Remembering Denny’s April 11, 2007
Posted by peterong in Asian American, Asian American Campus, Politics, racism, Rants, Social Justice.2 comments
Today is the tenth anniversary of the incident where three Asian American and a white student were attacked at a Denny’s after denying service. Syracuse University had a Remembrance Circle in the quad (see blog here and my pictures here).
I went to this event with a heavy heart and with a sense of something more significant that what was presented. When the testimonies of racism were presented they were little more than “oh, it is so hard to be Asian” and “everyone makes fun of us” and yet, I wonder what this whole “fight” against racism is a clutching for identity and dignity that is summed in this mundane and bland expression of “please someone do something about this teasing” which is called “racism.” One testimony that really got me was a Chinese girl who was dating a white guy said she dumped her because his friend told him he should date a blonde. I was like “what???” (more…)
GenerASIAN Next: The Power of 1 Million New Asian American Votes September 19, 2006
Posted by peterong in Asian American, Asian American Church, Food for thought, Politics, Rants, Uncategorized.add a comment
Can you imagine if Asian Americans were active in politics? What would mainstream media look like if there was an acknowledgement of an Asian American voter block? What if government had to contend with issues that are important to the Asian American population. Like the Asian American church, it is hard to pinpoint a distintictive based on our culture. We are often acculturated or assimilated to the certain stratas of economic and music culture(look at our worship sets…Chris Tomlin and Hillsongs…etc.). We have a reputation of adaptability…yet, I am often confronted with the fact that Chinese people watch TV shows that are set 500 + years ago. There is a historical imagination that contiues to haunt in Asian sensibilities. There is a yearning for a distinctiveness that we often ignore or defy because of our some of the confrontations of this country’s legacy of colonialism, racism and America’s ambivalent relationship with Asia. I wonder if there are Asian distinctives that are in other parts of the world that doesn’t have this stigma and how does their worship or church becomes a freedom to worship in our own tongues.
Here is an article that was featured in American Chronicle written by Elena Ong
September 14, 2006
On September 10, 2006, activists across the nation pledged to recruit 1 million Latino voters. Some say impossible. But I say it can be done, because it has been done.
2000-2004 marks a new awakening in American politics. In just one presidential cycle, our nation experienced an exponential increase in Asian American civic participation by registering 1 million Asian American newly registered voters nationwide.
In California, 1 million registered Asian American Californians voted, but 1.5 million Asian Americans who were eligible to vote, did not. In other words, California is missing out on the votes of 0.3 million Asian American registered voters, and 1.2 million eligible Asian American Californians who still need to be registered, and turned out, to vote.
On November 7, Asian Americans have the opportunity of a lifetime to change the face of California politics. For the first time in California’s history, an unprecedented number of Asian American & Saudi American candidates will be on the California ballot: 27 overall. (more…)
The New “Sleeping Giant” in California Politics:The Growth of Asian Americans September 12, 2006
Posted by peterong in Asian American Christian Artists, Politics.add a comment
The New “Sleeping Giant” in California Politics:
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Sept. 7, 2006 Letisia Marquez lmarquez@support.ucla.edu Click Here for Press Release |
Los Angeles, CA (September 6, 2006) – In the 1980s and 1990s, Hispanics were considered the “sleeping giant” in California politics because of their growing numbers. Asian Americans are now the new “sleeping giant” and are at a point where Hispanics were about two decades ago.(1) They have significantly increased their potential power at the polls in California, according to an analysis conducted by researchers affiliated with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and with the UC AAPI (Asian American & Pacific Islander) Policy Initiative. The analysis uses data from the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS) released on August 15 and 29, 2006 by the U.S. Census Bureau, along with previously released data from the Census Bureau.(2) (more…)
FIRST-PERSON: The myth of the apolitical evangelical August 2, 2006
Posted by peterong in Christ and Culture, Christian News, Emergent, Politics.3 comments
Found this on the net from the Baptist Press News website by Russell D. Moore. Mr. Moore is dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.…He has an interesting response to the NY Times article regarding Dr. Boyd’s church…especially his little ribbing at Brian Mclaren. Let the comments flow!
By Russell D. Moore
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–The New York Times recently featured a front-page story on the members who have left Woodland Hills Church in suburban St. Paul, Minn., over Pastor Gregory Boyd’s denunciation of “politics.” The Times headline summarized the story, �Disowning conservative politics, evangelical pastor rattles flock.
