Session 1 – China-Retail and Finance: David Chu (Chair, Georg Jensen), Lanlan Zhang (Vice-Chair, CICC US Securities), Bob Guterma (COO, SupChina)
Session 2 – Finance and US-China Relations: Anthony Scaramucci (former White House communications director, Managing Partner SkyBridge Capital), Ted Wang (CEO Puissance Capital Management and former Head of Global Trading, Goldman Sachs).
Session 3 – China Economy and Geopolitics: Yukon Huang (Senior fellow, Carnegie Asia Program), Dorinda Elliott (SVP, Director of Programs and Center for Business at China Institute)
Session 4 – Dr. Walter Lipkin (Leading Epidemiologist at Columbia University and recognized for his work on the SARS outbreak), Dr. Kenneth Abrams (Deloitte, Chief Physician Executive).
A racist cartoon originally depicted in the publication, the San Francisco Wasp, in 1881. The cartoon was a parody of the Statue of Liberty and represented a growing fear of Asian immigrants within the United States
On Friday, April 3rd, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) hosted a webinar titled “Pandemic and Acts of Hate Against Asian Americans: From Past to Present.” The webinar traced the historical roots of Asian American discrimination related to disease and public health issues and presented solutions for the present in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The webinar featured a panel which included Professor Jack Chin of UC Davis Law School, Matt Stevens of The New York Times’s Political News division, Harpreet Singh Mokha of the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service, and Rahat N. Babar, Special Counsel, Office of the Governor of New Jersey. Chris M. Kwok, the NAPABA Dispute Resolution Committee Co-Chair and our very own AABANY Issues Committee Chair, helmed the panel as moderator.
Professor Chin began by outlining the extensive history of anti-Asian discrimination within the United States. He focused on how discriminatory legislation at the state level in California and at the national level through the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 frequently correlated Asian American immigrants with disease. In particular, Professor Chin noted how San Francisco became a focal point of race-based efforts to control the bubonic plague in the early 1900s. Multiple political attempts were made to isolate and discriminate against Asians in the city which were repeatedly rebuffed by legal challenges such as Wong Wai v. Williamson and Jew Ho v. Williamson. Professor Chin underscored the ugly but recurring theme pushed in American politics about the “foreignness of germs.”
Following the professor’s historical account, Matt Stevens, an Asian American political reporter for The New York Times, noted the efforts that legislators are making to combat these acts of discrimination. Moreover, he noted the pervasive feeling of fear that permeates the Asian American community.
Harpreet Singh Mokha, National Program Manager for Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian, and Hindu (MASSAH) issues at the Community Relations Service of the DOJ, explained the role and function of CRS during this pandemic. Established under Title X of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, CRS, frequently called “America’s Peacemakers,” works directly with communities facing conflict on racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, religious, and disability issues. It has four primary functions: facilitating dialogue, mediating conflict, training community members, and providing consultation for methods of community assistance. Mr. Mokha noted that members of communities all across the country should be encouraged to make use of CRS’s resources and report hate crimes at their first occurrence.
To wrap up the panel, Rahat Babar, Special Counsel for Litigation with the Office of the New Jersey Governor, echoed Mr. Mokha’s point to report hate crimes without hesitation. He noted a 2020 in-state report which found a 65% increase in bias incidents between 2018 and 2019 with 46% of those engaging in such bias incidents being minors. Thanks to this report, Governor Phil Murphy was able to set up a task force to explore why minors were engaging in such behavior. Mr. Babar notes that without a robust data set of incident or hate crime reports, lawmakers and community leaders will not be able to identify root problems or pose solutions.
Overall, the panel outlined past and present cases of racial discrimination targeted towards the AAPI community. All panelists acknowledged the importance of speaking out during this time of uncertainty for the sake of protecting fellow community members both now and in the future.
This event reached the largest audience for a NAPABA webinar to date, with 160 registrants. The program stressed placing the events of today within historical understanding of America, engagement with our government institutions charged with enforcing our laws, and collaboration across civil society organizations. We at AABANY thank and acknowledge Chris Kwok for proposing this program to NAPABA and serving as moderator.
A racist cartoon published in San Francisco-based publication, The Wasp. The cartoon promoted then-common racist myths that Chinatown was riddled with disease.
A racist cartoon published in the illustrated San Francisco weekly “Thistleton’s Illustrated Jolly Giant” depicting San Francisco’s The Globe Hotel. The cartoon insinuates that the Globe Hotel secretly contained a “small pox hospital” and an “underground Chinese cemetery,” perpetuating racist stereotypes of the time.
This Friday, July 13th, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice will be holding a webinar for attorneys who would like to learn more and help separated parents and children.
