Galvez on Muslim vaccine hesitancy: Information drive is important

MANILA -- Vaccine czar

Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday said conducting information drive is important in some Muslim communities who are resisting COVID-19 vaccine due to their beliefs.

Galvez said he went to Sumisip, Basilan to encourage Muslim communities there to get inoculated against COVID-19.

“Ang importante po talaga yung tinatawag na information drive kasi karamihan nga po yung iba nga po parang magiging zombie pagnabakunahan sabi nga ng iba. So pero ang gusto kong paunawa sa ating mga Muslim brothers, actually kami ang nag-usap ni chief minister. Si chief minister nabakunahan na po ng booster yan, ng Pfizer kasama po yung kanyang asawa,” Galvez said.

“Pinaunawa ko po sa kanila maraming inyo ang nag-OFW hindi po kayo makakaalis hangga’t hindi vaccinated. Pangalawa, hindi kayo makapag Hajj kung hindi kayo vaccinated kasi yung mga countries na ano kailangan mayroon tayong vaccine certificate,” he added.

The Hajj is a key pillar of Islam that is an annual pilgrimage made by Muslims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Galvez issued his remarks after he was asked on the government’s solutions amid vaccine hesitancy of some Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) communities due to their culture and beliefs.

In January 2021, then-Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Eric Domingo said COVID-19 vaccine makers are working on securing “Halal” certification for their products.

Bangsamoro Region leaders raised concerns on COVID-19 vaccines. The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos defines "Halal" in Arabic to mean "permissible" and refers to food and non-food products that are lawful for consumption.

Also, based on Shari’ah law, the concept covers other transactions including banking, finance and other activities Islam believers are engaged in.

During his weekly Talk to the People last month, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed concern that some communities in Mindanao are resisting the COVID-19 vaccine due to the belief that they are not allowed to receive vaccines due to their culture and religion.

Philippines reports 2,671 new COVID-19 cases; active tally at 68K

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday reported 2,671 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the country's total tally to 3,644,597.

According to the DOH, the country's positivity rate was at 9.6%. The total conducted COVID-19 tests were 25,629.

The new infections brought the active cases to 68,829, of which 1,130 are asymptomatic; 63,037 are mild; 1,433 are severe; and 309 are in critical condition.

This is the lowest number of active cases since January 6.

Of the cases reported today, the DOH said 2,610 or 98% occurred within the recent 14 days from February 3 to 16.

Jane Oineza blessed with happy love life, busy career

The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were the National Capital Region with 622 or 24%, Region 4A with 323 or 12%, and Region 3 with 287 or 11%.

Total recoveries also increased to 3,520,545 after 6,130 more patients recovered from the disease.

The death toll climbed to 55,223 with 77 new fatalities.

Of the 77 deaths, the DOH said 32 occurred in February 2022, 16 in January 2022, six in December 2021, nine in November 2021, five in October 2021, three in September 2021, five in August 2021, and one in May 2021 due to the late encoding of death information to its system.

The DOH noted that 14 duplicates were removed from the total case count, while 62 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational on February 14, while six labs were not able to submit their data on time.

Latest data from the DOH also showed that 33% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are utilized, while 17% of the mechanical ventilators are also in use.

In Metro Manila, 32% of the ICU beds are utilized, while 19% of the ventilators are in use.

Philippines seeks to secure ¥30B loan from Japan for COVID-19 vaccination program

The Philippine government is eyeing to secure additional loan financing from the Japanese government to bankroll its ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program, the Department of Finance (DOF) said Wednesday.

During the 12th PhilippinesJapan high-level joint committee on infrastructure development and economic cooperation meeting, the two countries discussed proposed additional financing support of JP¥30 billion (roughly about P13 billion) from Japan under the 2nd COVID-19 Crisis Response Support Loan (CCRESL 2) “to help cover the funding for the Philippines’ ongoing national vaccination program,” the DOF said in a statement.

