CaliToday, News Report
Compiled by Pueng Vongs, Nov 04, 2003

A Smithsonian exhibit of the World War II bomber the Enola Gay is being criticized for its failure to mention the destruction the plane caused when it dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Vietnamese Americans in California say an upcoming Oakland exhibit on the Vietnam War commits a similar crime.

California’s Vietnamese refugees are incensed and claim that the exhibit at the Oakland Art Museum scheduled for 2004 does not give them adequate representation. They are also protesting the firing of a Vietnamese American employee at the museum who spoke out against the exhibit.

The museum received a National Endowment grant for a retrospective exhibit on the Vietnam War and its impact on California. The grant stipulates that the Next Stop Vietnam exhibit should engage in a dialogue with the community, but very little of that has happened, according to Mimi Nguyen, who says she was fired after repeated efforts to call the museum's attention to the cursory representation of Vietnamese voices and experience. Instead, she says, the exhibit focuses on the experience of the U.S. veteran community and does not represent the experience of not only Vietnamese, but other Southeast Asian groups that populate California.

The complete article is available at the following link: http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=5cd7175cb57b97fb83228d2c2b286a1a

Broadcast: 10/28/2003
Compere: Tony Jones
Reporter: John Stewart

Thousands of Vietnamese protestors took part today in a demonstration outside the offices of SBS television. The demonstrators were demanding that SBS cease its broadcasts of Vietnamese news from Hanoi, which they describe as little more than communist propaganda from the one-party state. SBS says the Hanoi news service will stay.

The complete article is available at the following link: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/s977303.htm

By Gale Berkowitz

A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more.

Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis. A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research---most of it on men---upside down.

The complete article is available at the following link: http://www.avayezan.com/usla.html

By Anne Geran
6/23/2003

WASHINGTON - In its most significant statement about race in a generation, a divided Supreme Court allowed the nation's colleges and universities to select students based in part on race, ruling Monday that diverse classrooms mold good citizens and strong leaders.

The court emphasized that race cannot be the overriding factor, but a majority acknowledged a broad social value from affirmative action - in encouraging all races to learn and work together.

The complete article is available at the following link: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/6151734.htm

A program of the Rockefeller Foundation's ( http://www.rockfound.org ) Creativity & Culture Division, the Partnerships Affirming Community Transformation program is designed to support U.S.-based community cultural development projects undertaken by artists and other cultural professionals in collaboration with community members to "express identity, concerns, and aspirations through the arts and media, building cultural capacity, and contributing to social change."

In 2003, PACT seeks to develop the field of community cultural development by supporting projects that can become models for the field of community cultural development; have as an aim the strengthening of networks and sharing of knowledge among practitioners and theorists of art for social change; outline plans to supply training and/or leadership development for a new generation of community cultural development workers; and demonstrate commitment, experience, and innovation in asset-based community development. Projects selected for funding will be those that most directly and comprehensively give voice to poor and excluded people; allow cultural democracy and exchange on an equal basis; provide a critical examination of cultural values; endeavor to frame public discourse; strive to effect change at the core of society; and explore or expand the social role of the artist.

Because the PACT program is intended to encourage collaborations involving community artists and other community members, applications should outline proposed partnerships and, to the extent possible, projected roles of, and relationships with, project partners. The grant applica tion must be made by a tax-exempt organization that is a partner in the process and which acts in a fiduciary capacity as the formal grant recipient. All projects must be based in the United States.

Grant amounts will range from $10,000 to $50,000 per project per year, depending on scope and need. Support may be requested for a period of between one and three years.

Complete program guidelines and downloadable application sheets, as well as background information on the field of cultural development and lists of past and present PACT grantees, are available at the Rockefeller Foundation Web site.

Who: Members of SEARAC's Leadership Program, representatives of Southeast Asian American Advocacy Initiative, and others.

