On February 3, 2007, OCA held its annual banquet at the Meadow Brook Country Club. The social hour started at 5:00 p.m. and dinner was served at 6:30 p.m. About 170 people attended. Keynote speaker was Dr. Tom George, Chancellor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). His wife, Barbara, came to the banquet too. Chancellor George played two delightful pieces of piano music after his talk. Mr. Charlie Dooley (St. Louis County Executive) and his wife also attended the dinner.
Hung-Gay Fung, Dr. Y.S. Tsiang Professor at UMSL will serve the second term of the presidency of OCA-St. this year. Helena Hseu is the Executive Vice President; Grace Lee ,Vice President of Finance; Dr. Cody Ding, Vice President of Education; Lenny Wang, Vice President of Membership; Arthur Yuan, Vice President of Administration; Dr. Li Lin, Vice President of Culture; Zack Fang, Vice President of Public Relations; Eling Lam, Jason Tang and Matthew Yu serve as board members.
In Hung-Gay’s report to the dinner participants, he summarized what OCA has done in the past, the 2006 activities, and planned events for 2007. OCA-St. Louis made significant strides in the following civil rights and educational issues.
* Founded in 1973, the Organization of Chinese Americans, OCA, a national civil rights and educational organization with over 80 chapters and affiliates across the country, is embracing the Hopes and Aspirations of Chinese and Asian Americans in the United States.
* On January 14, 2007, a historic event in the annals of OCA was made with the dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony of the new OCA National Center for Asian Pacific American Leadership in Washington D.C. Thirty-three years ago, no one expected that OCA would have their own headquarters in D.C.
* OCA National Center - a new headquarters for OCA & for the community provides many facilities including (1) rooms for leadership development programs; (2) a board room equipped with the latest video conferencing and multimedia capabilities; (3) a library to serve as a community resource on Asian Pacific American history, culture, and relevant public policy issues; and (4) facilities to share with other leading civic organizations in the Asian Pacific American community.
Here are selective historical events that OCA has accomplished:
* January 10, 1986 - OCA President Andrew Chen met with President Ronald Reagan to discuss greater opportunities and recognition for Chinese Americans and Asian Pacific Americans (APAs).
* May 15, 1990 - OCA President S.B. Woo met with President George Bush to discuss the Civil Rights Act of 1990.
* August 15, 1995 - OCA National President Michael Lin met with President Clinton and Secretary of Defense Perry to discuss affirmative action.
* In 1998, the OCA called on government officials and the media to exercise caution and fairness in investigations of alleged espionage accusations of Mr. Wen Ho Lee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
* In 1998, the OCA opposed offensive MSNBC headline “American Beats Out Kwan?in reference to Michelle Kwan’s Olympic silver medal.
* 1998, the OCA urged swift passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999.
* 2005, the OCA took part in a comprehensive immigration reform press conference.
Despite many efforts the OCA, there remain biases and a glass ceiling in American today, suggesting there is still a long way to go to accomplish equal treatment for Chinese Americans in the U.S. We illustrate some recent events as follows:
* The OCA denounced a racist, anti-Asian mockery of the Asian Excellence Awards that was broadcast on the Adam Carolla Show on Tuesday, January 24, 2006.
* On Dec 7, 2006, Rosie O'Donnell was on "the View" and they were talking about Danny DiVito showing up drunk on a show and she was commenting on how, it's such an infamous event that even people in China are probably talking about it. She then proceeded to pretend to be a Chinese reporter and fake an "accent?of “Ching Chong?for 52 seconds.
* There are two major issues using "Ching Chong." The first issue is that this phrase has been used since Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) came to the U.S. as a slur and representative of xenophobia. Second, it is a mockery of the Chinese/Asian language.
* Racist hate crimes in the U.S. are still substantial.
In 2003, about 66% of all hate crimes statistics were against Black, and 6% were against Asian Americans. In Missouri, there were 38 racist hate-crime cases.
In the 2004 FBI report, there were 7,649 hate crimes in the U.S. Of those, 52.8% were motivated by racial bigotry.
* In 2005, two radio hosts on NJ 101 FM openly suggested using degrading language that a gubernatorial candidate, who appears to be an ethnic Chinese and thus a “quoted foreigner,?should be disqualified to run in the state governor race.
* A glass ceiling is still there for Asian Americans. Executive Order 11246, initiated by President Johnson, is still unfortunately NOT applicable to or enforced for the Asian Americans.
In 2006, the OCA-St. Louis accomplished the following activities:
1. Expanded Community Outreach - Our annual joint picnic with the Family with Children from China (FCC) has always been a success. Last year, we also included Chinese Schools to join our picnic, which also included performances. Seeing so many adopted children from China being loved by their families has inspired us to support FCC wholeheartedly.
2. Enhanced Cross Communication and youth leadership training- the OCA has started the monthly column in the St. Louis Chinese American News. The forum provides an opportunity for OCA to communicate with our members and the Chinese community with the latest events that impact our community. We also organized a youth leadership program to improve the success of the younger generation and seminars for the American youth with which to promote Chinese culture.
3. Promote Chinese Culture and education - last year, the OCA spearheaded the two-day Chinese Culture Days event at the Missouri Botanical Garden. A Beijing Opera group from China came to perform for the St. Louis Community along with the wonderful programs offered by the local Chinese communities. The OCA-St. Louis also conducted two seminars on Chinese culture at the Rockwood Middle School to promote interest in Chinese Culture and education.
The OCA will continue to promote Mandarin Chinese as an optional foreign language in local elementary schools to meet the need of the growing trend toward globalization.
For 2007, the OCA-St. Louis chapter will continue to bridge the gap between Chinese Americans with other ethnic groups and mainstream Americans. We will work with Family with Children from China (FCC) to have the annual banquet and conduct youth leadership program. I will also organize a half-day Symposium, which will be sponsored by the Center of International Studies, UM-St. Louis. The topic: “Living in America as a Chinese American.? The date will be 9:00 am, September 22 (Saturday) at the Millennium Student Center of UM-St. Louis. The event will help Chinese Americans understand the issues and challenges that face us in the U.S.
The OCA-St. Louis chapter will work with other Chinese organizations in St. Louis to promote more Chinese culture events and interests in order to provide diversity with Chinese cultures to enrich the St. Louis Community. OCA-St. Louis needs the inputs and guidance from all of you. So, please join OCA to make St. Louis, our home, a better place to live! |