The proposed loan financing will follow the JP¥50-billion (roughly P23 billion) loan signed by the Philippines and Japan in July 2020 to support the government’s COVID-19 response and economic relief efforts.

During the high-level meeting, conducted virtually, Special Advisor to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan Mori Masafumi reported that Japan's public and private financial contributions to the Philippines since January 2017 have amounted to JP¥1.3 trillion, exceeding the Asian country’s JP¥1-trillion commitment.

The Philippines and Japan reaffirmed their economic partnership, according to the DOF.

“I'd like to emphasize that the government of Japan's commitment to the bilateral cooperation project remains unchanged under the Kishida Cabinet,” Mori said.

For his part, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the past six years of development cooperation between the Philippines and Japan under the high-level committee “have been fruitful despite the challenges and inevitable delays brought by the pandemic and unforeseen natural disasters.”

“Between the first Joint Committee Meeting in 2017 and today, much has been started, achieved, and will be further continued,” Dominguez said.

Despite new WHO study, PH to retain 3-week interval for kids' COVID vaccine

The Philippines will continue implementing a 21 day interval between the first and second doses of the reformulated Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years old, despite new data from the World Health Organization saying that the second dose should be administered 4 to 8 weeks after the first.

"We have to review the data that we have na kapag binigay after 8 weeks ay better ang immune response. Right now it is three weeks at least, or 4 weeks. We may have to get those data to make such recommendation but right now wala pang data sa atin," Dr. Nina Gloriani, Chairman of the Vaccine Expert Panel said on Wednesday.

According to WHO, longer interval between doses is "associated with higher vaccine effectiveness and potentially lower risk of myocarditis or pericarditis," Gloriani mentioned in an online forum by the Department of Health.

However, status quo will be followed until said study is reviewed by the Vaccine Expert Panel.

Gloriani said Philippines followed the shorter interval between doses to "balance the effect of omicron."

The country recorded an increase in cases attributed to the more infectious omicron variant in January, with peaks surpassing that of the delta surge in 2021.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends a 2-dose series separated by 21 days for the reformulated Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine intended for children aged 5-11 years old.

Dr. Wilda Silva, DOH National Immunization Campaign Program Manager, added that while myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) were noted after receiving mRNA COVID-19 vaccines such as Pfizer, cases are very rare.

"Most people with myocarditis after vaccination with simple treatment they can recover. However if you get it from a viral infection, this can be very severe," Silva warned.

The risk of getting myocarditis from a COVID-19 infection is 4 to 8 times higher for unvaccinated individuals, according to Silva.

On the other hand, there is only 1 in 200,000 chance of getting myocarditis after a COVID-19 vaccination.

She reiterated that most adverse effects following immunization among the 5 to 11 age group are mild and treatable, such as headaches, rashes, and fever.

"A review of adverse effects, severe adverse effects, and adverse effects of clinical interest suggest no short-term safety concerns," Silva said.

There were also no reported cases of myocarditis and pericarditis 3 months after inoculation in the age group thus far. (MNS)

MANILA -- Actress Jane Oineza thanked all those who expressed support for her relationship with actor RK Bagatsing.

"Nakakatuwa siyempre. Nakakakilig, nakakatuwa. Thank you everyone. And siyempre we wish everyone happiness and we wish everyone the love that they deserve," Oineza said.

Asked to give three words to describe her state right now, the actress replied: "It's balanced, it's happiness, it's manifesting and alignment."

Oineza and Bagatsing were first paired onscreen in 2018 in the ABSCBN drama “Araw Gabi.” They then reunited in the 2020 romance film “Us Again.”

Oineza fueled rumors of their romance when she referred to Bagatsing as “my source of happiness,” in her public greeting on his birthday last year.

Aside from a happy love life, Oineza is also blessed when it comes to her career. She is part of ABS-CBN's upcoming drama "The Broken Marriage Vow," the Pinoy adaptation of the hit BBC Studios drama "Doctor Foster."

