Tom Hayashi, Executive Director of OCA (Org. of Ch-Ams), issued a recent press release stating:
"We ardently hope that the Court of Appeals will uphold the University of Texas' admission policy."
NOTHING IS MORE DANGEROUS TO US than having our own civil rights organizations taking positions contrary to our rightful interests.
Why? (1) Because it gives the cover of LEGITIMACY to the discrimination against us. (2) It dulls & BEFUDDLES our community's senses, and (3) They will be rewarded by our "opponents" and come back to haunt us later ON EVEN BIGGER ISSUES. In the real world, "Benedict Arnolds" do exist.
Be warned! Read the testimonies below. See how beholden the OCA has been to corporate money. Will it still work for Asian Ams' rightful interests? All emphasis below are added.
(1) Mei-ling Woo, President of OCA's Seattle chapter -- "Chapter of the Year" for two consecutive years in 2003 & 04 under her leadership.
"OCA's (being) beholden to corporate money . . . is nothing new . . . In 2002, Seattle chapter asked at the national board meeting to discontinue taking tobacco money, but got rejected. The reason: 'We don't want to go down the slippery slope regarding corporate funding.' "
"OCA has long lost its standing as an advocacy organization & is more like a scholarship dispensing machine for corporations. I personally witnessed the disrespectful treatment they received from corporations because of the funding. . . . "
(2) Juliet Shen, Lisa Lei, and Vanessa Teck, 3 fired OCA interns
When one of the 3 suggested to Tom Hayashi, OCA Exec. Dr., about not taking Walmart money, he answered "Well, wouldn't we run out of corporations to take from?" To see the statement, click on "These are our stories, these are our experiences" put up by the 3 OCA interns, who were fired and escorted to leave the premises recently.
(3) Albert Wang, M.D., one of the best-known and most respected Chinese Ams in N. California:
"We ardently hope that the Court of Appeals will uphold the University of Texas' admission policy."
NOTHING IS MORE DANGEROUS TO US than having our own civil rights organizations taking positions contrary to our rightful interests.
Why? (1) Because it gives the cover of LEGITIMACY to the discrimination against us. (2) It dulls & BEFUDDLES our community's senses, and (3) They will be rewarded by our "opponents" and come back to haunt us later ON EVEN BIGGER ISSUES. In the real world, "Benedict Arnolds" do exist.
Be warned! Read the testimonies below. See how beholden the OCA has been to corporate money. Will it still work for Asian Ams' rightful interests? All emphasis below are added.
(1) Mei-ling Woo, President of OCA's Seattle chapter -- "Chapter of the Year" for two consecutive years in 2003 & 04 under her leadership.
"OCA's (being) beholden to corporate money . . . is nothing new . . . In 2002, Seattle chapter asked at the national board meeting to discontinue taking tobacco money, but got rejected. The reason: 'We don't want to go down the slippery slope regarding corporate funding.' "
"OCA has long lost its standing as an advocacy organization & is more like a scholarship dispensing machine for corporations. I personally witnessed the disrespectful treatment they received from corporations because of the funding. . . . "
(2) Juliet Shen, Lisa Lei, and Vanessa Teck, 3 fired OCA interns
When one of the 3 suggested to Tom Hayashi, OCA Exec. Dr., about not taking Walmart money, he answered "Well, wouldn't we run out of corporations to take from?" To see the statement, click on "These are our stories, these are our experiences" put up by the 3 OCA interns, who were fired and escorted to leave the premises recently.
(3) Albert Wang, M.D., one of the best-known and most respected Chinese Ams in N. California:
"I've had a similar experience, although I was never an officer in OCA, around 1995 . . . when I went to the OCA Convention in Washington DC on behalf of OCA East Bay Chapter. As the president of Citizens for Better Community in Fremont, I was then trying to network with other Chinese American organizations in the Bay Area and met then OCA East Bay President Danny Wan. We both went to DC to attend the annual OCA Convention, celebrating it's 30th year (25th ?). I met two young activists from the Oakland area who were there to propose that OCA decline funding from Philip Morris, disguised as Kraft Food at the time. As the only representatives from the East Bay Chapter, we sat at the board meeting, while not being board members, and listened to their plea. It was enlightening, as a health care professional, to hear that the tobacco industry has such influence on our national organization while so many Chinese Americans and Chinese are addicted to smoking and suffer from its health consequences. Similar to what Mei-ling Woo experienced, the board listened, stated that they can't do without the money, and refused to consider the proposal. This is an example of the corporate influence on our national organization, even when it's not in our community's interest."
(4) Brian Chen, former President, OCA Chicago chapter, pleaded to Ginny Gong, former OCA Nat'l President:
". . . many organizations growing irrelevant . . . A case in point is OCA's latest stand on affirmative action for college admissions . . I do not see (Affirmative action) as an allocation of permanent quota system to the punishment of all other groups. . . Has OCA solicited the views of its membership base, instead of just the views of its executive councils, on such an important issue . . .? . . . Ginny . . . could you help in that front? Please?"
Do You Still Think OCA Is Working For Us?
YOUR CALL. Is OCA still an honest organization working for you? Beware that we are partially culpable -- we are NOT willing to financially support our own civil rights orgs. So OTHERS' money is talking to OCA and other AsAm civil right orgs. to our DETRIMENT!
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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Many thanks to
Zhiyong An & Xiaoping Shen, Farmington, CT: $500 + $500 from Verizon Matching Fund
Xiaohong Su, Issaquah, WA: $400 + $400 from Microsoft Matching Fund
". . . many organizations growing irrelevant . . . A case in point is OCA's latest stand on affirmative action for college admissions . . I do not see (Affirmative action) as an allocation of permanent quota system to the punishment of all other groups. . . Has OCA solicited the views of its membership base, instead of just the views of its executive councils, on such an important issue . . .? . . . Ginny . . . could you help in that front? Please?"
Do You Still Think OCA Is Working For Us?
YOUR CALL. Is OCA still an honest organization working for you? Beware that we are partially culpable -- we are NOT willing to financially support our own civil rights orgs. So OTHERS' money is talking to OCA and other AsAm civil right orgs. to our DETRIMENT!
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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Many thanks to
Zhiyong An & Xiaoping Shen, Farmington, CT: $500 + $500 from Verizon Matching Fund
Xiaohong Su, Issaquah, WA: $400 + $400 from Microsoft Matching Fund
