Sacramento, Calif. (August 19, 2010) – The Hmong Veterans Resolution, Assembly House Resolution 33 (HR 33), was successfully passed by the California State Assembly today with a unanimous vote. The 80-0 vote means that the resolution will now be enrolled and sent to the President and U.S. Congress. The resolution also enjoyed wide bipartisan support as 68 Assemblymembers signed on as coauthors.

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F red Korematsu with his Medal of Freedom (Photo by Shirley Nakao, courtesy of the Korematsu Institute)

Sacramento, Calif. (August 9, 2010) – The Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution bill was passed on the California Senate Floor with another unanimous vote of 34-0. This follows unanimous votes in the Senate Education Committee in June (8-0), the Assembly Floor (69-0) and the Assembly Education Committee (8-0) in May. The bill now goes back to the Assembly for concurrence before moving to Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk in August or September.

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Seminar Facilitators, front left, Joy Dava, Jocelyn Quebral, Elsa Batica (trainer), and Ramon Hough. Second row from left, Dr. David Ong (FMA President), Boo Dava, Allen Malicsi, Prof. Tom Dohm and Darwin Yasis. (Photo courtesy of FMA)

The Fil-Minnesotan Association, in partnership with the University of Minnesota and several Asian-American and community based organizations, will sponsor a bicultural seminar August 21, 2010, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455. The seminar, “Bicultural Issues and Concerns,” will address issues in the context of family relationships and struggles in the complex multi-cultural American society.

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Washington, D.C. (July 30, 2010) – One hundred days after the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster on April 20, Vietnamese American youth descended on Washington, DC to highlight community needs still lingering in the Gulf Coast. The purpose was to share their concerns at a community briefing on Capitol Hill Friday that was hosted by the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (VAYLA-NO) and the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (uNAVSA).

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Southeast Asian Queer Conference will be held at the University of Minnesota from July 9-11, 2010. An agenda will be posted up on www.shadesofyellow.org with times and locations as soon as it completed.

Participants will strategize, learn, and grow with Queer Southeast Asians and allies as we mobilize around issues effecting our community.

The Southeast Asian Queer Conference has a mission to build a national network of LGBTQ Southeast Asians that are united to collect and share data and information, build community, identity and national advocacy issues.

Participating groups include: Shades of Yellow (Twin Cities), Southeast Asian Queers United for Empowerment and Leadership (Providence, RI), Khmer in Action (Seattle), Freedom, Inc. (Madison, WI), National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (Washington, DC).

For more information contact Kevin Xiong, executive director, Shades of Yellow, 379 University Ave. W #213, St. Paul, MN  55103. Call 651-309-0037 or email kevin.xiong@shadesofyellow.org. Or contact Ming Lee, ming.lee@shadesofyellow.org or call 651-373-8565.

MINNEAPOLIS – (June 17, 2010) – A study on the status of women and girls in Minnesota has found that women are “shortchanged in economics, safety, health and leadership.” The study was released last week from research conducted by the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, in partnership with the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute’s Center on Women & Public Policy.

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By TOM LAVENTURE

AAP staff writer

MINNEAPOLIS (June 7, 2010) – Claudia Stahl is the new Executive Director of Asian Women United of Minnesota, an organization that has rebounded from administrative troubles for the past decade – and was saved in large part for its unique need as the only shelter of its type to serve Asian and Pacific Islander victims and families from domestic violence.

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AAP staff report

ST. PAUL (June 3, 2010) – Minnesota Asian/American Health Coalition held its 5th Asian Health Data Summit in June at Lao Family Community of Minnesota. The event, ”Finding Community in Data”, was designed to continue building on a long term effort to make health data more accurate to specific ethnic groups and to be user friendly for both the researcher and the consumer.

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From left, U.S. Ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Ravic R. Huso, speaks to press prior to his public address at Metropolitan State University with U.S. Senator Al Franken (DFL-MN); State Sen. Mee Moua (DFL-67); and State Rep. Cy Thao (DFL-65A) (AAP staff photo by Tom LaVenture)

By TOM LAVENTURE

AAP staff writer

ST. PAUL (June 1, 2010) – U.S. Ambassador to Laos, Ravic Huso was in St. Paul last week to discuss ongoing issues affecting the more than 4,500 Hmong who were forcibly repatriated from Thailand to Laos in December 2009. Huso updated several hundred in attendance at Metropolitan State University Auditorium on the progress of Laos on many fronts as well as the Hmong repatriation issues that have relatives and community concerned in Minnesota.

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Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai performing one of her new poems, “Kindness Over Genius”, after receiving the 2010 Outstanding Asian American Alumni Award from her alma mater – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on May 3, 2010. (Contributed photo)

Urbana, IL (May 4, 2010) – Nationally renowned spoken word artist and advocate Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai was presented with the 2010 Outstanding Asian American Alumni Award from her alma mater – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on May 3, 2010. Tsai, a 2000 honors graduate in Urban Planning and Comparative Literature, received the award and also performed the spoken word poetry that has made her famous, including “Weapons Of Mass Creation” and “Kindness Over Genius.”

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