Category Archives: race

PODCAST–PART 2: Arthur Chu,”Jeopardy” Champ, Talks About Race, Being Asian American, & Racist Tweets (second installment)

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Arthur Chu, the Asian American who has amassed more than $235,000 in two-weeks on “Jeopardy.”

But it’s also made him the target of racist and intimidating tweets and comments on the internet. He talks about what it’s like to be a racial minority, and how despite opportunities and success, there’s always a feeling of a  compromised sense of belonging. He hasn’t forgotten what his father told him as a young boy growing up Asian American.

But he also has chosen to be very open and  confront any racism he perceives head on.

[powerpress]http://www.amok.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Arthur-ChuJeopardyChamp-Talks-About-Race-The-Game-Racist-Tweets-Part-2.m4a[/powerpress]

 

Arthur Chu,"Jeopardy"Champ, Talks About Race, The Game, & Racist Tweets, Part 2

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PODCAST: Arthur Chu, “Jeopardy” Champ, On The Racist Twitter Reaction To His Success, And Racism in General, Part 1

Arthur Chu was in Ohio, still working as a compliance analyst for an insurance company, even though he could have many more appearances on “Jeopardy.”

At the time of our conversation he had amassed in excess of $235,000 in just two weeks of shows.

In Part 1 of our conversation, Chu talked frankly about his sudden fame, and how the initial reaction on the internet to his success was extremely racist.

He said the number of angry tweets actually surprised him. But he was most surprised that people tried to deny that race had anything to do with peoples’ response to him.

[powerpress]http://www.amok.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Arthur-Chu-Jeopardy-Champ-On-The-Racist-Twitter-Reaction-To-His-Success-Part-1.m4a[/powerpress]

 

Arthur Chu, "Jeopardy" Champ On The Racist Twitter Reaction To His Success, Part 1

 

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What can be done with the stroke of a pen? You can take away the rights of all Asian Americans of Japanese descent and clear the way for their internment: Feb. 19, 1942 — Executive Order 9066

Executive Order No. 9066

The President

Executive Order

Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas

Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by the Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104);

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of the Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted areas.

I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area hereinabove authorized to be designated, including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance of state and local agencies.

I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments, independent establishments and other Federal Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services.

This order shall not be construed as modifying or limiting in any way the authority heretofore granted under Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor shall it be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or the duty and responsibility of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, prescribing regulations for the conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty and responsibility is superseded by the designation of military areas hereunder.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The White House,

February 19, 1942.

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Emil Guillermo’s Amok: Ricardo Alvarado’s Eyes–Celebrating San Francisco’s Centennial Manongs

When I first met Janet Alvarado in the mid-80s, she was just like me—a young American-born Filipino.

Only she had a box of photographs and a dream.

The photographs were taken by her dad, Ricardo Alvarado. The dream was to share his vision.

Almost 30 years later,  it’s all come true.

The Alvarado Project, as it’s called, has been honored by the Smithsonian, toured around the country, and is about to grow in scope with another chapter–this time honoring Alvarado’s wife Norberta and her beloved Leyte.

But first things first, Ricardo Alvarado would have been 100 on February 7.

It’s only fitting to close the first chapter by honoring Ricardo Alvarado’s centennial year.

I admit when I first saw his photographs, I didn’t grasp how special they were. Why would they be? They were shots of neighborhoods that Filipinos lived in. Images of the parties Filipino families attended. They looked like my life in San Francisco in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. My American Filipino life.

Silly me.

That’s what gives them their power. The photographs recall the specialness of life that few regarded as special back then.

It was just us.

Who was looking at American Filipino life like it mattered back then? Before Asian American studies, or ethnic studies? Before there was a sense of pride within the American community?

Not many.

Ricardo Alvarado was in that first wave of immigrants to San Francisco. He came to America looking for opportunity in 1928. But instead, he found that people wanted to shut the door almost as soon as he arrived. It was the depression. The height of racism and violence toward Filipinos came in 1930. In San Francisco, we were called “monkey.”

No one thought the community was particularly photogenic back then.

