built structure and dreaming of future sovereignty should be considered harmless eccentricities, not major crimes,” Patri Friedman, a former Google engineer who heads The Seasteading Institute, said on his Facebook page.

The floating two-story octagonal house at the center of the controversy had been profiled and promoted online by a group called Ocean Builders, which touted it as a pilot project and sought to sell additional units.

The group describes itself as “a team of engineeringfocused entrepreneurs who have a passion for seasteading and are willing to put the hard work and effort forward to

experiences as their stories are never heard,” said Bui. “In American literature, the Americans become the main character of the story. In the current Vietnamese society, the South Vietnamese become the villains of the story. They [the South Vietnamese refugees] can’t heal if their stories are not heard.”

Following Bui’s comment, Pham quoted in both English and Vietnamese, from a poem, “Home” by Warsan Shire, which is often recited by many refugees: you have to understand, that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land Pham shared that refugees are often portrayed negatively without their intentions and situation taken into consideration.

Performance

Three scenes from “The Best We Could Do” were portrayed by actors from the Book-It Repertory Theatre.

The scenes performed by Lieu provided the audience a glimpse of the actions, thoughts, and emotions written by Bui. When asked on why there hasn’t been a movie adaptation yet, Bui shared, “I don’t have enough trust in Hollywood to portray the stories. I don’t want this to be another bad Vietnamese refugee movie.”

The depiction of the Vietnam War from the point of view of South Vietnamese has been a continuing effort from this country’s South Vietnamese refugee community, with “The Best We Could Do” being a significant piece in bridging the gaps of knowledge in history and individual stories, because when there is a lack of emphasis on the Vietnam War from the South Vietnamese perspective, many descendants of these refugees are left with a void as they search for answers

see that it happens.”

In online statements, both Elwartowski and Ocean Builders said the couple merely promoted and lived on the structure, and did not fund, design, build, or set the location for it.

“I was volunteering for the project promoting it with the desire to be able to be the first seasteader and continue promoting it while living on the platform,” Elwartowski told The Associated Press.

“Being a foreigner in a foreign land, seeing the news that they want to give me the death penalty for just living on a floating house had me quite scared,” Elwartowski said.

“We are still quite scared for our lives. We seriously did not think we were doing anything wrong and thought this would be a huge benefit for Thailand in so many ways.”

Asked his next step, he was more optimistic.

“I believe my lawyer can come to an amicable agreement with the Thai government,” he said.  Associated Press journalist contributed to this report.

Tassanee

Vejpongsa

on their own family histories.

“When I started this, I told my parents this was for school, just to get them to start sharing their stories,” said Bui. When transitioning from her class project to the beginning of the graphic novel, Bui expressed that her parents’ trust in her was a key cornerstone during the writing, drafting, and publishing of the book.

One of the final questions asked was if writing the book has closed the void between her and her parents.

“When you start this, you need to have low expectations and understand that it takes a lot of time and effort,” said Bui. “The Best We Could Do” is a graphic novel that captures the stories of a refugee family from South Vietnam transitioning to a new life in the United States. Thi Bui, the author, is currently on book tours sharing her insights and journey.  Sam Le can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

asianweekly northwest

14

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

37 YEARS

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KOALA KNOW from 11 connections of users to ensure that lessons are delivered seamlessly across devices and internet connection speeds.

Koala Know has learned that for students to care about learning Mandarin, its teachers and staff must care about students — holistically. Thus, Koala Know personnel monitor the academic, social, emotional, and physical wellbeing of students — using the data they collect to partner with parents to enhance students’ overall wellbeing. For example, if a student appears sleepy, depressed, or unmotivated — despite a teacher’s best efforts to engage the student — then a staff member will call the parents and inquire into the student’s wellbeing. The staff member will note the concerning behavior and ask parents about it, recommending more sleep, exercise, or a better diet — in short, whatever will ensure that the student excels. These courtesy calls serve as ways for Koala Know staff to form partnering relationships with parents, offering them support and feedback. These calls also help Koala Know curriculum designers to distinguish between lessons that need to be improved and extenuating

circumstances in students’ lives that need to be addressed before they can learn effectively.

Research also supports Koala Know’s holistic focus on students’ total wellbeing.

