Updates

I don’t know why I didn’t do it this year. Maybe because it’s too painful, and rounded-year anniversaries give us an easy excuse to let it go. But I couldn’t help noticing this year, as I looked at the calendar and remembered the dates. There’s really no reason why we shouldn’t call for a national

A day after the Washington football team’s trademark of the Redskins name was cancelled, activists are cheering, but the effect is the same. We are still far from home on the range, or anywhere else, where seldom is heard a disparaging word. So the deer and the pro bono attorneys can still play. A

Father’s Day is closing in on us. And while I love to talk about baseball and my dad (see a reprise of my traditional Father’s Day essay here), my dad really was all about the Sport of Kings. That’s right, horse racing. And you can bet he’d have something to say about what happened to California Ch

You could tell by his face–Seattle Pacific University student Jon Meis was at least part Asian American. But the mainstream media mostly used one word to describe him: hero. Meis wasn’t a victim, like my cousin Stephen in San Francisco on May 3. Or the gunman, like half-Asian Elliot Rodger in I

I thought I was pretty hardened after my cousin Stephen Guillermo’s recent shooting death. But when I heard about the Isla Vista rampage and the 7 dead and 13 wounded, I realized Stephen’s case was just a subset of the larger picture of gun violence in America. Once you’ve experienced the pain and

The Guillermo family buried its dead last week. In a bit of justice for my 26-year-old cousin Stephen, thank goodness I checked my email during the funeral. Dr. Sophie Clavier, his advisor at San Francisco State, had informed me the school would grant his degree in International Relations posthu

We all know how elusive justice can be. But just try seeking it after a family member has been murdered–a victim of gun violence. Amisi Kachepa, the self-professed killer of my cousin, 26-year old Stephen Guillermo, was released from San Francisco County jail this week. The SF District Attorney Geo

Let’s not bury the lead. I already have to bury the dead. Stephen Guillermo, 26, my first cousin, once removed, was shot and murdered in his apartment building early Saturday morning after a night on the town with friends in San Francisco. There’s no crime being drunk if you’re responsible enoug

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Is everybody AAPI? Perhaps not, especially if we are forced to revisit the Vincent Chin murder reinterpreted by someone who is not Asian and was not a direct participant in any of the events of June 19, 1982. But it happened this week, and it

With his media conference in New York on Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver elevated his game for America. There was much talk that this would be a defining moment for the league. How about society? By his actions, Silver was more than just NBA Commissioner. He was the country’s de facto Race,

A strike? Boycott? Talk of a union? Not exactly what you’d expect to hear from a humble Nepalese sherpa. But these days, the Sherpa wants to be seen more as an elite mountaineer and less of a lowly manservant/mule. Indeed, if Twitter were around during Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic scaling of Mt.

If you love petitions, the initiative process, and direct democracy, you’ll love the latest U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Schuette. The Supreme Court didn’t negate affirmative action in its 6-2 opinion in Schuette, Attorney General of Michigan v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration a

First, the good news of Good Friday, at least in terms of Asian American firsts. In a small town in California, the first Hmong American judge in the nation will be sworn in. Paul Lo will take the bench as a Superior Court judge in Merced County in California’s Central Valley, where more than a thi

Tired of that old positive stereotype? You know, the “Model Minority”? If you are, then the FBI sting operation involving California State Senator Leland Yee and 28 others is something of a godsend. The case is an all-encompassing model minority buster. Don’t care much for the “good at math” ster

Here’s when I last saw California State Senator Leland Yee. I was the emcee of a community event at the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco last October, and Yee was the featured speaker. The event honored the day the U.S. landed on Leyte during World War II, when General Douglas MacArthur and Fi

Grace Lee Boggs rolls onto the big screen with the aid of her senior hybrid (a walker with wheels!), gazing at an old ruin of a Detroit auto plant–a relic of America’s failed industrial past. But next to all that historical doom, Grace stands alive and well, a triumph of her humanistic vision. G

For a change, there’s a movement to restore affirmative action, and not to end it. Unfortunately, because of some short-sighted Asian Americans, SCA 5 may die before it can get to the electorate. SCA 5 is Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 5, which seeks to overturn Proposition 209 in California.

“12 Years a Slave” won an Oscar for Best Picture, but don’t think that we’ve entered some enlightened period of post-racial bliss. You saw proof of that if you caught the Oscar-worthy performances for “best racist smear campaign, in a supporting or lead role” this week, as the U.S. Senate considere

Arthur Chu won’t be on “Jeopardy” this weekend. Like most of America, he’ll be watching the Academy Awards. Just don’t ask him a hypothetical question like “Oscar Nominees for $2000.” I stumped him. Chu doesn’t know. “’12 Years a Slave’ nominated?” he asked. The 30-year-old champ has an excuse.

By now, you should know that Asian Americans are the xenophobes’ delight. And if I didn’t have the “Day of Remembrance” to recall the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, my binge watching of “House of Cards” confirms it. It’s our natural condition to be seen as “foreigners.” A