"Nakaka-excite, nakakatuwa.

Ang daming excited na manggigil at ako rin nae-excite ako na mapanood nilla 'yung kabuuan nang ginawa namin. Kahit ako kasi hindi ko pa rin nakikita 'yung kabuuan ng eksena.

So nae-excite ako na 'yung mga napanood ko sa 'Doctor Foster' and 'The World of the Married' and now we have our own version and I'm so excited to watch the whole thing and makilala nila lahat ng characters na nandito sa show," Oineza said.

In the series, Oineza plays Diane, a pre-med student who will act as a spy for lead character Dr. Jill Ilustre, played by Jodi Sta. Maria.

"Kakampi ako rito siyempre. Team Dr. Jil. Ako rito si Diane Riagon, si Diane ay estudyante ni Dr. Jil at eventually magiging kakampi ni Doc. Ako ang isa sa mga magbibigay sa kanya ng hints ano ang nangyayari. Ako ang magrereveal sa kanya ng mga nakikita ko at na-spy ko na mga nangyari, so kaabang-abang," Oineza shared.

"Kasama ko rin dito si Joem (Bascon). Siya yung isa sa madalas kong kaeksena kasi siya rito ang boyfriend ko at ako ang battered girlfriend, so isa pa 'yon sa part ng character ko," she added.

"The Broken Marriage Vow" is about a married couple whose family is rocked by her husband’s affair.

The Dreamscape Entertainment production is the sixth international adaptation of “Doctor Foster,” following its versions in France, Russia, Turkey, India, and South Korea.

The Korean remake, “The World of the Married,” became the country’s highest rated cable TV drama, and also courted a massive following from Filipino viewers. It was also aired locally by ABS-CBN. (MNS)

Kaila Estrada considers 'Viral Scandal' a milestone in her showbiz career

MANILA -- Kaila Estrada considers her stint on the ABS-CBN series "Viral Scandal" a milestone in her young showbiz career.

"Sabi ko nga hindi ko in-expect na magiging ganito 'yung experience ko. I really have no words. As in I can't even express like how grateful I am na ganito 'yung experience ko. It's really something that I will never forget. It's the highlight of my career, talaga. It really is," Estrada said.

"I just started but I think that this is the most memorable experience in terms of me being on my own and working. Ito talaga 'yung highlight ko. This is an experience that I will cherish talaga," she added.

Just last week, Estrada's performance in "Viral Scandal" was praised by viewers and netizens. In the scene, she confronts the lead character Raven, played by Charlie Dizon.

"Sobrang grateful ako na close na kami ni Charlie prior to shooting that. Talagang napag-usapan namin kung paano gagawin ang scene na 'yon. As in, sobrang ni-nerbiyos ako, sobra rin siyang kinabahan. One of my fears ay ayaw ko siyang masaktan kasi kailangan ko siyang sabunutan doon. Dahil bago ako I don't really know how it works, like how they shoot scenes like that. So talagang pinag-usapan namin at tinulungan niya ako," Estrada said.

"Sobrang happy ako to get support from the fans that are watching 'Viral Scandal.' ...Sobrang nakakatuwa na mabasa 'yung mga tweet to see what they think of the show and what they think of our characters," she added.

Estrada is the daughter of former couple Janice de Belen and John Estrada.

In "Inside News," Estrada also shared that her parents got to watch her "highlight" episode in the Kapamilya series.

"Actually ako pa 'yung nag-text sa dad ko na, 'Dad, highlight episode ko ha, baka gusto mong manood?' Tapos natuwa ako sa mom ko. Normally she doesn't really watch me. But noong night na 'yon of that episode, sumakto na pareho silang nanood. So sobrang saya ko na nanonood sila. They sent me videos ganyan, nakakatuwa," she said.

