Newsletter - #158 Congressional Reception; 01/09 Meeting; Arrowood; Haoyang Yu; Thomas Keon; More News #158 Congressional Reception; 01/09 Meeting; Arrowood; Haoyang Yu; Thomas Keon; More News In This Issue #158 Justice for Sherry Chen 陈霞芬 Congressional Reception 2023/01/09 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Update on the Arrowood Nomination The Intercept Report on The Case of Haoyang Yu 于浩洋 Purdue University Northwest Chancellor Thomas Keon Asian American and Scientific Community News Justice for Sherry Chen 陈霞芬 Congressional Reception On December 13, 2022, "Justice for Sherry Chen Congressional Reception" was held on Capitol Hill in honor of her historic settlement and in appreciation for the many elected officials, community organizations and leaders, and grass-roots individuals who supported her 10-year fight for justice. Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Judy Chu and Whip Ted Lieu led the opening remarks. They also led the first Capitol Hill press conference on Sherry's case going back to May 2015. During the 10-year span, Sherry courageously stood her ground and won three judicial battles - having her unjust criminal case dropped by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2015, winning the appeal to reverse the discriminatory termination of her employment against the Department of Commerce (DOC) in 2018, and settling the lawsuit against DOJ and DOC with a historic amount of over $1.5 million in 2022. In addition to CAPAC, Sherry was helped by the leadership of Maryland State Senator Susan Lee who mobilized the Asian American and scientific communities nationwide in successfully calling for a congressional hearing on racial profiling and the plight of Asian American scientists. Sherry gave a compelling testimony in the 2021 Congressional Roundtable titled “Researching while Chinese American: Ethnic Profiling, Chinese American Scientists and a New American Brain Drain” chaired by Rep. Jamie Raskin of the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and joined by CAPAC. The YouTube video of the Roundtable has received more than 14,000 views. Sherry was also helped by an investigation led by Senator Roger Wicker which revealed abuse and misconduct at multiple levels of the DOC stemming from the rogue Investigations and Threat Management Service, including the profiling of DOC Asian American employees for as many as 15 years. Dozens of participants came from as far as California and across the U.S. to join the event. More descriptions and photos about the reception are being added to the APA Justice webpage on Sherry Chen at: http://bit.ly/APAJ_Sherry_Chen The LinkedIn post of MIT Technology Review report on Sherry Chen and her historic settlement has received over 48,000 views so far: http://bit.ly/3GZCOxQ Watch the Chinese-language report by Voice of America on the 2015 Capitol Hill press conference (美议员怀疑陈霞芬间谍案有族裔因素) here: https://youtu.be/CBsEx-A_yUw (video 2:43) 01/09/2023 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held on Monday, January 9, 2023. Invited speakers to help us bring in the new year are: Judy Chu, Chair, Congressional Asian Pacific American (Invited) Sherry Chen, Hydrologist, U.S. Department of Commerce (Confirmed) Haipei Shue, President, United Chinese Americans (Invited) Vincent Wang, Chair, Ohio Chinese American Association; Co-organizer, APA Justice (Confirmed) Patrick Toomey, Deputy Director, and Ashley Gorski, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU (Invited) John Trasvina, Civil Rights Attorney; Former Principal Legal Advisor, Department of Homeland Security; Former Dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law (Confirmed) John Yang, President and Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC 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, Vincent Wang, and Jeremy Wu - or send a message to contact@apajustice.org . Read past monthly meeting summaries here: https://bit.ly/3kxkqxP . Update on the Arrowood Nomination The 117th Congress ended on January 3, 2023, without action by the Senate on the nomination of Mr. Casey Arrowood to become the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.We are grateful to the Senate Judiciary Committee senators and staff who heard concerns from Asian Americans in Tennessee and throughout the nation about Mr. Arrowood's record carrying out the “China Initiative” and unjustly prosecuting University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) Professor Anming Hu 胡安明. Throughout 2022, we expressed our serious concerns to Congress and the White House about Department of Justice attorneys refiling charges that the trial judge concluded "no rational jury" would convict.The Biden Administration has the option to renominate Mr. Arrowood in the 118th Congress, an action the Asian American community will continue to steadfastly oppose.The White House has three additional options instead of renominating Mr. Arrowood for the position of U.S. Attorney: Nominate the current U.S. Attorney Francis (Trey) Hamilton, III for the position Do not nominate anyone for the position and permit Mr. Hamilton to remain in office Restart the entire process and nominate someone other than Mr. Hamilton or Mr. Arrowood The Arrowood nomination was unacceptable and remains unacceptable because of his involvement in the conduct of the investigation of Professor Hu, bringing the faulty charges, and intending to refile the charges that prompted Judge Varlan to issue an acquittal. According to the following chronological records, Mr. Hamilton is the current U.S. Attorney who was appointed by the U.S. District Court of Eastern Tennessee, not the White House. Mr. Hamilton will serve in this capacity until the vacancy is filled by a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed nominee. In his role of Acting U.S. Attorney at that time, Mr. Hamilton might have an even larger role than Mr. Arrowood in the decision to approve or direct the prosecutorial actions against Professor Hu. For example, Mr. Hamilton reportedly joined the presentation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to UTK with Mr. Arrowood in September 2019, in which the FBI made false accusations of Professor Hu of being a spy for China and an agent of China's military. 2017/11/21 Mr. James Douglas Overbey sworn in as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee2018/11/01 Department of Justice (DOJ) launched the now-defunct "China Initiative"2020/02/25 Professor Anming Hu indicted with Mr. Casey Arrowood as the lead prosecutor2021/01/20 The Joe Biden administration began2021/02/28 Mr. Overbey resigned2021/03/01 Mr. Trey Hamilton became Acting US Attorney 2021/06/07 Professor Hu became the first academic to go to trial under the "China Initiative"2021/06/16 Mistrial of Professor Hu declared2021/06/17 Reps. Ted Lieu, Mondaire Jones, and Pramila Jayapal requested DOJ/OIG investigation2021/07/30 DOJ announced its intent to retry Professor Hu2021/09/09 Professor Hu acquitted of all charges2021/12/26 Mr. Hamilton appointed US Attorney by the U.S. District Court of Eastern Tennessee2022/02/23 DOJ ended the “China Initiative”2022/08/01 White House nominated Mr. Arrowood to be US Attorney2023/01/03 The Arrowood nomination expired without action by the Senate The Intercept Report on The Case of Haoyang Yu 于浩洋 On December 22, 2022, The Intercept published "CHIPPED AWAY: A Competitor Put the FBI on Haoyang Yu's Trail. The Investigation Didn't Go as Planned." According to the report, Massachusetts engineer Haoyang Yu, who came under investigation after a competitor told the FBI that his semiconductor chip company "smells a bit fishy." A sprawling, four-agency federal investigation ensued. Believing they had a sensitive technology case involving China, where Yu was born, agents mounted a hidden camera outside his home, rifled through his trash, and followed his wife as she brought their kids to and from sports practice. But the investigation didn't go as planned. An attempted sting failed. Nor did the investigation uncover solid evidence of crimes involving China. In June, a jury acquitted Yu of 18 of 19 charges. His lawyers are now asking a federal judge to throw out the last charge, arguing that Yu, a US citizen, was targeted because of his ethnicity at a moment when the Justice Department was charting plans for the fraught "China Initiative."Read more about The Intercept report: https://bit.ly/3vc59dh . Read more about the story of Haoyang Yu: https://bit.ly/APAJ_HaoyangYu Purdue University Northwest Chancellor Thomas Keon According to CNN on December 23, 2022, the Purdue Board of Trustees issued a formal reprimand to Purdue University Northwest (PNW) Chancellor Thomas Keon in response to a racist comment he made during a commencement ceremony on December 10, 2022. The board’s chair, Mike Berghoff, called Keon’s statements “extremely offensive and insensitive.” The decision to reprimand Keon, rather than dismiss him, has spurred criticism from other faculty. In an open letter addressed to the trustees, PNW Faculty Senate Chairman Thomas Roach further called on the university to dismiss the chancellor. “We are not demanding his removal to punish him, we require his removal because he is not qualified to represent us,” wrote Roach. He called Keon’s ongoing role “an insult to the Asian community.” “This decision by the board of trustees is negligent and unacceptable, and your explanation for your inaction insults our intelligence,” he went on. The PNW Faculty Senate cast a vote of no-confidence for the chancellor. Keon received 20 votes of confidence and 135 votes of no-confidence. His “inexcusable behavior caused national and international outrage” and insulted the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, including faculty, staff, and students at Purdue Northwest, the Faculty Senate said in an open letter sent to Keon. On December 16, 2022, the PNW chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) condemned Chancellor Keon's remarks in a press release. According to the statement, Chancellor Keon's response "suggests, at best, a highly troublesome level of ignorance, insensitivity, and lack of judgement on his part. But it is more than any personal racism by one particular university official; it suggests the all-but-complete ignorance of the institutionalized racism faced by Asians and other peoples of color in this country." The statement concludes that " the time has come for Chancellor Keon to resign, or else to be removed by the Purdue University Board of Trustees, so that a leader better attuned to what it takes to engage multiple constituencies with respect–not ridicule–can be found." According to an opinion by Diverse Education , PNW Chancellor Keon's mockery of an "Asian" language is "emblematic of a wider problem in American higher education." Multiple Asian American organizations are outraged and continue to call for Keon's resignation, including the Japanese American Citizens League and an open letter demanding accountability from Purdue University: https://bit.ly/3vtyjVG . Asian American and Scientific Community News and Activities Science Calls for Appointment of NIH Director Now. On December 16, 2022, Science published an editorial titled "Appoint a new NIH director, now." There has been a failure to confirm a new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since Francis Collins stepped down a year ago. According to the editorial, Lawrence Tabak has been the interim NIH director, but it is time for some new faces after the lengthy Collins administration. Tabak was an NIH deputy director and the deputy ethics counselor under Collins. It’s unclear who or what is holding up the nomination. Is the White House simply incapable of deciding whom to nominate, or more likely, has it been distracted by other matters? Either is possible, but both are indefensible. The editorial concludes that "[t]he Biden campaign leveraged the support of the scientific community to win the presidency. Leaving the most visible science position open for a year is a betrayal of that support. President Biden must personally intervene to correct this now." APA Justice nominated Dr. David D. Ho 何大一 to the White House as a candidate to become the 17th NIH Director in November 2021. Read more about the Science editorial: https://bit.ly/3VgpHMh Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI). On December 1, 2022, SCCEI published a brief on "What Is the Impact of U.S.