On October 30, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly virtual Membership Mixer, with 20 participants in attendance. This week AABANY held a costume contest. The icebreaker question this week was: “What was the most memorable trick someone played on you or that you played on someone else, or what was your happiest Halloween Memory?” Participants told us their favorite memories, including people watching their children trick or treat. One person was pranked in college when their friend took an extra bed, moved it into their dorm room, and created an official looking letter to notify them that they were getting a 3rd roommate.
For the costume contest, members dressed up as a moose, a scary clown, Elliot from Mr. Robot, a Zombie, Princess Leia, and Killer Hornet! Congratulations to Momo Liu for her Princess Leia Costume and Kasama Star for her “Butt Cream” Zombie — the votes were tied! What is a “Butt Cream”Zombie? Let’s just say you had to be there.
The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars, ballparks, stadiums, operas, etc, but due to COVID, we have moved online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30pm on Friday and the main event ends at 7:30pm but people stay on after 7:30pm for smaller breakout groups.
Membership Committee will continue to host weekly virtual mixers until it is safe to gather together again in person.
We are giving away door prizes in some weeks. In order to win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org calendar entry to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize.
Glenn D. Magpantay, a long-time civil rights attorney, advocate, and leader for Asian Pacific American (APA) and LGBTQ rights, is a 2020 recipient of the Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award, NAPABA’s highest honor. Each year, outstanding lawyers are awarded for their exceptional leadership in paving the way for the advancement of other APA attorneys and creating lasting, substantial contributions in the broader APA community.
Glenn’s inspiring commitment to public service and activism started in college and continued after graduation when he was a lobbyist for higher education in the early 1990s. As one of the few Asian people working in the State Capitols at the time, Glenn learned the importance of APA and LGBTQ representation in law.
As a civil rights attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), he quickly became an authority on the federal Voting Rights Act and expert on Asian American political participation. He fought for the right of Asian Americans to vote in their native language, to put in place translated registration forms and language interpreters at poll sites, and to challenge unconstitutional voter ID requirements in many cities.
At the cornerstone of Glenn’s incredible legal work and advocacy is intersectionality. In addition to working with several law firms on pro bono projects, he has recently led two challenges that reached the U.S. Supreme Court: Hawaii v. Trump (2018), which challenged President Trump’s anti-Muslim travel ban, and DHS v. Regents of the University of California (2020), which challenged President Trump’s proposed cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
In a recent interview, Glenn reflected on how LGBTQ Asian attorneys have to navigate through a very traditional work environment where they often cannot express who they really are. In response to this, he has worked for over a decade to create a network for LGBTQ Asian attorneys to find peer support and thrive and advance in their careers. As Executive Director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), Glenn highlighted the often overlooked stories of LGBTQ Asians, trained a new generation of LGBTQ activists, and cultivated a more diverse face of the LGBTQ movement. And above all, Glenn knows that he could not have done this work without AABANY.
“Ever since I went to my first AABANY event in 1988, they have given me the trust and ability to create these spaces for LGBTQ APA attorneys,” Glenn said. “AABANY is my home because I’ve always felt valued, not just as a public interest lawyer, but also — and especially — as a colorful, openly gay attorney working in the name of Asian American civil rights.”
In addition to the many doors that AABANY has opened for Glenn, he also is incredibly thankful for the support he received from several law firms, such as Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Shearman & Sterling, and Skadden Arps. “I would not have been able to uphold and protect the Voting Rights Act without some of the biggest law firms in New York helping me with issue-spotting, fact-to-rule application, and their commitment to intersectional diversity and inclusion. And I would not have been able to sue New York City for bilingual voting rights without the help of six hundred lawyers from the New York Asian American bar in monitoring polling sites and recording anti-Asian voter disenfranchisement. ”
It’s a lifetime achievement award, but I’m not ready to retire. We have come a long way, but we have not yet come far enough.
Glenn continues to teach and inspire legal minds by teaching legal studies and Asian American studies at Hunter College, Brooklyn Law School, and Columbia University, and his work is far from over.
“The goal was never for me to get an award; it was to change the profession to be more diverse and inclusive where we can achieve our fullest potential,” Glenn said. “It’s a lifetime achievement award, but I’m not ready to retire. We have come a long way, but we have not yet come far enough.”
Please join AABANY in congratulating Glenn on this well-deserved honor and recognition. NAPABA has announced on its website that the Award Ceremony will be held in December 2020. Additionally, NAPABA is honoring its awardees by featuring them on their social media accounts. To access the video on Glenn’s life and achievements, please visit the link below:
On September 8th, Seton Hall Law School hosted a webinar entitled “Asian Americans at a Crossroads: COVID-19, #BLM, Discrimination, and Allyship,” which AABANY co-sponsored. The event, moderated by Professor Marina Lao, was a virtual conversation with Professor Frank H. Wu, President at Queens College, CUNY, who discussed the problems facing the Asian and Asian-American communities, the importance of allyship and building bridges across communities of color, and the history that surrounds both.
