iamasiam

The Most Typical Vs. Desired Face in the World

Twenty-eight years old, Male, and Chinese.  That’s the profile of the most typical person in the world according to research from the National Geographic Magazine.  Of course, it’s also nice of them to render a composite image of that person’s face based on thousands of photographs. ^[1]

As Arte Johnson would exclaim, “Very interesting!”  Even more interesting perhaps would be a composite of what the most aspired face in this planet might be.  Of course, the cop-out would be, “It depends.”  But, let’s stretch our imagination here for a second.  And, feel free leaping to the similarly sensational conclusions as the publication has done.  If you can change your face, what will that face look like? 

Many have taken this interest to greater—and more serious—lengths, altering their own face via cosmetic surgery.  According to the New York Times, having the extreme makeover is highly in demand especially among the immigrant communities here.  The motive varies but assimilation seems to be the pervading theme, the need to look “more American”. ^[2]

Very interesting, indeed!

^[1] Liz Goodman, “The Most Typical Face in the Planet”, The Lookout, Yahoo! News, Mar. 3, 2011
^[2] Sam Dolnick, “Ethnic Differences Emerge in Plastic Surgery”, The New York Times, Feb. 18, 2011

 

Happy (Immigrant) Mother's Day

I love you, Mom!

If The Shoe Style Fits...Deport!?

Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray says the Arizona police can tell whether you are undocumented or not by the shoes that you wear.

Can you?  http://www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org/shoes/

Let's Start Deporting Americans?

"If you have parents that are here illegally, and they have a child, the parents that are here illegally are going to have to be sent home, so do you leave that child here without them? No. You probably send the child home with them even though the child is an American citizen." - East County Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine)

Mayday

Yesterday, Arizona!  Tomorrow, your state!  Today, let’s push Congress to pass immigration reform legislation.  Join the nationwide protest this Saturday, May 1st.  Find a march near you at: http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/blog/march-index/.

Top Asian American advocacy groups are in support of this march.  The Japanese American Citizen’s League (JACL) urges immediate legislative action to prevent the injustices suffered by Japanese Americans during World War II from ever happening again.^[1]

Every day that Congress and the Obama Administration do not pass comprehensive immigration reform, millions of families and communities suffer as the nation's economy and security have the opportunity to be improved. Last week, a new Arizona law would allow law enforcement to target anyone who may be perceived as an undocumented immigrant. This will result in the worst case of racial profiling since World War II. This shows the importance of reforming immigration law fairly and urgently. Those who are against this law and against unfair treatment of immigrants in the immigration system are called to take action.

^[1]Japanese American Citizens League

The Fear of Immigrants

An analysis of recent survey data links economic growth with the influx of immigrant workers.^[1]

The data belie a common perception in the nation’s hard-fought debate over immigration — articulated by lawmakers, pundits and advocates on all sides of the issue — that the surge in immigration in the last two decades has overwhelmed the United States with low-wage foreign laborers.

Phoenix tops the list of the fastest growing metro areas. Its economic growth of over a hundred fold in the past few years coincides with its 13% rise in immigrant share of the labor force.^[2] And, yes, it's in the same state of Arizona, which most recently enacted a law on immigration that seems to defy the logic behind this data.

True, some residents have a more rationale view of immigration in support of the new law, saying they have nothing against immigration if done legally.  Others simply outrightly decry the presence of immigrants to begin with, a feeling that may have weighed more heavily in pushing the bill for approval—sadly enough.^[3]

This law might kick some of these immigrants out,” said Mr. Lowis, 76, a retiree who has lived here for more than 30 years and does not like all the change. “They vandalize the golf course, throwing flags in the ponds. Burglaries. There are too many immigrants. I get tired of seeing all these people standing on the corner.

This has become emblematic of the more recent debates on national issues.  One side calls us to reason; another side says, “No, I don’t like it, and just because I don’t.”