-China Tensions on U.S. Science?" revealing that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) investigations into hundreds of U.S. scientists in two years (2019-2020) have brought about a 1.9% decline in the publication rate and a 7.1% decline in the citation rate of U.S. scientists with collaborators in China, compared with U.S. scientists who had collaborated with scientists in other countries. The adverse effects of the investigations were observed across many U.S. institutions of higher education, particularly salient for scientists of Asian heritage, fields that receive more funding from the NIH, and fields with a higher concentration of U.S.-China collaborations. In fields more affected by the NIH investigations, the U.S. and China both produced fewer publications during 2019 and 2020 compared to the rest of the world, suggesting that U.S.-China political tensions affect overall scientific progress. Qualitative interviews with 12 scientists suggest that a reluctance to start or continue collaborations with China partners and the resulting loss in research talent and access to labs and equipment may drive longer-term declines in publication quality and quality. The study was based on publication records of 102,000 medical and life scientists in the U.S. between 2010 and 2020. On December 9, 2022, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) hosted a webinar where SCCEI authors presented their methodology and findings of the study. Read more about the SCCEI study at https://stanford.io/3YWoLje . Watch the CSIS video and dsicussions here: https://bit.ly/3hSZdTJ 2,200 Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files Digitized and Now Online . Initially set to ban immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States for ten years, the Chinese Exclusions Act was extended and expanded to all Chinese persons and became permanent law in 1902. It was repealed in 1943. Under the leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congress condemned the discriminatory laws in 2012. According to Federal News Network on December 27, 2022, more than 2,200 Chinese Exclusion Act case files held by the National Archives at Riverside, California, are now available online in the National Archives Catalog, thanks to a collaboration with the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. The project began in 2018. Professors and students from California State University, San Bernardino, and the University of California at Riverside joined the team. National Archives at Riverside staff trained the student interns, who digitized 56,507 documents using donated scanners. These records document the movement of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans in and out of the United States during the exclusion era. Around 10 percent of Riverside’s Chinese Exclusion Act case files have been digitized. 692 citizen archivists have transcribed over 25,000 pages of the records so far. Read more at https://bit.ly/3I2iMn7 Subscribe to The APA Justice Newsletter Complete this simple form at https://bit.ly/2FJunJM to subscribe. Please share it with those who wish to be informed and join the fight. View past newsletters here: https://bit.ly/APAJ_Newsletters . Back View PDF January 3, 2023 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #77 Role Of UTK And Timeline; FOIA Request To NIH; "China Initiative;" Yellow Whistle #77 Role Of UTK And Timeline; FOIA Request To NIH; "China Initiative;" Yellow Whistle Back View PDF August 9, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #5 Tentative Agenda For August 3 Meeting #5 Tentative Agenda For August 3 Meeting Back View PDF July 24, 2020 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #127 6/6 Meeting; ODNI Overdue Report; US-China Future/Past; Chinese Students; Census Data #127 6/6 Meeting; ODNI Overdue Report; US-China Future/Past; Chinese Students; Census Data Back View PDF May 30, 2022 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #359 Andy Phillips to Speak on 11/3; Dr. Wen Ho Lee; 6/2 Meeting Summary Posted; C.N. Yang+ #359 Andy Phillips to Speak on 11/3; Dr. Wen Ho Lee; 6/2 Meeting Summary Posted; C.N. Yang+ In This Issue #359 · Attorney Andy Phillips to Speak at APA Justice Monthly Meeting · Recalling the Case of Dr. Wen Ho Lee · Summary of June 2025 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Posted · In Memoriam: Chan Ning Yang (1922-2025) · News and Activities for the Communities Attorney Andy Phillips to Speak at APA Justice Monthly Meeting Attorney Andy Phillips , Managing & Founding Partner of Meier Watkins Phillips Pusch LLP, will speak at the upcoming APA Justice monthly meeting on November 3, 2025. He represents Dr. Yanping Chen 陈燕平 in Yanping Chen v. FBI (24-5050) . Dr. Chen is a naturalized U.S. citizen from China and longtime educator who founded the University of Management and Technology in Arlington, Virginia. She filed a Privacy Act lawsuit against the U.S. Departments of Justice, Defense and Homeland Security, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), after a 6-year investigation by the FBI into her past affiliations and immigration history concluded without charges in 2016. After the investigation closed, confidential information from the probe was leaked to media outlets, particularly Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge , which aired stories implying Dr. Chen was involved in espionage. Dr. Chen filed a lawsuit in December 2018 against the Departments of Justice, Defense and Homeland Security, as well as the FBI, asserting a coordinated violation of her privacy rights and focusing on the leak of protected investigation materials. In February 2024, a District Court held Herridge in civil contempt for refusing to disclose her source and imposed a fine of $800 per day—an order stayed pending appeal. The case has major implications for press freedom, racial equity, and privacy rights in national security investigations. APA Justice joined advocacy groups by filing an amicus brief led by Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), arguing that the treatment of Dr. Chen reflects broader issues of systemic bias against Chinese Americans. On September 30, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed the district court’s order holding Herridge in civil contempt for refusing to disclose her confidential source despite a valid subpoena. Andy Phillips’s practice focuses on counseling clients faced with unfavorable media coverage or other reputational attacks. He has years of experience representing clients in defamation lawsuits before state and federal courts across the country. He has litigated against many of the country’s most well-known media organizations, including Rolling Stone Magazine , The New York Times , CNN , and Fox News . Andy is one of only six attorneys in the United States to be ranked by Chambers for expertise in Plaintiff’s-side First Amendment litigation . The virtual monthly meeting is by invitation only. It is closed to the press. 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 . Recalling the Case of Dr. Wen Ho Lee Dr. Wen Ho Lee 李文和 , a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Taiwan, was a senior nuclear scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where he worked for more than 20 years developing computer codes used to simulate nuclear explosions. In the late 1990s, amid heightened concerns about Chinese nuclear espionage, the FBI and Department of Energy (DOE) began investigating possible leaks of nuclear-weapons data to China. Dr. Lee became a target largely due to his ethnicity.In 1999, the government indicted Dr. Lee on 59 felony counts for allegedly downloading and transferring classified files from secure to unclassified computers. During the investigation, government officials leaked information to the press portraying Dr. Lee as a potential spy. Major media outlets including New York Times , Washington Post , and Los Angeles Times widely published these allegations, effectively convicting him in the public eye before trial.By 2000, it became clear that the government lacked evidence of espionage or criminal intent. Dr. Lee spent nine months in solitary confinement before pleading guilty to a single count of mishandling restricted data; the remaining 58 charges were dropped. Federal Judge James A. Parker publicly criticized the government for its handling of the case, apologizing to Dr. Lee for his treatment and calling the investigation an embarrassment to the nation.Following his release, Dr. Lee filed a civil lawsuit under the Privacy Act against federal agencies and five major media organizations that had reported the leaked allegations. Brian Sun , now a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, served as Lee’s lead attorney. Brian Sun framed the case as a crucial defense of civil liberties, privacy rights, and due process, arguing that government leaks had violated Lee’s rights and irreparably harmed his reputation. He successfully navigated complex issues involving media source protection and the disclosure of sensitive documents, ultimately securing a landmark settlement.In June 2006, the case was settled: the U.S. government paid $895,000, and the media organizations contributed $750,000 toward Dr. Lee’s legal fees, with no admission of wrongdoing. The settlement, guided by Brian Sun’s litigation strategy, reinforced the principle that government officials cannot use leaks to publicly convict individuals without evidence.On June 3, 2006, Brian Sun told the Los Angeles Times that the settlement provides “a measure of vindication and accountability.” “We believe the settlement will send a message to government officials that they should not engage in unlawful leaks about private citizens,” he said, “and journalists should be sensitive in reporting information that is divulged from officials who have an agenda.”As noted in the American Physical Society's “ Viewpoint: Wen Ho Lee’s Settlement ” on August 1, 2006, the case of Dr. Wen Ho Lee remains a landmark in the intersection of science, national security, civil liberties, and media responsibility. The APS analysis emphasized that while the settlement brought an end to the litigation, it left unresolved the deeper tensions between government secrecy, press freedom, and the protection of individual rights. It underscored how Dr. Lee's case became a cautionary tale—reminding both policymakers and the scientific community that the pursuit of security must never come at the cost of justice, due process, or human dignity. Summary of June 2025 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Posted Summary for the June 2025 APA Justice monthly meeting has been posted at https://bit.ly/48ABX4J . We thank these distinguished speakers for sharing their insightful remarks and updates: · Judy Chu , Chair Emeritus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; Member, U.S. House of Representatives · Judith Teruya , Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus · Jiny Kim , Vice President of Policy and Program, Advancing Justice | AAJC · Gisela Perez Kusakawa , Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) · Ya Liu , Member, North Carolina House of Representatives · Juanita Brent , Member, Ohio House of Representatives · Edgar Chen , Special Policy Advisor, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) · Aki Maehara , Professor, Historian, East Los Angeles College Past APA Justice monthly meeting summaries are available at https://www.apajusticetaskforce.org/library-newsletters-summaries *****On April 29, 2025, Professor Aki Maehara , age 71, was riding his electric bicycle home in Montebello when a car struck him from behind. The driver shouted anti-Asian slurs before and after the collision. Professor Maehara believes he was targeted due to his