The ABA Commission on Immigration, ProBAR, CRSJ and Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA) present this webinar for attorneys who wish to learn more about representing families separated by the Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. Our experts will discuss how separated families have been processed at the border, forcibly separated, prosecuted and detained, causing grave suffering to parents and children and obstacles to their legal claims. Our experts will discuss each step in the process and explain the complicated legal proceedings that apply to parents caught at the border and children who have been rendered “unaccompanied” by government action. Lawyers across the country have expressed interest in helping these families. Many of these families remain divided today despite the President’s Executive Order that allegedly ended the practice but failed to include a procedure for reuniting families unless they agree to waive all claims and accept removal. This is not due process. Join us to learn more about how to effectively represent these families and permit those who fear persecution to apply for asylum as required by law.
Thank you to Sylvia Chin for sharing it with us.
For any questions, please email Civil Rights and Social Justice Section Associate Director Paula Shapiro at [email protected]
Social media plays a significant role in today’s society and has changed how we market law practices and access information. Effective and ethical lawyering means navigating the dangers that lurk for lawyers on social media, and also the multitude of electronic tools that may seem appealing and helpful in our zeal to obtain the best results for our clients. A misstep comes with a disciplinary price tag. Attendees will learn do’s and don’ts, helpful tips and guidance regarding the ethics of self-promotion on the internet, LinkedIn endorsements, investigating and manipulating online data and evidence, astroturfing, Web bugs, and Internet scams involving settlement funds.
Date and Time Thursday, March 30, 2017, at 4 p.m. EDT
Moderator | Judy M. Lam (Litigation Partner, Kumagai Law Group, Jeanne P. Gray Diversity Scholarship recipient and Diversity Committee, ABA Center for Professional Responsibility)
Speakers | Wendy Wen Yun Chang (Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson; member, ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility) and Ellyn Rosen (Deputy Director of ABA Center for Professional Responsibility)
This webinar is the result of collaborative efforts of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility and NAPABA. Applicable ethics rules will be discussed and cited by rule number during the presentation. Code words will be used to monitor attendance during the live webinar. NAPABA headquarters will provide attendance certificates to members for attending the webinar. It is up to individual members to determine whether the webinar qualifies for credit (and what kind) in their state.
WASHINGTON, DC – National and state-based leaders in the Asian American civil rights community will release new polling data on Asian American voter attitudes during a press call on Monday, May 23, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Please register.
Speakers will discuss the results of the 2016 Spring Asian American Voter Survey, which polled 1,200 Asian American registered voters. Speakers will also discuss registration drives and get-out-the-vote organizing efforts of Asian American community groups on the ground in key states.
WHO:
Mee Moua, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
Christine Chen, Executive Director of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote
Karthick Ramakrishnan, Director of AAPIData and Professor of Public Policy
WHAT: Release of the 2016 Spring Asian American Voter Survey
WHEN: Monday, May 23, 2016 at 1:00 P.M. EST
REGISTER:
Please register: bit.ly/aapi-survey. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Community-based groups and organizations are eligible to receive a $200 stipend from the Council for hosting a Community Conversation by registering to be a featured site. Featured sites must register their event in advance and complete a final evaluation, including attendance information. Facilitators at featured sites are required to attend a free 60-minute facilitator-training webinar. Training webinars will be offered at the following throughout the summer and fall; see the Council’s webinars page to learn more and sign up.
For more information about hosting a Community Conversation, contact Senior Program Officer Erika Halstead ([email protected] / 212.233.1131).
New Community Conversations Toolkits on Immigration
From New Netherland to New York, immigrants from every part of the world have made their home in our state. Community Conversations invites New Yorkers to explore our shared history as immigrants and the descendants of immigrants, and to discuss the ways that immigration continues to shape the experience of being American today. Each conversation uses a short text as a starting point for discussions about cultural understanding and our roles as active citizens in a diverse and democratic society.
There are community conversation toolkits for children, young adults, and adults. All of the toolkits contain everything you need to host these “do-it-yourself” discussions, including: texts suitable for each audience; a set of sample questions; guidelines for starting and sustaining good conversations; tips for hosting a conversation; and a sample participant evaluation. Anyone can register and download the toolkits for free from our website.
All U.S. employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of everyone they hire. Please join the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices, for a webinar that can help you to be INFORMED and to KNOW YOUR RIGHTS regarding employment and hiring practices.
Join The Asian Lawyer and Kobre & Kim LLP for a Live Webinar. AABANY’s Advisory Committee Member Michael Kim is a featured speaker.
Asset recovery and judgment enforcement with an Asian angle can be challenging. This seminar will focus on how to leverage combined action in Asia, the Caribbean and the U.S. to achieve effective outcomes for clients.
Topics covered will include:
Sequencing enforcement in key Asian jurisdictions, to leverage intra-Asian judgment enforcement treaties;
Using interim remedies (injunctions, discovery orders, etc.) in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and other offshore financial centers;
Using discovery procedures available through the U.S. court system to assist international actions;
Seeking assistance from U.S. and other governments known to be aggressive in international asset forfeiture; and
Applying best practices in preparing for and managing the unique investigative demands of foreign asset recovery.
Find all the details for this program and register here.
