Category Archives: race

diversity, news, politics, race

Obama’s new middle on same-sex marriage

He knew it all along.

The New York Times reports it was on Tuesday morning before leaving for a speech in Albany, New York, that it was decided the president would finally come out in support of same-sex marriage on Wednesday.

So later on Tuesday night, in his speech at Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies dinner in D.C, he knew that the bombshell was coming.

What a poker face Obama showed before his “ohana.”

I knew same-sex marriage was on the radar since Vice President Biden’s unbridled support of it on Sunday. But I wasn’t expecting Obama to say anything on an election night when politicians’ “gay-dar” tends to work overtime.

My ears, however, were perked for anything on affirmative action, a new wedge issue in the Asian American community with the Supreme Court expecting to rule on the Texas case this summer. It’s a big deal for minority groups.

When addressing the Asian American group, the president dropped hints about his support for affirmative action without saying it. Very political.  But it was the right thing to say to an organization dedicated to empowerment and civil rights of an often ignored and under-represented minority.

Still, he said nothing about topic A, gay marriage.

Now that we know he knew he was going to evolve on gay marriage the very next day, I feel cheated. He could have given us a little more of a preview.

But not even a wink. He was totally in the closet.

Here’s the transcript from the APAICS dinner and what he told Asian Americans:

“So some of the things that matter to this community are things that matter to every community, like making sure that a woman earns an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work.  (Applause.)  Or ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” so that nobody has to hide who they love to serve the country they love.  (Applause.)  Or enacting education reform so that every child has access to good schools and higher education.  (Applause.)  Or caring for our veterans because it’s our duty to serve them as well as they have served us.  (Applause.)”

He touched on it a bit with the “gays in the military” reference. But he didn’t go all the way.

At every applause note, he could have said, “Or making sure that any two human beings regardless of their gender had a right to marry one another. ”

That certainly matters to Asian Americans, as well as all Americans.  Asian Americans, especially those in Hawaii and California, have long been at the forefront of the same-sex marriage battle. (I’ve written about it a number of times over the years).

I guess the timing just wasn’t right to show his hand to Asian Americans. Maybe the president was still evolving. I suppose he could have changed his mind right up to the last moment.

But he’s just in time for today’s Clooney event in Hollywood where the president should be closer to fully evolved, and gay rights supporters are ready to open up their pocket books.

Politically, the barometer must have indicated the time is right.  

If conservative Republicans think they win this issue, great. It seems to be a tremendous non-issue.

Gays are an integral part of our society. Discrimination against them makes no sense. To be against gay marriage in today’s world is just illogical. (Asian Americans know how troubling it is when laws get in the way of love. For years, my father was unable to intermarry in the ‘20s because of anti-miscegenation laws)

Even national polls show a majority in favor of same-sex marriage.

At the same time, states always vote the idea down (North Carolina being the most recent).

Considering that history shows Obama is too political and too moderate to be all that daring, maybe what we have here is simply Obama carving out the new middle ground.

The historic new middle?

Conscience, family talk, and Joe Biden may have forced him to move, but the evolving is still happening.

Any movement by a president toward equality, justice and progress is a good thing.

So for now, activists must settle for this new fence point: being for same-sex, but letting the states decide.

It’s Obama’s new middle for the national moderates.

Now will someone just fix the non-tech economy?

blog, diversity, journalism, news, politics, race, sports

On Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman, Marion Barry, and Ralph Barbieri

The Trayvon Martin case shows how society still struggles in the old Black and White paradigm.

The ultimate arrest of George Zimmerman is just the beginning. Now the  real argument can begin about what happened on the night of Martin’s death.  That couldn’t happen until there was an arrest and a charge, and now we have that. The month-and-a-half delay we’ve  had was caused by a racist mindset.  In a game of “Who’s the Perp,” Zimmerman or Martin, the knee-jerk reaction ruled the day. Of course, the perp is…

Law enforcement stood its ground as long as it could. 

But, of course we don’t know who the perp is really.

We only knew the stereotype. Maybe now we have a chance at the truth. But given the burden of proof and the availability of evidence, getting justice will not be easy.

 BARRY

In spite of all this diversity we have in our society, America is still stuck in that oldblack/white paradigm. Throw in a little Asian into the mix, and see how hard it is to get justice. Make the perp of the racism a black leader of some prominence in the nation’s capital, and guess what you get? Certainly, no relief for Asian Americans. 

The case of Marion Barry  http://aaldef.org/blog/fighting-barrys-racist-eruption.html shows how difficult it still is for Asian Americans to get the respect they deserve. If such an obviously racist comment as Barry’s gets barely a wrist slap, we certainly aren’t as far in this race thing  as we think.Sure, there have been rebukes from D.C. politicians, but Barry is still in his job as responsible, credible, respectable D.C. councilman.