academic work and previous threats he had received.The attack left Professor Maehara with serious injuries, including a concussion, fractured cheekbone, neck pain, and a lacerated elbow. The dental damage was particularly severe, requiring extensive and costly dental implant surgery. Professor Maehara returned to teaching at East Los Angeles College shortly after the incident. A GoFundMe was updated in August 2025, describing his need for a home health aide and major dental surgery.The Montebello Police Department is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime and attempted vehicular homicide. Some have criticized the police investigation, claiming key information from Professor Maehara was initially omitted from the report. As of October 2025, the department has not publicly identified any suspects in the case despite being "No. 1 priority" since May. In Memoriam: Chan Ning Yang (1922-2025) Chen Ning Yang (杨振宁) , one of the world’s most renowned theoretical physicists and a Nobel prize winner, died on October 18, 2025, in Beijing at the age of 103 after an illness.Born in Hefei, Anhui Province, China, in 1922, Yang received his early education in China before earning his bachelor’s degree from the National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming during wartime. He later pursued graduate studies in the United States, earning his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1948 under the mentorship of Enrico Fermi .Yang’s groundbreaking contributions reshaped modern physics. He and his collaborator Tsung-Dao Lee (李政道) proposed in 1956 that parity — long assumed to be conserved — could be violated in weak nuclear interactions. The theory was soon confirmed experimentally, leading to their shared Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. Beyond parity violation, Yang made profound advances in statistical mechanics, gauge theory, and the Yang–Mills theory — a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics.After teaching at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton University, Yang joined Stony Brook University in 1966, where he founded the Institute for Theoretical Physics (now named the C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics) and mentored generations of scientists. In 2003, Yang returned to China, joining Tsinghua University as an honorary professor and continuing to promote international scientific exchange.Known for his intellectual rigor and lifelong curiosity, Yang’s career spanned the era from wartime China to the quantum age, symbolizing the global nature of scientific inquiry. He inspired several generations of young people in both the United States and China to pursue science with passion and integrity. His legacy endures not only through his discoveries but also through his commitment to fostering dialogue between China and the world in science and education. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2025/10/23 C100 Asian American Career Ceilings Initiative: Asian American Women in the Law2025/11/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/11/03 Advocacy 101 for Scholars, Scientists, and Researchers2025/11/20 Cook County Circuit Court Hearing2025/11/25 Committee of 100 Conversations – “Recollections, Pioneers and Heroes” with Elaine ChaoVisit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. In Memoriam: Jerome Cohen (1930-2025) Jerome A. Cohen , a pioneering scholar of Chinese law and a leading voice for human rights, died on September 22, 2025, at his home in Manhattan. He was 95.Born in New York City in 1930, Cohen graduated from Yale Law School, clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice Hugo Black , and began his academic career at the University of California, Berkeley. Fascinated by China, he studied Mandarin in the early 1960s and went on to found the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School in 1964, the first of its kind in the United States.After Mao Zedong ’s death, Cohen joined Paul & Weiss, advising companies entering China and helping Chinese officials understand modern commercial law. In 1990, he joined New York University School of Law, where he mentored lawyers, judges, and human rights advocates from across Asia and became an influential voice in U.S.–China legal dialogue.Renowned for his intellect and integrity, Cohen defended persecuted lawyers and dissidents and never wavered in his belief that law could be a bridge to justice. His legacy endures through the institutions he built and the generations he inspired. # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the new APA Justice website under development at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF October 23, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #304 Arkansas Lawsuit Update; Meet Judith Teruya+; Legacies of Jimmy Carter; CJR Comment/WP #304 Arkansas Lawsuit Update; Meet Judith Teruya+; Legacies of Jimmy Carter; CJR Comment/WP In This Issue #304 · Latest Development on Arkansas Foreign Ownership Laws · Meet Judith Teruya - New Executive Director of CAPAC · The Legacies of Former President Jimmy Carter · CJR : Trump, the Public, and the Press · News and Activities for the Communities From Governor Gavin Newsom's Office - Get Help Today on LA Fires Californians can go to CA.gov/LAfires – a hub for information and resources from state, local and federal government. Individuals and business owners who sustained losses from wildfires in Los Angeles County can apply for disaster assistance: · Online at DisasterAssistance.gov · Calling 800-621-3362 · By using the FEMA smart phone application · Assistance is available in over 40 languages · If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service. Please share with your families, friends, and colleagues in the Los Angeles area. Latest Development on Arkansas Foreign Ownership Laws During the APA Justice monthly meeting on January 6, 2025, Professor Robert "Bob" S. Chang , Executive Director of Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at the University of California Irvine School of Law, provided background and updates on the latest development on the Arkansas foreign ownership laws. With over 30 years in the legal academy, Bob has focused on anti-Asian discrimination in law, including alien land laws. He described his growing concern as these laws began to re-emerge in recent years, particularly with Florida’s 2023 law. Collaborating with legal scholars like Rose Cuison Villazor (Rutgers Law School) and Jack Chin (UC Davis Law School), and the law firm Foley Hoag, Bob worked on an amicus brief addressing the historical and discriminatory dimensions of these laws. Bob highlighted parallels between historical and contemporary laws targeting minority groups, emphasizing how national security concerns often serve as a “fig leaf” to justify discriminatory practices. Drawing from his experience advancing Fred Korematsu ’s legacy, he explained that the use of national security as a pretext is a recurring theme in American history. Alien Land Laws and Recent Litigation Bob detailed the recent rise of alien land laws, noting that approximately 20 states are considering or have implemented new versions. He provided specific insights into Arkansas, where two laws were passed in 2023: one restricting agricultural land ownership and the other targeting land associated with data centers. Though framed as addressing “countries of concern” per the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) list, evidence suggests these laws primarily target individuals and entities linked to China.Bob joined the Arkansas case after the complaint was filed, working with lead counsel Alexander Jones in the Little Rock office of Kutak Rock, and contributing a historical perspective to demonstrate the broader context and impact of such laws. Also joining in the case as co-counsel is Paul Hoffman , a clinical law professor at UC Irvine, along with several of the students in his civil rights clinic. Legal Strategies and Outcomes Bob discussed the legal strategies used to challenge these laws, including filing motions for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction. He humorously advised against filing such motions around Thanksgiving due to the intense workload, sharing that his team worked through the holiday to secure the preliminary injunction. Ultimately, the judge granted the preliminary injunction but based the decision on statutory claims of federal preemption without reaching the constitutional claims.The federal preemption claims relied on the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA), emphasizing that land ownership related to national security is under federal, not state, jurisdiction. While this argument succeeded, Chang warned that changes in federal policy or administration could weaken this approach. Historical Lessons and Federal Advocacy Bob drew historical parallels to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, explaining how discriminatory state laws against Chinese immigrants in the 1870s led to federal legislation. He stressed the importance of proactive advocacy with organizations like APA Justice and engagement with groups like the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) to prevent discriminatory policies at the federal level. Ongoing and Future Litigation Bob highlighted the broader legal battle against alien land laws, noting active cases in multiple states. Arkansas just filed its notice to appeal the preliminary injunction, and similar cases in states like Tennessee and Florida are advancing through the courts. He underscored the importance of building strong coalitions and setting favorable legal precedents, as these cases may ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Conclusion Bob concluded by emphasizing the need for vigilance and collaboration to combat discriminatory laws effectively. He expressed his willingness to engage further with interested parties, both during the Q&A session and offline.A summary of the January 6 APA Justice monthly meeting is being prepared at this time. Meet Judith Teruya - New Executive Director of CAPAC During the APA Justice monthly meeting on January 6, 2025, Judith Teruya spoke on her first official day as the Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) under Chairwoman Grace Meng . She acknowledged the longevity and importance of these efforts, stating, "You all have been doing this for a long time through a lot of different circumstances and different issues coming up in the community across the country." Judith introduced herself and highlighted her professional journey, which began in Congresswoman Meng’s office. During her tenure, Judith contributed to significant legislative achievements, including the “COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act”, the passage of the “AANHPI Museum Study Act”, and the creation of a commission to establish a “Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Museum”. Most recently, she served with the “White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI)” under Krystal Ka'ai ’s leadership before transitioning to her current role.Judith honored the legacy of CAPAC Chair Emeritus Judy Chu , acknowledging her transformative leadership over the years. Judith expressed her excitement about continuing CAPAC’s work and building upon its past achievements. Acknowledging the challenging political landscape ahead, she stated, "We know that the next couple of years are going to be a challenge. We know there are some challenging legislative battles that we have ahead of us in the House." Judith also referenced potential difficulties under a second Trump administration, noting, "We know from the first time around some of what we can expect... and so I really look forward to getting to work with you all." She emphasized the critical importance of ensuring that AANHPI communities are protected and actively involved in policymaking, saying, "Our communities must be seen, heard, and considered in the voices of policymaking, and not as an afterthought." Judith concluded by inviting collaboration and encouraging open communication, stating, "Please be in touch... I just look forward to getting to join you all monthly, moving forward.” Judith underscored her commitment to sustained engagement, listening to community concerns, and working together to address key issues impacting AANHPI communities.