When communities ensure that students’ mental, social, emotional, and physical needs are met, students experience synergistic learning effects, that is, their learning outcomes far exceed predictions based on prior performance, IQ, or developmental stage.

What distinguishes Koala Know is not that it is the first to use such effective strategies, but rather how well it incorporates its strategies into a working whole, a smoothly functioning educational system or ecology.

In contrast, one reason that schools have often struggled to implement the recommendations of educational research is that for an organization, such as a school, to work effectively, it must develop efficient systems to achieve its goals. Most schools that I visit are understaffed and underfunded. Teachers are overworked and struggle with burnout. Many schools lack the systems that would promote their success.

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Koala Know’s example provides the educational community with insight into how ecological systems could be used to ensure more effective schooling across the board. The key to an ecological system’s success is the harmonious integration of its components to create a working whole.

That whole only works when it offers full support for all stakeholders — students, parents, teachers, support personnel — to do what is required of them for success.

By identifying these factors in its operation, Koala Know has provided a working model of an educational ecology that others can study and apply principles from to their own local circumstances.

Perhaps the solutions to education’s greatest problems won’t come from pursuing the latest methods, but from integrating researched-based methods into effective systems.

A remarkable Asian American firm has shown us how this can be done. It is up to us to follow their example in our local communities. 

works as an educational consultant, training teachers to educate English language learners. He also teaches graduate courses in education as an adjunct professor at La Sierra University.

August can be reached at info@nwasianweekly. com.

SOLUTION from SUDOKU on page 6.

August Champlin is pursuing his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education at the University of California, Riverside. He

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APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

throughout the audience of a packed auditorium in Seattle Central Community College. The first American Indian to be chosen superintendent of the state’s largest school district — and one who has made a priority of “listening” to everyone in her district, from students to teachers to principals to community members and “learning” from them — has sent ripples or even shock waves throughout the community.

In a hallway leading to Denise Juneau with her grandmother the stage, a half hour before Juneau was to make her going on,’ ” said Juneau. appearance, a Muslim woman wearing a As a child, Juneau spent a lot of time shiny dress and a hijab was bending over a after school with her brother and cousin at mat, saying a prayer. her grandmother’s house. Her grandfather “We are very proud of her,” said Farhiya had died soon after she was born.

Omer, who arrived from Somalia in 1993 “She would feed us our after-school and took an English Language Learners snack, and we would just visit about a lot (ELL) class at Seattle Central in 1998. She of things,” she said. has been working in the ELL department “Even when I was back to being a of the Seattle School District since, the last teacher in my hometown, I often sat with 21 years. her a lot and just talked about daily life.

“She has really listened to people of She had left being a cook, but she realized different communities,” she said. “She’s how school systems worked. And it was listening, and she’s learning.” good to talk to her about my brand new When Juneau took the stage, and during experiences being in the school and for her her speech, the thunderous applause was to give advice about building relationships like a solid force moving out from the with students.” audience, filling the arena. Hoots of joy Finding solace through deep, nurturing and celebration erupted as she mentioned relationships in a schooling system that initiatives or praised individuals or groups. was once used to erase and replace an She showed videos, one of which is of the entire culture seems to be a strategy that head custodian inspector and specialist for worked for Juneau. the district, Bounma Thongdymanyvong, originally from Laos. He talked about his The Montana experience joy in finding home again in the District.

As state superintendent of public At the same time, Juneau mentioned schools in Montana, she helped transform the challenges of the District. They are its educational system. formidable.

Even earlier, Juneau was part of a Media reports have suggested that her movement lasting decades to introduce predecessor Larry Nyland’s failure to solve education about American Indians to all them, particularly closing the achievement students and faculty as well as provide gap for marginalized students, led to his cultural modeling for American Indian departure. students.

She mentioned that only 36 percent of The program, which eventually involved Black children at the third grade level a lawsuit forcing the state to redefine its were proficient in reading. educational system, covered all areas of “That means 64 percent are not,” she the curriculum. said. “And we have similar statistics for Students learned about American other students of color and students living Indian culture in math class by looking in poverty. at how tipis were built. Or in science Yet she has faced major challenges class, they learned how to understand the before. medicine behind the plants used by tribes, “It might seem paradoxical, but people have tremendous resilience and creativity,” said K. Tsianina Lomawaima, a professor at Arizona State University School of Social Transformation and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “People can find or create (at least partial) spaces of refuge under the most horrific conditions.”