Typical of many Filipinos, Ricardo Alvarado endured and was able to join the Army. After WWII, he returned to marry a Filipina, start a family and buy a home in San Francisco on the GI Bill.

And the community blossomed.

The family and the community became the subjects of Ricardo’s  lifelong love affair with photography.

More than the snapshots and the lineups most people took with the Brownie and  Instamatic,Alvarado was armed with a view camera,  documenting and preserving the look of American Filipino life.

As his daughter  realized, the images weren’t  just for people to gaze at then.

More meaningfully, the photography was the bridge from their present to the future, so that others could wonder what it was like” back then. “ 

And at their best, they represented the most artful photographs of the early American Filipino community in San Francisco, if not the entire U.S.

So while you may have placed your photos in deep storage, or heaven forbid, thrown them out as basura, Janet Alvarado knew she had something more than sentimental memories.

These were lasting images of the community.

That others didn’t keep even the basic shots of everyday, make Ricardo Alvarado’s photographs even more special.

That’s the value of the Alvarado Project.  We call it diaspora now, but then, the global Filipino was a few neighborhoods in San Francisco, and other places in California. How did we live? No one thought we were special enough to preserve and document on film, let alone study like some lost tribe in the Filipinos.

We were more like a new colony in America.

After surviving the 1920s, ‘30s, and the War, American Filipinos were  just happy to be alive.

Ricardo Alvarado knew that was photogenic.

MY DAD, WILLIE GUILLERMO AND THE SOUTH OF MARKET

When we gather in the South of Market on the 15th to celebrate Ricardo Alvarado,  Janet Alvarado has been gracious enough to allow me to mention my father, the late Willie Guillermo, already a member of the Centennial Club.

Though Filipinos lived all over the city, in the Western Addition, Fillmore, and BayView, most began their journey in the South of Market.

My family started on Kissling Street by St. Josephs, then moved to the Western Addition on Fulton St. My Uncle Joe was in the Fillmore on McAllister, under the appliance store light that would blink “HOTPOINT.” It was the hot spot for our family.

But Sixth Street was for fun. And that’s where my Dad would often return to hang-out with the other Filipinos of his generation who saw in Sixth Street as a the playground for Ma Jong, cards, dancing.

My dad would take me to the barber college for the cheap haircuts.

This month, my dad would have been 108.

That’s the irony. I thought my dad was 108 when he was alive.

Like Ricardo Alvarado, my dad came to America in the 1920s but was much older. He didn’t go to war and missed out on the GI Bill. But he didn’t miss out when more Filipinas were able to come to America after the war.

Until then, there weren’t many Filipinas to marry. And because of anti-intermarriage laws, Filipinos were essentially a bachelor society. Roving packs of bachelors.

It meant that when more were able to find wives, and start families later in life, there would be a lot of older dads.

I had one of them.  And I admit that as a kid I was ashamed, not of his being Filipino. It was his being old. He was grandfather and father all rolled into one. And he took me to that damn barber college for the cheap haircuts.

Today, Dad as a perennial 108-year-old makes sense.

And as I approach 108 myself, I am far more sympathetic.

It was history that helped me understand, and photographs that helped me recall–not just where we came from, but what we had overcome.

It is said that the offspring of the immigrants were the “bridge” generation. To what? To American life.

Maybe, but the bridges that have the lasting connections between the ancestral home and the present were formed by our fathers, the Manongs like my dad and Ricardo Alvarado.

On the 15th, we’ll honor them, members of the Centennial Club.

 

 

INFORMATION:

Date: Saturday, February 15, 2014 The Centennial Celebration

Time: 2 pm to 5 pm

Place: BAYAHIHAN COMMUNITY CENTER, 1010 Mission Street (near 6th Street), San Francisco, CA

Parking lot on 6th & Mission Street next to Bayanihan Center or at 5th & Mission Garage

Join us in a community salute to the San Francisco pioneering generation and communities. Remarks and discussion from invited guests celebrating Alvarado’s photographs in a nod back to “Through My Father’s Eyes”.