*****During the monthly meeting on January 6, Joanna YangQing Derman , Program Director of Advancing Justice | AAJC, provided a brief update on AAJC's opposition to the reauthorization of the House Select Committee on the CCP. She acknowledged that opposing this reauthorization was an "uphill battle," a reality confirmed by the recent passage of the rules package that reauthorized the Select Committee. Despite this setback, Joanna expressed gratitude to all the groups that joined AAJC's letter of opposition and reaffirmed AAJC's commitment to combating "harmful rhetoric and policies" that could lead to discriminatory backlash against the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community. She concluded by reaffirming further updates and actions in the weeks and months to come.*****During the same meeting, Dr. Kai Li , Vice President of the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), highlighted AASF's efforts and upcoming initiatives, emphasizing its role as a leading voice for the Asian American scholar community. He noted concerns about the potential resurgence of the "Chinese Initiative," stressing its negative impact on civil rights, talent retention, and U.S. competitiveness in global talent. Kai discussed AASF’s ongoing research on talent retention. A previous analysis revealed a significant loss of talent in the U.S., exacerbated by a chilling effect stemming from investigations targeting Asian American scholars. To deepen their understanding, AASF is initiating a new round of data analysis with updated information through 2024, aiming to uncover the primary reasons behind this talent exodus.AASF is also launching a national survey to gather feedback on new policies from scholars of all backgrounds. This effort includes collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to understand reactions among scientists. The survey aims to facilitate closer cooperation with federal agencies and provide insights for policymaking.Kai mentioned discussions with university lobbying offices in Washington, D.C., regarding shared concerns. They include: · Potential taxation of university endowments. · Penalties for universities perceived as misaligned with administration priorities. · Legislative proposals restricting access to educational and economic opportunities for students from specific countries, particularly China. · Issues such as visa revocations at borders and penalizations of individuals based on historical affiliations with entities now on restricted lists. Kai reported that at AASF’s Annual Symposium at Stanford University on July 25-27, 2024, in partnership with the NSF, six Asian American scientists were recognized for their groundbreaking contributions with inaugural Asian American Pioneer Medals. · Nasir Ahmed : Inventor of discrete cosine transform, enabling modern video conferencing. · Raj Reddy : Developer of continuous speech recognition technology. · Teresa Meng : Innovator in Wi-Fi communication. · Frank Chung : Creator of the power amplifier for prolonged phone use. · Hyungsup Choi : Pioneer in semiconductor memory technology. · Dawon Kahng and Simon Sze : Co-inventors of floating gate memory, the fathers of flash memory. Dawon Kahng also invented MOSFET, the fundamental technology for semiconductor chips. Simon Sze published a book considered as the bible for semiconductors devices. A summary of the January 6 monthly meeting is being prepared at this time. The Legacies of Former President Jimmy Carter Dr. Yawei Liu , Senior Advisor of the Carter Center, has been involved with the center for over 25 years. During the APA Justice monthly meeting on January 6, 2025, Yawei delivered an insightful talk reflecting on the life, values, and contributions of former President Jimmy Carter , emphasizing lesser-known aspects of his legacy.Yawei highlighted President Carter's humility, honesty, and integrity, noting that while his presidency (1977–1981) is often criticized, his post-presidential accomplishments elevated him to one of the most admired former presidents. Yawei emphasized President Carter's refusal to capitalize on his political status, stating, “He would not take a penny” from honorariums or his Nobel Peace Prize earnings, instead directing all proceeds to philanthropic causes. Yawei noted, “His income is his pension, the royalties from his 33 books, and the proceeds from his farm.”President Carter’s modest lifestyle was underscored with examples such as his return to Plains, Georgia, where he lived in a $170,000, three-bedroom home. Yawei remarked, “The house, along with its three-acre compound, is cheaper than the Secret Service Suburban parked outside.” Carter and his wife, Rosalynn , planned to be buried on this property. President Carter's Humanitarian Efforts The Carter Center led a global campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease, reducing cases from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 11 in recent years. Yawei quoted President Carter’s lifelong wish: “I would like to see all the worms gone before I die,” acknowledging the near success of this effort.President Carter’s 33-year dedication to volunteering a week annually with Habitat for Humanity exemplified his commitment to grassroots humanitarian work. He also lent his reputation to "The Elders," a group of former global leaders mediating conflicts worldwide, significantly enhancing its credibility. Diplomatic Contributions Yawei shed light on President Carter’s underappreciated role in resolving the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula in the early 1990s. His 1994 meeting with Kim Il-sung helped establish a framework for peace, which later administrations attempted to follow.President Carter’s pivotal role in normalizing U.S.-China diplomatic relations in 1979 was another focus. President Carter’s interest in China began in childhood, inspired by letters from his uncle, a merchant marine, and his awareness of Baptist missionary work in the region. His first visit to China in 1949 exposed him to the devastation of the civil war, deepening his understanding of the country’s challenges. Yawei emphasized the lasting benefits of President Carter’s work, noting that normalization turned East Asia into a global economic engine. Yawei concluded by quoting President Carter's 2018 op-ed, where he called for “courageous leadership” to prevent a U.S.-China cold war. President Carter advocated for continued engagement, arguing that policies initiated under President Richard Nixon and solidified during his presidency brought peace and prosperity to East Asia. Rejecting engagement outright, President Carter warned, was “ludicrous and absurd.” Yawei celebrated President Carter’s enduring legacy as a global humanitarian and diplomat, urging future leaders to uphold his principles of humility, service, and a vision for a peaceful, interconnected world.A summary of the January 6 monthly meeting is being prepared at this time. CJR : Trump, the Public, and the Press On January 6, 2025, the Columbia Journalism Review article, "Trump, the Public, and the Press," examines the dynamic between Donald Trump ’s presidency, media coverage, and the influence of billionaire ownership in journalism. It highlights Trump’s combative relationship with the press, noting his ability to bypass traditional media through rhetoric and direct communication. This strategy, combined with his attacks on "fake news," has eroded public trust in journalism. The article discusses the challenges faced by media outlets owned by billionaires like Jeff Bezos ( The Washington Post ) and Patrick Soon-Shiong ( Los Angeles Times ), emphasizing the tightrope they walk between perceived bias, commercial interests, and editorial independence. The piece observes that “the public’s trust in media has plummeted, exacerbated by political polarization and a president who weaponized distrust.” The article also explores the broader implications of billionaire ownership in journalism. It raises concerns about how ownership can shape editorial direction, subtly aligning coverage with owners’ business interests or avoiding topics that could provoke political or financial backlash. “When billionaires own the press, the line between public interest and private interest can blur dangerously,” the article warns. It urges journalists to remain steadfast in their commitment to accountability and truth-telling despite growing external pressures, particularly in an era rife with misinformation and political manipulation. "The truth may not matter to the wealthy owners and CEOs who are treating Trump as much like a pope as a president. But journalists must redouble our efforts to expose every conflict of interest, every lie, and every threat to democracy," the article concludes.The article was authored by Norman Pearlstine . He began his journalism career in the 1960s. He has served as managing editor at the Wall Street Journal ; editor in chief, chief content officer, and vice chairman at Time Inc .; senior adviser at the Carlyle Group; chief content officer at Bloomberg News ; and executive editor of the Los Angeles Times . Read the Columbia Journalism Review article: https://bit.ly/4afy2Jx In a related story on January 9, 2025, New York Magazine reported "It’s Open Season on the Washington Post ." The report delves into the internal struggles and controversies facing The Washington Post as it grapples with leadership changes, financial pressures, and declining morale. Under CEO Will Lewis , the paper has faced layoffs, shrinking subscriptions, and waning confidence in its editorial vision. Interim executive editor Matt Murray has acknowledged “choppy waters ahead” for the publication. Jeff Bezos ’s intervention in rescinding the editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris reportedly led to 250,000 subscription cancellations, further intensifying internal discord. Ann Telnaes , a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who recently left The Post , highlighted frustrations with the changing culture of the newsroom. Telnaes had created a cartoon that was ultimately blocked from publication by the paper's leadership. Reflecting on her departure, Telnaes said, “It’s not just about one cartoon—it’s about the larger issue of whether The Washington Post is still willing to take a stand.” Her departure underscores broader concerns, as one staffer noted that The Post is increasingly seen as “a stepping stone rather than a destination.” These issues have cast a shadow over the Post ’s ability to retain its identity as a journalistic powerhouse.Read the New York Magazine report: https://nym.ag/4gax7vj News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2025/01/17-03/15 2025 Asian American Stories Video Contest: My Gift to America2025/01/19 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/01/23 Community Reactions to the Trump Administration’s “Day One” Priorities2025/02/02 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/02/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/02/13-15 2025 AAAS Annual Meeting2025/02/16 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/03/02 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/03/05 APA Justice Monthly MeetingVisit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. Erratum George Ping Shan Koo 顧屏山 was born in Changting, China, in 1938. It was incorrectly reported as Hong Kong in APA Justice Newsletter Issue #303 . # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the new APA Justice website under development at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF January 17, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Alien Land Bills WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME Prev Next Overview Alien land laws were a series of laws enacted in the United States, primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the