ACC Senior Services fundraiser + First Filipino American AG in California: Your AAPI newsletter

It is Thursday, April 29, 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:

Thirty-five years ago, Asian Community Center Senior Services relied on bingo nights to raise money to build the massive senior living complex in Sacramento’s Pocket neighborhood.

This year, they’ll be turning to a virtual telethon on May 6 for Big Day of Giving featuring live entertainment from community figures such as former California legislative aide Maeley Tom and CNN journalist Lisa Ling. All the money raised from this year’s telethon will go towards reopening services ACC had to cut back during the pandemic, such as transportation, exercise classes and guitar lessons.

“We can help people retain their dignity and remain independent,” said Darrick Lam, ACC Senior Services president.

In years past, ACC Senior Services would have relied on several in-person fundraisers to raise the funding they need for tailored services like door-to-door transportation and cooking classes. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made holding all those events impossible, making Big Day of Giving more crucial than ever to keep the center afloat.

The event, which runs from noon to 5 p.m., will showcase performances from local groups like Gracious Ladies O Kehaula’i Hula, workout classes and even a fashion show on Polynesian clothing. Viewers can access the event via Facebook Live, YouTube and Zoom.

In April 1987, ACC’s first nursing home was opened to the public. Since then, ACC has been pursuing different ways to enrich its senior citizens’ lives since. For instance, ACC meals are served with actual place settings and chinaware instead of plastic trays and cloth napkins instead of bibs. Seniors are seated in tables of four to encourage socializing and they can choose their entrees at each meal.

They’ve also been able to offer classes for older adults and active retirees like line dancing, wellness education classes and singing lessons. And one of ACC’s most popular services is door-to-door transportation for things like shopping trips and doctor appointments.

“One might wonder why a nonprofit like ACC needs to do fundraising,” Lam said. “The key thing is that those sponsorships will only be able to cover a certain percentage of our operations … We recently applied for a $195,000 grant for ACC rideshares. But the total cost of operations is over $700,000. That’s still a gap of half a million to operate the program.”

It’s programs like these that ACC has had to curb or modify for the pandemic, pivoting to things like online cooking demonstrations and Zoom yoga workshops — which has made Big Day of Giving crucial to raising the funds it needs.

California lawmakers last week approved the state’s first Filipino American to hold the top law enforcement job in the nation’s most populous state, saying the progressive Democrat is taking office during a critical debate over racial justice and the changing role of police.

Rob Bonta becomes California’s second attorney general of Asian descent, after Kamala Harris. Harris’ rise to U.S. senator and now vice president illustrates the prominence of the job.

“It’s the right choice at the right time,” said Democratic Sen. Dave Min. “Our Asian American community is experiencing unprecedented levels of hate and violence. We’ve seen at the same time that our state and nation are grappling with a wide array of challenges on racial unrest, domestic terrorism, a surge in gun violence, and the need for meaningful law enforcement reforms.”

Bonta will be up for election with other statewide officials next year. Bonta will be responsible for enforcing laws that the Legislature has recently enacted “through the lens of racial equity,” Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner said, including a law requiring his office to investigate police shootings that result in the deaths of unarmed civilians.

Bonta said after his confirmation that he views the attorney general as “the people’s attorney.”

“To fight for everyday folks, the vulnerable, the voiceless, the disadvantaged, those who need a champion, those who are hurting, being abused, and to push back and fight back against those in power who are overreaching that power or abusing that power,” he said. “That’s the job.”

In other news

• How Alameda-born actor Taylor Takahashi fell into the starring role of ‘Boogie’ (San Francisco Chronicle)
• An Asian man said a firefighter attacked him. It sparked a reckoning in small-town Arkansas. (The Washington Post)
• Suspect Charged With Hate Crime After Brutal Attack on Asian Man in Harlem (The New York Times)
• Bernie Wong, founder of the Chinese American Service League, dies: ‘We’ve really lost an advocate and trailblazer’ (Chicago Tribune)
• How to un-model a minority: A micro-syllabus on Asian American politics (The Washington Post)
• My Farm’s CSA Has Become a Refuge for Asian Americans (Bon Appetit)

• Southern California man charged with hate crime in attack on elderly Asian couple (NBC News)

• She couldn’t eradicate anti-Asian hate crimes. So she made a handbook on how to fight them (Los Angeles Times)

• Opinion: I’d be reveling in Asians’ success at the Oscars if I weren’t so concerned for our safety (The Washington Post)

This week in AAPI pop culture

Well folks, it looks like we have to talk about the Oscars.

The lowest bars were finally cleared Sunday night as Chloe Zhao became the first woman of color, the first Asian woman and the second woman ever to win the Academy Award for Best Directing. Zhao, who won for her film “Nomadland,” was born in Beijing before moving to Los Angeles as a teenager.

Youn Yuh-Jung, whose skin is literal perfection, also won for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Minari,” making her the first actor of Korean descent to win an Academy Award for acting. Her acceptance speech was pure poetry: “I’d like to thank my two boys who made me go out and work. So, beloved sons ... this is the result, because Mommy worked so hard.”

And although people interpreted her crack at Brad Pitt — “Where were you when we were filming in Tulsa?” — as an attempt to hit on him, her Korean-language interviews following her win revealed that she actually meant it as a dig. Pitt wasn’t present for a single day of shooting for “Minari” despite the fact that his production company, Plan B, was backing the film. (Pitt also mispronounced her name while presenting her with the award. Another reason to add him to her red ledger.)

Let’s not get into the many, many reasons why this year’s Academy Awards ceremony was a complete disaster. (Although it wouldn’t be facetious to say that the awards show producers attempted to exploit late actor Chadwick Boseman’s death for drama and eyeballs, only for the decision to blow up in their face.)

If there’s one thing the gaffes of this year’s ceremony prove, it’s that representation should never be confused for actual social change. Representation doesn’t mean much when it happens within the bounds of an institution like The Academy, which has spent countless more decades excluding marginalized communities rather than celebrating them. It certainly is no indication of a drop in anti-Asian racism, especially as the number of hate crimes continues to swell.

But I think we can hold these two truths in our heads. We can be happy for the infinitesimal wins of Zhao and Youn — and the nominations of Riz Ahmed, Steven Yeun and Lee Isaac Chung, for that matter — while also recognizing that the effects of winning an Oscar can’t be felt outside that rarefied show business bubble.

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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