Minn. CBS affiliate WCCO airs erroneous report about Chinese shop selling dog meat; Asians ask for apology and retraction

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Last week an over-eager reporter for WCCO, the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, aired a “gotcha” investigative piece about a local puppy mill that had apparently shipped dogs to a meat shop in New York City’s Chinatown, where the intrepid reporter, James Schugel, got a clerk to say on the record that they do indeed sell dog as food.

The only problem was, the clerk thought Schugel was saying “duck” (and anyone who’s been in any Chinatown knows there are lots and lots of ducks hanging in the windows of every butcher shop and restaurant), and duh, of course they sell duck. To be eaten.

No matter to Schugel, who heard what he wanted, and aired the report, which triggered a visit by health department officials who checked out the shop and decided there was not a hint of dog being sold.
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Art illuminating Colorado’s refugee communities is fundraiser for APDC

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Language of the Journey - APDC fundraiserHere are several reasons to attend this Friday’s very cool “Language of the Journey – Through the Eyes of Artists” fundraiser for the Asian Pacific Development Center.

First, the project is a showcase of artists at Metro State College’s Department of Art, led by professor Carlos Fresquez, one of Denver’s most talented veteran painters and muralists. The art reception includes over 70 pieces from painting to jewelry, all up for auction.

Second, the artwork spotlights the experiences of Colorado’s multicultural refugee communities. The artists spent time and got to know local refugees from diverse locations such as Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, Sudan and Laos. You may have read in the past year about how Bhutanese and Burmese refugees have been attacked in Colorado, a sad irony since they came here to flee the violence and repression of their home countries. Colorado has welcomed refugees from all over the world for over 30 years. According to APDC, in 2010 alone, over 1,000 refugees from Burma, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand came to Colorado.

Third, most of the proceeds from the artwork will go to the Asian Pacific Development Center. If you’re not familiar with it, APDC is a remarkable organization that’s provided culturally appropriate health and mental health and related services to the area’s Asian and Pacific Islander communities for over 30 years, including having interpreters on hand for immigrants who often have cultural values that prevent them from reaching out for help. APDC is in the midst of a capital campaign to raise $1.5 million for a new central facility to replace the three separate smaller locations the organization currently operates.

Fourth, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Colorado Senator Mark Udall are the co-hosts for “Language of the Journey – Through the Eyes of Artists,” and Hancock will be there to offer his remarks. It’s always cool to rub shoulders with Hizzoner, who follows in the footsteps of previous Mayor Hickenlooper in his support of both the arts and the Asian community.

Fifth, how can you resist the super-cool poster for this event? It has the emotional punch, dynamism and energy of classic 1950s and ’60s graphic arts with its funky type treatment and evocative upheld arm.

The event is 6:30-8:30 pm Friday, Nov. 11 at Tears-McFarlane House (1290 Williams St., Denver), which some of you may know as the headquarters for Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, the folks who bring us the Capitol Hill Peoples Fair every year. Admission is $30 and you get to enjoy not just the artwork, but live glass blowing, live body art, live music, appetizers, wine and cupcakes — you know, the usual fundraiser stuff.

Be there or be square.

Heading Far East: Traveling to Japan

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USAF plane and Mt Fuji

My father took this photo sometime in the 1950s when he was stationed in Japan with the US Army.

I panicked a couple of weeks ago when reports circulated that the Japanese government, in an effort to increase tourism, was going to give away 10,000 free trips. Then I was relieved to learn that though the Japan National Tourism Office is considering such a promotion, nothing’s been approved yet.

We’d already planned our trip and Erin and I, and my mother Junko are leaving early tomorrow for San Francisco, then on to Narita Airpot outside Tokyo, and a switch to a flight to Sapporo in the northernmost island of Hokkaido.

Seven months after the earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster hit Japan, we’re going to do the one thing that I think will help Japan the most, even more than the hundreds of dollars we’ve donated to various aid efforts.

We’re going to visit – with my mother in tow – and spend money there. Since the dollar is hurting against the yen, we’ll be spending even more money than we originally had expected.
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Anti-Chinese sentiment never seems to go away, even when the US Senate apologizes for past racism

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Arthur Dong DVD collection

It took four decades before Japanese Americans received a formal apology for the internment of 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II. The apology was part of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. The Chinese in America are still waiting for an apology from the top, 129 years after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was signed by President Chester A. Arthur.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was one of a series of laws enacted against Chinese immigrants starting in 1879 through 1904. The 1882 Exclusion Act squeezed Chinese immigration to the US to barely a trickle – and cut down rights for Chinese already in the US, for example by excluding Chinese from citizenship and therefore denying them the right to own any property. Amazingly, the act remained on the books until 1943, when it was repealed in large part because China became an ally during WWII. It remains to this day the only US legislation that singles out people by ethnicity or national origin.

On Oct. 11, with the help of organizations including the 1882 Project, JACL and OCA, the Senate passed a resolution apologizing for the Chinese Exclusion Act. Now these groups are pushing for a similar bill, House Resolution 282, to pass in the House.

Mainstream American culture goes in cycles when it comes to anti-Chinese sentiment, and we’re in one of those periods, mostly because China is ascending to its new position as one of the top world economies and that stirs up race-based xenophobia.
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Happy Birthday to the Republic of China (that’s Taiwan to you)

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100th Year Double Ten celebration

Today is the 100th anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising in China, which occurred on October 10, 1911. The date is celebrated annually as Double Ten Day in the Republic of China as the event that marked the end of dynastic rule and the close of the Qing Dynasty.

That’s the Republic of China, not the People’s Republic of China, or “Mainland China.” Double Ten Day is a national holiday for the government that is currently in exile in Taiwan.

Here’s the history: The Wuchang Uprising in 1911 led to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1912, but in 1927, the Nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT) which governed the ROC began fighting the insurgent Communist Party of China for control of the country. After World War II, during which the two parties united to fight the Japanese, the Communists led by Mao Zedong won control, and the KMT, led by General Chiang Kai-shek, went into exile on the island of Formosa — renamed Taiwan — off the southeast coast of the now-Communist People’s Republic of China.

The two Chinas have had a rocky relationship in the decades since, although economic ties have led to trade and some closing of the divide between them. But China likes to rattle its sword whenever (like recently) the U.S. offers military aid to Taiwan — even if the military aid is more symbolic than threatening.Its part of the delicate diplomatic tightrope that every country walks if it has relationships with China and Taiwan. No one can ignore the relationship, because both countries have become global economic powerhouses. If you have an iPhone or an HTC phone, or an iPad or some other brand of tablet computer, you have products made completely or in large part in either China or Taiwan.

But today, to mark the centennial of the Wuchang Uprising, China seems to have extended an olive branch across the Taiwan Strait. In Beijing, Hu Jintao said that China and Taiwan should end antagonisms, “heal wounds of the past and work together to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

For his part, Taiwan’s President Ma Yingjeou urged mainland China to embrace democracy and “face the existence” of Taiwan.

It doesn’t look like the stalemate has been ended by this exchange, although overall, the freeze has been thawing.

Colorado has an interesting connection to the Double Ten Celebration:
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