Monday, April 30, 2018

Political Maturity I - Introduction

Empower Yourself with Knowing What Political Maturity Is!


 WeChat account ID is: 8020ef.  Please scan our QR code, 
shown below, & on 80-20 EF's WeChat site. For a Chinese 
version of thise-newsletter, click  https://goo.gl/6GsJWe.

                             Introduction to Political Maturity

   Do you marvel at the Jewish political clout? Their influence extends even to foreign policies.  In comparison, Asian Americans (AsAms) can NOT even win equal opportunity in workplaces and in college admissions - rights guaranteed by our constitution.    

    Why did we do so bad?   We have 3 times the Jewish population, comparable average educational attainment, and comparable average economic income.

    What is our biggest weakness?  POLITICAL IMMATURITY!  Jews have the highest political maturity, while we have the lowest.  Lack of political maturity led to our sufferance of discrimination.  Hence, our next few e-newsletters will focus on improving our community's political maturity.

                            Basic Concepts of Politics We Must Have

    To understand what political maturity is, we'll first need to understand "how to properly reward or punish in politics?", "what does political clout really mean in America?", and "what is political maturity for a small minority like AsAms?"

   THE RIGHT WAY TO REWARD OR PUNISH:  Reward politicians who share our rightful concerns & punish those who don't.  AsAms often support candidates whom they think will win.  That'll only encourage politicians to care for their election victory instead of our rightful concerns.  Use elections to reward or punish politicians, not as betting games, thereby wasting your vote.

   POLITICAL CLOUT is the ability to help a politician or a political party win or make them lose the next election, through our decision to reward or punish.  Then and only then will politicians care for our rightful concerns.
   
   POLITICAL MATURITY is the ability to achieve our political goals, usingthe most cost-effective political process.  Follow politically mature leaders. Don't waste your money and energy following leaders who'll only bring you politically humiliating results.   Example?   A request to meet FBI Director Wray by a group of 14 AsAm orgs. apparently didn't receive a reply in 2 months.  The group of 14 is dead silent thus far.  80-20 EF had advised the group that it must carry a big stick.   It didn't want to listen.  EF is still more than willing to work with that group to help it produced results, for the honor of our community.  Actually, by just publicly asking why there is NO answer after 2 months, 80-20 EF has already raised the pressure. 

                              What Will Political Maturity Bring Us?

(1)  UNITY:

     Unity will cost us nothing.  However, it'll win us everything, including equal opportunity in work places and at college admissions.  If and when the approximately 5 million registered AsAms will all vote according the recommendation of a hypothetical "Asians united", our national and state governments will immediately work to address the inequity suffered byAsAms.   Much more on how to achieve UNITY in next few e-newsletters regarding political maturity.

(2) POLITICALLY EFFECTIVE which is counter-intuitive:
    
     Most people, highly educated or not, think helping politicians win elections is the best way to gain political clout. Not so. Publicly declaring to defeat an incumbent politician, who has repeatedly ignored our rightful concerns, and make that promise stick will make us much more politically effective. The top Jewish political organization, AIPAC, is effective because it has repeatedly demonstrated that ability. Politicians listen to voter groups that know how to reward and punish. Indeed, they ignore those who have been known to quietly & meekly walk away from their earlier requests or demands. The above rule of politics may be counter-intuitive but it must be learned.

    Let's also look at it from cost-effective considerations for a small minority.   To help elect politicians is an unending job and requires immense resources, election after election. Even having succeeded in helping the politician get elected, we'll not gain much political clout.  The winning candidate will always credit him/herself as the major reason for the successful campaign, not you.  To defeat a given politician is to focus the national resources of a minority community on one election. It is not that difficult to defeat a politician, assuming we have the political know-how.  AIPAC's effectiveness in defeating big-name-politicians is forever engraved in the memory of all politicians.

     There is much more to come to help us all gain political maturity.  The next e-newsletter will be entitled "Political Maturity 2 - Toughness Required."

                                                DONATE            

S. B. Woo 

President and a volunteer for the past 18 years
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc, a 501 C-3 organization,
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/index.php
 
To know more about 80-20, view these videos :
https://youtu.be/dB3eGVqG-wA  (Ignore the last 35 secs. The election is over.)

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Saluting AsAms Who Practiced SELF Help

Saluting AsAms Who Practiced SELF-help!
    
80-20's public WeChat account ID is: 8020ef.   For a Chinese version of this e-newsletter, click on https://goo.gl/6GsJWe

                         How Chintzy & Stupid We Used To Be

   Times were AsAms hardly donated to help out our own organizations.
  
Apparent Result:  AsAm organizations like OCA of D.C., AALDEF of NY,
                               & APALC of LA all had to go outside of our community 
                               to get funding for their respective annual expenditures.

Real Result:  Money talks. These same organizations all filed amicus briefs                        to support "race-preference" admissions, which 98 % of 
                       AsAms are against*.

Who have suffered?  We all have suffered, including OCA, AALDEF and 
                                    APALC, which are by now increasingly isolated from 
                                    our community.

