#182 Alien Land Bills; A Fresh Start? AANHPI History Act; Hinton/AI; Gang Chen NAS Fellow

In This Issue #182

• Latest Developments on Discriminatory Alien Land Bills

• A Fresh Start: Safeguarding People, Rights, and Research Amid US-China Competition

• Teaching Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act Reintroduced

• Artificial Intelligence - Challenge of the 21st Century

• MIT Professor Gang Chen Elected Fellow of National Academy of Sciences

Latest Developments on Discriminatory Alien Land BillsOn May 14, 2023, U.S. Rep. Al Green and Haipei Shue, President of United Chinese Americans (UCA), appeared on MSNBC's Politics Nation (video 7:28) hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton and spoke against discriminatory Texas and Florida alien land bills.Rep. Green announced the joint introduction with Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, federal legislation to preempt state alien land laws.  "States should not be in the business of deciding who can buy land based on citizenship," Rep. Green said. "States should not be allowed to develop foreign policy.  The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is better suited for this."

On May 13, 2023, the Texas Multicultural Advocacy Coalition (TMAC), with the support of Rep. Al Green, organized a Civil Rights Town Hall in Houston. The primary objective of the town hall was to unite multicultural organizations and individuals against the racist and xenophobic Senate Bill 147 and the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) school board. These actions are detrimental to communities of color: SB 147 threatens the right to property ownership, and the HISD takeover imperils access to quality education and equal opportunities.On May 13, 2023, UCA and partner groups organized a webinar to talk about the alarming developments of alien land bills in Florida and Texas, bringing together elected officials and community leaders from different states, whose courageous efforts have either stopped such bills or greatly reduced the harm such bills would cause. Five panelists told the story of how Chinese communities fight the discriminatory land bills in Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, Florida, and Georgia: What they did, how they did it, and the lessons learned.A recent count shows that at least 27 states have introduced such alien land legislations - a few have passed and most are pending or have failed under the current or expired legislative sessions.  Subject to additional verification and validation, the 27 states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 

We seek your help as a crowdsourcing campaign for the most up-to-date information at your states about these legislative developments, which is expected to expand or continue in the future.  Please let us know by sending your message to contact@apajustice.org 

A Fresh Start: Safeguarding People, Rights, and Research Amid US-China Competition

The Hoover Institution, the Asian American Scholar Forum, and the Committee of 100 will hold an event on "A Fresh Start: Safeguarding People, Rights, and Research Amid US-China Competition" on Tuesday June 6, 2023, from 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PT at Hauck Auditorium and on Zoom. Intensifying US-China competition has put American colleges and universities–and specifically researchers, scientists, and scholars of Asian heritage–under a microscope. Against a backdrop of rising anti-Asian hate, recent efforts to protect US technology and research have resulted in pain and mistrust and infringed on civil rights and civil liberties.In this event, leaders from Committee of 100, a non-profit organization of prominent Chinese Americans, and the Asian American Scholar Forum will join Hoover fellows to consider what went wrong, and explore how to work together to advance international collaboration and uphold civil rights and civil liberties while safeguarding America’s leadership in research, science, and technology and its other vital national interests.In November 2018, the Hoover Institution released a report titled "China's Influence & American Interests: Promoting Constructive Vigilance."  It coincided with the launch of the now-defunct "China Initiative" by the Department of Justice under the Trump Administration.Register for the event in person or via Zoom at: https://hvr.co/44Y319A

Teaching Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act Reintroduced

According to AsAmNews on May 12, 2023, U.S. Senator Mazie Hirano (D-HI) along with Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) have both reintroduced legislation in Congress to encourage the teaching of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history in public schools nationwide.The Teaching Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History Act would increase awareness of this history so that more students would become aware of the contributions of AANHPI to the United States.  The Act falls short of mandating the teaching of this history. Nearly 20 states have mandated the teaching of AANHPI curriculum in their schools. However, many of these states have not included funding for this requirement-leaving some wondering how the requirement would be implemented.Read the AsAmNews report: https://bit.ly/3W0cyJk

Artificial Intelligence - Challenge of the 21st Century

Credit: https://bit.ly/42PnMT2According to MIT Technology Review on May 2, 2023, Geoffrey Hinton is a pioneer of deep learning who helped develop some of the most important techniques at the heart of modern artificial intelligence (AI), but after a decade at Google, he is stepping down to focus on new concerns he now has about AI.  Stunned by the capabilities of new large language models like GPT-4, Hinton wants to raise public awareness of the serious risks that he now believes may accompany the technology he ushered in.    Hinton says that the new generation of large language models—especially GPT-4, which OpenAI released in March—has made him realize that machines are on track to be a lot smarter than he thought they would be. And he is scared about how that might play out.  Read the MIT Technology Review report: https://bit.ly/42BkeEu

According to the New York Times on May 1, 2023, Dr. Hinton’s journey from AI groundbreaker to doomsayer marks a remarkable moment for the technology industry at perhaps its most important inflection point in decades. Industry leaders believe the new AI systems could be as important as the introduction of the web browser in the early 1990s and could lead to breakthroughs in areas ranging from drug research to education.But gnawing at many industry insiders is a fear that they are releasing something dangerous into the wild. Generative AI can already be a tool for misinformation. Soon, it could be a risk to jobs. Somewhere down the line, tech’s biggest worriers say, it could be a risk to humanity.Read the New York Times report at https://nyti.ms/3M5czqRThe good, bad, and ugly of nuclear science were arguably the biggest challenge of humankind for the 20th century.  Artificial intelligence may be its equivalent in the 21st century.We asked ChatGPT: What is the Sherry Chen Legal Defense Fund? The answer:

The Sherry Chen Legal Defense Fund is a fund established to support the legal defense of Sherry Chen, a former employee of the National Weather Service who was falsely accused of espionage in 2014. Chen, who is a Chinese-American, was accused of passing sensitive information to the Chinese government, but the charges were later dropped after it was revealed that there was no evidence to support the accusations.Following the charges, Chen faced significant legal fees and other expenses associated with defending herself against the false accusations. To support her legal defense, the Sherry Chen Legal Defense Fund was established in 2014 with the goal of raising funds to help cover Chen's legal expenses.The fund was supported by a wide range of individuals and organizations, including members of the Asian American community, civil rights organizations, and others who were concerned about the impact of false accusations and racial profiling on individuals and communities.While the charges against Chen were eventually dropped, the case drew attention to broader issues of racial profiling and discrimination against Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans. The Sherry Chen Legal Defense Fund was an important initiative that sought to address these issues by providing support to Chen and raising awareness about the impact of false accusations and discrimination on individuals and communities.

MIT Professor Gang Chen Elected Fellow of National Academy of Sciences

On May 2, 2023, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced the election of 120 members and 23 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.  MIT Professor Gang Chen is among the scientists elected. According to a statement by the Asian American Scholar Forum, Dr. Chen is the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is a pioneer in nanoscale heat transfer and energy conversion.  Dr. Chen’s work on cubic boron arsenide as a superior semiconductor was chosen as Physics World Top 10 Breakthrough in 2022. His directional solvent extraction and thermally charged batteries technologies were highlighted by the Scientific American as its annual top 10 World Changing ideas in 2012 and 2014, and his work on high performance thermoelectric materials won a R&D 100 award. Dr. Chen is an academician of Academia Sinica, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Chen was arrested in January 2021 and accused of failing to disclose ties to China under the now-defunct "China Initiative."  It led to the "We Are All Gang Chen" movement in the Asian American and scientific communities.  His case was dismissed in January 2022.  Read more about Dr. Chen's case at: https://bit.ly/APAJ_GangChen 

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