Message to Speaker Pelosi - De-Fund the War and Bring the Troops Home Now; Support for Lt. Watada Builds as his Feb 5 Court Martial Date Approaches

SF & Washington Communities' Message to Speaker Pelosi last week - "De-Fund the War and Bring the Troop Home Now!" - from the Associated Press -

Protesters also said they wanted to send a message to San Francisco Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who became the country's first female Speaker of the House on Thursday morning."We're here to send a message to Nancy Pelosi. She was elected to defund the war and bring the troops home," said demonstrator Nancy DeStefanis.

Thanks to Grace Shimizu of the Watada Support Committee and the Campaign for Justice for the links below. The photo above of Lt. Ehren Watada, father Bob Watada, mother Carolyn Ho and stepmother Rosa Sakanishi is from former War Resister Jeff Paterson/Courage to Resist.

1/4/07 Pre-trial hearing at Fort Lewis in Washington State - from INDYBAY.ORG Lt. Watada hearing tackles free speech for soldiers, relevancy of truthby Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist. January 5, 2007
Media Links of SF Event:

• Bob Egelko from the SF Chronicle: 28 are arrested at courthouse protest
• sf-asian-americans-and-peace-activists
• CBS 5: 28 Antiwar Protesters Arrested At SF Federal Bldg
• NBC 11: 28 Arrested At SF Federal Building
• SF Bay Area Indymedia: Die in at Federal Building

Support Lt. Watada – Refuse Illegal War
Supporters are asked to write Lt. General James Dubik, Commanding General Fort Lewis, 1 Corps Building 2025 Stop 1, Fort Lewis WA 98433. Please request that General Dubik “Dismiss all charges and honor Lt. Watada's long-standing resignation from the U.S. Army.”
A Citizens' Hearing is being convened January 20-22 at Evergreen State College, Tacoma campus in order to fully evaluate Lt. Watada’s claims regarding the legality and morality of the Iraq War. Confirmed witness include: Daniel Ellsberg, military analyst who released the Pentagon Papers in the Vietnam War; Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General; Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University. For more information: http://www.wartribunal.org/
Finally, help spread the word about the regional mobilization at Fort Lewis on day Lt. Watada’s court martial is scheduled to begin on February 5, or organize your own local protest in solidarity on that day. We will try to post info on local San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland solidarity events later.
For more information: http://www.thankyoult.org/ or www.CourageToResist.org

Happy New Year - New Babies and Remembering our Mama's Mamas

As 2006 ends I am feeling the warmth of 2 new little ones to my family - my twin brother Gordon's new daughter Lian Ella Mar who hails from China and my nephew Adam's new baby Sara Madison Lim who was born in the OC. But as the new year begins my main thoughts are with my 103 year old Paw-Paw [grandmother] living in Sacramento, CA.
Remebering our MAMA's MAMAs

I usually begin my SF State classes using a techinique by civil rights movement historian Vincent Harding and his Veterans of Hope project. I ask my students to think of their Mama's Mama - to talk about her, discussing what they know about her, how it felt when she hugged them, what her voice was like, etc. But often my students reveal that they know very little about their abuelitas and lolas and grannies. They often don't even know their names. By sharing a little about my family I am able to engage my students in the importance of learning and telling their own histories and getting to know more about their Mama's Mamas and other family members while they still can. Talk about our grandmothers in the classroom reduces stress and barriers among us. It also brings out our warmth and the commonalities among us while also at times highlighting the privileges and inequality as well within the classroom.

When I visited my Paw-Paw [aka Ms. Cum York Ouyang Lee] last week at her home in Sacramento she had just recently turned a ripe 103. As I warmed her hands with mine and kissed her face I thought about how she had immigrated to America and raised 7 children and dozens of grandchildren and great grandkids and great great grandkids.

She made me very sad when she told me that she was embarassed that she had not learned enough English to converse with me and my cousins. I felt guilt for not having learned Cantonese growing up so that I could learn more of her thoughts, wishes and dreams.

As the new year begins my love is with my Paw-Paw, the new babies and my wife Sandi and daugther Jade. I sure hope we all can take some time to visit or learn about all our Mama's Mamas.

Happy New Year - with Peace and Global Justice for everyone.