^[1]Julia Preston, “Work Force Fueled by Highly Skilled Immigrants”, The New York Times, April 15, 2010
^[2]Immigrants and Growth, The New York Times, April 15, 2010
^[3]Randal C. Archibold, “Growing Split in Arizona Over Immigration”, The New York Times, April 25, 2010

I Dream Of India: Then and Now

In his recent New York Times column ^[1], Akash Kapur describes how India’s image has changed over the years with positive shifts in stereotypes following newfound material prosperity. Replacing the “three C’s: caste, cows and curry” are “technology, outsourcing, billionaires, Bollywood”.

He cites examples culled from sources of but limited casual contact with Indians.  A taxi driver, working as a shuttle-bus driver in last summer’s U.S. Open, is astonished that his Indian passengers are taking expensive box seats.  A newspaper vendor notices the young Indian sisters next door do not wear the “red dot” on their foreheads and that they walk with an “American swagger”.

That is, perhaps, why such perceptions brush only the surface.  As the third largest Asian American ethnic group and with close to 2 million Indian Americans living across this country ^[2], the odds are that more personal interactions with Indians would merit a strong influence in shaping stereotypes other than what is skin-deep.

A writer for various other publications such The Atlantic, The Economist, Granta, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, among others, Mr. Kapur himself acknowledges that the clichés belie the more complex layers of what is India today.  “I know there’s a lot more to the country than smart and rich technology workers who are stealing American jobs and buying box seats in the U.S. Open”, he writes.

I trust also that Akash Kapur whose father is Indian and whose mother is American has himself received more substantive feedback from more personal sources other than the occasional taxi driver and newspaper vendor.  Living in America for twelve years before his decision to move back to India six years ago puts him in an auspicious position to capture such complexities from various perspectives of those he touched and who touched him.  I am anxious to read such revelations in his future works, perhaps in his upcoming non-fiction slated for publication next year.

In an earlier column for Granta Magazine ^[3], he alludes to the “genuine openness and friendliness” of Americans that he first misconstrued as superficial.  He also reveals that it was “a feeling of estrangement, and of cultural and ideological isolation” that has also driven him to move back to the home that he missed.  He seems severely impacted by “the ‘war on terror’ and the war in Iraq – and more broadly, the war on civil liberties “.  He writes, “It had taken me many years to feel American; by the time I left, I was once again an outsider.”

Indeed, it would also be interesting to understand his own perceptions of India--and, yes, American--from both the eyes of the American and the outsider.  I’m guessing his view have shifted just as well from when he first received “crude reactions” as a child to when he now wields the fearless maturity to share his reflections in his well-polished craft.  I’m hoping his optic cuts more deeply through the stereotypes and clichés.

^[1]Akash Kapur, “Letter from India: Exchanging One Cliché for Another”, The New York Times, Nov. 5, 2009
^[2]U.S. Census 2000
^[3]Akash Kapur, “Learning to Love America, Again”, Granta Magazine, Nov. 3, 2008

A Hindu Temple 'Choir', An 'American' Koran, A 'Catholic' Mantra

Recently reconnected with someone who has found new interest in studying the Hindi language, I learned about recent activities celebrating the festival of the Ganesha festival.  Ganesha, deemed Lord of Success, is one of the most widely worshipped of the many Hindu deities.¹

The son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha has an elephantine countenance with a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. In fact, Ganesha is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga being the other four) whose idolatry is glorified as the panchayatana puja.

How the practice of such religious beliefs adapts following its migration to America is exemplified by the formation of choir performing for the first time—also in celebration of the Ganesha festival—in a Hindu temple in Flushing Meadows, Queens.  Growing up Catholic, I recall nothing extra-ordinary singing in a church choir.  However, in his recent NY Times article, Jonathan Allen reveals that choir singing is new in Hindu worship, which tends to be more individualistic and free flowing. Quoting Professor Vasudha Naryanan, director of the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions at the University of Florida, Mr. Allen writes:²

She sees the choir as a “gentle process of Americanization” — a kind of adaptation of Hindu traditions to be more “recognizable” to the children of Hindu immigrants and the broader American public.