“Viral Scandal” is available on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, iWantTFC, TFC, JeepneyTV, A2Z Channel 11 and TV5. (MNS)

DISTRICTING PUBLIC HEARING/WORKSHOP DATES

Participate at Community Hearings

*Tuesday, Feb. 22 , 3pm Public Hearing #2

Introduction of maps, from Demographer and Community

*Saturday, March 5, 9:30am Public Hearing #3

Additional Vetting of Maps

*Tuesday, March 15, 4pm Public Hearing #4

Adoption of District Map

LOCATION: National City Virtual City Council Meeting National City. Residents are strongly encouraged to attend hearings, submit proposed map virtually or obtain paper maps from National City library, update and submit to City of National City. For more info, please go to: http://nationalcityca.gov/districting or Email: schapel@nationalcityca.gov

Phone (619)336-4228

The People’s Bill of Rights People Should Have the Right to…

1. Health, peace, and the pursuit of education.

2. Be provided with edequate support, guidance, and protection.

3. Be nurtured by their family and respected by world societies regardless of skin color, ethnicity, disability and/or handicap.

4.Be hugged everyday by someone who listens and cares about them.

5. Be remembered on their birthday and/ or their appropriate cultural holidays.

6. Have a healthy diet of food and clean drinking water.

7. Be in a safe shelter during bad weather.

8. Have access to sex education and birth control.

9. Be free from slave labor and physical punishment.

10. Speak with truster law enforcement officer and/ or nurse about physical sexual and/or verbal assaults.

11. Speak with an advocate such as a medical doctor and/ or attorney when neglected and/or abused.

12. Have adequate clothing, transportation and housing.

13. Obtain a high school diploma and have affordable higher education.

14. Have economic, financial, intellectual, emotional and, social equality.

15. Have friends who help them when they are having difficulties.

16. Have freedom of religion or from religion.

17. Tell people when or why they are happy, sad, and angry.

18. Learn and grow with people all over the world and have a world society that recognizes human life as sacred.

19. Oppose illegal drugs, tobacco products, and alcoholic beverages.

20. Dispute air, water, and land pollution.

21. Disapprove of animal neglect and/ or abuse.

22. Criticizes war and weapons of all kinds.

23. Have access to current laws of world societies by which we might be judged.

24. Protect the good laws and protest the bad laws of world societies.

25. Have a copy of the Bill of Rights.

1st Published 1984. Copyright @1987. Revised 2015.

By James M. Horstmann

To help offset publishing and mailling expenses a contribution of $5.00 or more would be appreciated.

James M. Horstmann P.O. Box9841 San Diego, CA 92169-0841

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Greetings to all!

First and foremost, I applaud the new Administration’s efforts to address anti-Asian discrimination that rose due to terms used during the onset of the pandemic.

I would like to point out though that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are not a monolith – we are a multicultural group with diverse needs and backgrounds.

The Filipino American community, in many areas across the country, has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this past year has amplified pre-existing health disparities in its community. For example, according to the New York Times, 30 percent of nurses who died from COVID were Filipino, even though only four percent of nurses were Filipino.

The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) echoed the concerns for our Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander brothers and sisters, and called upon the Biden Administration to provide muchneeded relief to the Filipino American community, especially to its healthcare workers serving tireless hours on the frontlines during this pandemic.

“Nobody came. Nobody helped. Nobody made a video.”

According to a news report filed by CNN’s correspondent Harmeet Kaur, they were the words of Noel Quintana, a 61-year-old Filipino American who on February 3, 2021 was slashed across the face on the New York City subway. Quintana was describing his experience to reporters at the Washington Post and would later echo the same sentiment to city leaders during a recent rally protesting violence against Asian Americans.

Evidently, the quote has been ringing in fellow Filipino American journalist, filmmaker and migration rights activist Jose Antonio Vargas’ ears, too - ever since he came across it. For Vargas, Quintana’s remarks underscored how he feels Asian Americans have long been seen in the United States: as “the invisible within the invisibles.”