Some of the things Boyd renounces in the article are well worthy of renunciation. Some churches have too closely aligned the Kingdom community with one particular nation-state or political party, that is true. But the article also leaves murky, as does Boyd’s new book (“The Myth of a Christian Nation”) on the subject, how the church plans to challenge prophetically such social and state-sponsored evils as abortion. (more…)
Democracy and Its Discontents: Religion and the Underside of Pacific Asian North America August 2, 2006
Posted by peterong in Asian American, Asian American Church, Christ and Culture, Politics, Social Justice.add a comment
APAARI 2006
August 3-5, 2006
Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley
After two gatherings in the Chicago area, the Asian Pacific Americans and Religion Research Initiative (APARRI) returns this year to the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2006 conference, to be held August 3-5 at the University of California at Berkeley, will be APARRI’s eighth, again bringing scholars from the social sciences and humanities together with scholars from the theological disciplines and leaders of faith communities for engagement around issues of Asian American and Pacific Islander religion. (more…)
Holy Toledo July 31, 2006
Posted by peterong in Christ and Culture, Politics.1 comment so far
I was referred by Rage about this New Yorker Article…Ohio Gozai it maitz!!
HOLY TOLEDO
Ohio’s gubernatorial race tests the power of the Christian right.
Pastor Rod Parsley stood on a flag-bedecked dais on the steps of Ohio’s Statehouse last October and, amid cheers from the crowd below, proclaimed the launch of “the largest evangelical campaign ever attempted in any state in America.” A nationally known televangelist and the leader of a twelve-thousand-member church on the outskirts of Columbus, Parsley had gathered a thousand people for the event, and attracted bystanders with a multimedia performance involving a video on a Jumbotron and music by Christian singers and rappers broadcast so loud that it reverberated off the tall buildings south of the Statehouse. TV crews from Parsley’s ministry taped the event. “Sound an alarm!” he boomed. “A Holy Ghost invasion is taking place. Man your battle stations, ready your weapons, lock and load!” In the course of the performance, Parsley promised that during the next four years his campaign, Reformation Ohio, would bring a hundred thousand Ohioans to Christ, register four hundred thousand new voters, serve the disadvantaged, and guide the state through “a culture-shaking revolutionary revival.” (more…)
Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock July 30, 2006
Posted by peterong in Christ and Culture, Politics.12 comments
Most members of Woodland Hills Church near St. Paul stayed after the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd urged an end to sexual moralizing and military glorification and said America should not be proclaimed a “Christian nation.”
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Like most pastors who lead thriving evangelical megachurches, the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd was asked frequently to give his blessing — and the church’s — to conservative political candidates and causes.
The requests came from church members and visitors alike: Would he please announce a rally against gay marriage during services? Would he introduce a politician from the pulpit? Could members set up a table in the lobby promoting their anti-abortion work? Would the church distribute “voters’ guides” that all but endorsed Republican candidates? And with the country at war, please couldn’t the church hang an American flag in the sanctuary?
After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became fed up, he said. Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.
“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.” (more…)
Barack Obama “Call to Renewal” Keynote Address July 27, 2006
Posted by peterong in Christ and Culture, Politics.1 comment so far
‘Call to Renewal’ Keynote Address
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Washington, DC
Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to speak here at the Call to Renewal’s Building a Covenant for a New America conference. I’ve had the opportunity to take a look at your Covenant for a New America. It is filled with outstanding policies and prescriptions for much of what ails this country. So I’d like to congratulate you all on the thoughtful presentations you’ve given so far about poverty and justice in America, and for putting fire under the feet of the political leadership here in Washington.
But today I’d like to talk about the connection between religion and politics and perhaps offer some thoughts about how we can sort through some of the often bitter arguments that we’ve been seeing over the last several years. (more…)
Asian American Voters growing June 5, 2006
Posted by peterong in Asian American, Politics.add a comment
Study Shows Significant Increase in Asian-American Voters
(KCBS) — With the June primary just days away, a study by the Asian American Action Fund shows a dramatic increase in the number of Asian-American voters.
According to the study's findings, Asian-Americans account for the fastest growing population in the United States and make up 12% of the California population.
That's according to the latest census department figures. "Asian-American voters are slightly more democratic than they are republican," UCLA Professor of Asian-American Studies Don Nakanishi told KCBS Reporter Mike Colgan.
So something like 40% democratic registered, somewhere in the high 20's to 30% being republicans and then a very, very sizable, approximately 30% being independents," said Nakanishi.
Nakanishi said the number of Asian-American office holders also has grown dramatically.
"There are now well over 2,000 Asian-American elected and major appointed officials," he said.
The study by the Asian American Action Fund shows the number of Asian-American candidates is increasing by 21% ever two years.
For a copy of this report in PDF click here.
Peter Ong\'s Interesting Website 