Professor Wu began the discussion by talking about how he got interested in studying Asian American history in college, when he wanted to write a paper on Asian American issues and civil rights and found not a single book written on the subject. He then realized that United States racial history was taught in a black and white paradigm: it treated everyone as falling into these two supposedly “opposite” categories. In doing so, history has taught Asian Americans that they have three options: they must aspire to be “honorary white people,” fall into the supposedly “lesser” category as people of color, or accept that they will never fit into the body politic.
He then recounted his upbringing in Detroit, where people assumed that he belonged halfway around the world and bullied him with racist slurs. They ingrained in him a perpetual foreigner syndrome, which has recently become more common and intensified with the association of all Asians with COVID-19. Only after the murder of Vincent Chin did Professor Wu realize that these weren’t just harmless jokes. In 1982 Detroit, Chin, a working class Chinese citizen, was harassed with racial slurs and bludgeoned to death by two automobile workers; they saw Chin as a foreigner, as someone who stole their jobs and thus must be punished. The killers got a fine and probation for three years, which Professor Wu revisited in 2012 when he co-wrote the AABANY Trial Reenactment of the Murder of Vincent Chin.
During this horrific incident in 1982, Professor Wu first learned the importance of bridge building and forming coalitions. He realized that in America, all Asians have to come together to form one Asian-American culture in order to emphasize that they are Americans. He then realized he needed to better understand the Black struggle. He followed the path of W.E.B. DuBois, who situated the fight for Black liberation in the importance of cooperation and coalition.
He concluded by discussing the importance of Asian Americans supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. He discussed the dangers of the model minority myth, and how it was designed to enforce anti-Black/Latinx racism. He explained how in this moment, Asian Americans have to try to understand other people’s sufferings, which can be more severe than ours. Asian Americans are at a crossroads: do we aspire to the silent norms and enforce them? Or do we proudly affirm our status as people of color and stand in solidarity and fight for the liberation of other races? The lives of Asian Americans can only be truly secure and protected when people who look different also feel that their place is secure too.
Professor Wu’s conversation highlights some of the many unique changes and challenges that Asian Americans are experiencing this year. Now more than ever, it is incredibly important to not only understand Asian American history and its ties to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other racial and ethnic histories, but also — and more importantly — learn from those triumphs and mistakes of the past. In order to create a history we are proud of, we must look behind us and strive forward, together.
Thank you to the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) at Seton Hall Law School for hosting and organizing the event. To view the full recording of the conversation on YouTube, click the link above.
On October 23, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly virtual Membership Mixer, with 18 participants in attendance. This week AABANY was honored to have Marianne Chow Newman, Counsel at Hearst Corp and AABANY Board Member, as our guest speaker.
Guest Speaker Marianne Chow Newman
The icebreaker question posed to the group was, “What would you do if you woke up with an extra $1 million dollars in your account?” Participants mainly responded: “Paying off bills, student loans and mortgages and saving the rest.” A few in the group replied that they would take time off from work and travel around the world with their families.
The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars, ballparks, stadiums, operas, etc, but due to COVID, we have moved online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30pm on Friday and the main event ends at 7:30pm but people usually stay on after 7:30pm for smaller breakout groups.
Membership Committee will continue to host weekly virtual mixers until it is safe to gather together again in person.
We are giving away door prizes in some weeks. In order to win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org calendar entry to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize.
This week our guest of honor Marianne Chow Newman gave away a subscription to a Hearst magazine of the winner’s choice, and Jeff Tang won! Congratulations, Jeff, and thanks, Marianne!
WE HAVE A COSTUME CONTEST THIS FRIDAY OCTOBER 30. Here is your chance to win $100 for best costume! Participants are encouraged to dress up and join the fun. If you don’t want to dress in costume, please RSVP for the Mixer and help us judge the contest!
The Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) congratulates Brian Lee, founding member and former Co-Chair of the Prosecutors’ Committee, on being promoted to Deputy Executive ADA for General Litigation at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. He is the first Korean-American Executive-level Assistant District Attorney in New York State. In his new role, Brian will oversee the office’s general litigation division.
Brian is a graduate of State University of New York at Albany and Pace University School of Law. His previous positions include serving as the Chief of both District Court Trial Bureau and County Court Trial Bureau, and working at the Queens Criminal Court, Intake, Appeals, Narcotic Trials, and Domestic Violence Bureaus.
Please see the announcement below released by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office for more information on Deputy Executive ADA Brian Lee:
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a record rate of job loss for Asian New Yorkers, with unemployment benefit applications increasing by more than 6000% from February to June of 2020.
At 1.3 million people, Asian Americans are over 16% of the population in New York City and are growing faster than all other demographics in the City.
In February 2020, Asian Americans in New York City had a jobless rate of 3.4% — however, Asian American unemployment soared to 25.6% by May 2020, the largest increase among all major racial groups.