Despite being the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in the country, in spite of some 20 million people with roots in more than 20 countries, the racism, discrimination and disparities experienced by many Asian Americans are often overlooked, Vargas pointed. Now, as a string of high-profile attacks has made more people pay attention, that’s starting to change.

“It’s been really quite stunning to witness ‘mainstream America’ wake up to this invisibility,” noted Vargas, a journalist whose organization Define American seeks to humanize immigrants through storytelling.

Wider recognition of the racism Asian Americans have been facing since the start of the pandemic is a critical step, advocates and experts say. But this moment has also prompted some to consider another question: What is the best path forward?

To understand the current problem, it’s important to acknowledge the unique position that Asian Americans occupy in the United States’ racial hierarchy.

“From the moment that the first Chinese arrived in the 1850s until today, Asian Americans have been considered not White but also considered not Black,” says Claire Jean Kim, a professor of political science and Asian American studies at the University of California, Irvine.

In many ways that status has worked to their advantage, Kim concluded.

Asian Americans haven’t experienced the same degree of historical injustices that Black Americans have, meaning they also haven’t faced the same structural barrier and inequities. On the whole, Asian Americans earn more and are more likely to have college degrees than other racial groups – though a closer look at the data yields a more nuanced picture.

And while it’s true that Asian Americans aren’t as visible in politics and popular culture, their overall lack of visibility has shielded them from the kind of scrutiny and suspicion that has made their Black, Latino and Native American counterparts more likely to die at the hands of police violence, Kim surmised.

Still, the discrimination and hate Asian Americans have experienced throughout United States history is very real. Often perceived as foreigners, Asian Americans have been systematically targeted during periods of tension or crisis – a pattern that’s being repeated again today.

In the Philippine-American War, more than 20,000 Filipino soldiers were killed in combat and 200,000 plus Filipino civilians died from warinduced famine and disease. During that time, Filipinos were characterized as savages in need of civilization and these depictions were used to justify the colonial conflict and its massive casualties.

A shameful aftermath legacy that echoes into the present – and which I believe should not be buried in the chronicle books are the human zoos – a shocking history of exploitation of more than 1,000 Filipinos from dozens of tribes in the Islands. Most popular exhibit of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair was a recreated Filipino village which featured the indigenous Igorot people in minimal clothing and who could often be found forced to eat dog as the American audience clamored for a better look. No doubt about it, these despicable episodes from our history as fellow Americans should not simply effaced or forgotten but should stand as a testament to a deplorable, and often uncomfortable past.

Reminiscent of such rhetoric is the “yellow peril” in the late 1800s and the perception of Chinese Americans as perpetual foreigners excluded from immigration and naturalization by law for close to a century. In the same time period, Chinese laborers were scapegoated for a declining American economy.

These stories are painful, but they are also part of a larger, and often dismissed, history of violence against Asian Americans. In the 1930s, assaults against Filipino farmworkers by white mobs were common in California.

During World War II, Japanese Americans were painted as disloyal and rounded up and forced into concentration camps.

More than 250,000 Filipinos answered President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call to serve in World War II but when the war was won and over, the Rescission Act of 1946 stripped these courageous veterans of the benefits promised them for fighting side-by-side with the U.S. military. They sacrificed so much and yet at the war’s end were considered not equal when it comes to privileges granted to their fellow American comrade-inarms.

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, nobody understand the enduring impacts of the chemical Agent Orange, which American troops used during the conflict and the racist characterizations of Vietnamese people employed to legitimize millions of death.

In the 1980s, a Chinese American named Vincent Chin was mistaken as Japanese and beaten to death by two White men who blamed Japan for the loss of auto jobs. In the same point of time, East Asians were blamed for American unemployment in this period of economic competition with Asia Pacific nations.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, South Asians, Pakistanis and Sikhs were among those swept up in a wave of Islamophobia.

