#187: 6/5 Meeting; Alien Land Bills; NYT Opinion; Paula Madison; OSTP Listening Sessions

In This Issue #187

• 2023/06/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting

• Latest on Discriminatory Alien Land Bills

• Opinion: Like It or Not, America Needs Chinese Scientists

• The Inspiring Journey of an Asian American Media Trailblazer

• White House Listening Sessions with Early Career Researcher Communities and NSPM-33

023/06/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting

The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held on Monday, June 5, 2023, starting at 1:55 pm ET.  In addition to updates by Nisha Ramachandran, Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC); John Yang 杨重远, President and Executive Director, Advancing Justice | AAJC; and Gisela Perez Kusakawa, Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), speakers include:

• Elizabeth Goitein, Senior Director, Liberty & National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, on Warrantless Surveillance - Reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

• Clay Zhu 朱可亮, Partner, DeHeng Law Offices 德恒律师事务所; Founder, Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance 华美维权同盟, with updates on Civil Lawsuit Against Florida Alien Land Law, with comments by Ashley Gorski, Senior Staff Attorney, National Security Project, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Bethany Li, Legal Director, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) 

• Haipei Shue 薛海培, President, United Chinese Americans, with updates on Alien Land Bills and comments by Gene Wu 吳元之, Member of the Texas House of Representatives.

The virtual monthly meeting is by invitation only. If you wish to join, either one time or for future meetings, please contact one of the co-organizers of APA Justice - Steven Pei 白先慎, Vincent Wang 王文奎, and Jeremy Wu 胡善庆 - or send a message to contact@apajustice.org.

Latest on Discriminatory Alien Land Bills 

1.  APA Justice Updates Its Tracking of State Alien Land Bills and Laws

APA Justice updated its tracking map and table on May 30, 2023: https://bit.ly/3oo5zxF.According to KHOU-11 on May 29, 2023, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called an immediate special session Monday just hours after the House and Senate adjourned from the 88th legislative session.  It will be the first special session of several, Abbott said.  Abbott said the first special session will focus on cutting property taxes and border control by increasing penalties for human smugglers and those operating stash houses.  Dates and times have not been announced for the other special sessions.  Each session will last 30 days.  Read and watch the KHOU-11 report: https://bit.ly/43aUYVHThe South Carolina General Assembly went into special session after the regular session ended on May 11, 2023.  According to AP News on May 11, 2023, in theory, anything can be dealt with during the special session. But in 2023, only a few outstanding issues are likely to come up as it is the first year of the two-year sessions and bills stay alive wherever they are in the legislative process until the 2024 session begins.  Read the AP News report: https://bit.ly/3OLOtEK

2.  500+ Asian Americans Celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month in Texas Legislature 

According to 世界新聞網, the Asian Real Estate Association of America Houston Chapter (AREAA Houston) joined representatives from Dallas; Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese ethnic leaders; and local Asians to celebrate the AANHPI Heritage Month in Austin, the state capital of Texas, on May 9, 2023.  Over 500 people attended the event.Texas state legislative members participated in the festivities.  Group leaders met with the governor.  A large crowd watched and discussed the proceedings of the AANHPI Heritage Month in the Texas Senate while officials introduced the functions of the government and answered questions in the state government auditorium.  A meeting was also held with the Texas Association of Realtors concerning Texas Senate Bill 147.Read the 世界新聞網 report: https://bit.ly/3N8m3Dp (Chinese) and watch the video: https://bit.ly/3N9RKMS (7:04).

Opinion: Like It or Not, America Needs Chinese Scientists

According to a New York Times opinion on May 25, 2023, the Chinese Communist Party has accomplished something rare in U.S. politics these days: uniting Democrats and Republicans around a common enemy. Unfortunately, frenzied concern about Chinese influence threatens America’s ability to attract the top talent it needs to maintain global leadership in science and higher education. The damage caused by the Department of Justice’s now-disbanded "China Initiative" still reverberates. Designed to counter economic espionage and national security threats from China, it resulted — in some cases — in researchers and academics of Chinese descent being placed under house arrest or taken away in handcuffs on charges of hiding ties to China, cases that ended in acquittal or were later dropped.The program resulted in few prosecutions before being shut down last year. But it upended lives and careers, and created an atmosphere of fear. Some ethnic Chinese scientists disproportionately feel that their ethnicity and connections to China inhibit their professional progress and their chances of obtaining — and willingness to apply for — research funding in the United States. A survey of scientists of Chinese descent at American universities released last year found that significant percentages of respondents felt unwelcome in the United States, with 86 percent saying the current climate makes it more difficult for the United States to attract top international students than it was five years ago.This should be setting off alarm bells in Washington. Economic and military advantage is contingent on superior science, technology and innovation — and the competition for talent is global.

Concerns over academic collaboration with China are legitimate.  China’s government has contributed to the deterioration of academic cooperation.  But let’s not race China to the bottom. If America fails to attract top international research talent, that harms U.S. prospects for scientific advancement and, ultimately, American economic and national strength.There is no doubt that present circumstances call for more transparency among scholars. Universities need to lead this change, whereby scholars pay greater attention to the implications of collaborating with foreign scientists.  But we can’t let this get in the way of ensuring that the United States remains the best place in the world to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics and entices graduates from abroad to remain here after completing their degrees.Yet the number of U.S. visas granted to Chinese students has plummeted. To reverse this, visa processes should be streamlined, backlogs cleared and talented individuals given expanded opportunities to obtain green cards. America is training and educating some of the world’s brightest people; we need to get more of them and keep them here.Likewise, more Americans need to be learning about China. The number of American students studying in China was already declining from a peak of about 15,000 in 2011-12; during the pandemic that plummeted to less than 400. China is, and will continue to be, a critical global player; understanding its internal dynamics will be important for people operating in a range of fields. Yet we are at risk of having an entire generation of Americans who know little about China.We should immediately restart the Fulbright program in China, which sent thousands of Chinese and Americans between the two countries for research and learning until it was halted during the Trump administration, and increase federal funding for Chinese studies programs at our universities.