Eric

Rethinking Schools - Teaching About Everyday Heroes in our schools/communities; RIP - Yvonne Golden

Photo of Smithsonian exhibit on Linda Brown and heroes of Brown v. Board of Education.
Who are your HEROES? I often begin and end my Ethnic Studies classes with those questions to my SF State Students. One of my heroes - Ms. Yvonne Scarlett Golden passed away on Tuesday of cancer in Daytona Beach Florida where she was Mayor. Ms. Golden was a longtime teacher, principal and African American social justice leader in San Francisco. I met her some 20 years ago when I was working with KPOO 89.5 fm [poor people's radio in the Filmore District] as we fought together against Apartheid in South Africa and in American schools as well. More on her amazing life: Rep. Barbara Lee. Nanette Asimov's Obit from the SF Chronicle.

Portland teacher and Rethinking Schools editor Linda Christensen talks about EVERYDAY HEROES in her insightful article in the recent Rethinking Schools about the Katrina aftermath in New Orleans and the struggle for educational justice, the right to return and self-determination for the African American and other communities of color there.

In his article "Unsung Heroes," Howard Zinn discusses the need for us to find alternative heroes.
Should we not replace the portraits of our presidents, which too often take up all the space on our classroom walls, with the likenesses of grassroots heroes like Fannie Lou Hamer, the Mississippi sharecropper? Mrs. Hamer was evicted from her farm and tortured in prison after she joined the Civil Rights Movement, but she became an eloquent voice for freedom. Or with Ella Baker, whose wise counsel and support guided the young black people in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the militant edge of the civil rights movement in the Deep South?... Our country is full of heroic people who are not presidents or military leaders or Wall Street wizards, but who are doing something to keep alive the spirit of resistance to injustice and war.

Christensen shifts the dialogue in her classrooms from dominant mainstream 'heroes' to everyday heroes like her mother, her students' own 'abuelitas', folks from New Orleans - everyday ordinary people, who in times of intense crisis, tend to do extraordinary and courageous things. Linda and Bill Bigelow and the Rethinking Schools crew were out here in SF for our Teaching for Social Justice Conference in October. They and other ordinary teachers doing extraordinary things are also unsung heroes in my book.

Some of these photos are heroes of mine as well -

Allan Cheung and the Asian Student Union, PACE and LFS at SF State; Asian American Movement organizations and individuals represented in the Pilipino Mural on the North Side of the SF State Student Union; and

my 'abuelita', my 'paw-paw' - Ms. Cum York Owyang Lee - she turns 103 years old tomorrow, and my 6 and 2/3 year old kid Jade and I will be driving to Sacramento where she still lives for a visit to sing her happy birthday in English and Cantonese. As the mural below says - we stand on their shoulders!

Sick Kids & Yes on SF's Prop F, the Makibaka Hotel and learning about people's struggle

My 6 year old daughter Jade is sick today, so I had to quickly make arrangements to get the day off to care for her and get her to the hospital. Yet most low wage workers in San Francisco don't have that luxury, or even the luxury of getting a paid sick day for themselves. That's why low wage worker organizations like Young Workers United with their allies like Parent Voices, Chinese Progressive Association, St. Peter's Housing Committee [which just celebrated their 25th anniversary this past weekend], POWER, SEIU Local 790 and others in the May 1st Alliance and the labor movement placed Prop F on the ballot. See Sasha's great post from Left in SF.
The Yes on Prop F campaign is stepping up their Get out the Vote work these next 3 weekends. To plug in contact - www.paidsickdayssf.org/ or if you want to target low wage workers and their families in the Asian American and immigrant communities - contact the Chinese Progressive Association at www.cpasf.org/home.html. Parents can plug into the campaign too through Parent Voices at www.parentvoices.org/ or contact www.youngworkersunited.org/

As a parent and teacher with a sick kid at home waiting for our visit to the doctor, I had to come up with some kind of relaxed learning activity for us. Over the past month I had been teaching my SF State college students about the history of SF's International Hotel and our current ongoing anti-displacement struggles in San Francisco's SOMA, Bayview Hunters Point, Mission, Tenderloin and other neighborhoods in Seattle, Boston, NYC, and Philly.
So I needed a teaching resource that would help my 6 year old develop skills of empathy and some understanding of SF's Filipino and low income immigrant communities...
Luckily for me Manilatown poet, activist and father extraordinaire Tony Robles has just released his most recent children's book - Lakas and the Makibaka Hotel. Robles teamed up with painter Carl Angel for an incredibly beautiful and moving story that's also fun and serious at the same time. This children's book breaks down the complexity of displacement and gentrification to the level of elementary school kids like my daughter. Inspired by the recent struggle of the Trinity Plaza Tenants Association in SF's SOMA district, the story makes an important and inspiring political statement in support of Makibaka or the struggle of our communities for self-determination and the need for solidarity with other communities as well.

