The year 2011 saw a record number of laws restricting abortion in U.S. states. It also saw a record number of state anti-immigrant laws. Coincidence? Maybe not. In 2011, U.S. states enacted 135 new reproductive health provisions, 92 of them seeking to restrict abortion. In 2000, 13 states were considered “hostile” to reproductive rights; by [...]
Fresno radio station’s investment in Hmong community pays off
April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In the late 1970s, the radio station KBIF in Fresno, Calif., focused primarily on religious broadcasting. It was getting by financially, but that was about all it was doing. Then, in the mid-1980s, the small AM station decided to make a few changes in its programming. California’s Central Valley was beginning to see more Asian [...]
Japanese Gardens at The Huntington reopens after year-long renovation
April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
SAN MARINO, Calif. — The historic Japanese Garden at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens reopened to the public April 11. The Japanese garden celebrates its centennial following a year-long renovation and improvement project. The $6.8 million project in the nine-acre garden adds an additional three-quarter-acres to the original garden and a ceremonial [...]
Korean Americans look inward after Oakland shooting
April 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The shooting that killed seven at a private Christian university in Oakland would never have happened in Korea, where owning a firearm is outlawed. That at least is the assessment of community members who point to America’s own thriving gun culture as a causal factor in this and other incidents. “Gun possession is a major [...]
Hundreds gather to honor victims of mass school shooting
April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
OAKLAND (Bay City News Service) — A multi-faith, bilingual memorial service for the victims of a mass shooting at an Oakland Christian vocational school on April 2 drew more than 300 friends, family, city officials and faith leaders the next evening. Seven people were killed in the shooting at Oikos University on April 2. Four [...]
CARRYING ON A TRADITION: The history of the festival’s portable shrines
April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Every year, one of the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival’s biggest highlights is the taru mikoshi, one of the entrants in the Grand Parade. The mikoshi is a portable Shinto shrine, which a deity is believed to inhabit. Legend has it that shaking the shrine spreads its blessing. The San Francisco Taru Mikoshi Ren leads [...]
San Francisco Murder of Five Spotlights Asian Gambling Addiction
April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What drove Binh Thai Luc, 35, to be charged on March 27 with slaying five people in a San Francisco home on March 23? The grisly murders have rocked the city and left investigators and the public searching for a motive. “We’re not discussing any potential motive for these killings,” stated Omid Talai, spokesman for [...]
NPS announces grants to preserve, interpret confinement sites
March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of the Interior on March 22 announced that the National Park Service is awarding funding to help preserve and interpret the U.S. confinement sites where more than 120,000 persons of Japanese descent — most of whom were American citizens — were detained during World War II. The 17 grants, totaling [...]
LONG OVERDUE: Japanese American veterans of World War II receive Congressional Gold Medals at South Bay ceremony
March 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
SAN JOSE — It was moving. It was emotional. It was long overdue and yet so deserving when U.S. Congressional leaders awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Japanese American World War II veterans of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service. Almost 800 people filled the San Jose Buddhist Church [...]
Sikh family receives death threat again
March 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
When a Sikh family in Sterling, Va. received a death threat in the form of a letter addressed to “Turban family,” on Feb. 28, it was not the family’s first experience with religiously motivated threats to their safety. They had seen a hate letter of this kind, demanding that the family leave the country or [...]
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