Many of the refugees I interviewed are very recent, ranging from fresh off the plane to several years of living here. They all say they want to work, and many are taking English classes. However, cutbacks to social services, including English classes, means that this population has less and less resources to rely on. This means that they are living in pretty dire conditions – and are forced to sink or swim. Some of the crucial needs are translation services, such as medical interpreters, because this could mean life or death. Other troubling findings from the report include the fact that some people eligible for welfare were not on it.

A few years back, I wrote a cover story, also for the East Bay Express, about the newly arrived Karenni population. You can read it here.

I’ve also been meaning to post about this: a few months ago, I was Angry Asian Man’s “Angry Reader of the Week.” I’m an avid reader of many news sites and blogs, and Angry Asian Man is one of them. Phil Yu pretty brings news stories, events and issues related to all things Asian American. It’s really a must read for Asian Americans and folks interested in Asian American issues. To folks who are not familiar with Angry Asian Man, it might not seem like a big deal. But it was definitely an honor, and very fun, to be reader of the week!

Here’s a description of the textbook:

As a leading introductory women’s studies reader, Shaw and Lee’s Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions offers an excellent balance of classic, conceptual, and experiential selections including new contemporary readings. This student-friendly text provides short and accessible readings reflecting the diversity of women’s experiences. With each new edition, the authors keep the framework essays and selections of readings fresh and interesting for students.

In other collegiate reader-ly news, a ColorLines article (”Under the Varnish” – PDF here) I wrote about health impacts on nail salon workers was included in a Southeast Asian studies reader.

And, here’s a new post on Hyphen’s blog about a postpartum food delivery service in Oakland’s Chinatown. If you’re in the area and interested, the company, Liu Mama, is having a tasting this Saturday at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, from 3-4 pm. RSVP.

I interviewed more people than I was able to fit in the stories, including DREAM Act activist Carlos Roa, Najma Nazy’at of the Boston Youth Organizing Project (she’s in the slideshow), youth from the Ella Baker Center’s Heal the Streets program, professor Cathy Cohen, whose recent book, Democracy Remixed delves into all the key issues facing African American youth, and others. I met and talked with many amazing activists from local groups, from Oakland to Boston to Florida.

The thing I learned is that challenges that youth of color, and youth in general, face today are ever more daunting. Statistics for youth of color, from high black male unemployment rates to suicide rates of Native youth are more than heartbreaking. Drop-out rates for many youth of color, particularly Latino/Hispanic youth, are sky high at 50 plus percent in some regions. Statistic show that the quality of life and outlook for youth of color are not much better than before. While we may not see a huge national, cohesive movement right now, as Cohen stated, there is a lot of activism going on in our neighborhoods, cities and streets. Youth of color in fact are standing up to make their worlds better, fighting for many similar causes across the nation. And we should be thankful for that. These are our country and world’s next generation of leaders. The stories highlight just a few of many amazing activists and organizations working to better our communities and our world.

Fred Korematsu, civil rights icon for younger generation, has his day

A little-known Japanese-American man may be the next generation’s civil rights icon after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill last week making Jan. 30 the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution.

This is the first time any state has designated a day in honor of an Asian-American, according Ling Woo Liu, director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education at the Asian Law Caucus.

The late Korematsu, born Jan. 30, 1919, in Oakland, was a 23 year-old welder when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Executive Order 9066 during World War II, forcing 120,000 Japanese-Americans along the West Coast to move to internment camps.

Korematsu felt this was wrong and refused government orders. He got plastic surgery on his eyes to make him look less Asian and changed his name but was arrested in San Leandro, thrown in prison, and eventually sent to an internment camp in Topaz, Utah.

“He took a stand against the government, and he felt like the government was wrong and that he had rights as an American,” said Karen Korematsu, Fred’s daughter.

Korematsu appealed his case with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which resulted in Korematsu v. United States, heard in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944. The court ruled against him, saying the forced relocation was of military necessity.

For decades, Korematsu lived with a “disloyalty” conviction and suffered

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from discrimination. He didn’t tell his children about what happened until one day, when Karen Korematsu’s classmate presented a report that mentioned the case. Karen, then 16-years-old, thought perhaps it was a distant relative of hers. Her father then told her about what happened.Decades later, a mostly younger generation of Japanese-Americans learned about Korematsu — many in law schools, where the case is widely read — and banded together, along with professor and civil rights attorney Peter Irons.

Dale Minami was lead counsel on a team of pro bono lawyers that reopened Korematsu’s case after learning the government withheld, and destroyed, crucial evidence in the first case.

“Fred taught us to speak out and stand up,” Minami said. “Dissent is not disloyalty. Speaking out against injustice is a duty we have to protect our constitution.”

Korematsu’s case was heard once again in the courts — in a federal-district court in San Francisco in 1983 — and this time, he won; his conviction was dropped.

More than a personal vindication, the 1983 case showed that there was no evidence of treason or espionage among Japanese-Americans during the war, as the government had alleged.

This helped pave the way for redress for survivors of the camps in 1988. Though Fred wasn’t the only person who resisted and fought his case in the courts — others were Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui — Korematsu’s dealt with the most serious civil liberty violation, Minami said.

Like many civil rights leaders, Fred Korematsu remained active and reached across racial and religious lines until he died in 2005 at the age of 86. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 from Bill Clinton. Fred’s wife, Kathryn, is 89 years-old and lives in San Leandro. His son, Ken Korematsu, co-produced a film about his father called “Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story.”

After 9/11, Korematsu spoke out against injustices against Muslim, Arab and South Asian-Americans, taught about the dangers of what happened in the past, and showed that one person can make a difference. He also filed amicus curiae briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Muslim detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

“What happened to Japanese-Americans and the fight that Fred fought is still existing,” said Samina Sundas, founding executive director of the Newark-based American Muslim Voice Foundation, a nonprofit that has an award named after Fred Korematsu, referring to racial profiling and shrinking civil liberties after 9/11.

Supporters of the bill, authored by Assemblymen Warren Furutani (D-South Los Angeles County) and Marty Block (D- San Diego), hope to use Jan. 30 to educate the younger generation about civil liberties.

Ling Woo Liu of the Korematsu Institute said they plan to distribute curriculum kits to school districts throughout the state by Jan. 30.

Some in the younger generation see Korematsu’s name on a nearly daily basis. The newly built Fred T. Korematsu freshman campus in San Leandro opened in August. And every week children at the Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy in Oakland, who are mostly Latino and African-American, recite a creed that begins with: “Korematsu, we stand up for what is right.”

The Oakland school was renamed after Korematsu in 2006 and is on the former campus of Stonehurst Elementary School, where Korematsu attended. He graduated from Castlemont High School.

“I think he’s a good role model because he tells you,” said Damond Washington, a fifth-grader at the Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy, “if you know something is not right, to fight for your rights.”

Here are also a few recent blog posts I’ve written for Hyphen. The first is about the film 9500 Liberty, which will soon be playing on MTV channels. The film is by Eric Byler and Annabel Park about immigration. The documentary is much more fascinating than I’m making it sound right now; it’s one of the most important films out there right now.

The other post is about the link between nail salons and cancer. The conclusion is that the science is still inconclusive; read my take on it here.

The story took a while to report, write, re-write and edit, and I’m pretty proud of it. More importantly, I’m glad the Express gave me the space to cover the story in a meaningful way, and to humanize some of the refugees. I was also happy to read some of the comments, many who come from people familiar with the topic and who gave extra insight to the topic.