Filipino History Month Event with Tony Robles/Chris Daly - 10/19/06 -4-6 pm
Jade and I plan to join Tony, Carl, District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly, and others for a celebration of October as Filipino American History Month in City Hall, Room 273. Many of us are also rallying to support our ally progressive Supervisor Chris Daly in his re-election campaign as well.

Though my daughter is sick and I had to stay away from work with her, through Tony's book and our time learning together we have become more human, and I have satisfied my role as a parent, teacher and activist.
Makibaka! Huwag Matakot!
Struggle! Don't Be Affraid!
[and best wishes to Trinity Plaza Tenant leader Ken Werner in his recovery]

SF's Coalition on Homelessness

Local artist Sloan Showalter donated her work to the 20-year old SF Coalition on Homelessness in September during one of their fundraisers. She did a portrait of my daughter Jade here. For more info on Sloan http://www.sloanarts.com . The Coalition continues their amazing work to give voice and political power to homeless people in SF.

The Coalition on Homelessness (COH) was formed in 1987 to foster the active participation of homeless and low-income San Franciscan residents and front-line staff in the struggle for economic and social justice. Through an integrated approach that combines outreach, peer support, leadership development, public education, advocacy, and community organizing, COH works to defend homeless and low-income people from attacks on their rights and their persons, while advocating for permanent solutions to homelessness that take into account not only poverty's devastating effects, but also its root causes.

Daddy's Sadness on 911

My 6 year old Jade quickly sketched this sad drawing of me at dinner this evening while my partner Sandi and I watched the beautiful red sunset on the 5th Anniverary of 911 at the Beach Chalet on San Francisco's Ocean Beach.
I had visited ground zero in Manhattan a few months after the tragedy in 2001 and will be going back later this week for an urban schools awards event. I plan to go back to ground zero again and mourn the loss of life in the US and in Iraq in the past 5 years.

Following the lead of SF Bay Area Pilipino youth and grassroots organizations

For several years now the League of Filipino Students [LFS] and the Excelsior-based Filipino Community Center [FCC] have helped lead many of the recent community struggles around anti-displacement, immigrant rights and peace and justice issues in our SF Bay Area.

Teachers-extraordinaire like Art Concordia from Balboa High School - pictured below leading the SF Labor Day demostration with rapper KIWI -
along with folks from SF City College, Skyline, Bay Area High Schools and many of my student and teacher colleagues at SF State have been an inspiration to learn from and work with. I took this photo below of my daughter Jade getting a real 'political education' from FCC activists and others at the Immigrant Rights/Labor Day March in SF.
Despite ongoing terror and assasinations of their leaders in the Philippines by the "fascist US puppet regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo" LFS and the grassroots people's organizations continue to build international solidarity and give leadership to many of our struggles here in the US.

Jade, Daddy and our travels to other galaxies, incl. San Bernadino and Orange Counties; Tricky Prop 88 - the flat parcel tax

Besides our excitement [and fear - Jade's] with roller coasters this summer, Jade and I will also be visiting some other galaxies like Ontario [San Bernadino County], Santa Ana and Westminster and Santa Margarita [Orange], Hermosa, Redondo and Manhattan Beaches, Santa Monica and Pacific Palasades [LA county] this summer. Schools in every area seem to be gearing up for Yes on Prop 1D - the big facilities bond on the Nov. 7 ballot
and for dumping Arnold so that we can work with teachers, students and communities to ensure adequate funding for our schools.
Tricky Prop 88 - A number of groups like the California School Boards Association of which I am a delegate are opposing the EdVoice sponsored Prop 88 which would impose a statewide 'FLAT' parcel tax of $50, which would raise about $470 million annually for class-size reduction, textbooks, school safety, facilities and a data system for tracking student achievement by teacher. But CSBA warns:

However, the initiative would impose severe penalties for “misuse” of funds—a term not defined to distinguish between inadvertent errors and intentional illegal behavior; place new constraints on the use of the class-size reduction funds; and expand the role of the state Board of Education in “approving” textbooks.

We need initiatives that are generated from parent, student and teacher input, not Top-Down initiatives from mulitmillionaires like Netflix mogul Reed Hastings, silicon valley venture capitalist John Doerr, and Gap founder Don Fisher, all advisors to EdVoice, the sponsor of Prop 88. Flat taxes like Prop 88 also let the fat cats like Hastings, Fisher and their friends off the hook for paying their fair share to our schools. For more on EdVoice - see Duane Campbell's Choosing Democracy Blog - ED Voice; How corporate CEO's shape education policy.