Not everyone views any American adaptation of religious practice—or even, the artistic representation of a religious book—with the same openness.  Even before the exhibition opens, there is already mounting opposition to “American Qur’an”, Sandow Birk’s latest project of transcribing English translations of the holy book accompanied by paintings of contemporary American scenes. Jori Finkel of the New York Times writes:³

After viewing an artist’s statement on koplindelrio.com, the gallery’s Web site, Usman Madha, director of public relations at the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City, cautioned that many Muslims might nonetheless find the project “insulting to the Islamic faith,” starting with its title. “There is no such thing as an American Koran, or European Koran, or Asian Koran,” he said. “If someone calls a work their own version of the Koran, they are misrepresenting the Koran as revealed to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel.”

In exhibiting his work, I doubt Mr. Birk’s intention to “make it more accessible to Americans, more relevant to American life” will precipitate any serious conversion, because technically his work does not count as a bona fide copy of the holy book, which can only be written in Arabic.  In her studying Hindi, I surmise my friend is driven more by her personal interest in it and won’t soon become a Ganesha follower herself.  I don’t think a Hindu hymnal will hit publication any time soon either.  I digress form this deliberation with a thought of my old church choir singing this John Lennon song.

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

1Subhamoy Das, “Ganesha: Lord of Success—All About the Hindu Elephant-Deity”, About.com
2Jonathan Allen, ”Old Faith Innovates in a New Land”, New York Times
3Jori Finkel,“’Personal Meditations’ on the Koran”, New York Times

Senator Edward Kennedy: Rest in peace!

The beloved senator strongly supported the Hart-Cellar Act of 1965, which sought to give people from all nations an equal footing for U.S. immigration, replacing an old system that gave preferential treatment to Europeans.¹

¹Center for Immigration Studies

Support the National Asian American Week of Action through one easy step

Across the country, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) will flex their political muscle during the National Week of Action (Aug. 17-24) to show that we want fair and humane immigration reform NOW.

Text "AAPI" to 69866 

TODAY, AUGUST 20, 2009

All standard texting fees apply. You will be asked to reply with your zip-code and email to become a part of the national Reform Immigration for America campaign's Cell Phone Action Network. As a part of the network, you will receive periodic text messages on the latest news and action opportunities around immigration reform, specific to your state or local community.

With more than 1.2 million AAPIs who are undocumented and need to be legalized, more than 2 million waiting abroad to join close family members through the family-based immigration system, and the ongoing detention and deportation of community members, AAPIs have a huge stake in having comprehensive immigration reform legislation passed and enacted.

This campaign is sponsored by AAJC, ALC, HND, JACL, APALC, KAYA, NaFFAA, SAALT, OCA, NAPAWF

Immigration Reform: The Call To Act Now

The last presidential elections drew an historic turnout not seen in 40 years.  New census data reveals that, compared to 2004, the 2008 elections also saw a significant increase in the number of Hispanic, Asian and African Americans exercising their right to vote.  The rate of increase in turnout among Asian American voters is over 20%, next only to Latinos.  Releasing this data, the Immigration Policy Center also points out that politicians who ignore this “demographic wake-up call” will pay a price at the polls.

Immigration reform is an important issue for Latinos and Asians, given that the majority of these groups are immigrants or children of immigrants.  The call for Latinos and Asians to manifest their clout in this issue need not wait ‘til the next elections.

• The Reform Immigration For America campaign is a coalition of various advocacy groups that is leading the call to action now.  Visit their site to send a fax your congress leader or to enlist your organization in the coalition: www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org

Many Asian and Pacific Islander communities have already joined the ranks in their support of this.  In fact, this week marks the first-ever National Asian American Week of Action for comprehensive immigration reform.  In a national display of unity and coordination, activists across the nation will hold press events, and attend town hall meetings with U.S. lawmakers to push for a comprehensive immigration reform.

