A diversity effort I agree with: Fred Korematsu Day

People who encounter me elsewhere (e.g. at Prometheus6) know I retain a certain cynicism over "diversity efforts" writ large. I dislike those that try to leave our collective checkered past unexamined. I like those with an atonement factor, in which government openly acknowledges past wrongdoing. This is one of the latter.

Fred Korematsu Day a first for an Asian American

Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Ines Trinh scanned her class of 29 fifth-graders in San Lorenzo on Friday and took a deep breath. It was time to make the lesson personal.

"Just imagine, you're told to leave your home, you've got to pack up and you have only two suitcases for everything," Trinh told them. The Lorenzo Manor Elementary schoolkids' eyes widened. "I want you to think about it. How would you feel?"

Ten hands shot up. "Mad," said the first boy. "Sad," said a girl. "Insulted ... guilty ... lonely ... disgusted," intoned others.

Trinh smiled. Sixty-nine years after U.S. soldiers herded 120,000 Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II, she was able in one moment to make her young charges gain a new understanding of racial discrimination in America - and it was all really thanks to one man.

That man is Fred Korematsu.

Sunday is his day in California, the first in U.S. history to be officially named after an Asian American, and more than 500 teachers like Trinh are using it to tell elementary and high school students about his life and its landmark place in the annals of civil rights.

Under-the-radar racism in Oakland

To be fair, this was not under the radar for Oakland residents, just for me-- being several hours away, and darn careful when I go to the Bay Area anymore, down to obeying parking regulations. People who know me well are aware that I sometimes extrapolate from seemingly very small matters (butterfly flaps its wings) and wonder if they are indicators of larger effects (gale force winds halfway around the world).

The butterfly in this case is the selective enforcement, by socioeconomic neighborhood, of parking regulations in Oakland. Some of us may not be surprised at the practice of enforcing the law strictly in some zip codes, while treating offenses more lightly in others. (We could use drug law disparities as a prime example. There's nothing less impressive than sanctimonious pot-smoking suburbanites telling urban folk not to use drugs.) In this case... well, let the pullquote speak for itself:

Parking enforcement officers who shed light on the practice in The Chronicle on Thursday alleged that the policy of not ticketing cars in the two Oakland hills neighborhoods led to fines being leveled disproportionately against poor, black and Latino people in the flatlands.

What gets me is that someone-- say, a city administrator-- (a) thought it was a good idea, and (b) thought they could get away with it based on spurious comments at an Oakland city council meeting.

Oooh! ® ...Okay, here's the lead-in:

Oakland ends unequal ticketing, officials say

Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, February 26, 2010

Oakland officials said Thursday they have stopped the unequal practice of issuing tickets for certain violations in some neighborhoods while issuing courtesy notices in others.

City Administrator Dan Lindheim said that people who were cited for the violations in question during a four-month period from July 24 to Nov. 12 - when the city says the practice ended - may be able to get their tickets voided on a case-by-case basis.

The announcements came in response to an article in The Chronicle on Thursday, which exposed an internal city memorandum that directed parking officers to issue tickets to cars parked in the wrong direction or on sidewalks anywhere in the city except for two wealthy neighborhoods - Montclair and Broadway Terrace. Cars in those neighborhoods were not tagged but instead received courtesy notices when they violated either of two parking laws.

The British taught us everything we know about child labor

When Prometheus 6 pointed out the ABC News story about child labor used to harvest U.S. blueberry crops, I did what we so often do. I expressed momentary outrage, made a comment on his blog, and went to the next issue. Child labor as known in the U.S. would certainly go to the back burner after the Nightline video aired on October 30th.

Now, what would trump migrant child labor in the U.S.? How about the British and Australian governments doing the same to their very own kids who are British citizens?

As they were compulsorily shipped out of Britain, many of the children were told - wrongly - their parents were dead, and that a more abundant life awaited them.

Many parents did not know their children, aged as young as three, had been sent to Australia.

Care agencies worked with the government to send disadvantaged children to a rosy future and supply what was deemed "good white stock" to a former colony.

If you want a bit of irony (and I'm sure you do) I'd like you to meet Baroness Amos, Britain's high commissioner in Canberra as she explains the forthcoming official apologies from the British and Australian PMs. (I'm not great at manually embedding video that doesn't want to be embedded, so please click through below.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8361208.stm

Wow.

I can't see them saying no to THESE honorary degrees

CSU Trustees Consider Granting Degrees to WWII Internees


Honorary degrees may be issued to hundreds of former CSU students of Japanese ancestry interned under presidential order in the 1940s

Nisei students, interned during WWII, to receive honorary CSU degrees. Call 562 951-4723

(September 10, 2009) - The California State University Board of Trustees will consider granting hundreds of honorary degrees to former students forced from their academic studies due to the internment of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Federal Executive Order 9066, clearing the way for military leaders to set up an "exclusion zone" which encompassed all of California. More than 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants in this zone were forcibly relocated to camps.

By some historical accounts, nearly 250 Americans of Japanese descent were students attending CSU campuses when the order for removal was issued. Campuses established by 1942 include Chico, Fresno, Humboldt, Pomona, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San José and the California Maritime Academy. While records show some students went on to receive a university degree, many did not.

"Hundreds of students were removed from colleges and universities, forced to delay or abandon their dreams based solely on their ancestry," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "The internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants during WWII represents the worst of a nation driven by fear and prejudice. By issuing honorary degrees, we hope to achieve a small right in the face of such grave wrongs."

On September 23, 2009, the Educational Policy Committee will vote on conferring the honorary degrees. The item will then be considered by the full CSU Board of Trustees. All former CSU students whose studies were interrupted due to the internment may be eligible for the honorary degrees. Surviving family members may receive the honorary degree in recognition of a deceased student.

The California State University is asking for public assistance in identifying individuals who qualify for the honorary degree. Former CSU Students (or families of students) whose studies were interrupted due to the internment are urged to call (562) 951-4723, Nisei@calstate.edu

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