Tag: covid-19

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Membership Committee Hosts Mixer on November 13 with Naf Kwun

On November 13, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly virtual Membership Mixer, with 17 participants in attendance. This week AABANY had the honor of having Naf Kwun, Partner at Lee Anav Chung White Kim Ruger & Richter LLP and AABANY Board Member, as our guest speaker. 

Guest Speaker Naf Kwun

The icebreaker question posed to the group was: “What would you have done differently if you knew everything you knew about COVID before the lockdown?” Participants gave varied responses, such as invest in Pfizer, Zoom, and Amazon stocks; take a trip; clean their offices; buy more PPE.

Naf shared her path to success in the legal profession, starting with her attending AABANY’s second Fall Conference, in 2011, which led her to getting actively involved with AABANY’s quarterly newsletter, The Advocate, which then led to her becoming active on various AABANY Committees, including serving as a Co-Chair of the Women’s Committee. Naf also joined the Board and served as an Office and Director, including a highly productive tenure as Co-Vice President of Programs and Operations. Even as she was busy with AABANY, Naf got her legal career on track, first as a clerk to Criminal Court Justice Patricia DiMango, and then as an Associate at Lee Anav, where she rose to Partner after a few years. Naf also serves on the Board of AABANY’s 501(c)(3) affiliate, the Asian American Law Fund of New York. This year, Naf received recognition as one of NAPABA’s Best Under 40. Congratulations to Naf on this well-deserved honor and recognition, and thanks to Naf for sharing her inspiring journey with our members at our Weekly Mixer!

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 often 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. 

Congratulations to Henry Man, for winning the weekly prize!

Please join us on November 20, 2020 for a Remo Room Mixer. Register by Thursday, Nov. 19, at https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1420338.

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Fall Conference 2020: Anti-Asian Violence and Hate Arising from the COVID-19 Pandemic

On September 26, 2020, as part of the second day of the 2020 Fall Conference, AABANY hosted a program discussing Anti-Asian Violence and Hate Arising from the COVID-19 Pandemic, which focused on trends and newly compiled statistics related to this discrimination. The panel included:

  • Karen King, Counsel at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (Moderator)
  • Joe Gim, Deputy Chief of the County Court Trial Bureau in Nassau County
  • Russell Jeung, Professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University and Member of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council
  • Stewart Loo, Deputy Inspector of the NYPD Asian Hate Crime Task Force
  • John C. Yang, President and Executive Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice
  • Jo-Ann Yoo, Executive Director at the Asian American Federation

First, Professor Jeung introduced “Stop AAPI Hate,” an online reporting center organized by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. Since March 19, 2020, the reporting center has been tracking and responding to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California and where possible throughout the United States. In California, there have been over 300,000 reported incidents over the eight month period. There was a major uptick in March when President Trump started calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” and in late June when Trump started using the term “Kung Flu.” Although most of the reported incidents have been verbal, there have been an alarming number of incidents where Asian Pacific Americans (APA) were coughed or spat on.

Jo-Ann Yoo then discussed the situation in New York and emphasized that reporting is only as good as its outreach. Joe Gim specified that legally, a hate crime in New York must both involve a person selected to have a crime against them because of their identity and have that factor be a substantial part of the crime.

Next, Stewart Loo introduced the NYPD Asian Hate Crime Task Force, which gets involved with incidents of hate and discrimination when they become crimes. The task force assists victims who cannot speak English but want to report an incident. Due to cultural differences and the length and complexity of reporting a crime to the NYPD, the criminal process can be very daunting. Yoo added that many people are shy or afraid to report, regardless of a language barrier, especially to the media. John Yang then discussed the importance of media pieces in humanizing the statistics and building community strength.

Professor Jeung and John Yang also discussed how APA social status has historically been very conditional. As many APA individuals still toggle between being part of a Model Minority or a Yellow Peril, they are seen as perpetual foreigners, which adds to the rising anti-Asian hate.

The panel concluded with talking about the rise in APA youth supporting Black Lives Matter. In order to be heard on a nationwide scale, everyday citizens must fight for the respect that their communities do not already receive, whether by serving as a poll worker, speaking up in organizations, or simply voting. The panel ended with discussing how APA culture is stereotypically seen as quiet, but in order to see change now, people need to speak up and speak out.

Thank you to the panelists, Joe Gim, Russell Jeung, Stewart Loo, John C. Yang, and Jo-Ann Yoo, and moderator Karen King for leading such an inspiring and important discussion on anti-Asian violence and hate during the pandemic. And thank you to the AABANY Pro Bono and Community Service, and Government Service and Public Interest Committees for hosting the event.