The above highlight only a few historical examples of scapegoating of ethnic minorities during times of national distress in America.

No doubt about it, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, countless (and most often not reported) Asian Americans have been coughed on, spat at, harassed and assaulted.

And if you are a concerned citizen and have been watching the recent news, as I always do, too – a new surge of violence against mostly Asian women is forcing another racial reckoning, if I must bluntly put it…this time focusing on repeat offenders of these crimes.

In an opinion by host Greg Gutfeld of Fox TV’s “The Five” last Valentine’s Day (14 February 2022),”

It’s a glorious day, if you haven’t been murdered yet by a nut boy. It’s true: We have an epidemic of crazy people what we used to call the criminally deranged or ‘The View’s’ audience. But they’re everywhere…on the streets, on the subway. But they’re also in our city halls, our governments and our district attorney’s offices, from New York to Chicago to L.A. or Baltimore. And they’re spreading faster than Omicron. It’s not funny anymore. On Saturday morning, a maniac waited as a train entered the Times Square subway station before he happily pushed an Asian woman to her death. Michelle Alyssa Go, aged 40, was murdered that morning. The killer stuck his tongue out at the police like a third grader at the window of a school bus; the perfect metaphor for bail reform or any other garbage that passes as social justice reform. But if you dare ask, why was he out on the street? Well, you’re probably racist or worse, a Republican.”

Moving on, and just last weekend, too – a 35-year-old woman was stabbed to death inside her Lower Manhattan apartment early Sunday by a man who had followed her from the street and into her building, the police said.

The woman, whom police identified as Christina Yuna Lee, was the latest person of Asian descent injured or killed in a string of random attacks in New York City, many of them committed by people who had severe mental illness.

The victim, Ms. Lee was a Rutgers University graduate and worked as a senior creative producer at Splices, an online platform for digital music, a company spokeswoman confirmed. She had also worked on photo and video campaigns for brands such as Marriott International and Equinox, according to her website.

The attacker, Mr. Nash has a history of misdemeanor arrest, court records show including an incident in September of last year in Grand Street station, near the building where the killing occurred, when a 62-years-old man told the police that Mr. Nash had punched him in the face after the man allegedly sniped his MetroCard for another passenger.

Though the police have not yet called the killing a hate crime, it is very evident that there has been a rise on violence against AsianAmericans especially on its women.

Last December, the New York Police Department reported that such attacks were up 361 percent from the previous year.

Last week, Jarrod Powell, 50 who was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the death of Yao Pan Ma, a 61-year-old Chinese immigrant, who died last Dec. 31 from injuries he suffered that East Harlem attack.

Even here in our own backyard –in our beloved hometown of “The Finest City in America” San Diego – and just last month, too, an elderly Asian man was attacked in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. 81-years-old Mark Sanouvong, who is Laotian, was suddenly beaten by a stranger, causing severe injuries to the elderly. In a tweet last Sunday afternoon, New York’s Mayor Eric Adams called the stabbing of Christina Yuna Lee “horrific” saying “we stand with our Asian community today.”

Meanwhile, Assemblywoman YuhLine Niou, who represents the district, called the details of the attack a “worst nightmare scenario.” “Lee was still screaming and fighting for her life, and they weren’t able to get to her for almost an hour and a half,” Ms. Niou reiterated.

She said that she was emotionally drained from the string of rallies she and other Asian-American community leaders have had to attend in recent weeks including one two days ago about a Korean diplomat who assaulted.

“This has happened so many times and we have attended too many vigils,” she added.

Tung Nguyen, chair of AAPI Progressive Action and director of the Asian American Research Center on Health, says Asian Americans “suffer from the racism of being made invisible.”

He sees the invisibility of Asian Americans everywhere.

It’s in the “model minority” myth, through which the successes of a relative few obscure the stark inequities felt by other subgroups.

It’s in the aggregated collection of data, which masks health disparities and justifies the lack of investment in certain communities.