AAF’s latest report:
Brings you the key demographic data for decision-makers on how different ethnicities within the Asian American community such as Bengali, Chinese, Korean, and so on, were impacted by job losses
Identifies the specific industries that Asian American New Yorkers depend on for work
Reveals the industries that lost the greatest amount of jobs due to the pandemic
Shares recommendations for private and public leaders to help Asian Americans during the COVID-19 recovery
Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit (CAU), Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants (MOPT) and Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit (PEU) will host a Tenant Protection Training in English, Mandarin and Cantonese and share anti-eviction and tenant protection tools on Tuesday, 10/20/2020 at 3pm.
Participants will be able to learn about tenant rights, tenant protection resources, and referral processes.
On October 9, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly virtual Membership Mixer, with 20 participants in attendance. This week AABANY had the honor of co-hosting the event with the Filipino American Lawyers Association of New York (FALA-New York). The icebreaker question posed to the group was: “Who is your favorite superhero, real or fictional?” Participants reported they idolized Captain Jean Luc Picard, Spiderman, Xena, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Neo, Jay and Silent Bob, Morpheus, Naruto, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Oksana Chusovitina, and their bartender. Many of the participants hailed from New Jersey, and the burning question of the night was: “Is the beloved NJ ham dish called a pork roll or Taylor Ham?”
The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars, ballparks, stadiums, operas, etc, but due to COVID, we have moved online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30pm on Friday and the main event ends at 7:30pm but many stay on after 7:30pm for smaller breakout groups.
Membership Committee will continue to host weekly virtual mixers until it is safe to gather together again in person.
We are giving away door prizes in some weeks. In order to win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org calendar to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize.
This week Membership Committee gave away a free Membership. Congratulations to Louise Lingat for winning the prize.
Membership Committee would also like to thank Barry Kazan, a Partner at Mintz & Gold LLP for his generosity! Barry offered to pay FALANY and AABANY memberships for the October 9 Mixer attendees who are not already members of the respective bars.
WASHINGTON—The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is proud to present the 2020 NAPABA President’s Award to Helen Zia, activist, former journalist and author of Asian American Dreams, My Country Versus Me and Last Boat out of Shanghai. An outspoken advocate against hate crimes, she was one of the lead organizers of the Justice for Vincent Chin campaign, which became a national civil rights movement in 1982. In the wake of COVID-19, Zia wrote and spoke on parallels of the Chin case and how the targeting of Asians and Asian Americans will make it harder to stop COVID-19.
The NAPABA President’s Award is given to individuals who demonstrate an exceptional commitment to the Asian Pacific American community. Zia will be featured as part of the Keynote Series during the 2020 NAPABA Convention | Virtual Experience on Sat, Nov. 7, 2020.
“Helen Zia is an outspoken champion on human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ issues and for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,” said Bonnie Lee Wolf, president of NAPABA. “She has spent her career in journalism and as an author to counter hate violence and advocate for peace and equality. Because of Helen, the stories of countless AAPIs, including Wen Ho Lee and Vincent Chin, have been told and elevated through her activism and reporting.”
Zia was Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine and a founding board co-chair of the Women’s Media Center. She has been active in many non-profit organizations, including Equality Now, AAJA and KQED. Her ground-breaking articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in many publications, books, and anthologies, receiving numerous awards.
Zia’s advocacy and elevation of the Justice for Vincent Chin campaign activated the AAPI legal community nationwide. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (now Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Los Angeles), and later the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (now Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC), were both founded because of the Vincent Chin case. In 1988, NAPABA was founded, in part, by leaders from those organizations. Zia’s almost-twin brother, Hoyt, was the organization’s first president.
NAPABA congratulates Helen Zia as the 2020 NAPABA President’s Award recipient.
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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) represents the interests of approximately 50,000 legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local Asian Pacific American bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting Asian Pacific American communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of color in the legal profession.
On October 1, 2020, New York launched COVID Alert NY – the official Exposure Notification App created by the New York State Department of Health in partnership with Google and Apple. The app’s purpose is to help anyone 18+ living and/or working in New York fight against COVID-19 by getting exposure alerts, without compromising their privacy or personal information.
The COVID Alert NY app notifies users if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Upon receiving an exposure notification, the app will encourage users to contact their physician or the State Health Department hotline (1-833-227-5045) to get more information about quarantining and testing.
Anyone who downloads the app does not have to worry about being tracked, identified or having their personal information shared. The app is completely anonymous and does not track location or movement; no personal data is collected. The app instead uses Bluetooth proximity-enabled exposure notification technology provided by Apple and Google which is safe and secure.
The more New Yorkers using the COVID Alert NY app, the more effective it will be as a tool to fight against COVID-19. The COVID Alert NY app puts the power in the hands of New Yorkers to protect their neighbors, friends, family and community at large. Together, we can slow the spread of COVID-19.
The free smartphone app is now available for download in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
