Michael's blog

The U.S. Senate expressed regret for the Exclusion Acts that barred Chinese from legally immigrating to the U.S. in Senate Resolution 201. Rep. Judy Chu from California has introduced a companion resolution in the house.  But so what? There's no money or actions attached to the legislation. In fact, the Senate added an amendment to bar any claims agains the government. Isn't it better to wait for a more favorable time to introduce a bill that means something?

Are Asian Americans "chopped liver" to the Obama administration? The Asian Pacific Islaner Caucus in Congress has yet to get a meeting with the President 33 months into his administration. Though the administration recently agreed to meet them, Rep. Mike Honda complained about the lengthy delay and asked "What are we? Chopped Liver?" On the other hand, the President has only met once with the Black Caucus.  

European leaders like England's David Cameron and Germany's Angela Merkel have been leading an attack on "multiculturalism." One indication of this has been a new law passed that removes racial concerns in adoptions. Others include the eviction of mosques from public property and mandatory courses to assimilate. Will this spread to the U.S.? The Tea Party movement would definitely welcome a similar offensive.

The Georgia state legislator has attempted to require Englsh-only driving tests. A local Asian American group - Atlanta based Asian American Legal Advocacy Center is among the main groups opposing it. A version of the bill passed, but state Representative B.J. Pak, a Korean-American and Republican, was one of those who helped amend the bill - limiting the language requirement only to the common words used on traffic signs.

Amy Chua's recent excerpt in the Wall Street Journal about the superiority of Chinese mothers has ignited an uproar. While she's right that not everybody's child is above average, has anyone noticed that this is a very class-biased analysis? Working class Chinese mothers don't quite have the time to spent all day forcing their children to learn a piano piece. Their kids also don't have the opportunity to attend sleep-overs at their classmates, unless they want to spend the night on their friends' kitchen floors. So if Amy Chua is right, she talking about a certain class of Chinese mothers.

It’s been building in the U.S. for a while – antagonism toward China. Now, in the mid-term elections, that sentiment has found expression in dozens of Congressional and Senatorial campaigns which making China a target to gain political leverage. This includes both major parties’ electoral vehicles – the Democratic and Republican Senatorial and Congressional campaigns, not to speak of each individual campaign.