                           How Glorious Our Donors are NOW

   Times are 80-20 EF, seeing how raising money from outside of our community has terrible consequences, started the SELF project (Self Empowerment Longterm Fund) declaring to raise money from AsAms only.   That project started a NEW donation trend in our community, which EF is
truly proud of.

Apparent Result:  In 4.5 yrs, AsAm donors helped EF build a war chest of 
                               $3 million plus its expenditures in those years

Real Result:  AsAms have begun to practice SELF-HELP, which is of the
                       utmost importance for us to win our eventual equal 
                       opportunity.

Who has gained?  We all have gained, including OCA, AALDEF & APALC. 
                                When these orgs. begin serving our community's true
                                interests, they'll be able to raise funds from AsAms 
                                again.

                               Example of the Exemplary Donors

     Click on http://www.80-20ef.org/SELF_results.html to see for yourself the following exemplary donation examples.  They gave till it hurt.

(1) Hundreds of SELF donors have already completed their pledges in less 
     than 5 yrs.  Their names are honored with a pink background.  Find your 
     own name.

(2) Hundreds of people have donated more than they've pledged. See the   
     red $ figure being their annual pledge amount.  An example Is:
Lee, Henry J., NY, NY     $ 7000/y plus $3000          Confirmed4       31,000

(3) Scroll down to the middle of the webpage, where the category of Donors 
     is shown.  There are about 203 persons who have already completed 
     their 5-yr. pledges.  About half of them have kept on donating even after 
     that give till it hurts! See an example below:
Liao, Hank, Irvine, CA   $ 100/y plus $1000Confirmed51,500
      Hank donated another $1,000 after completing his 5-yr pledge of $500.

(4) One generous couple, the Mitchell Lous of Houston, TX, even 
     committed to donate $2000 per year till 2028!  They are $4,000/yr for 5
     yrs donors to begin with. They'll have donated $24,000 by the end of 
     2019.  :-)

      Wow!  With such a wonderful NEW donation tradition, our future 
will be bright!  I hope that more AsAm orgs. will focus on serving AsAm interests earnestly, so that they'll also get financial support from you.

                  
The Really Rich AsAms Are Missing In Action!

       The really rich AsAms have NOT shown up yet.  They are on record to have donated tens and even hundreds of millions to causes outside of our community, but NOT to their own people.   What a shame.  


80-20 EF has the courage to call things as it sees
 -- for the GOOD of the AsAm community!

                                                 DONATE
 
S. B. Woo 

President and a volunteer for the past 18 years
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc, a 501 C-3 organization,

80-20 EF sponsored an OPEN, NEUTRAL survey in 2012 for more than 30 days in which all participants had the FREEDOM TO CHOOSE between agreeing or disagreeing with 80-20's advocated position - a race neutral admissions policy. The following was what we found: 
o Total number of valid surveys: 50,277

o FOR/AGAINST ratio of all survey participants: 48.6 to 1 

o Valid surveys taken by Asian Ams (self-identiied): 47,107
o FOR/AGAINST ratio of Asian Am. survey takers:  52.4 to 1.

o Valid surveys taken by non-Asian Ams (self-identified): 3,120
o FOR/AGAINST ratio of non-Asian Am. survey participants: 23.0 to 1

Click here to verify.

 
To know more about 80-20, view these videos :
https://youtu.be/dB3eGVqG-wA  (Ignore the last 35 secs. The election is over.)

Thursday, April 19, 2018

The Chinese Exclusion Act - A PBS Special

Unite Now Before It's Too Late

WeChat account ID is: 8020ef.  Please scan our QR code, 
shown below, & on 80-20 EF's WeChat site. For a Chinese
version of this e-newsletter, click on https://goo.gl/6GsJWe

                                THE  CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
 TO HAVE NATIONAL BROADCAST DEBUT ON PBS ON TUESDAY, MAY 29 FROM 8:00-10:00 PM ET. 

     FORWARD this e-newsletter to all your friends.  Reasons?

This film is NOT just about Chinese immigrants.  It is also about America.  It is NOT just about then.   It is also about NOW!   
  
       A modern version of Chinese Exclusion Act is stewing.   Just recall the conversation between Senator Rubio of FL and FBI director Wray on the Senate floor on Feb 13.   Click one "Stand together or Hang separately" for a quick review.

      FOWARD to as many of our compatriots as your email list will allow.  That way, our
nation may review the past in order to prevent the recurrence of an earlier mistake.



 
Synopsis: On May 6th, 1882 - on the eve of the greatest wave of immigration in American history - President Chester A. Arthur signed into law a unique piece of federal legislation.  Called the Chinese Exclusion Act, it singled out by name and race a single nationality for special treatment: making it illegal for Chinese laborers to enter America on pain of imprisonment and for Chinese nationals ever to become citizens of the United States.

The Chinese Exclusion Act, a two-hour film for national broadcast on PBS during the 2018 season, will explore in riveting detail . . . in American history - one that sheds enormous light on key aspects of the history of American civil liberties, immigration, and culture - during one of the most formative periods of U.S. history. . . . . . .

Directed by Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu. Narrated by Hoon Lee and featuring the voices of Russell Wong, Fenton Lee, Yuet-Fung Ho and Josh Hamilton. Produced by Steeplechase Films and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). Premieres Tuesday, May 29, 2018 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET on PBS.