Keeping American higher education open to the world is not about helping China to become strong, nor should we delude ourselves about Beijing’s intentions. It’s about exuding confidence in the strength and virtues of our system to ensure that America remains the best country in the world for learning and research.Dan Murphy, author of the opinion, is executive director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and former executive director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard.Read the New York Times opinion: https://nyti.ms/3BZpWUS

The Inspiring Journey of an Asian American Media Trailblazer

On May 25, 2023, the U.S. General Consulate in Guangzhou hosted an in-person conversation with media trailblazer Paula Williams Madison in honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month.  Ms. Madison discussed her career as a woman in media and journalism, her identity as both an African American and Asian American, and her documentary Finding Samuel Lowe《寻找罗定朝》, which tells the story of her search to locate her Chinese grandfather's descendants in China.  Read the announcement by the US Embassy in China: https://bit.ly/3NhcJ0l (Chinese)According to reports by Shenzhen Daily and 南方都市报, the Los Angeles-Guangzhou Sister City Association and Asia Pacific and American Network sponsored the AANHPI Heritage Month 2023 Gala at the LN Garden Hotel, Guangzhou, China, on May 27, 2023.  Madison was honored for her commitment to diversity, representation, and social justice. Lisa K. Heller, U.S. Consul General in Guangzhou, praised Madison for breaking barriers and shattering stereotypes, stating that “it is through the exchange of ideas and stories like Paula’s that we can build bridges of understanding between people and nations.”"My name is Luo Xiaona 罗笑娜, I am a Hakka, Jamaican, and Chinese American. I am African American. I am a descendant of the Luo family, and I am very happy that I have finally found my home and my roots," Paula said at the gala."When we were young, dinner at a friend's house was pig's trotters and collard greens.  Every dinner we had was rice and cabbage that other children had never seen. Others had paintings in their homes, and our mother hung a Chinese serigraph in a bamboo frame in the small living room.  She also likes to play with furniture and some objects to make a Fengshui layout," Madison said.

Madison describes her reconnection with her Hakka roots in Longgang 龙岗, Shenzhen as “a life-changing experience.” “Suddenly, I went from someone with almost no relatives to a person with families all around the world,” said the 71-year-old Madison. She was referring to her sprawling Chinese family with relatives living on different continents.  It has been 11 years since the emotional family reunion took place in 2012 at their ancestral village.Throughout her career as a journalist, media executive and business owner, Madison has been an active opponent of anti-Black and anti-Asian discrimination. Growing up in a majority Black community with a half-Chinese mother, Madison was acutely aware of racism towards Blacks and Chinese from an early age. Madison’s remedy for a world that is becoming even more divided today is communication and exchanges. “Salvation will come on the level of just people,” she says.Read the Shenzhen Daily report: https://bit.ly/43Eo3bR (English).  Read the 南方都市报 report: https://bit.ly/43jd9IP (Chinese) and Weixin report: https://bit.ly/43kQ6xn (Chinese).

White House Listening Sessions with Early Career Researcher Communities and NSPM-33

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced that it will hold listening sessions in June.  The sessions intend to elevate the needs, priorities, and experiences of those who will shape and inherit the future: the early career researcher community.  A series of virtual listening sessions will explore perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for advancing open science in the United States and solutions that might be implemented by the U.S. Government. The sessions will be open to the public and may be recorded for OSTP’s use. Registration is required to attend. The upcoming listening sessions will be as follows:

• 2023/06/05 1-3 pm ET: Open Science Possibilities for Equitable Participation and Access: Perspectives from Early Career Researchers at Emerging Research Institutions.  Registration: https://bit.ly/45KMLtk

• 2023/06/06 3-5 pm ET: Open Science Possibilities for Career Advancement: Perspectives from Early Career Researchers on Opportunities and Challenges in Career Progression and Trajectory.  Registration: https://bit.ly/43lGO4g

• 2023/06/12 1-3 pm ET: Open Science Possibilities for Training and Capacity Building: Perspectives from the Early Career Researcher-Supporting Community.  Registration: https://bit.ly/45F33DU

If you would like to provide information in addition to or in lieu of participation in the listening session, you may send a brief message to the public email address OpenScience@OSTP.eop.gov.

In addition, OSTP and Federal agency partners will hold listening sessions on the draft National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) Research Security Programs Standard Requirement to offer the higher education and broader research community the opportunity to provide verbal feedback to the Federal Register notice.  These sessions will be open to the public and may be recorded for OSTP’s use.  Registration is required to attend.  The upcoming listening sessions will be as follows:

• 2023/06/05 1:00-2:30 pm ET: Research Security Programs Standard Requirement Listening Session One: Working with the Higher Education Community toward NSPM-33 Implementation.  Registration: https://bit.ly/3MHArRP

• 2023/06/12 1:00-2:30 pm ET: Research Security Programs Standard Requirement Listening Session Two: Working with the Higher Education Community toward NSPM-33 Implementation.  Registration: https://bit.ly/3MKkR7N

Read the White House announcement: https://bit.ly/3OR4BEU

Thousands of early-career NIH researchers forming union for first time.  According to a report by Nature on June 1, 2023, thousands of early-career researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have kickstarted the process to form a union. They are calling on the NIH — the world’s largest biomedical funder — to raise pay and improve benefits, as well as to bolster its policies and procedures against harassment and excessive workloads.  Read the Nature report: https://go.nature.com/3qrzPs8

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