• The Asian Pacific Americans for Progress is one of many championing this cause with a list of activities that extend through fall.  Today is National Text-in day.  Visit their site to learn more: http://www.apaforprogress.org/aapis-call-immigration-reform

Nepalese, Tibetan, Himalayan, and...foreigners

“We wanted to serve all Himalayans”, Jamyan Gurung explains why they added “Himalayan” to the name of their restaurant, formerly known simply as Yak, in Jackson Heights, Queens.  In her New York Times column focusing on the plight of new immigrants, Jennifer Lee writes today about her interview with this restaurant manager.

The name change obviously seeks to attract a wider crowd.  That is consistent with Jamyan’s own background growing up in Mustang, located between Tibet and Nepal, where he has learned to speak both languages.  He also speaks English, and this he explains, “Because it’s a tourist area, it’s very important to speak English.  You have to deal with customers.”

When asked what his restaurant’s customer profile is, referring those who make up a quarter of his patrons, Jamyan catches Miss Lee’s attention with his choice of words for Whites: “foreigners”.  Dutifully probed why he would call them foreigners when the restaurant is in the United States, Jamyan explains: “We call them tourists in Nepal. Whenever you see white people, you call them tourists. So many people come from Europe and America, so you don’t know if they are Americans. That’s why we call them tourists. When you are over here, we have the same concept.”

Jackson Heights is one of the most diverse communities in New York, and only ten percent of the population is White.  Just a few subway stops away, he will more often be mistaken as the tourist.  As Jamyan further treads the road towards citizenship, I trust his concept will soon wear away.  I also hope the stereotype of Asians as a perpetual foreigner withers quickly as well.

Ninotchka’s Passport Blues: Is humor an option?

How to get a U.S. passport?  In her blog entitled “Blue passport blues”, Ninotchka Rosca laughs off the displeasures she experienced in the process of possessing one, including her formal interview with an INS officer.

“Smug in what I thought was an appointment, I headed straight for the front door and was promptly sent back to the end of the line.”

“Have you ever been a prostitute? Not yet.”

“Lord, that’s just nostalgia. And it’s incorrect. Here, let me at it; I’ll tell you what’s true and not; I’ll correct my dossier.”

Miss Rosca concludes her funny narration with a serious sentiment.  Upon the arrival of her blue passport, she expresses her “unbearable sadness” parting with her old green one.

“I’d been a foot soldier in its struggle for validity and respect. The blue one, the most prized passport in the world, I’d acquired through a process I could only charitably call half-demented. Reality disappoints, truly.”

The author has certainly captured her readers’ attention, striking a nerve among many, eliciting sympathy from some, and prompting others to either downplay the emotions she has stirred or call for pragmatism.

“Stop your pretensions…denounce your citizenship if you are really disappointed.”

“You shouldn’t have naturalized then if getting a blue passport has no meaning to you.

“Sorry to say but you don’t belong to America.”

“Geez people, you are all so grim and determined and you take US citizenship so seriously!!  It’s not a religion, you know!  And by the way, there’s such a thing as ‘sarcasm’, ‘humor’, and ‘irony’ in writing.”

“Miss the green. Get it back. Apply for dual citizenship. No drama. I promise.”

Ninotchka’s expression of remorse suggests her gaining U.S. citizenship seems wholly inconsequential in relation to the process that has taken her there. There are those in this and past generations who have faced far more numerous and graver annoyances than which Ninotchka has experienced, all in pursuit of that singular distinction of acquiring that blue passport and all that it represents.  Hence, the strong reactions she has elicited.

I appreciate the crafty humor the writer has used throughout her delivery.  Who knows, that may have been her primary intent: to laugh in relief of the obstacles she has just overcome; to laugh at those who set puny benchmarks in their pursuit of loftier ideals, such as validity and respect; to laugh at us whose feelings she has provoked.  But, for words that prick even lightly on matters of national pride and love of country, I throw back to Ninotchka her own utterance of sublime understanding: “Humor is not an option.”

The Hardest Word: Sorry!