When: June 2003

Where: Washington, DC

Cost: All travel, lodging, and meal expenses provided as our limited budget allows, on a first-come, first-served basis. (Only out-of-town participants will be granted lodging. All out-of-town participants will be required to share sleeping rooms. SEARAC will make hotel reservations, but participants should make their own travel arrangements and submit reimbursement requests to SEARAC. Travel expenses must be kept below $400 except with special permission.)

Commitment Required of Participants: All participants will be expected to commit to continued involvement (of some sort) with SEARAC or some national-level organization serving Southeast Asian Americans for at least one year. This requirement is flexible, but SEARAC would like to ensure that participants develop long-lasting relationships and activities as a result of the National Training.

Along with the application form, please send a letter of interest and a copy of your resume. Applications must be postmarked by Friday, April 18, 2003. Space is strictly limited. You will be informed of SEARAC's decision by May 9, 2003.

Please contact TC Duong, SEARAC's Advocacy Initiative Project Manager, if you have any questions about this event.

TC Duong
Southeast Asian American Advocacy Initiative
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
1628 16th Street, N.W. - 3rd Floor
Washington, DC 20009-3099

Tel: (202) 667-4690
Fax: (202) 667-6449
Email: tcduong@searac.org

Website: http://www.searac.org

Press Release - March 11, 2003

Students whose families are from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam face difficulties with higher education that are unusual in many other American groups, according to a new report.

The report, titled "A Dream Denied: Educational Experiences of Southeast Asian American Youth - Issues and Recommendations," identifies the following barriers to educational achievement, among others:

Little or no access to information about higher education, while in high school;

Little access to support from counselors, teachers, and others;

Stereotyping and low expectations from educators;

Racism; and

Absence of language and history courses, active role models, and Southeast Asian teachers.

Despite the fact that Southeast Asian Americans are often thought of as part of the "model minority" and the fact that some of them excel in school, statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources demonstrate college graduation rates to be low among some of their communities - particularly those from Cambodia and Laos. High rates of school dropout are also reported in some communities.

"Many people don't realize that students from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands don't tend to fit the stereotype of the educationally advanced Asian American. This publication should help policymakers and teachers get over some of those stereotypes and provide support to students," comments Robert Underwood, former U.S. Congressman from Guam and one-time Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). Mr. Underwood remains a leader in the fight for policy changes and funding to help Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian American students reach academic achievement levels comparable to Caucasian Americans. He is now working with colleagues on a publication focused on the status of Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian Americans in higher education.

As Philip Tuong Duy Nguyen, the Chair of the Board of Directors at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) observes, "As well as showing problems, the report includes new ideas for making things better." The following recommendations are highlighted:

Mobilization and advocacy;

Parent education;

Strengthening community-based organizations and building family-community school collaboration;

Development of a scholarship program and coordinating institution;

Strengthening of the support structure in families and schools; and

Addressing the lack of language and history courses, and of active role models.

Khatharya Um, Ph.D., is the report's author. Dr. Um, a Cambodian American, serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies at the University of California-Berkeley, and produced the report in cooperation with the Berkeley Southeast Asian Student Coalition. Much of the report's information was gathered through a "Southeast Asian Youth Summit" in Berkeley in December of 2000, and through surveys conducted with students in California and Massachusetts. The publisher is SEARAC, the national organization for Americans from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Dr. Peter Kiang of the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Dr. Minh Hoa Ta of San Francisco State University, and Dr. Max Niedzwiecki of SEARAC also contributed to the report, as did the students of Dr. Kiang and Dr. Tran. The State Farm Insurance Companies provided generous financial support.

"A Dream Denied" can be downloaded through http://www.searac.org/pryd-3_11_03.html and printed copies can be ordered from SEARAC (202/667-4690). Copies are free for Southeast Asian American mutual assistance associations (MAAs), as well as people who answered surveys for the publication. For others, copies cost $5.00 plus $1.50 for shipping. ISBN: 0-9725637-0-9.

Contacts:
Khatharya Um, Ph.D.
University of California-Berkeley
510/530-5548

KaYing Yang
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
202/667-4690