intent of restricting land ownership and leasing rights for non-citizens, particularly targeting Asian immigrants who were ineligible for citizenship, such as Chinese immigrants due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Alien Land Laws varied from state to state but generally prohibited non-citizens, or aliens, from owning or leasing land directly in their own names. In some cases, they also restricted the ability of non-citizen corporations in which aliens were major shareholders from owning land. These laws were often discriminatory and aimed to discourage Asian immigrants from establishing permanent roots and economic stability in the United States. The Alien Land Laws were part of a broader context of anti-immigrant sentiment and racism prevalent during that time period. They contributed to the marginalization and economic disadvantage faced by Asian immigrants, particularly those of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent, who were significant contributors to the agricultural industry in states like California and Hawaii. Alien land laws were justified by politicians of the time as "national security" measures, yet they fueled economic hardship, violence, and discrimination against Asian immigrants. Over the decades, courts struck down or repealed most of these laws as unconstitutional, recognizing the equal protection rights of immigrant communities. However, similar patterns and justifications re-emerged with recent legislation, like Florida’s state law known as SB 264, echoing these historical discriminatory practices under new pretexts. References and Links Equal Justice Initiative: California Law Prohibits Asian Immigrants from Owning Land Immigration History: Alien Land Laws in California (1913 & 1920) Smithsonian Institution: A More Perfect Union - Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution Wikipedia: Alien Land Laws 2023/02/18 Racism.org: The End of California's Anti-Asian Alien Land Law: A Case Study in Reparations and Transitional Justice History of Alien Land Laws Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to customize this theme across your site. You can update and reuse text themes. Timeline Contents Go Go Select Title

Newsletter - #173 04/03 Meeting; Science on NIH; Stanford Statement; Foreign Affairs; State Department #173 04/03 Meeting; Science on NIH; Stanford Statement; Foreign Affairs; State Department In This Issue #173 2023/04/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Science Editorial and Report on NIH’s “China Initiative” Stanford University Statement on Foreign Engagement and Support for University Researchers Foreign Affairs on "Don't Panic Over Taiwan" State Department Ends Discriminatory "Assignment Restrictions" Policy 2023/04/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held on Monday, April 3, 2023, starting at 1:55 pm ET. 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 . Updates will be provided in the meeting by: Nisha Ramachandran , Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) John Yang 杨重远 , President and Executive Director, Advancing Justice | AAJC Gisela Kusakawa , Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum In addition, we welcome three new distinguished speakers. Dr. Robert Underwood Dr. Robert Underwood is a member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI). He is a former Member of Congress representing Guam for 10 years. He is also President Emeritus of the University of Guam and has the distinction of being the longest serving President of the university. He has served the nation as Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the founding Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Scholarship Fund. As a scholar and activist, he has served his region and his people as a passionate advocate for the respect and maintenance of the Chamorro language and the empowerment of the peoples of Micronesia. Dr. Underwood is also Co-Chair of the United States Institute of Peace China-Freely Associated States Senior Study Group. On March 10, 2023, APA Justice submitted comments titled " Pursuing a More Perfect Union and an Equitable Society " to the Commission. John Liu 刘醇逸 New York State Senator John Liu 刘醇逸 represents a broad area of northeast Queens. He is chairperson of the Senate’s committee on New York City Education and also serves on the committees of Education, Finance, Higher Education, Judiciary, Rules and Transportation. State Senator Liu will speak on the relevance and importance of New York Police Department Officer Baimadajie Angwang 昂旺 's story and racial profiling of Asian American scientists to his bill requiring K-12 schools to provide instruction in Asian American history and civic impact, as well as the revival of Alien Land Laws and similar discriminatory bills in Texas and other states. Paula Williams Madison Paula Williams Madison is a former print and TV journalist, retired NBCUniversal executive and GE Company Officer, Former Vice President of the Los Angeles Police Commission and owner of The Africa Channel. She will expand on her thoughts on holding a conversation with a number of national organizations to form a task force on a media watchdog or a similar purpose for the foreseeable future. UCA, C.A.C.A., Committee of 100, AAAJ, etc., could form such an entity. Named one of the “75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America” by Black Enterprise Magazine in 2005 and included in the Hollywood Reporter’s “Power 100," she has been honored by Asian organizations as well, having been recognized in 2014 as one of the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business and in 2015, she was honored by the East West Players and AARP with their Visionary Award and by the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles with the Historymaker Award. She authored and produced FINDING SAMUEL LOWE - from Harlem to China 寻找罗定朝 , which tells her successful search to locate her Chinese grandfather's descendants in China. She is a dual citizen of both the US and Jamaica, grew up in Harlem, and lives with her husband in Los Angeles. Science Editorial and Report on NIH’s “China Initiative” According to an editorial by the Editor-in-Chief of Science, H. Holden Thorp , on March 23, 2023, it wasn’t that long ago when scientific collaboration between the United States and China was enthusiastically encouraged as a means to accomplish the best science. That all changed in 2018, when then-President Trump launched the China Initiative to rid US academia of Chinese spies. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the largest federal funder of biomedical research—vigorously responded to this charge. The agency’s allegations and investigations have not only destroyed careers but also eroded trust in the agency and federal government across the scientific community.This is probably not how Michael Lauer , deputy director for extramural research at NIH, wants to be remembered. But history is not always kind. Lauer has been heavy-handed with regard to policing foreign influence from China, allowing the agency to engage in secretive hardball to target researchers who receive NIH support and who are affiliated with Chinese collaborators.When pressed publicly for details, the NIH and the institutions have given legalistic responses that provide little reassurance.It ’s hard not to conclude that the answer to what changed is Donald Trump’s term as president along with the rise in power of conservative members of Congress bent on reviving the dark spirit of McCarthyism, with China substituted for the Soviet Union.The result was threatening letters from Lauer and a complete change in tone from the institutions. Since 2018, 100 institutions have received letters concerning 246 faculty members, most of them Asian and most working with Chinese collaborators. Altogether, 103 have been forced out, and many more have been enjoined from receiving NIH funds, which is almost always a career killer. Because the letters contain language portraying these scientists as being “unwelcome in the NIH ecosystem,” very few institutions in the United States will hire them. If the implied nefarious activities were real now, it’s been real for a while. The NIH has not given adequate answers as to why this all started so abruptly.Given the statements that Lauer has made in his letters, it’s no wonder the institutions have clammed up. But they owe their faculty, students, trainees, and staff an explanation as well. Has the national security apparatus demanded administrators’ silence? Or is it the need for institutions to maintain their good standing with NIH? The institutions and the NIH need to resolve this. Given the information available in the public domain, the scientific community could easily conclude that this is a xenophobic program to harm Chinese scientists and cut off international scientific cooperation. The federal government needs to figure out a way to let the NIH and the institutions reassure the community that this is all worth it. Read the Science editorial: https://bit.ly/3z24z40 PALL OF SUSPICION - The National Institutes of Health’s “China initiative” has upended hundreds of lives and destroyed scores of academic careers. According to an investigative report by Science reporter Jeff Mervis , in contrast to the very public criminal prosecutions of academic scientists under the "China Initiative" launched in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump to thwart Chinese espionage, NIH’s version has been conducted behind closed doors. Michael Lauer , head of NIH’s extramural research, says that secrecy is necessary to protect the privacy of individual scientists, who are not government employees. Universities consider the NIH-prompted investigations to be a personnel matter, and thus off-limits to queries from reporters. And the targeted scientists have been extremely reticent to talk about their ordeal.Only one of the five scientists whose cases are described in this article has previously gone public with their story. And only one has pushed back successfully, winning a large settlement against her university for terminating her.But a running tally kept by the agency shows the staggering human toll of NIH’s campaign. NIH’s data also make clear who has been most affected. Some 81% of the scientists cited in the NIH letters identify as Asian, and 91% of the collaborations under scrutiny were with colleagues in China.In only 14 of the 246 cases—a scant 6%—did the institution fail to find any evidence to back up NIH’s suspicions. Lauer, who oversees NIH’s $30 billion grants portfolio, regards that high success rate as proof NIH only contacted institutions when there were compelling reasons to believe the targeted scientists were guilty of “scientific, budgetary, or commitment overlap” with NIH-funded projects. But others, including some of the scientists targeted and the university administrators involved in investigating them, say the tremendous power differential between NIH and its grantees may be a better explanation for why so many scientists have been axed.NIH is by far the largest funder of academic biomedical research in the United States, and some medical centers receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the agency. So when senior administrators heard Lauer say a targeted scientist “was not welcome in the NIH ecosystem,” they understood immediately what he meant—and that he was expecting action.