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.

The Utne Reader compiles and edits stories from thousands of alternative publications for each of its issues, and my issue just arrived in the mail. It’s chock full of great stories. The editors are already doing the job for you of reading a bunch of publications and picking what they think is the best and most relevant to the audience. Enjoy!

I got to spend some time with folks at VONA, a writers of color workshop. They are doing some important work there. Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is one of the founders and teachers.

My most recent story is in the current issue of Hyphen, out on stands now, about how some nail salons are trying to go green. Please check out the issue and support an independent, Asian American magazine (I am also an editor there). You can read the article, “Mani-Pedis Go Green,” here.

If you’re in the Bay Area in California and are interested in these issues, please come check out the South Bay Third Thursdays panel mentioned above. Please RSVP to the event.

The panelists for the forum are:

Theresa Le is the Special Projects Organizer for UFCW 5 Cosmetology Division that represents Manicurists, Estheticians, Cosmetologists, and Salon Owners in dealing with the Board of Barbering & Cosmetology (BBC). BBC’s mission is to ensure the health and safety of California consumers by promoting ethical standards and by enforcing the laws of the beauty industry. Theresa is responsible for strategizing and organizing multiple tri-lingual campaigns (English-Vietnamese-Spanish) to build positive consumer awareness, increase membership enrollment, and combine traditional and innovative marketing methods to build synergy between policy makers and industry practicioners. Her work philosophy is “Your Net Worth is defined by Your Network!”

Currently, Theresa’s Cosmetology campaign focuses on:

Salon Consumer Protection
Green-Purchasing Manufacturers
Advanced Education for the industry members learning about the 5 P’s

Board of Barbering & Cosmetology (BBC) citations prevention

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) protection
Maximizing profits through A.R.I.E.S (Awareness.Responses.
Interaction.Evaluation.Sale)
Fair Labor practices
Grassroots promotions

Prior to joining UFCW Local 5, Theresa was a licensed manicurist and an eyelash extension educator who owned and operated a full-service salon in San Diego since 2005. She also coordinated Donald Trump’s Miss Universe 2008 Pageant hosted in Vietnam in the summer of 2008. Theresa graduated Cum Laude from University of California, Riverside with a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics.

Le Phan is a fifth year Ph.D. student in Sociology at the University of California, Davis. She received her bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies with a minor in History at the University of California, San Diego. Her research interest encompasses a wide range of areas including race, ethnicity, immigration, gender and family. Her most recent research project explores the work experiences of first and second generation Vietnamese nail technicians in Northern California. As a teaching assistant, she has experience in numerous Sociology and Asian American Studies courses. She is involved in various organizations on campus and throughout her community including a graduate student organization that provides support for graduate students interested in Asian American Studies. Le is committed to raising awareness about issues affecting Asians and Asian Americans. She is also passionate about empowering Asian American youth through education and research.

Lenh Tsan, Project Manager at the Asian Law Caucus, is a graduate of UC Davis’ Sociology Department. While in Davis, she worked at the International House to promote dialogue between immigrant families of different backgrounds in Yolo County. At the Caucus, she works with the Immigrant Rights Project to defend low income immigrants. On the Nail Salon Project, she conducts occupational health and safety trainings to salon workers and owners, who are predominantly Vietnamese immigrant women. Since joining the Caucus in 2005, she has conducted over 250 of these trainings in the nail salons, cosmetology schools, and occupational health classes and has outreached to over 500 workers, students, and nail salon owners in the bay area. She works to mobilize workers to publicly speak about the hazards they face and to advocate for their rights to work in a healthy and safe environment. She is fluent in Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

Hope to see you there!

Aoki is best known for his role in the Black Panther Party. He was one of its first members and later became field marshal. He provided the group with guns and training (Aoki was in the U.S. Army and was trained as an expert in sharpshooting and small arms, he told me in a 2006 interview). He helped them organize the early rallies against police brutality.

It’s also true that Aoki did other important things, like being a leader in the Third World Liberation Front Strike in 1969 at UC Berkeley, representing Asian Americans as part of the Asian American Political Alliance. But according to friends, Aoki felt like his role in the Panthers was his most important political and personal contribution.

Former Black Panther leaves legacy of activism and Third World solidarity

By Momo Chang
Correspondent

BERKELEY — Richard Masato Aoki, a former member of the Black Panther Party, died Sunday morning at his home in Berkeley from complications from dialysis. He was 70.

Aoki is a legend in activist circles because of his role in the Black Panthers as one of its first members and field marshal.

