APAP Calendar

AAPI Empowerment Dinner - St. Louis

Sunday, March 14 at 6:00 pm
Buffalo Brewing Co., 300 Olive Street
rsvp to curtis @ apaforprogress.org

APAP/Colorado Chapter Launch

Thursday, March 18th at 7:00 pm
Asian Pacific Development Center, York Street
1825 York Street, Denver
rsvp to curtis at apaforprogress.org

Join Us on Twitter - http://twitter.com/apaforprogress

Items tagged: wwii

Judge Ed Chen Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee

See video

Magistrate Judge Ed Chen testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee recently.  Judge Chen was recently nominated by Pres. Obama to a federal district bench in the Northern District of California, which includes the Bay Area.  Amazingly enough, the Bay Area has never had an Asian American federal judge, despite its historically large APA population.  As you can see in the YouTube clip, Judge Chen is likely to become the first, judging from the largely softball questions from both Republicans and Democrats on the Committee.


Today's Worst Asian American in the World - Senator John Ensign (R-NV)

Yes, that John Ensign.  H/T to Keith Chow (who got it from Jeff Yang who got it from Curtis) for pointing this out in his Facebook status update. Although John Ensign is part Filipino (and according to his


UC awards honorary degrees to WWII Japanese American Internees

Last week I went to the UC Regents meeting at UC San Francisco, and was humbled to be there for the UC Board of Regents' vote to award honorary degrees to the over 700 Japanese Americans who were enrolled at the UC in 1941-42, but could not complete their degrees because they were unjustly incarcerated for being Japanese Americans and sent to concentration camps during WWII.  Sad sad chapter in U.S.


Filipino Veterans and Immigrant Family Reunification on Horizon with Akaka (D-Hawaii) Bill

On this Fourth of July weekend, we should remember the people who sacrificed and served in the U.S. military.  For Filipino Veterans, over 60 years after World War II, the U.S. is just beginning to recognize and appreciate the sacrifices they made.  It's only been a few months since these aging veterans could start requesting their benefits that all other U.S. war veterans receive.


Filipino Vets Remain Cautiously Optimistic

fullequitynow With the signing of the economic stimulus package tomorrow in Denver, President Barack Obama will be taking a major step in rectifying one of the leading issues driving AAPI political organizing and activism in the community. On the eve of that signing, many of the Fil Vets and organizers are remaining cautiously optimistic. I guess after being denied what is rightly yours for over sixty years, I can understand why many of them are still waiting to see what happens tomorrow. For some links to some really great articles, "flip" to the other side. :)