“If NIH says there’s a conflict, then there’s a conflict, because NIH is always right,” says David Brenner , who was vice chancellor for health sciences at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), in November 2018 when the institution received a letter from Lauer asking it to investigate five medical school faculty members, all born in China. “We were told we have a problem and that it was up to us to fix it.”The five scientists who came forward in the Science report are: Wuyuan Lu , a tenured professor at University of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology. In August 2020, Lu resigned his tenured position. He is now a professor at Fudan’s medical school in Shanghai. “NIH was acting like a bully,” he tells Science , “and I decided that I’m not going to waste any more time on this witch hunt.” Yue Xiong , a biochemist at the University of North Carolina (UNC). Xiong never saw a list of specific allegations, nor did UNC ever give him any report of its findings. Instead, on 27 May 2020, Xiong was told at a face-to-face meeting with the medical school’s head of human resources that he had 48 hours to decide whether to resign or be fired. Xiong retired quietly from UNC in July 2020 and is now chief scientific officer of Cullgene, a biotech startup in San Diego. Li Wang , a tenured professor of physiology and neurobiology at the University of Connecticut (UConn). Wang resigned on 19 September 2019, 1 day before her termination went into effect. She fought back. A collective bargaining agreement gives UConn faculty the right to seek outside, binding arbitration in employment disputes. Peter Adomeit , an arbitrator of the American Arbitration Association, ruled in November 2021 in Wang’s favor. In a 56-page decision, Peter Adomeit ordered UConn to pay Wang $1.4 million in compensation for being suspended and terminated “without just cause.” “[Interim Provost John ] Elliott ’s claim that the University ‘has lost confidence’ in Dr. Wang is true,” Adomeit wrote. “But it was their fault, not hers. They relied on false evidence. [Wang] tried to correct them, but they wouldn’t listen.” Xiang-Dong Fu , Distinguished Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). In January 2022, Fu was given the choice of either resigning or accepting a 4-year, unpaid suspension from the university that would ban him from campus and his lab. Fu filed a grievance, contending that many of the report’s findings were incorrect and that the university had failed to follow its own procedures. More than 100 UCSD faculty members petitioned. UCSD officials never replied, nor did Fu get a response to his grievance. On 5 December 2022, Fu “reluctantly resigned” after being told his 2-year campus suspension would go into effect on 1 January 2023. Last month he accepted a position with the fledgling Westlake University, China’s first private research university. Kun-Liang Guan , Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Moores Cancer Center at UCSD. In 2019, the university concluded he had violated its code of conduct by failing to disclose research support from foreign sources and banned him from applying for NIH funding for 2 years. Guan says he never received a letter describing the allegations he was facing or a report on the outcome of the university’s investigation. He was able to win new NIH awards once the suspension ended in 2021. Even so, his lab has shrunk dramatically, and he’s no longer taking on new graduate students. His love of science has also suffered. “I used to work very hard,” he says. “Now, sometimes, I wonder what was the point of all the effort I made.” “And I’m one of the lucky ones,” he continues. “I don’t know how many people that NIH wanted to stop are able to start again. Maybe none.” Read the Science report: https://bit.ly/3ZbJL4B Stanford University Statement on Foreign Engagement and Support for University Researchers According to a Statement on Foreign Engagement and Support for University Researchers on February 8, 2023, Stanford University pursues its research and education missions drawing on the talents and contributions of its diverse international community of students and scholars. Likewise, engagement and collaboration with international partners are essential to Stanford’s efforts to develop the knowledge and innovations required to address some of the world’s most pressing problems.One challenge to this work in recent years has emerged from the geopolitical tension between the U.S. and China and resulting concerns about U.S. national security. Stanford takes seriously the threats from foreign governments that seek to undermine U.S. national security as well as the security and integrity of the research environment. These concerns and the issues they pose for research universities have been articulated in reports including the 2022 MIT report as well as the 2022 report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine . As a leading research institution, Stanford has an important role to play in safeguarding the research ecosystem and preventing U.S. national security from being jeopardized while continuing to advance universal scientific values of reciprocity, objectivity and fairness. Unfortunately, the articulation of concerns about the integrity and security of the research environment, and efforts to address those concerns, have caused fear, distress and, in some cases, professional and personal harm to some researchers. This is particularly true for members of our Asian and Asian American communities – especially those of Chinese origin. Inflammatory rhetoric and generalized accusations have caused some researchers to feel targeted and vulnerable purely because they have relationships and collaborations in and with China. This is unacceptable and contrary to the university’s commitment to nondiscrimination and maintaining an open and welcoming environment. Furthermore, discrimination and xenophobia threaten to deprive the U.S. of valuable talent and collaborations, delegitimize serious security concerns, and divert attention and resources from promoting the security of the research enterprise. All international students, faculty, staff, postdocs and alumni are valued members of the Stanford community and should always feel welcome, safe, respected and valued. No one should ever be considered suspect based on their national origin or heritage. Stanford is committed to providing support to researchers engaging in cross-border collaborations, including in China or with Chinese partners, in ways that protect the security and integrity of the research ecosystem and comply with federal laws. For example: Stanford is committed to providing guidance and support to researchers. Stanford is committed to sharing information with the research community. Stanford is committed to defending researchers and protecting the individual’s right to due process. Read the Stanford University statement: https://stanford.io/40xK3Un Foreign Affairs on "Don't Panic Over Taiwan" According to Foreign Affairs on March 21, 2023, fears that China will soon invade Taiwan are overblown. There is little evidence that Chinese leaders see a closing window for action. Such fears appear to be driven more by Washington’s assessments of its own military vulnerabilities than by Beijing’s risk-reward calculus. Historically, Chinese leaders have not started wars to divert attention from domestic challenges, and they continue to favor using measures short of conflict to achieve their objectives. If anything, problems at home have moderated Chinese foreign policy, and Chinese popular opinion has tended to reward government bluster and displays of resolve that do not lead to open conflict.If Western policymakers exaggerate the risk of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, they might inadvertently create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of worrying that Beijing will gin up a foreign crisis to bolster its standing at home or assuming that Beijing feels pressured to invade in the near term, the United States should focus on arresting—or at least decelerating—the action-reaction spiral that has steadily ratcheted up tensions and made a crisis more likely. That does not mean halting efforts to bolster Taiwan’s resilience to Chinese coercion or to diversify the United States’ defense posture in the region. But it does mean avoiding needless confrontation and identifying reciprocal steps that Washington and Beijing could take to lower the temperature.The hard but crucial task for U.S. policymakers is to thread the needle between deterrence and provocation. Symbolic displays of resolve, unconditional commitments to defend Taiwan, and pledges of a surge in U.S. military power in the region could stray too far toward the latter, inadvertently provoking the very conflict U.S. policymakers seek to deter.Read the Foreign Affairs article at https://bit.ly/3LFyoi9 State Department Ends "Assignment Restrictions" Policy According to reports by Politico and CNN on March 22, 2023, the State Department is ending its controversial policy of issuing assignment restrictions for diplomats as a condition of security clearance. The change comes after an intensive review of the practice, which was perceived as discriminatory by diplomats and Democratic lawmakers, particularly because the limits appeared to fall disproportionately on employees with Asian American and Pacific Islander backgrounds.The assignment restrictions were applied by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, sometimes to employees who otherwise hold top-secret clearances, to prevent them from serving in particular countries or even, while they’re in Washington, from working on issues related to those countries.In 2021, Reps. Ted Lieu , Joaquin Castro , Andy Kim and Chrissy Houlahan introduced a bill to reform such restrictions, calling them "discriminatory" and that the restriction policy “disproportionately impacts federal employees who can’t trace their heritage to the Mayflower and directly undermines the department’s goal of promoting diversity and inclusion.”The bill cited State Department data that about 1,800 employees were subject to assignment restrictions. The top four countries with such restrictions were China (196), Russia (184), Taiwan (84) and Israel (70). Subscribe to The APA Justice Newsletter Complete this simple form at https://bit.ly/2FJunJM to subscribe. Please share it with those who wish to be informed and join the fight. View past newsletters here: https://bit.ly/APAJ_Newsletters . Back View PDF March 27, 2023 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

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Newsletter - #175 4/3 Meeting Takeaways; CCS Letter to President; Franklin Tao Appeals; NY Hate Crimes + #175 4/3 Meeting Takeaways; CCS Letter to President; Franklin Tao Appeals; NY Hate Crimes + In This Issue #175 2023/04/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting - Quick Takeaways from Three Invited Speakers Committee of Concerned Scientists Letter to President Biden on Cross Border Profiling Professor Franklin Tao To File Appeal to Reverse Lone Conviction 22-Year Sentence for Man Guilty in Hate-Crime Killing of Asian Immigrant News and Activities for the Communities 2023/04/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting - Quick Takeaways from Three Invited Speakers 2023/04/17 Roundtable on a National Media Alert Network and Strike Teams. High level of interest was expressed following Paula Madison's thought- provoking and informative suggestion of a proactive national media alert network. As follow-up action, a virtual roundtable of about 90 minutes will be convened on Monday, April 17, 2023. An agenda for the event is being prepared at this time. Additional details will be coming soon. Please mark your calendar. 2. Let the President's Advisory Commission Know Your Issues and Concerns. Commissioner Dr. Robert Underwood joined the meeting from Guam whose Chamorro Time Zone is 14 hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern Time Zone. On March 10, 2023, APA Justice submitted its comments to the Commission, expressing concerns about government-instigated racial profiling that has been repeatedly explained away and justified under the cover of national security that sacrifices the civil and human rights of the Asian American and immigrant communities. Dr. Underwood encourages the communities and individuals to send their issues and concerns to him at anacletus2010@gmail.com and to the Commission at AANHPICommission@hhs.gov . 