The Certificate of Residence, a legal form of documentation that was added as a provision of the 1882 Exclusion Act when it was extended under the Geary Actin 1892. Every Chinese immigrant was required to carry a Certificate, or face threat of deportation. Over 100,000 Chinese residents refused to register for documentation under the Act- a massive act civil disobedience.

Saum Song Bo, a Chinese law student in America, wrote a formal response in The New York Sun after receiving a solicitation for funds towards the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. He points out the irony of soliciting funds for such an endeavor from a population deprived of basic American rights, "Whether this statute against the Chinese - or the Statue of Liberty - will be the more lasting monument to tell future ages of the liberty and greatness of this country, will be known only to future generations."

Wong Kim Ark's 1898 landmark Supreme Court case citing the 14th Amendment established birthright citizenship, securing citizenship for all children born in the United States.
Women detainees at Angel Island. Unlike Ellis Island, where 98 percent of incoming immigrants made their way through, eighteen percent of the applicants at Angel Island were initially rejected -  and five percent deported outright - after grueling interrogations, and harrowing detentions.

__________

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS

Ric Burns, Director and Co-Writer

Li-Shin Yu, Director and Editor

Hoon Lee, Narrator
__________
THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
IS A PRODUCTION OF


STEEPLECHASE FILMS

                                                                          DONATE

S. B. Woo 

President and a volunteer for the past 20 years.
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc, a 501 C-3 organization,
Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (1985-89)

 

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Good Breaking News

Good News but the battle is NOT won yet


WeChat account ID is: 8020ef.  Please scan our QR code, 
shown below, & on 80-20 EF's WeChat site. For a Chinese 
version of this e-newsletter, click  https://goo.gl/6GsJWe .

Dear Fellow Asian Americans:

(1) Good News 1

    This NY Times article came out a few days ago.  The first 2 paragraphs read:

    "A group that is suing Harvard University is demanding that it publicly 
release admissions data on hundreds of thousands of applicants, saying 
the records show a pattern of discrimination against Asian-Americans 
going back decades."

    "The group was able to view the documents through its lawsuit, which 
was filed in 2014 and challenges Harvard's admissions policies. The 
plaintiffs said in a letter to the court last week that the documents were so 
compelling that there was no need for a trial, and that they would ask the 
judge to rule summarily in their favor based on the documents alone."

     Note: Asking the judge "to rule summarily" is normally an expression of
confidence by the asking side. In addition, a few paragraphs later NY Times
described Ed Blum, who heads this effort, as follows.

                               

   "The leader of Students for Fair Admissions and the architect of the case 
against Harvard is Edward Blum, a longtime crusader against affirmative 
action, who has recruited plaintiffs, hired sympathetic lawyers and raised 
millions of dollars from conservative groups to challenge voting rights laws and affirmative action policies, often successfully.

    When will we know the judge's decision?  April 10 or later.  Keep our 
fingers crossed.  

If a decision is made to release the admissions data, it shall be a giant step 
towards securing equal opportunity for all AsAm children. Even the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an Amicus brief yesterday (4-06-18) in support of Blum's law suit.  

Click here to read a report by Harvard's Crimson yesterday evening: "DOJ Calls for Unsealing of Harvard Admissions Data."

Read good news (2) from the NYT today: "U.S. Says It Might Enter Harvard Affirmative Action Court Battle".

    Will the court decision be final?  Don't know.  Many conjecture that  this case will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court again.   We should be thankful to Mr. Blum who raised millions to finance this lawsuit.  80-20 contributed $25,000 to this good cause over the last 3 years - a pittance.  However, if just the release of the admissions data were to be final, it will be earth-shattering. 

    I have often asked, "Where are our rich AsAms in this fight for JUSTICE for our children?"  All of you will PLEASE also ask that question every chance you 
get!!!    Seek, and we shall find!

(2) Good News 3

NY Times front page article that came out a few months ago.  Have you ever 
thought about how the "college admissions" issue, which had always been
a black versus white issue, had been turned to focus on the truly deserving
minority - Asian Americans????   It was a combination of ,

(a) EF's tireless & meticulous presentation to Ed Blum and his lawyers that
     AsAm students were the true victims of Harvard's admissions policy, and
(b) Ed and his lawyers' great willingness to listen,

which did it.
    Things are looking better.  Whether it is in the courts or in the "court of the public opinion."  However, the battle for our children's equal opportunity to attend elite
colleges is NOT won yet.   Let's pledge our mutual honor to continue to do our best.

                                                    DONATE


S. B. Woo 
President and a volunteer for the past 20 years
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc, a 501 C-3 organization,

                                    In Memory of Anna Chennault

     Anna Chennault was a co-founders of 80-20 Initiative, together with Chancellor 
Chang-ling Tien, Professor Larry Ho, and Governor S. B. Woo.  She passed away
a few days ago at the age of 94.  We want to express our appreciation for her lending her name to the cause.


 
To know more about 80-20, view these videos :
https://youtu.be/dB3eGVqG-wAà (Ignore the last 35 secs. The election is over.)