OCA's Non-reply Reply & Your Choice

   80-20 asked Tom Hayashi, OCA's Exec. Director, 3 straight-forward questions, whose answers should be public information to begin with. See a summary of the questions, shown 4 paragraphs below. To see the original questions, click on Questions for Tom Hayashi of OCA.

   No answer. WHY? Instead, he sent me the following legalistic non-reply reply.

"Dear Mr. Woo:
Following our internal protocol, I will be forwarding your request for response by the Executive Council. We also will be consulting our general counsel for review and possible response.

Moreover, we request in any public communique that is sent through 80/20 that may contain any citation of our institutional message or language that you do not add your own emphasis (even with notation to that effect), direct citation would only be proper since the context may be misconstrued.   Sincerely,   Tom Hayashi"

   Why didn't Hayashi answer? Since OCA "embraces" our "hopes and aspirations," wouldn't OCA want to find out what our hopes and aspirations on "race-conscious" college admissions are by doing a poll? Shouldn't information on OCA's membership list and number of its real chapters be public information to begin with? Will the truth hurt?

   80-20 has great respect for OCA for its past contributions. Indeed, I was its National President in 1991. But we are puzzled by OCA's support for "race-conscious college admissions" under Mr. Hayashi. Is OCA still a real and truthful organization aiming to fight for "the hopes and aspirations of Asian Ams"?

   E-mail Tom Hayashi THayashi@ocanational.org . Ask him to answer these questions. If you are or were an OCA member and/or Chapter/national officer, please identify yourself as such. That will add weight to your statement. Copy me in if you like.

   Send your email, if you want your children to win.

   FORWARD this e-newsletter to your friends. Post your comments on 80-20's Poster Board.


S.B. Woo, a volunteer
President, 80-20 National Asian Am Educational Foundation


     80-20's Message Picked Up by Some Mainstream Media

" . . . Case in point. When the NAACP sues to increase black and Latino admissions at specialized public high schools that are majority Asian, the top Asian advocacy organizations *always* endorse the suits despite that the redistribution of seats would take seats away from Asian students. Of course local Asian families never support the suits, but that doesn't matter to the Asian advocacy organizations because they don't answer to Asian families. Yet the media always cites the non-representative Asian advocacy organizations as the authoritative voice of the Asian community. . . ."

http://glpiggy.net/2013/07/17/where-i-speculate-on-how-the-george-zimmerman-tip-line-will-be-used/

QUESTIONS for Tom Hayashi of OCA

   80-20 deeply respects OCA's earlier service to the Chinese Am. community. However, owing to a recent OCA stand in college admissions that is contrary to the rightful interests of the Asian Am community, our community begins to QUESTION OCA'S INTEGRITY.

   Tom Hayashi, OCA's Exc. Director, CLAIMED in the first paragraph of his bio that OCA is
 
      " a premiere pan-Asian membership driven civil rights organization with a national network of 80 chapters & affiliates . . "

   We like to believe that the above are facts, not fabrications. Hence, we faxed and emailed the following QUESTIONS to Tom Hayashi, to get answers.

Question (1) Given that OCA is a membership-driven org., why isn't an OCA National MEMBERSHIP LIST shown anywhere to the public?
 
Has anyone EVER seen an OCA national membership list in recent year? (See 80-20's membership list here .)

Question (2) Given that Mr. Hayashi claimed having Delaware as one of OCA's 80 (50?) chapters (see his claim here ), we wonder if one single member, namely me, becomes an OCA chapter? Who are OCA's OTHER 2013 dues- paying members in Delaware? (In comparison, 80-20 requires 25 persons paying both national & chapters dues to become a chapter. Click here .)

Question (3) Since OCA embraces "the hopes and aspirations of AsAms," will you DO A POLL of your own on AsAm's view on "race-conscious" college admissions?

(80-20's survey showed that 98% of AsAms prefer race-neutral college admissions. Are you afraid, some people think, that the result of your own poll will limit your ability to follow other organizations with contrary preferences?)