Educational Justice On Vacation

We are on vacation now in the REAL OC -
Anaheim - Disneyland - Garden Grove - Westminster [talk about a huge Asian American community down here] and visiting my nephew and niece and other family in Southern Orange county;
And for the past few days we have been enjoying Los Angeles' south bay - [it's so great to have a sister-in-law down here]
Torrance [there's a great Buddhahead hangout here - Marukai]
Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach - weather is heavenly out here.
Loved the amazing sunset yesterday at Manhattan Beach; and the morning sunrise at Hermosa Beach pier today.
And this afternoon I am visiting Santa Monica Pier with my 6 year old Jade and visiting my sister in Pacific Palasades as well.
Back home driving up I-5 tomorrow morning through the blistering Central Valley to the SF/Oakland Bay Area and cool summer weather again.

more on my vacation and china trip
http://jooksing.blogspot.com

SF schools refusing cooperation with ICE immigration police - Support 10 Principles for Change!

The US Senate will likely crank out their version of 'comprehensive immigration reform' by tomorrow. How is the national debate impacting our schools here? In San Francisco we have had ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] visits to our schools. But our staff are not turning anyone over to the immigration police and we are doing everything possible to protect the human and civil rights of our students.
For more see Lyanne Melendez's report from KGO TV earlier this month - Immigration Officials Fail To Follow Policy

School officials in San Francisco are outraged after immigration agents tried to verify the identity of two students whose mom was held on illegal immigration charges. The school refused to cooperate with the agents.
On May 5, an immigration agent made an early phone call to the principal of Presidio Middle School. The school refused to cooperate saying that information was confidential. Agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement then made a formal request through a letter faxed to the school.

Our legal counsel David Campos and his staff are drafting school district policies that will protect the privacy rights of immigrant students and families in our district. A proposal will likely be brought to the board in our next Board meeting on June 13th.

Illegal employer retaliation against undocumented workers - Young Workers United, UNITE-HERE and others are reporting raids and employers who are making calls to the immigration authorities to have folks deported.
The Immigrant Solidarity Network has some great links to the progressive side of the immigration debate -

Latest Immigrant News
5/24: UPDATE ON AMENDMENTS TO THE COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION AND REFORM ACT OF 2006
By National Immigration Law Center
Amendment that adds anti-discrimination, privacy and due process protections to the employment verification system passes; Kennedy amendment to strengthen labor law defeated.
5/24 San Francisco, CA: Action against restaurant owners who called la Migra/ICE
By Young Workers United
STOP ILLEGAL EMPLOYER RETALIATION AGAINST IMMIGRANT WORKERS!
5/23: San Francisco Labor Council Vote to Support Immigrant Rights
By Open World Conference of Workers
On May 22, the San Francisco Labor Council voted unanimously to endorse the national statement by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights(NNIRR).
5/2: U.S. Immigration Law Inhumane to Same-Sex Couples
By Immigration Equality
New Immigration Reforms Must End Discrimination Against Lesbians, Gays!
5/19: WHAT'S NEXT IN THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE? TEN PRINCIPLES FOR CHANGE
By AALDEF, FOF, ICA, & MRW
We need to change the course of the debate, but how do we do that?
5/24 Conference Call: Immigrant Communities Nationwide Say NO To Senate Immigration Compromise Bill
By Arnoldo Garcia (NNIRR), Christian Ramirez (AFSC)
The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), in collaboration with local partners, will hold a telephonic press conference to highlight nationwide community opposition to the Senate "Compromise" immigration bill now under consideration.
5/24: National Youth Call-In Day for Immigrant & Human Rights!
By Maricela Donahue - Center for Community Change
On May 24 join thousands of youth from across the United States in a national call-in day for immigrant rights. This will be our last and best chance to impact the immigration debate in the Senate. That afternoon, a smaller group of youth from across the country will be at the Capitol in Washington, DC sharing personal testimony at a national press event.
5/22: Update on Senate Debate and Action Alert
By National Immigration Forum