3. Educate, Educate, and Educate; Reinstate NYPD Officer Angwang. Despite his busy schedule that included a special session of the New York State Senate, Senator John Liu joined the meeting and spoke passionately about the need for education to counter anti-Asian hate. Senator Liu is in touch with New York Mayor Eric Adams' office regarding the reinstatement of Officer Angwang to the New York Police Department and an apology to Officer Angwang. Committee of Concerned Scientists Letter to President Biden on Cross Border Profiling On March 20, 2023, the Committee of Concerned Scientist (CCS) wrote a letter to President Joe Biden, expressing concerns about Chinese American researchers being profiled, harassed, and interrogated without just cause at the border. The letter was signed by Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer, Co-Chairs of CCS. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken were copied. CCS referenced a report by the Chronicle of Higher Education on March 1, 2023, which describes instances where professors and scientists have been subjected to harassment and interrogations at the US border. The letter said in part "In this [Chronicle of Higher Education] article, advocates for Asian American academics describe several instances of harassment and interrogations, which have been rising over the past few months. The situation is worrisome since Chinese American researchers should feel free from the China Initiative policy of a few years ago. This policy disproportionately focused on Chinese American researchers in the U.S. Department of Justice’s sometimes overzealous efforts to uncover academic and economic espionage, and in our opinion often constituted ethnic profiling. The climate for Chinese American researchers needs to be made more welcoming. Indeed Gisela Kusakawa (Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum) commented poignantly “Although the China Initiative has ended — and that was a very important and critical step — for many Chinese Americans, it is clear that they still live in a climate that’s less welcoming.” While the Asian American Scholar Forum is aiming to collect more exact data on the number of these border stops, we are aware of a few specific cases: (1) Zhigang Suo, a professor of mechanics and materials at Harvard University; (2) Hong Qi, a visiting scholar of mathematical sciences at Louisiana State University and lecturer at Queen Mary University, London; and (3) a young daughter of a Chinese American scholar traveling alone who was stopped and interrogated about the nature of her father’s research. We ask for border officials to receive further anti-bias training and be encouraged to not focus selectively on Chinese American researchers in stopping them for secondary screening. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter and we look forward to a response from you shortly." Read the CCS letter: http://bit.ly/3Mwsdxx Professor Franklin Tao To File Appeal to Reverse Lone Conviction Attorney Peter Zeidenberg representing Professor Feng "Franklin"; Tao is in the process of filing a brief in the 10th Circuit Court seeking the reversal of the sole count of conviction against Professor Tao. He was the first academic indicted under the now-defunct "China Initiative."; The brief concludes: "The conviction on Count 9 should be reversed because the KU Institutional Responsibilities form—which Dr. Tao submitted only to KU and which KU never shared with NSF or DOE—and which neither agency considered when making funding or other decisions, was not within the Executive Branch’s jurisdiction. There is no legal basis for a felony false statement conviction in these circumstances. The Court’s affirmance would not only be unjust, but it would also open the floodgates to federal prosecutions of employees accused of making misrepresentations to employers that receive federal funding. It would subordinate the decisions of university department chairs, tenure committees, and Human Resources to the whims of federal prosecutors and jurors. An affirmance would also frustrate the ideals of our system of limited government. The Department of Justice is not the Ministry of Truth, and it should have no role regulating routine employee-employer interactions. The Court should reverse." Read the Franklin Tao story: https://bit.ly/3fZWJvK 22-Year Sentence for Man Guilty in Hate-Crime Killing of Asian Immigrant According to a report by the New York Times on March 31, 2023, a man who admitted to brutally, and fatally, attacking a 61-year-old immigrant in East Harlem two years ago because 5 the victim was Asian was sentenced to 22 years in prison. The sentencing of the man, Jarrod Powell, came several months after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter as a hate crime in the killing of the immigrant, Yao Pan Ma. Mr. Powell had suddenly shoved Mr. Ma from behind while the older man was pushing a grocery cart full of bottles and cans near 125th Street and Third Avenue. Video footage released by the police showed that after Mr. Ma collapsed to the ground, Mr. Powell had stomped on his head and kicked him several times in the face. Mr. Ma spent about eight months in a coma before dying as a result of the injuries he sustained in the attack. In entering his plea, according to prosecutors, Mr. Powell, 51, said he had targeted the older man because he was Asian. “New York is one of the most diverse cities in the world,” Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said in a statement announcing the sentence. “And no one should have to fear that they may be in danger because of their background.” Mr. Bragg’s office said that it had 39 open cases of anti-Asian hate crime. People of Asian descent have been the victims in several high-profile crimes in the past few years. In November 2021, GuiYing Ma, a 61-year-old Chinese immigrant, was fatally beaten as she swept a Queens sidewalk. In January, the man who admitted attacking her was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In January 2022, Michelle Alyssa Go was pushed to her death by a mentally ill man at the Times Square subway station. The next month, Christina Yuna Lee was fatally stabbed by a man who followed her from the street into her apartment. In March 2022, a 28-year-old man was charged with seven counts of assault and attempted assault in connection with a two- hour spree of attacks on women of Asian decent in Manhattan. Read the New York Times report: https://nyti.ms/3zstXjw News and Activities for the Communities 1. Harvard admits record number of Asian American applicants According to a report by NextShark on March 31, 2023, amid allegations of bias against Asian students in its admissions process, Harvard University welcomed its largest proportion of Asian American first-year students in its history.¶ From a pool of 56,937 applicants, the 6 Ivy League university admitted a total of 1,942 students — its second-lowest admissions rate on record — to its Class of 2027. Of this batch, 722 were accepted through an early action process in December 2022, while 1,220 were notified of the regular decision on March 30, 2023.¶ Asian American students composed 29.9% of the new admissions, marking a 2.1% increase from last year’s 27.8%. This, according to Harvard, is the group’s largest-ever acceptance rate.¶ Starting with the Class of 2027, the costs to attend the university — including tuition, housing, food and other fees — will be free for families with annual incomes of less than $85,000, up from last year’s $75,000 threshold.¶ Read the NextShark report: http://bit.ly/3TYEz34 2. The Silence of Florida’s Presidents According to a report on March 31, 2023, Inside Higher Ed asked 40 public college presidents in Florida to weigh in on state higher education reforms. None were willing to speak, even when offered anonymity.¶ As Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, seeks to enact sweeping reforms to dramatically reshape higher education in the Sunshine State, students and faculty alike have protested legislation that would ban teaching certain topics, limit institutional authority and undermine tenure protections.¶ But one group has remained conspicuously silent: Florida’s college presidents.¶ Of the 40 presidents at Florida’s public colleges and universities, none have publicly challenged DeSantis as he has gone after diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; sought data on health care for transgender students; and pushed HB 999—legislation to remake Florida higher education.¶ Given their shared silence, Inside Higher Ed asked all 40 presidents that lead the institutions that comprise the State University System of Florida and Florida College System for comment. None of the presidents agreed to discuss attacks on higher education from the DeSantis administration, even when offered anonymity, and multiple institutions did not respond to a request for comment.¶ Florida’s college presidents remain silent as constituents demand they speak up with HB 999 advancing through the state Legislature. Observers suggest presidents are in a no-win scenario, where silence equals compliance but speaking out carries personal and institutional risks.¶ Read the Inside Higher Ed report: http://bit.ly/40yLh2a 3. In the war against history, Los Angeles and Asian American history offer hope According to an opinion by Erika Lee, Regents Professor of History at the University of Minnesota and the president of the Organization of American Historians, published by The Hill on April 1, 2023, since January 2021, 44 states have introduced bills or taken other steps to restrict discussions of race, gender, and sexuality in U.S. history. In 2022, proposed educational gag orders attempting to restrict teaching about race, gender, American history, and LGBTQ+ identities in K-12 and higher education increased by 250 percent compared to the previous year. Further, according to a new report by Pen America, more than 2,500 different book bans were enacted in schools across 32 states during the 2021-2022 school year. A few months ago Florida rejected the College Board’s Advanced Placement course on African American Studies in the state’s high schools, claiming that it “lack[ed] educational value.”¶ There is a war being waged against American history by those hostile to an honest portrayal of our country’s history—and who seek to stamp out the expansive, inclusive, and complicated understanding of America’s past that recent scholarship has revealed.¶ As more than 1,000 U.S. historians gather in Los Angeles on March 30 to April 2, 2023, for the annual Organization of American Historians meeting, the question of how educators, scholars, officials, and activists can work together in this war will be front and center. We will be discussing how current community, civic, and historian-led efforts are confronting our past in ways that should all give us hope for the future. And how Los Angeles may serve as a model for other cities and states to follow in developing approaches that openly and inclusively tackle our country’s difficult racial history.¶ The stakes could not be greater.¶ Read The Hill opinion: http://bit.ly/3MxIAKf 4. Interim Executive Director for MOCA On March 30, 2023, the Museum of Chinese Americans (MOCA) announced the selection of arts and cultural leader Nina Curley as its Interim Executive Director to succeed outgoing President, Nancy Yao, who has been named the founding director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, effective June 5. Read the MOCA announcement: https://bit.ly/3ZEJ8AE Subscribe to The APA Justice Newsletter Complete this simple form at https://bit.ly/2FJunJM to subscribe. Please share it with those who wish to be informed and join the fight. View past newsletters here: https://bit.ly/APAJ_Newsletters . Back View PDF April 4, 2023 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Congressional Actions Track Congress's statements and actions for the AAPI community. Our watchlist contains all of the most pertinent issues and legislations to the Asian American community. Check it out Our Watchlist See organizations', scientists', and community groups' statements and responses to AAPI issues. Explore Community Responses Texas House Bill 1075 and Senate Bill 552 Read More CAPAC Issues Messaging Guidance on Anti-Asian Hate Read More Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act Introduced Read More House Resolution Condemns All Forms of Anti-Asian Sentiment Related to COVID-19 Read More Senator Warner Letter to FBI Director Wray Read More House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff Statement on Racial Profiling Read More