   80-20's questions are NOT intended to embarrass Mr. Hayashi. If the claims are wrong, just say so. 80-20 & I have made honest &/or real mistakes before. But we owe up to it -- honesty with our own community is a MUST!

   80-20 just wants to make sure that we are dealing with HONORABLE people. If so, we like to think we can resolve our differences in college admissions in the best interests of our community.

   FORWARD this e-newsletter to your friends. Post your comments on 80-20's Poster Board .

   WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM MR. HAYASHI.


S.B. Woo, a volunteer
President, 80-20 National Asian Am Educational Foundation
Also the National President of OCA in 1991
 

Don't let our children feel ashamed of our heritage

   Nothing is more dangerous to us than having our own civil rights organizations (CROs) taking positions contrary to our rightful interests.

   Has that happened? You be the judge!

   98% of the Asian Ams preferred "race-neutral" admissions. Indeed, AsAm students sensing discrimination against them in college admissions, often refused to check the "Asian" box under race on their application. See USA Today article, "Some Asians' college strategy: Don't check 'Asian'". The Supreme Court apparently agrees with us and instructed the lower court to apply "strict scrutiny" to see if "race-neutral" college admissions can be accomplished while also achieving diversity.

   Yet, Tom Hayashi, Executive Director of OCA (Org. of Ch-Ams), issued a press release against our rightful interests, stating:

       "We ardently hope that the Court of Appeals will uphold the University of Texas' admission policy. Race-conscious admission policies create a more equitable educational landscape for APA students, . . .(emphasis added)"

   Now is the time for a FRANK discussion of how such a weird and sad situation could have happened. Don't be so quick to blame OCA. 
 
Understand the cause first!

   (1) We Don't Invest In Ourselves! Our community has never been willing to financially support our own CROs such as OCA, JACL, AAJA AALDEF, & APALC. Consequently, they mostly obtain their financial needs from outside of our community, namely Fortune 500 corporations and liberal foundations.

   Fortune 500 corporations spend money supporting the civil rights INDUSTRY (yes by now it is no longer a movement but an INDUSTRY) with at least one pragmatic, non-altruistic, aim -- to get NAACP on their side, if possible, since NAACP is the icon of civil rights. At the least, each of the corporate "Diversity Managers" in charge of dispensing money to the civil rights industry wants to make sure that the financial support of OCA & other AsAm CROs does NOT get the NAACP mad at his/her corporation, which would endanger his/her job. Under such an atmosphere, will AsAm CROs want to support an admissions policy which NAACP strongly opposes?

   MONEY TALKS! We are not willing to provide the money. So other people's money is talking!

   (2) We Lack Political Wisdom! We want good people to work for our CROs. Good people want good careers. Where can young, ambitious AsAm civil rights workers' CAREER advance to? AsAm CROs are small and few. So smart AsAm CAREER CR workers from day one know that they'll eventually work for either black or Hispanic CROs or for agencies of Democratic Administrations. That requires AsAm civil rights workers to always get along with NAACP.

   As a result, on a rare issue like college admissions, when the interests of the Asian Am community are in conflict with those of NAACP, they'll support NAACP.

   Don't blame OCA or NAACP! Wise up, FIRST!

   80-20 wants to be 100% loyal to AsAm's rightful interests. Hence we accept only AsAm money, resulting in a shoe-string operation for the last 15 years. Our volunteers and staff often work more than 60 hours /week.

   How to remedy this SAD, SHAMEFUL & DANGEROUS situation?

   80-20 loves to work with all Asian Ams, including the Committee of 100, and public-minded, wealthy AsAm individuals, OCA and the other AsAm CROs, former government officials to together protect our community's rightful interests. Step up & act! Don't let our children feel ashamed of their heritage.

   As a community, we are BELOW PAR IN INVESTING IN OURSELVES.

   FORWARD this e-newsletter to your friends. Post your comments on 80-20's Poster Board .



S.B. Woo, a volunteer
President, 80-20 National Asian Am Educational Foundation
Also the National President of OCA in 1991