Sacramento remembers DJ Market owner + Davis Gandhi statue torn down: Your AAPI newsletter
It is Thursday, Feb. 4, and this is The Sacramento Bee’s AAPI weekly newsletter.
Here’s a recap of the stories I’ve covered and ones I’m following:
Dozens of Sacramento residents gathered in person and online through Facebook Live outside DJ Market in midtown Saturday evening to commemorate the life of store owner Chue “Calvin” Yang, who died Jan. 26.
Yang was just one week shy of his 61st birthday when he passed away from a heart attack while working in his store. His loss was felt keenly and immediately by the community, who set up a GoFundMe for his family and filled the gates on his store with cards, flowers and balloons.
On Saturday, Yang’s customers and family members held a vigil for Yang outside the store at 24th and I streets where he had spent the last 20 years working seven days a week, 12 to 13 hours a day. The crowd swelled to about 60 people, spilling out over the sidewalk and into the street.
“My father loved each and every one of you guys here,” said Kou, Yang’s second son, speaking to the crowd.
One customer named Chris, who did not provide a last name, said Yang always made sure to keep the building’s back light on for his sister, who lived just upstairs from the store, so she wouldn’t have to walk through a dark alley to come home at night. He even turned one of his security cameras to face her door, Chris said, just to provide an extra layer of safety.
“He was a very selfless man,” he said. “He was here for all of us.”
“He’s a fixture, and it’s just crazy that we’ll never see him again,” said Rachelle Barbour, a longtime customer.
A statue of Mahatma Gandhi that has generated controversy in Davis’ Sikh community for several years was ripped from its base in Davis’ Central Park last week.
According to Deputy Chief Paul Doroshov of the Davis Police Department, the statue, broken off at the ankles and the top half of its head broken off, was found by a park worker around 9 a.m. on Jan. 27. Investigators are still unsure of when exactly the statue was torn down or what the motive may have been.
“Seeing as it’s a cultural icon to a portion of the people in Davis, we are taking it very seriously,” Doroshov said. “If anybody from the public has any information as to who did this and why, we’d really like to hear from them.”
The 6-foot-3, 650-pound bronze Gandhi Statue of Peace has stood in the park since 2016. It was a gift from the Indian government. But its installation was met with protests and outrage from Sikh residents and activists, who have accused Gandhi of genocide, racism and molestation.
In a statement, the California Sikh Youth Alliance board of directors said it did not support how the statue was removed, but added it opposes monuments that lionize Gandhi.
“After CSYA and hundreds of Davis residents lobbied to remove Gandhi’s statue, it seems like frustrations have come to a boiling point,” the statement read. “Whilst we want to make it clear that we do not condone such behavior, there is no disputing Gandhi represents racism, anti-Blackness and is a blatant affront to Davis’s values.”
Rep. Ami Bera was reelected on Thursday to serve once again as the chairman of the U.S. House of Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and Nonproliferation.
“I am honored to be elected to serve again as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation,” the Elk Grove Democrat said in a statement Thursday. “Asia continues to be the most consequential region for American foreign policy, as our economy and national security are intrinsically linked to this region.”
Bera was first elected to lead the subcommittee in December 2019. Bera has also served on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights, as well as the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea and chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.
“There are many pressing challenges that Congress must work to address, from an authoritarian China and a provocative North Korea, to the receding of democracy and human rights across the region,” Bera said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Subcommittee and the Biden Administration to tackle these problems, restore American global leadership, and rebuild our alliances in Asia and the Pacific.”
In other news
Most U.S. citizens report a campaign contacted them in 2020, but Latinos and Asians less likely to say so (Pew Research Center)
Millennial and Gen Z Buddhists created an online forum to explore their identity (The Washington Post)
Corky Lee, photographer who captured Asian America, dies while fighting COVID-19 (Los Angeles Times)
Chloé Zhao is the first woman of Asian descent to land a Golden Globe directing nod (Los Angeles Times)
Filipino Residents Have Been Hit Hard by COVID – But No One Knows Just How Hard (Voice of San Diego)
‘I Was a Simple Man’: Constance Wu, Christopher Yogi on Hawaii’s Indie Film Community (The Hollywood Reporter)
The Many Lives of Steven Yeun (The New York Times Magazine)
Essay: Chinese Culture Doesn’t Belong to the Chinese Government (The Wall Street Journal)
Essay: Chronicles of a Bubble-Tea Addict (The New Yorker)
This week in AAPI pop culture
Calling all Asian American dancers and musicians: The Asian American Arts Alliance announced two new fellowship opportunities Monday, and they’re open to all dancers or musicians of AAPI descent who are 30 or under.
The 2021 Jadin Wong Fellowship and the 2021 Van Lier Fellowship awardees will each receive a $6,000 cash stipend and career support such as professional development training and mentoring sessions. Applicants will be evaluated based on the artistic quality of their work, the impact they hope to make on New York City’s artistic community, and the projects they intend to create as a result of their fellowship opportunity.
Guidelines for submissions to the Van Lier Fellowship for music performance and composition or the Jadin Wong Fellowship for dance are on the A4 website.
According to the website, applicants are strongly encouraged to attend one of the online information sessions before applying. The information session for the 2021 Jadin Wong Fellowship will be held on Tuesday, February 23 from 9 to 10 a.m. Pacific; the information session for the 2021 Van Lier Fellowship will be held on Wednesday, February 24 from 9 to 10 a.m. Pacific.
The deadline for submissions is Sunday, March 21 at 8:59 p.m. Pacific. Winners will be announced in late April 2021. Go go go go!
Got a story suggestion? Please reach out to me at awong@sacbee.com.
That’s it for this week’s newsletter. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
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