Lastly, I support the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Families for Freedom, Immigrant Communities in Action and other groups' call for 'No Deal!' to Hagel-Martinez, the leading legislation currently being considered in the Senate, and any other bill like it, because it does not meet our demands for fair and just comprehensive immigration reform. AALDEF and others have taken the lead in developing a serious platform for comprehensive immigration reform - with ten principles:
1. Adjustment to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
2. Clearing of the immigration backlog.
3. Expansion of legal immigration opportunities to account for both family-based immigration and the needs of our economy.
4. Provisions that keep families together.
5. Stronger protections for workers, including repeal of employer sanctions and path to citizenship for future workers.
6. Ending of all detention for mere civil immigration violations and repeal of mandatory deportation.
7. Stronger civil rights standards for enforcement efforts, including ending of racial and ethnic profiling and selective targeting of communities.
8. Full due process rights and judicial review for individuals in removal proceedings.
9. No state and local enforcement of immigration laws.
10. Reasonable, just, and humane enforcement and border policies.

SF Immigrant Rights Hunger Strikers begin their fast

It was dry but cold out there today at the San Francisco Federal Building as longtime activist Renee Saucedo and 29 other San Francisco and East Bay teachers, students, parents and immigrants began a weeklong hunger strike for immigrant rights and justice.
A number of the supporters included many SF State Raza students and teacher Clarissa Rojas. I also stood beside longtime Salvaroran community leader Ramon Cardona. My daughter Jade made a bunch of new friends including Saucedo's little doggy CoCo. Renee and I participated in a similar immigrants rights hunger strike over 10 years ago at the same spot protesting the passage of CA's Prop 187 and the onslaught of anti-immigrant federal legislation at that time.
Tomorrow Wed 3/22/06 the Chinese Progressive Association and the May 1st Alliance [grassroots alliance of low wage worker organizations] are organizing a noon rally at the SF Federal Building.
KTVU Channel 2 had a great segment on the hunger strike with good analysis of the anti-immigrant legislation currently being debated in Congress - the Specter bill in the Senate and the Sensenbrenner bill in the House HR 4437.
For a great comparison of the various bills and their harmful impact on immgrant communities and civil liberties click here for the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights analysis.
See also NILC [National Immigration Law Center's] analysis as well -
http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=18648
Arnoldo Garcia of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights urged community members to call their senators to speak out against the 2 bills.
For ways to do this - see the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalitions action page -
http://www.immigrantrights.org/actionalerts.asp#antiimmigrantbills
Please come out to the SF Federal Building every evening after work from tonight 3/21 until 3/27 to support the courageous hunger strikers and our immigrant community organizations.
Eric

Marcus Shelby's Port Chicago

One of my favorite artists in the world is SF bassist and progressive activist Marcus Shelby. He's a true renaissance man ala Paul Robeson - not affraid to speak and write about social justice and to use his art to raise people's consciousness and spirits to struggle for a better world.
I enjoyed a great evening last night at Yoshii's nightclub in Oakland with my school board colleague Mark Sanchez and my 5 year old daughter Jade to hear the Marcus Shelby Orchestra's performance and CD release of his latest 'Port Chicago' which was commissioned by the civil rights organization Equal Justice Society. Thanks to my friend and SF green party leader & school board candidate Kim Knox for introducing me to Marcus. Click here for more info on Marcus Shelby .
Port Chicago - Eric says 3 thumbs up. :-)

From the album notes -

Port Chicago is remembered as the northern California naval base where a devastating explosion in July 1944 killed more than 320 men, predominantly African American sailors, and injured 400 others. The sailors objected to the racial discrimination and manifestly unsafe working conditions at the base where only blacks were assigned to loading ammunition on ships. When 258 of the sailors protested in a work stoppage the Navy called it mutiny, setting in motion the largest mutiny trial in U.S. Navy history. In a sensational court martial 50 young black sailors were unjustly convicted. Thurgood Marshall, then special counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, flew to San Francisco to investigate the case. He charged that the young sailors were being made scapegoats for the conditions the Navy allowed at the base. Following the military trial, Marshall filed a strong appeal brief on behalf of the sailors, highlighting the racial discrimination at the base and in the trial. Although his appeal was rejected by the Navy Judge Advocate General, the public pressure
generated by a nationwide campaign in support of the sailors compelled the Navy to revamp its policies and begin the process of desegregation-a major civil rights victory. Although the imprisoned sailors were later released under a general amnesty after the war, their mutiny convictions have never been overturned. The injustice of their convictions cries out for redress, and reminds us of the price paid by many unsung heroes in the struggle for civil rights and justice.

http://www.marcusshelby.com/gateway.html

My daughter graduates! [from preschool]