APAP Calendar

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Items categorized: language access

DOJ Civil Rights Thomas Perez Issues Statement on LEP Practices Relevant to Pending Georgia Case - Ling vs. Georgia

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement on August 16, 2010 on language access policies and practices to state courts which is directly relevant to recent Ling v. Georgia case being carefully watched in Georgia. http://www.lep.gov/final_courts_ltr_081610.pdf


How Has the Judiciary Affected APAs?

This is part of a series of posts examining the interaction of the Asian Pacific American community and our court system.  You can make an immediate contribution to increasing diversity on the federal bench by calling members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and signing a letter [link to come] urging your Senators to confirm Professor Goodwin Liu, nominee to the U.S.


New York City Mayor Supports Marriage Equality, Campaigns for Votes in Chinatown

Incumbent Michael Bloomberg is bidding for a third term as mayor this November.  This week he met with Chinese seniors in Chinatown and came out firmly on the side of LGBT couples.


Sen. Leland Yee's Bill to Ban Language Discrimination Passes in CA

On a 47-25 vote, the California Assembly has approved Senator Leland Yee's SB 242.


SF Board of Supervisor David Chiu promotes language access

Good work, San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. The Board has approved legislation, offered by Chiu, to improve language services in the city. The vote was 11-0.


Judy Chu, Your Neighbor in the 32nd District


Nerdy Fun at NYTimes.com with Immigration and Education

Over at the New York Times website, they're doing a really interesting series on how immigration is "remaking" America. Funny, since I thought immigrants have always been making and defining America.

Stimulating Education

Hey Asian Americans! President Obama just announced his plans to change education policy. Where is everyone getting all worked up over the proposals??? It's always so interesting to me  that Asian Americans get all worked up over elite college admissions, but rarely do they articulate any interest in education policy.  Is it just not as sexy a topic? What is it?  What do you think? There are definitely some  interesting things in the education portion of the stimulus... let's take a look, shall we?

UC Admissions "Scandal" of 2009!... Yo, let's not freak out... just yet (Part 5 of 6)

The Joint API Legislative Caucus has concerns that the proposed UC eligibility and admissions policy, which has wide ranging ramifications and unknown consequences, has not received the proper public vetting it deserves. The current proposal has only been available for public review for a few months before being presented to the UC Regents for a decision. Outreach regarding the eligibility proposal to the Joint API Legislative Caucus, API civil rights organizations, or API higher education associations has been non-existent. - Letter from Joint API Legislative Caucus to UC Regents, 02.03.09
Hello again, fair readers! Sorry that this post is going up a little later than the last ones have. After the long weekend, I had to go back to school/work.  Today, we're gonna review the last point in the Caucus' letter. I hate to be a stickler and be kinda repetitive, but in the first sentence of the paragraph, I need to correct that the new policy is not regarding admissions. It defines who is Entitled to Review in the UC admissions process. So it's an admissions eligibility policy. But I digress back to earlier posts. And really, what the Caucus is saying hits on a broader issue of how the UC conducts its business (public shared governance? PFFFFT! Whatever!) and how AAPI's engage with the UC... and really how AAPI's aren't very organized in articulating AAPI interests in education policy making overall. Yup! We're gonna critique the UC governance structure, but then take a self-reflexive turn. After all, self-reflexivity and dialogue are the keys to community progress! Corny? Yet so true... so Freirean!