If any of us had indicated a desire to run members of a specific race out of our neighborhoods, blacks, whites, Asians or Latinos, we would be slapped so hard we wouldn’t know what hit us. But Barry, who has survived FBI crack stings, drug convictions, jail time, remains standing as a public official. This Asian race flap? Just a “2,” he says, on a scale of one through ten. Racism? Against Asian Americans? Are you kidding?

http://blog.sfgate.com/eguillermo/2012/04/11/getting-away-with-racism-in-our-nations-capital/

RALPH BARBIERI

I don’t really know Ralph personally, but how can you not say you “know” him after he spent most of his adult life letting you know what he thought?

That’s the life of the talk show host. Did I listen? Well, I’m a Giants fan and had the radio on in the afternoon.  So let’s see, I know Ralph worked at Sport Magazine, was in adverstising, lived in Hawaii, grew up in Northern California, went to USF, had some alcohol and driving issues, worked at KNBR, adopted a son, liked long winded questions, worked at KNBR, tangled a lot with Brian Sabean, liked thin crust pizza, worked at KNBR, picked up Tolbert as a partner, liked Sean Estes, worked at KNBR, revealed his Parkinson’s, worked at KNBR, worked at KNBR, worked at KNBR.

Something stands out in that litany.  His longevity at KNBR. As a guy who has worked in TV and Radio and know what a revolving door it can be, I admire the fact that he endured so long. And yet, I also know that when you’re behind the mike and you think it’s such an intimate thing, it is. But only between the listener and you. The corporation is no family, and despite what the Supreme Court says, is not a real person. Corporations sign the checks. And then they don’t.

I wish Ralph well. I didn’t realize his age, but KNBR getting rid of a 66-year-old? They probably know what that will cost them. From the reports I’ve seen, Ralph was apparently well compensated.

And I know he was a vegetarian. Coming from a PETA household as I do, I know you can save a lot of money not eating meat.

Good luck Ralph. And go Sharks.

blog, diversity, news, race

Goh profile expands; He wanted his money back from Oikos U.

As more information is revealed about the Oikos University shooting suspect One L. Goh,  a conflicting profile emerges.

Is he an awkward but failed would-be womanizer?  An angry consumer who wanted his money back ? A crazed gunman?  Or a cold-blooded execution-style killer?

At a media conference on Wednesday, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley offered a new twist when she said Goh  was not kicked out of Oikos, but had left voluntarily  last November.

Earlier reports said Goh left at the beginning of the year for “bad behavior.”

But O’Malley indicated  a key reason for the voluntary departure was a disagreement over the return of admission costs. Goh wanted his money back. The school had refused any refund.  This may explain why a school administrator is believed to have been his main target.

Police had originally said Goh was angered because people made fun of how he talked, and his accent.

One instructor, Romie Delariman, told the Chronicle, that  Goh seemed to be looking to the school as a source of friendship and companionship, when he should have been looking to the school to learn.  He apparently wasn’t successful in making the personal connections he sought.  Some said it was how he talked to people as much as how he sounded.  Delariman went so far as to described Goh as “mentally unstable.”

When O’Malley was asked whether anything could have prevented Goh’s outburst, she dismissed any notion of mental instability.

Said O’Malley:”I don’t think this individual (Goh) particularly displayed any behaviors anyone saw that would have predicted the magnitude of his murderous rage.”

How can she be so sure? At least, one instructor appears to dispute that statement.

The case is being set up for the death penalty, with the special circumstance charges against Goh. 

O’Malley’s  got Goh’s voluntary admission, And her confidence level is high.

I wonder if anyone has advised Goh of his legal rights before he “confessed”?

For as much as O’Malley said at the media conference, she did show some restraint by not answering more detailed questions. Of course, she was protecting the “people’s interest.”

Someone should be protecting Goh’s. 

He’s charged with horrific crimes.  If he’s guilty, let’s let that come out after he gets his due—a fair trial.

blog, diversity, news, race

Should Oikos University take some blame in how it treated Goh?

One L. Goh, the Oikos University gunman gets his perp walk today. It’s not the nursing school graduation he hoped to have some day.

Hard to see how it could have been any different as more is revealed about Goh.

The Chronicle has an interview with Romie Delariman, Goh’s nursing instructor.

She calls Goh “mentally unstable” and “paranoid.”

 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/04/MNLR1NU3F1.DTL

But if the intstructor was correct in her assessment, why didn’t the small school attempt to address the issue? 

In the Virginia Tech shooting, much was made of how the local mental health care responders did come in and make a difference in 2007, but it was all after the fact.

All the post-mortems of that tragedy still come to the conclusion that the overall access to mental health care at the school was lacking leading up to what became the most violent school shooting in U.S. history.

But that was big Viriginia Tech. This is small Oikos U.  It seems that given the more intimate setting of the Oakland nursing school there should have been a little better effort to connect Goh to the help he obviously needed.

Instead, it seems it help usher him out the door. Was Oikos Goh’s safety net that failed?

Go to my original piece posted on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog:

http://aaldef.org/blog/no-model-minority-the-alienation-of-oaklands-one-l-goh.html