It’s in the challenges to language access, which prevent many Asian Americans from accessing resources in their native tongues.

Those notions, which suggest Asian Americans, are outsiders who don’t face disadvantages, make it possible for them to be seen as acceptable targets – and contribute to the spate of violence seen over the past year, Nguyen remarked.

“It’s easier to hurt someone when they’re invisible,” he asserted. “Our invisibility is all over the place.”

Even in recent years, as mainstream society has begun to acknowledge the need to address white supremacy and systemic racism, Asians and Asian Americans are often left out of the conversation.

Despite the feelings of invisibility, or perhaps because of them, the recent high-profile attacks against Asian Americans have generated a level of mainstream attention that feels different these days, if I must add.

I say it is hopeful to see this first step of public messaging against the discrimination of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from the new President and his administration. A lot of people look forward to engaging the Administration and the Attorney General’s office in taking action to prevent anti-Asian hate incidents and ensure they are properly reported.

Indeed, multiracial coalitions have come together to denounce the violence. Last year, actors and athletes have delivered impassioned responses. Mainstream media outlets have published numerous stories. California has allocated more than a million dollars to help track incidents of discrimination and hate, while New York City announced a new push to combat the issue.

A number of factors might explain the heightened awareness this time around, experts deduced.

One is a younger generation who grew up in the U.S. and is no longer willing to stay silent the way their immigrant parents might once have.

“The older parents or the aunties and uncles and the grandparents may not say something, but their children and their nieces and nephews and their grandkids will because we’re online,” Vargas said. “We know how to use the hashtag.”

Social media, in turn, has allowed video footage from the disturbing incidents to be seen and circulated widely, while more Asian American journalists in newsrooms have helped to amplify those stories. Meanwhile, the killing of George Floyd last May and the uprising that followed thrust issues of racism into the national spotlight and prompted Americans to take them more seriously.

“There’s been a kind of shift where people feel it’s important to at least talk about racism,” contended Kim. “That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily committed to changing it in any deep way but there’s more discussion of it.”

Advocates and activists are largely united in calling for more discourse and attention across the issue of hate and violence against Asian Americans. But they seem to diverge on how best to address it.

“The main issue for us right now is: Do we go ahead as a single Asian American movement to address antiAsian racism?” Nguyen said. “Or is anti-Asian racism both part of a bigger wave of racism, and the solution is beyond just what Asian Americans care about or should do?”

In 2021, after a string of attacks in Oakland’s Chinatown, actors offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and some community leaders called for police to step up their presence in the neighborhood.

A coalition of more than 90 Bay Area organizations took a different approach, calling for communitybased solutions and warning against interventions that would contradict reforms championed by Black Lives Matter activists.

Jesse T. Reyes

Filipino Potpourri

Some are calling for the recent attacks to be charged as hate crimes, arguing it would help deter potential perpetrators and encourage otherwise reluctant Asian Americans to report such incidents. The New York Police Department created an Asian Hate Crimes Task Force after a spike in assaults last year, while recent occurrences in the Bay Area prompted officials in Alameda County to announce a special response unit focused on crimes against Asians.

But bringing and prosecuting hate crime charges requires proving a specific motivation of bias, which can be difficult to do.

Through the family of Vicha

Ratanapakdee, the 84-year-old Thai immigrant who died last year after being violently shoved to the ground in San Francisco called his attack a hate crime, law enforcement officials have so far indicated there isn’t evidence to suggest it was motivated solely by race. The perpetrator who allegedly shoved a 91-year-old man, among others, to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown had been hit with several charges, though none accuse him of a hate crime.

Others have cautioned against connecting the recent high-profile attacks to the larger wave of violence Asian Americans have been experiencing since the pandemic.

Alvina Wong, campaign and organizing director for the Oaklandbased nonprofit Asian Pacific Environmental Network, told the local news outlet OaklandSide that it was common for the community to experience robberies, especially around Lunar New Year.