Click here to access the Stop AAPI Hate website.
Click here to access AAF’s COVID-19 Safety Resources.

To view a recording of this program, please click on the video image at the top of this blog post.

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AABANY Co-Sponsors: Asian Americans at a Crossroads: A Conversation with Frank Wu, President of Queens College

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.

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Membership Committee Hosts Weekly Mixer on October 23, featuring Marianne Chow Newman

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!

Bonus Prizes: Membership Director Beatrice Leong dresses up in costume on a weekly basis. But what will her HALLOWEEN MIXER costume be? Put your best guess in the RSVP link: https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1420335

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Asian American Federation of New York’s “The Impact of Covid-19 on Asian American Employment in New York City”

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

Get your FREE copy of The Impact of Covid-19 on Asian American Employment in New York City sent to your inbox by completing the form at https://aafcovid19resourcecenter.org/unemployment-report/?mc_cid=6ffdf5cf0b&mc_eid=ddd4d683c8.

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Membership Committee Hosts Weekly Mixer with FALA-New York on October 9

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.

Mixers are not recorded, and are LIVE, so don’t miss out. This week’s mixer happens on Oct. 16. Register by Thursday at https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1420333

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COVID Alert NY App Ready for Download

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.

To learn more about COVID Alert NY, visit ny.gov/covidalerts.

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Volunteer to be a Judge with Empire Mock Trial

Empire Mock Trial is a nonprofit that brings together extraordinary high school students from across the U.S. plus 6 countries. Over the past 6 months, the nonprofit has worked hard to plan a mock trial program for them that is fun, safe, and educational during the age of COVID-19 — this fall, it is finally happening.

Volunteer to judge a mock trial on October 28-31 or November 14-16 (attorneys can judge one trial or multiple). All trials will be held online via Zoom. For most of the students, this is the first time they’ve been able to participate in mock trial in 2020, with COVID having canceled their last season. 

Attorneys can learn more about the competitions and sign-up to judge here

The format of each trial depends on which competition you sign-up to judge. Here is a description of each:

  • Empire @ Home on October (28-31) –  students compete from the comfort of their own homes (i.e. you’ll see 12-14 students separately connect to your virtual courtroom). It’s called ‘Empire Chicago’ because we are hosting Chicago themed events for the kids;
  • Empire One (November 14-16) – one mock trial team assembles in one room to compete against another team (i.e. you’ll see only 2 teams separately connect to your virtual courtroom). It’s called ‘Empire New York’ because we are hosting New York themed events for the kids.

Attorneys can earn up to 3 CLE credits for judging. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Empire Mock Trial via phone or email on their website.

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Membership Committee Hosts Weekly Mixer on October 2

On October 2, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly virtual Membership Mixer, with 13 participants in attendance. Recently, Membership Committee has used Remo, a new dinner party style platform to hold the mixer. Attendees have the flexibility to visit multiple tables and mix and mingle with guests in a six person group. The icebreaker question this week asked participants if they are looking forward to indoor dining at 25% capacity.

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 often stay on after 7:30pm for smaller breakout groups. Mixers are not recorded, and are LIVE, so don’t miss out.

Membership Committee plans to continue hosting 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 AABANY is co-hosting with FALANY. Please be sure to gather all your favorite Filipino and non-Filipino friends to attend this Friday, October 9, 2020. Register by this Thursday at https://www.aabany.org/events/event_details.asp?legacy=1&id=1420332.

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AABANY Congratulates Chris Kwok on Publishing an Article in the New York Law Journal on Mediating Employment Disputes Ethically

The Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) congratulates Issues Committee Chair, Asia Practice Committee Co-Chair and Board Director Chris Kwok on his recent article published on September 1, 2020 in the New York Law Journal entitled “Mediating Employment Disputes Ethically: Ensuring Quality and Fairness in the #MeToo, #BLM, #COVID-19 Era.”

In the article, Mr. Kwok begins by exploring the value of mediation and the importance of mediators upholding ethical standards to ensure a just process in the #MeToo, #BLM, #COVID-19 era. Mr. Kwok then delves into the novel challenges that virtual negotiations bring, ranging from the issue of confidentiality and stability of internet connections to the ethics of avoiding categorization of damages as reparations for sexual harassment.

In 2005, the American Arbitration Association, American Bar Association, and Association for Conflict Resolution promulgated the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators that has since served as a central guide for mediators who encounter ethical conundrums. The article concludes by suggesting that the emergence of unprecedented technological and confidentiality concerns in a challenging time call for a potential revisitation of the Model Standards of Conduct and prompts readers to ponder the changing scope of ethical duties mediators need to take on.

To read the article, click here.