Born Richard Masato Aoki in 1938 in San Leandro, Aoki was uprooted when his family was interned in a “concentration” camp in Topaz, Utah, during World War II. The family resettled in West Oakland, by then a mostly black neighborhood. He befriended Huey Newton and Bobby Seale at Merritt College. When Newton and Seale founded the Black Panther Party in October 1966 they created the Ten Point program and showed their plans to Aoki, who transferred to UC Berkeley around that time.

“He was one consistent, principled person, who stood up and understood the international necessity for human and community unity in opposition to oppressors and exploiters,” Seale said.

Aoki helped organize some of the Party’s first rallies against police brutality and gave them guns from his personal collection, used to patrol the police in the party’s early days, Seale said.

At UC Berkeley, he became a leader in the Third World Liberation Front Strike in 1969, representing Asian Americans as a part of the Asian American Political Alliance.

Lifelong friend Harvey Dong met Aoki in the ’60s as students at Berkeley.

“He gave a very important dimension to the Asian-American movement in terms of linking the struggles of the African-American community with the Asian-American community,” Dong said. Aoki later became one of the first coordinators of Asian-American studies at UC Berkeley and taught some of the early classes.

Before the Black Panthers, TWLF and AAPA, Aoki had begun his political involvement as a member of the Socialist Workers Party and the Vietnam Day Committee, an anti-war group, said Diane Fujino, chair and associate professor of Asian-American studies at UC Santa Barbara, who is writing a book on Aoki.

He is also remembered as a devoted son and caring friend. Aoki was ill when he checked himself out of a hospital earlier this year to take care of his mother, Toshiko Kaniye, who had a heart attack and passed away on Jan. 20. His devotion to his mother stems from his upbringing. His parents divorced when Aoki was young and he lived with his father for a period. Kaniye later raised Richard Aoki and brother David, who has since passed away, as a single mother working in the laundry business for many years.

“Richard was very unique and marched to his own drummer,” said Alze Roberts, a friend and colleague who met Aoki in 1968 when they started the Masters in Social Welfare program together, then worked together as counselors at the Peralta colleges. “His personality was a blend of the Asian and African-American cultures.”

When the Ethnic Studies department was threatened with cuts in 1999 and students held a strike on campus, Aoki came back as one of the speakers and supporters, 30 years after the original strike.

“His very presence animated the spirit of the strike and it brought the important connection to the ‘69 strike itself,” said Roberto Hernandez, who was involved with the 1999 strike.

Last week, UC Berkeley held a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the 1969 strike, days before his death. During the events, which Aoki was too ill to attend, his name was brought up many times, according to Hernandez.

Ben Wang and Mike Cheng recall meeting him in 2002 as students at UC Davis, eager to learn from the revolutionary leader.

“At the time, we were just a couple of young college punks and he didn’t have to give us the time of day,” Wang said. The two interviewed him for a student newspaper, where they talked for hours and joked about making a documentary about Aoki.

Wang and Cheng did embark on the journey of making a documentary on Aoki, and showed a rough cut of the film at the EastSide Cultural Center in May 2008 to a packed house.

“We’re on his shoulders now,” Cheng said. “It’s his time to rest and it’s time for us to keep it moving,” referring to Aoki’s struggle for justice.

According to friends, colleagues, and relatives, Aoki had a way of staying connected to people. He would often copy news articles and send them to friends, or bring up current events during dinner. If there was a book he liked, he would buy multiple copies and give them away, Cheng said. He said he has more than a dozen books that Aoki gave to him over the last seven years.

Close friend Shoshana Arai said Aoki was able to maintain friendships with many people even during times when groups disagreed or became fractioned. “Richard is probably one of the most amazingly loyal people I’ve ever met in my life,” she said.

Aoki never married nor had children, in part because of his own parents’ divorce, according to cousin James Aoki, who reconnected with his cousin in the last 8 years after moving back to Oakland. Aoki is survived by cousins and extended family.

Activist and friend Yuri Kochiyama puts it most succinctly: “We’re all so saddened (by his death).”

Berkeley High school friend Oliver Petry, with wife Barbara, became one of Aoki’s caregivers in the last few years. Oliver remembers they would go swimming at the Albany High School pool, which Aoki used as physical therapy to recover from a stroke he had in 2005.

“He was a sweet guy, I absolutely loved him and I miss him tremendously,” Petry said.

Aoki was also devoted to the younger generation. After leaving UC Berkeley, he worked in the Peralta College system for 25 years, as a counselor, instructor and administrator, before retiring in 1994. He was a counselor at Merritt College and College of Alameda.

A memorial and reception has been planned for Saturday, May 2 at a location to be announced. In addition, there will be a ceremony and car caravan on Sunday, May 3, leaving Lil Bobby Hutton Memorial Park (Defremery Park, 1651 Adeline St. in Oakland). Final services will be held at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. in Oakland.