Time.com columnist Ling Woo Lui dissects the significance of saying sorry, following the California legislature’s approval of a bill to apologize for the racist laws directed against Chinese Americans since the mid-1800’s.

“What's in an apology? Some expressions of remorse are commonplace—we hear them on the playground when kids smack each other on the head, or they land in your inbox after a friend forgets your birthday. It's the grand-scale apologies, it seems, that are harder to come by.”

The formal apology comes more than a century and a half late.  The California Gold Rush precipitated an influx of Chinese migrant workers who were paid less and thereby resented by the local work force who of course had stronger political clout.  The state then enacted laws not only depriving the Chinese to work in the public sector and to own land or property, they were also barred to marry or testify against Whites in courts.  How contemptible was that!  (See related post “Happy Juneteenth”)

On Blue Bayou

President Obama announces this morning the nomination of Dr. Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General.  Describing her qualifications and background, the president alludes to a little known town in Alabama where the doctor left her mark.  “None has been more pertinent to today's challenges or closer to Regina's heart than the rural health clinic that she has built and rebuilt in Bayou La Batre.”

The president expounds, “Bayou La Batre is a rural town of about 2,500 people. It's a shrimping town, where a lot of folks work for themselves, scrape by, and can't usually afford health insurance.”  He added how interesting the town’s demography is “because you've got whites, blacks and Asians in this community. There are a lot of Laotians and Cambodians who have moved there and are a part of this shrimping town.”

Apart from the devastating damage Hurricane Katrina has brought to this area and how inspiring leaders like Dr. Regina Benjamin continues to contribute to its recovery, Bayou La Batre is also significant landmark for early Asian Americans.  In her book, “Survivors”, Sucheng Chan shares how Asian workers were brought in to this town to supplant the prevailing core of workers then, African Americans.  Divide and conquer!  “Owners and managers like employees from Indochina because they are concerned about the relative ease of controlling various groups of workers.” 

Likewise, Miss Chen describes the move as part of a campaign to bolster the industry’s suffering image in the wake of increased health consciousness in the late 70’s.  Perhaps, lack of compliance to FDA regulations was more prevalent then than they are now.  The plant owners have capitalized on this new awareness by conveying the message that “their plants were utterly clean even if they employed Indochinese workers.”

Dr. Regina Benjamin’s hope to be “America's family physician” will hopefully be realized if confirmed as Surgeon General.  We all will need to follow through her assurance that “no one, [she repeats] no one falls through the cracks” in this administration’s goal of providing health care to all.  We owe such supportive vigilance to the people of Bayou La Batre, given their history as a racial cauldron once subjected to such unapologetically unjust agitation.

American Justice Under Strain

In her New York Times article today, Julia Preston confirms what many already know, that U.S. immigration judges are overwhelmed by unrealistic goals, beset by mounting caseloads and the shortage of time and resources.  These findings are based on a new study published by a Georgetown University law journal.

In a related story, Miss Preston reports a White House program that extends federal immigration enforcement to state and local police with specific focus on the “capture of illegal immigrants who committed serious crimes”.  She cites resistance from immigrant advocates who argue that it will raise fear that a wider net will include immigrants with no criminal records.

These two developments underscore the same nagging issues that face our health care system, namely the focus on curing the symptoms rather on prevention.  Of course, we do not need more criminals in our already overcrowded prisons, the dark alleys of fugitives or, for that matter, the fathomless limbo of immigrant detention.  But, consider the wide spectrum of state-by-state action—or inaction—to this yet unclear process, the ill consequences of which can be as far-reaching and perhaps as uncontainable as is already the entire immigration system morass.

Addressing the challenges faced by the immigration judges should be of greater priority, ensuring that legitimate processes are not impaired by bureaucratic inadequacies or reactive expedience.  These challenges are as clear-cut as what the sensible and practical remedies should be.  Recognizing that a legal route is fair and just and workable is a prominent deterrent to going around the system or the fence.  In the meantime, let’s figure out a more pragmatic blueprint to ridding our streets of “serious” criminals, other than unleashing a potential witch-hunt.