Hmong-American runs for Sacramento City Council and Affirmative Action: Your AAPI newsletter
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Hope the Labor Day long weekend treated you well.
It is Wednesday, Sept. 4, and this is The Sacramento Bee’s fifth AAPI weekly newsletter brought to you by yours truly.
Here’s a recap on the stories I recently covered and issues I’m following:
Sacramento City Unified school board member Mai Vang announced her candidacy Monday for the Sacramento City Council in 2020. Calling herself a proud resident, Vang said she hopes to improve the quality of life for south Sacramento residents. She said she hopes to focus on youth policies and neighborhood equity, and to ensure the community gets its share of resources.
Vang was elected to the Sacramento City Unified School District board in 2016. She also worked for four years as the community affairs director for Sacramento City Councilman Larry Carr, who currently holds the District 8 seat and is not seeking re-election.
In other news, read this deep dive into the context and complexities of affirmative action in The New York Times piece on “Where does affirmative action leave Asian-Americans?” The piece includes questions to ask oneself when thinking about the debate and voices of numerous Asian students and what they think could be the first step towards a solution.
Huffington Post’s Fighting Drug Addiction in Asian American communities highlights how cultural stigma and shame and the lack of knowledge is why Asian Americans do not access psychotherapy or counseling, and that outreach and maintaining a highly visible presence in communities are key solutions to providing help to addicts.
Did I ever mention AAPI Data? It is run by a group of researchers who strive to make policy research and demographic data on AAPI more accessible. Links to various data reports and demographics are available on their website. Follow them on twitter @AAPIdata.
For good stuff in Sacramento, a unique event is happening this Saturday at the California Museum – a concert reading of a solo play “Hold These Truths” by Jeanne Sakata. The story is inspired by the life of Gordon Hirabayashi, a University of Washington student who fought the government’s order to forcibly remove and mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast during World War II in Seattle. Actor Ryan Yu will be playing Hirabayashi. Get your tickets from the Abas Law Foundation.
Make sure you don’t miss the conference at UC Davis about “Equity Through Ethnic Studies: 50 Years of Fighting for Educational Justice” organized by the Filipino American Educators Association of California from Sept. 27 to 30. The conference will address topics such as the Filipino American Studies curriculum and addressing challenges to budget cuts in public education.
APAPA’s 2019 Voter’s Forum is coming up on Sept. 28 at Sacramento State University Union, providing a neutral platform for candidates running for office to discuss issues affecting local and statewide communities with the public. It is organized by community leaders free and open to the public.
That’s it for this week’s newsletter. For tips, please send to tyu@sacbee.com. Can’t wait to hear from you. Thanks for reading!