The turnaround in our local economy that we all wished for in 2011 didn’t occur. If you’re like me, you’re apprehensive about 2012. Cuts to federal, state and city government budgets seem to continually loom over us, affecting our lives one way or another. Politicians and elected officials point fingers at each other and at [...]
If you haven’t been following the web blog, You Offend Me You Offend My Family crew ( www.youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com ), then there’s a small storm of controversy brewing over an article written by Sung Kang over CBS’ travesty of a show, “Two Broke Girls.” We can scream online all day WITH ALL CAPS regarding the racial [...]
The Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to close the ID office at 675 South Lane Street (and also at 901 Lenora Street) next Spring, and open a new office on the 9th Floor of the Jackson Federal Building, 915 Second Avenue, to replace them. Community organizations and Congressman Jim McDermott have raised strong concerns about access to the new location [...]
Like a lot of other business owners, I am always looking for ways to get more customers in the door. Recession or no recession, when more people know you’re there and what you have to offer, it’s a lot better than being silent and expecting people to come and buy something. Obviously, in retail, we [...]
Left to right: Morm Nhim, Ken Chheng Lang, State Senator Steve Conway, Phouk Hoeung, Rithy Morm. The women represent textile, building trades and hotel/tourism unions, as well as the Cambodia Women’s Movement Organization. On July 28, the Washington Fair Trade Coalition held a press conference to close the loop on the global apparel supply chain. [...]
I have spent 20 years working on public safety issues with the community and Seattle Police Department in the Chinatown/International District. We battle typical urban drug and crime problems as an urban neighborhood. I have learned fighting these problems demands constant vigilance and diligence on the part of the entire community. The cycle of negative [...]
Trapped in abusive relationships with nowhere to go, many women find few alternatives to that life or feel forced to remain with the abuser. A nonprofit started by Au Nguyen, 31, provides the escape for these domestic abuse victims and their children. The organization is committed to connecting people in need of transitional housing with [...]
Seven times each year, in the classes of college or university students, I distribute Keiji Nakazawa’s autobiographical comic book about how he witnessed the bombing of Hiroshima, “I Saw It” (originally “Ore wa Mita”). Then I show them Nakazawa’s feature-length animated film “Barefoot Gen” (originally “Hadashi no Gen”), which he adapted from his epic-length manga [...]
By Caitlin Fuller IE Contributor New America Media www.newamericamedia.org Last month, Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the Legal Workforce Act, which would require employers to verify their employees’ legal immigration status using the online program E-Verify. While proponents of the program believe the resulting loss of jobs will compel undocumented workers to return to their [...]
“There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be [...]
After working in the International District/Chinatown for 20 years and studying other Asian ethnic neighborhoods, I know developing the ID into a more economic vibrant neighborhood demands community collaboration and creativity. The new economic reality places more urgency on the ID to create effective economic development efforts that ensure the preservation of our historic cultural [...]
The most significant introduction I received soon after coming to the United States was to the world of literature. I was immediately smitten and my eyes could not stop scanning page after page of barely recognizable words. What little I was able to understand still conjured up amazing sights and sounds I had never experienced [...]
BY RINKU SEN IE Contributor ColorLines.com The Supreme Court issued its decision in the Dukes v. Wal-Mart sex discrimination case yesterday, a frustrating ruling that doesn’t challenge the existence of bias, but that exempts the company from accountability. The case highlights the difficulty of addressing discrimination at a time when intentional bias is both illegal [...]
BY TAMMY NGUYEN & KRYSTN JOY IE Contributor You can’t open a newspaper or turn on the radio these days without hearing about the healthy food crisis in America. Children – especially children from low income families – are too fat, we’re told. But who are we to blame? Poor moms and pops of color [...]
BY Bob Shimabukuro IE Contributor “Who knows what a Writ of Coram Nobis is?” Attorney Peggy Nagae asked at the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association western regional conference June 4 in Portland. Only one person raised their hand. The attendees were mostly lawyers 5 or fewer years out of law school, so most were [...]
By Frank Viviano New America Media www.newamericamedia.org Arizona, for Americans, has come to symbolize anti-immigrant hysteria codified into law. Under its highly controversial terms, anyone who simply “appears” to be foreign can be stopped by police and ordered to prove that they are U.S. citizens or legal residents. In Europe, Arizona arrived a generation ago [...]
Easter marked the 41st Anniversary of Earth Day. Earth Day was celebrated for the first time on April 22, 1970. In that inaugural year, 20 million people participated in the United States. Today, it is projected that more than 1 billion people in 180 countries celebrate Earth Day. Coloring the Green Movement Everywhere we turn we are bombarded [...]
This Letter to the Editor is in response to an Quang Nguyen’s article, “Yesler Terrace Re-Development Will Have No Impact on the ID?“ People who work at Harborview occasionally make the trip to Little Saigon or the International District to enjoy opportunities for lunch and specialty shopping. Making the trip on foot requires some round-about route [...]
There are 561 “public housing” units at Yesler Terrace all serving households, especially families whose incomes are at or below 30 percent of the area median. For seventy years, Yesler Terrace, located on the southern slope of First Hill, neighboring the International District, has provided a safe affordable haven for thousands of families—including low-income people, [...]
In recent months, democracy movements in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya have captivated our interest. Closer to home, we’re also paying attention to Wisconsin and Ohio and other states where public employees and their unions are being scapegoated as a rationale for cuts in pay, benefits and the workforce itself. Make no mistake, this is [...]
I can understand why many people in Seattle are angry that Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk will not be charged with murder. If you or I intentionally shot and killed someone who was not an immediate threat to us, we would be charged with murder or at the very least manslaughter. But the law treats [...]
“As we have said from the beginning of this unrest, the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people. But the United States has also been clear that we stand for a set of core principles. We believe that the universal rights of the Egyptian people must be respected, and their aspirations must [...]
According to the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA), there would be no “significant adverse impact” on the Chinatown/International District due to the re-development of Yesler Terrace. To be more accurate, SHA completely leaves out any mention of impacts on Chinatown/ID in its recent voluminous Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). This document comprises of 2 volumes, and [...]
It was a peculiar feeling last week to lean on my unremarkable upbringing while Amy Chua’s parenting memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” became a national pseudo-controversy. I grew up the youngest of three Chinese-American kids to two U.S.-born parents in San Francisco, where Chinese Americans are the largest ethnic community in a city [...]