Juneau’s great grandparents had to travel hundreds of miles just to attend school.

It was her grandmother, a school cook, who inspired Juneau’s prevailing vision.

From her, Juneau learned about the need for adults in schools to develop deep relationships with kids through listening.

Her grandmother arrived at school at four in the morning to bake meals from scratch for students. As the kids went through the cafeteria line, she would use her close relationships with them to make sure they had a successful day.

“When she would see a student walk through the lunch line who was having a really difficult morning, she would be able to go to the principal and advocate for that student and say, ‘Hey, this guy’s having a hard time today, so you know if he gets in trouble, just be aware that something’s

said Juneau. In PE, they played traditional Native games. And in social studies, they confronted “an accurate and truthful history of the beginnings of this country and what actually happened.”

“We were having hard conversations with students and having them come to a conclusion about what history actually was,” she said.

Perhaps the biggest challenge, though, was similar to Washington state’s challenge – most of the teachers were white, had gone through the established K-12 educational system as well as teacher training, and hence, were unequipped to teach through the lens of a changing historical narrative.

“We created a bunch of resources, we had almost 300 lesson plans across all curricular areas, but that was almost putting the cart before the horse,” she said. “We had to back up and do a lot of professional development to help them unlearn what they had learned and replace it with accurate information.”

With this and other initiatives, graduation rates rose to the highest levels ever. Juneau was recognized with numerous awards, including during her time at Harvard, where she earned a Master of Arts in education. She also has a law degree and completed advanced graduate

coursework in education and sociocultural studies.

Applying her Montana experience to the Seattle School District — where, despite some stellar successes in recent years, the problems of marginalized students and high poverty schools still remain as they were during her predecessors’ tenures — may be the answer. It may also help explain the fervor of expectations surrounding her public appearance.

“I see the same thing happening with ethnic studies here and across Washington state,” said Juneau. “Students are loud and clear about wanting to learn about history, to learn about why we are in the state we are in in this country and across their lived experience.”

“We can create a lot of lessons,” she added, “but until, similarly to what we did [in Montana], teachers have the unlearning and the relearning — there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

She said teaching not only about the history of marginalized students but also about their culture will instill a sense of belonging that will be part of the pathway leading to student success.

Photo from Seattle School District

JUNEAU from 1

Finding refuge

asianweekly northwest

YOUR VOICE

Undoing totalitarian schooling

Such a strategy — of dissolving past educational practices and replacing them with accurate and empowering pedagogy — seems almost a reversal of what was done to American Indians.

“Schooling has been systematically used to try to erase and replace American Indian sovereignty and identity,” said Lomawaima.

“That included family, language, economy, religion, and educational systems that had existed for millennia and were often targeted for elimination by the federal

15

school systems,” said Lomawaima.

Juneau, during her state of the district address, presented herself as one example of such decimation.

“Oki. Niksukuwask. Neetonakoo, Ootskwi Siksikiaki. In the Blackfeet language, that means, hello, my friends and relatives — my name is Blue Cloud Woman,” she said.

“Seattle Public Schools has students and families that speak over 100 heritage languages. That is something to be celebrated. However, you just heard the extent of Blackfeet language that I know.

I did not have the opportunity to learn it from my family because they didn’t know it either.”

“They didn’t know it because the history of education for Native Americans is one of trauma and oppression. When this country was being populated because of the eastern invasion, Native Americans were seen as a burden to be overcome — not included.”

Looking back to move forward

Juneau’s mother, Carol Juneau, opened their community’s first alternative school, creating its first tribal college. Juneau’s mother also serves in Montana’s state legislature.

“As you take every step, you learn a little bit more about your family history, about what that was like,” Juneau said.

Juneau also gave the example of a success story from her past: In Montana, a young American Indian student from a reservation felt out of place among his classmates in Missoula.

The teacher invited a tribal member in to talk about drumming and culture.

“The student felt so empowered that he felt seen for the first time,” she said. “He felt there was more of a sense of belonging and he started really engaging.”  Mahlon can be reached nwasianweeky.com.

at

info@

asianweekly northwest

16

APRIL 27 – MAY 3, 2019

37 YEARS

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