“These crimes and violent situations that happen in Chinatown have been happening for a while,” Wong told the publication. The public safety threat that many Asian Americans are feeling right now stem from structural problems of unemployment, housing insecurity and income inequality, some progressive activists argue. And they say what’s needed to combat that threat is a movement that works in conjunction with other racial groups to help solve those big issues.

“The idea that we’re going to solve anti-Asian racism without addressing racism in general and anti-Black racism is a mistake,” Nguyen added.

Vargas says he’s heartened by the efforts he’s seen so far. Hundreds of volunteers across racial lines have volunteered to escort elderly Asian Americans to keep them safe, and communities at the local level have rallied together to express their solidarity.

“What’s needed is really putting intersectionality in action,” he explained. “What does it actually look like to protect each other? What does it look like to be somebody’s neighbor?

I know these seem like basic question but I would argue that these are basic questions that we all have to answer to really make this country safer for everybody.”

Vargas hopes more people are having conversations about the history of hate and violence that Asian Americans have long faced. But what happens next is critical, he and other advocates say. Because how communities choose to respond in this moment could set the course for whether Asian Americans – and other groups – continue to face these problems in the future.

As CNN’s writer Harmeet Kaur concluded in her article, “the history of attacks against Asian Americans is complicated…addressing it will be, too.”

Statistics indicate that despite the increasing acts of intolerance, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have made our Nation more secure during the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout our history. An estimated 2 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have served on the front lines of this crisis as healthcare providers, as first responders, and in other essential roles.

For my two cents, I say that for too long we’ve been passive observers, reveling in how much better America is compared to where we or our ancestors have come from, instead of actually shaping how good America could be.

I want my grandchildren to grow up in an America that will treat them equally as a U.S. citizen, and not over where they will be asked “But where are you really from?”

But if they do, I want my grandchildren to be sure of themselves when they say, “The United States.

Just like you.”

“Kababayans”…We have to start somehow at some point in time by finding the way out of America’s thinking on race…Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have been hurting for a long time, and they’ve been working to create solution for just as long. Now, finally, their stories are getting some attention. Hopefully, resources will come next.

I say let’s encourage advocacy and collaborative efforts to protect Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) residents and victims of discrimination and to curb hate acts related to COVID-19 for other groups, including, but not limited to, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Muslim, Jewish, and LGBTQlA+ communities, and people with accessibility needs.

We should all combat racism, xenophobia, and intolerance against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and should work together to ensure that all members of AAPI communities – no matter their background, the language they speak, or their religious beliefs – are treated with dignity and equity.

Let’s call upon each other across America in denouncing anti-AAPI racism!

Let this moment in time be a reminder to build together, to continue to share our unique stories, to provide resources, to help one another address immediate needs and create longlasting change in America.

Lastly, our communities deserve answers and we haven’t been given any. It is time, as I have often said in the past to acknowledge that we exist and that the mental health crisis that is leading to an uptick in violent assaults is a problem and do support our community for a change.

Now, maybe this is a hate crime. Maybe this is not a hate crime, after all. But it’s yet another Asian woman…and the authorities continue to seemingly talk about long-term solutions without providing the relief that the Asian-American community needs and demands right now. Our lives depend on it – and each other, if you get my drift.

“We keep us safe.” Mabuhay!

Workshop

Continued from page 1 acknowledge the discrepancy between “Muslim Dances” and indigenous Maguindanao ritual and secular cultural arts. Hence, the SAMAHAN Performing Arts espouses a respectful performance of music and dances as taught by native Mindanao master artists. Mindanao cultural arts symbolizes an indigenous heritage with deep Southeast Asian roots practiced for many centuries before the arrival of Spanish colonization. Maguindanao culture is part of a larger realm of dynamic southern Philippine cultural realm rooted in ritual and the veneration of ancestors for generations to come.