Updates

I bought something from a Chinese company on social media recently. When I got the product, it didn’t work. I panicked, then relaxed because I bought it through an American tech giant, which gives me recourse. Going to the product company directly was a nightmare in communication. Most of the emai...

Oh, how we hate the term “model minority,” which presupposes a good model for people of color and Asian Americans in particular to follow in life and career. But judging by his performance the other day at a congressional hearing, Robert Hur, the former special prosecutor in the Biden documents cas...

AALDEF, Advancing Justice-AAJC, and AAPI New Jersey file an amicus brief in Kim v. Hanlon NEWARK, NJ — Today, three Asian American organizations filed an amicus brief in Kim v. Hanlon, a suit brought by Rep. Andy Kim, a candidate for U.S. Senate, and two congressional candidates against all but tw...

Most want to rush to see the movies that won an Oscar after the fact. But there is one film you definitely should see after Oscar night and it’s a nominated movie that didn’t win, “Past Lives.” It didn’t win for best picture or for Celine Song’s original screenplay. But as one who was a film critic...

State of the Union address? It was more like President Biden’s “Save the Nation” address. And frankly, he had me at “Hello.” Or more specifically, “Hitler.” President Joe Biden started his State of the Union address by quoting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on January 1941 saying, “I address...

Nikki Haley knows how to appeal to the Asian American in me. “Just last week, my mother, a first generation immigrant, got to vote for her daughter for President,” Haley, of Indian descent, said. “Only in America.” And with that opening, Haley suspended—though not ended–her campaign on a not so su...

Dear Governor Hochul, Speaker Heastie, and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, We, the undersigned organizations, write in opposition to the expansion of hate crime laws in the Executive Budget. We are eager to address the bias incidents and violence that our loved ones, families, and communities have...

By Michael Carroll Two plaintiffs who are challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law that restricts Chinese citizens from owning property in the state won a temporary injunction earlier this month barring state officials from enforcing the law against them. Yifan Shen and Zhiming Xu receiv...

Shane Gillis was on “SNL” hosting last Saturday, and maybe you found him funny. But probably not if you’re Asian American. Believe me, I empathize with people trying to be funny. I detest people showing off or underplaying their racism. I recently returned from Los Angeles where I did five minute...

SPECTRUM NEWS PARTNER BY RANDY BILLINGS | MAINE A bill that would ban citizens of China and four other countries from purchasing property in Maine drew strong opposition during a public hearing Wednesday, with the state's leading civil rights group calling it blatantly racist and unconstitutional....

Leading Legal Voting Rights Organizations Call for Fair & Equitable Maps NEW YORK, NY — The Unity Map Coalition, a consortium of leading legal voting rights organizations representing people of color in New York City is urging the New York State legislature to adopt the Unity Map in full. The Coal...

By Jenna Tooley TALLAHASSEE, FL— In a significant development, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a temporary injunction against the enforcement of Florida’s SB 264. This law, deemed unconstitutional, prevents Chinese immigrants from purchasing homes in specific regions of the state. ...

Comedian Shane Gillis was announced as the host more than a week ago for the Feb. 24th episode of Saturday Night Live. Activists rev your engines? Or not? Boycott the show? Or hope Bowen Yang and Shane Gillis mudwrestle on national TV? If you’ll recall five years ago, Gillis was hired as a cast m...

By A.L. Lee A coalition of civil liberties groups sued the Republican-controlled Legislature in Nassau County in New York, claiming that a new voting map discriminates against Blacks, Latinos, and Asians in violation of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The suit, filed Feb. 8 against the Long Isla...

Ageism is everywhere now if you haven’t noticed, thanks to a certain Asian American special prosecutor. First, I tried to get away from the news by watching Super Bowl 58, which at 58 is still well under mandatory retirement age. The San Francisco 49ers seemed to explode out of the gate, dominatin...

My father, Willie Guillermo, born under the American flag in the colonial America that was the Philippines, has a birthday today. He would have been 119 and thriving had he stopped eating pork at a reasonable age and gone vegan. So, of course, he was in the back of my mind while I pondered all of t...

With 2024 elections around the corner, nationwide efforts to diminish the political power of communities of color are surging NASSAU COUNTY, NY — The New York Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Steptoe ...

By Hansi Lo Wang NASSAU COUNTY, N.Y. — In 2020, Maria Jordan-Awalom marched across an invisible line in one of the most segregated regions of the country. After the police murder of George Floyd, she and other demonstrators took to the streets for racial justice in this New York City suburb, just ...

By Robert Bessser TALLAHASSEE, Florida: Florida was blocked from enforcing a ban on Chinese citizens owning homes or land in the state against two Chinese citizens by a U.S. appeals court. The two individuals were in the process of buying property when the law came into force. On Thursday, a pane...

A federal appeals court has ruled that a Florida law barring real estate purchases by Chinese citizens can’t be enforced against two plaintiffs while their court challenge continue By Debra Cassens Weiss A federal appeals court has ruled that a Florida law barring real estate purchases by Chinese ...