Newsletter - #200 8/7 Monthly Meeting; US-China Science Agreement; Maui Need Help; March on Washington #200 8/7 Monthly Meeting; US-China Science Agreement; Maui Need Help; March on Washington In This Issue #200 2023/08/07 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Future of 44-year-old Science Agreement Caught in Middle of U.S.-China Tensions Maui Inferno - The Communities Need Help 2023/08/26 March on Washington 2023/08/07 APA Justice Monthly Meeting APA Justice held its monthly meeting on August 7, 2023. Speakers included Nisha Ramachandran , Joanna Derman , Gisela Perez Kusakawa , Clay Zhu 朱可亮 , Echo King 金美声 , Shuang Zhao 赵爽 , Andy Wong , Shanti Prasad , and Christine Chen . A written summary of the monthly meeting is being prepared at this time. Presentation by Clay Zhu on Florida Chinese Radio Television (FCRTV) On July 22, Clay Zhu 朱可亮 , Founder of Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA) and a lead attorney in the lawsuit against Florida discriminatory alien land bill, gave a webinar "从微信案到佛州案：在美华人的维权之路和启发" to describe the road from the WeChat Ban to the Florida lawsuit and the inspiration of Chinese people in the United States to defend their rights. The webinar in Chinese was broadcast by FCRTV 佛州华语广播电视台. Watch the video at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOqobsVDX_A (2:05:26). Clay's 61-slide presentation is posted by the Florida Asian American Justice Alliance (FAAJA) at https://bit.ly/3OWbYdy Chinese for Affirmative Action 华人权益促进会 During the August 7 monthly meeting, Andy Wong andywong@caasf.org , Managing Director of Advocacy, and Shanti Prasad sprasad@caasf.org , Advocacy Manager, Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), gave an introduction of CAA and described its recent roles and activities. CAA was founded in 1969 to protect the civil and political rights of Chinese Americans and to advance multiracial democracy. Today, CAA is a progressive voice in and on behalf of the broader Asian American and Pacific Islander community. It is also a co-founding partner of Stop AAPI Hate - the national coalition to address anti-AAPI racism in the U.S. Their 6-slide presentation is located here: https://bit.ly/3QBqQPQ APIA Vote During the August 7 monthly meeting, Christine Chen , Executive Director, APIAVote, gave an introduction of APIAVote and a report on "The Growing AAPI Electorate and What is at Stake." APIAVote’s work revolves around collaborating with national, regional, and local partners in order to equip advocates with the training, tools, resources, and best practices they need to do their best work as “trusted messengers” in their communities. Together, APIAVote’s Alliance for Civic Empowerment (ACE) envisions a world that is inclusive, fair, and collaborative, and where Asian Americans and Pacific Islander communities are self-determined, empowered, and engaged. ACE is missing partners in some states in the Mid-West, South, and Northeast. Christine's presentation included the trend and historic AAPI turnout in 2020, a presidential election year, with 64% registered and 60% turnout. Christine also gave an outline of activities and training in 2023 and 2024. Her 18-slide presentation is located here: https://bit.ly/3DZBKY4 Future of 44-year-old Science Agreement Caught in Middle of U.S.-China Tensions According to Axios , the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the South China Morning Post , one of the most foundational agreements between the United States and China, the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement (STA), will expire on August 27, 2023.Originally signed in 1979, STA has been renewed about every five years with the last time being in 2018. The agreement laid out the terms for government-to-government cooperation in science, opening the way for academic and corporate interactions. It opened the door for scientists to collaborate in physics, chemistry, health and other areas. Cooperation between the countries helped China to transition from ozone-depleting CFCs and enabled the sharing of influenza data used to devise yearly vaccines.The STA signing gave "a form of permission for lab-to-lab, university-to-university, scientist-to-scientist cooperation," says John Holdren , former director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) during the Obama administration. "It legitimized the whole notion that collaboration was respectable."More than four decades into the agreement that included a pandemic and several administrations of fiery rhetoric, the broader nature of that cooperation is being scrutinized over concerns about Beijing-backed intellectual property theft and the Chinese military benefitting from knowledge about U.S. scientific advances.Making a case for renewal, Deborah Seligsohn of CSIS, a think tank in Washington, said that as the first deal signed between Washington and Beijing after the normalization of ties, the agreement was of “enormous historic significance”.Seligsohn said the agreement had resulted in “many specific science and technology outcomes” that had greatly benefited the US and the rest of the world, from cooperation on the study of birth defects and influenza to fighting air pollution and HIV/Aids prevention.Over the years scientists on both sides had also worked together on almost 100 protocols and annexes under the agreement, “specifically, a number of changes to intellectual property protections”, she said. Seligsohn said non-renewal could complicate recent attempts to find areas of cooperation, including the “the types of people-to-people connections and educational exchanges” that Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed to promote during his visit to Beijing in June.“There is a real risk that any such improvements, including access to key health information and the ability to train the United States’ next generation of China experts, will be put at risk if the agreement lapses,” she said. Richard Suttmeier , a US-China science and tech cooperation expert at the University of Oregon, said letting the agreement lapse would not be “productive for finding the right terms for the larger relationship with China”.Suttmeier said it would probably be a mistake to let the deal lapse and the two countries needed to come up with an agreement that reflected the “realities of the third decade of the 21st century”. Suttmeier acknowledged that China had been the biggest beneficiary of the agreement – “largely because the US had been so far ahead of China in science and technology; there was less to learn from China than China could learn from the US”. “Nevertheless, the US benefited in a variety of ways,” he said. “Now, however, with China emerging as a scientific superpower, the flow of knowledge is going in both directions, so, in principle, the benefits to the US could be greater.” 2023/08/12 South China Morning Post : Clock ticks down for China-US science deal amid tech theft fears 2023/08/05 Axios : Future of 44-year-old science agreement caught in middle of U.S.-China tensions 2023/08/04 CSIS: The Case for Renewing the U.S.-China S&T Cooperation Agreement Maui Inferno - The Communities Need Help According to multiple media reports, Maui's wildfires have killed at least 96 people, a toll expected to rise. The fast-moving inferno, which started on August 8, 2023, spread from the brush outside of town and ravaged the historic city of Lahaina that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It was one of three major wildfires on Maui.According to AP News on August 12, 2023, in the hours before a wildfire engulfed the town of Lahaina, Maui County officials failed to activate sirens that would have warned the entire population of the approaching flames and instead relied on a series of sometimes confusing social media posts that reached a much smaller audience.Governor Josh Green said the inferno that reduced much of Lahaina to smoldering ruins was the worst natural disaster in the state's history, making thousands of people homeless and leveling at least 2,700 buildings and “an estimated value of $5.6 billion has gone away.” Crews with cadaver dogs have covered just 3% of the search area,A potent mix of high winds from Hurricane Dora, low humidity levels and a high pressure system over the North Pacific created deadly fire conditions in Hawaii. The fate of some of Lahaina's cultural treasures remains unclear. The historic 60-foot-tall banyan tree marking the spot where Hawaiian King Kamehameha III's 19th-century palace stood was still standing, though some of its boughs appeared charred.The fire that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina in West Maui is now the deadliest US blaze in over 100 years, according to US Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell . Thomas Leonard , a 74-year-old retired mailman from Lahaina, didn’t know about the fire until he smelled smoke. Power and cellphone service had both gone out earlier, leaving the town with no real-time information about the danger. He tried to leave in his Jeep, but had to abandon the vehicle and run to the shore when cars nearby began exploding. He hid behind a seawall for hours, the wind blowing hot ash and cinders over him. Firefighters eventually arrived and escorted Leonard and other survivors through the flames to safety.President Joe Biden signed a Major Disaster Declaration to deliver additional federal resources and support for the emergency response. The action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Maui and provides aid on top of the actions already underway by federal agencies to help state and local search-and-recovery efforts. The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement is partnering with Native Hawaiian and community organizations and businesses to match up to $1,500,000 in donations for ʻohana (Hawaiian term meaning "family") impacted by the devastating wildfires on Maui. 2023/08/13 Maui Now: Here’s what critical aid FEMA, federal partners are providing for Maui fire response, recovery 2023/08/12 The Hill: Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez pledge $100 million to help Maui wildfire recovery 2023/08/26 March on Washington On August 26, 2023, a 2023 March on Washington will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, organized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders in 1963, to continue the fight for democracy, social justice and civil rights. Join the King family at the Lincoln Memorial to honor the past, acknowledge the present and march toward a future of progress and equality.Advancing Justice | AAJC is co-chairing this momentous event along with ADL, Human Rights Commission, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Legal Defense Fund, NAACP, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Urban League and UNIDOS.Advancing Justice | AAJC is working on a common gathering place for the AANHPI community place while at the same time making sure that we are well integrated into the March.Advocate Qian Huang 黄倩 reported that the National Action Network (NAN) is looking for hospitality volunteers on Friday, August 25, at 6:30 pm with a walk-through of all the volunteers. The set up work (stage, chairs, booth, flyer, t-shirts...) will be done by NAN. On August 8, 2023, ADL East hosted a webinar titled "The March on Washington: Together Towards Justice." It featured Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway and NAACP New Jersey State Conference President Richard T. Smith . The discussion focused on the historic 1963 March on Washington, the civil rights movement today, the importance of allyship, as well as how to register for this year's March on August 26. Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1MlImhhgbk (57:56) Back View PDF August 15, 2023 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter