CAA Update from Vincent Pan

The following is from an email sent yesterday by Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.  I serve on CAA’s board and also ask for your support.

I want to begin by thanking everyone who attended CAA’s Celebration of Justice in June. Nearly 600 guests and more than a dozen sponsors participated! We were especially glad to honor Hyphen Magazine, Pillsbury Winthrop, and Him Mark Lai for their commitment and contributions to civil rights and social change. All of us were also inspired by Frank Wu’s keynote address, which you can watch here on YouTube. For those interested, you can also read my welcoming remarks. The first program update: a flurry of misleading media reports continue to fuel extreme nativist sentiment in California. This past week, CAA joined over two dozen community, faith, and immigrant organizations to protest the arrival in San Francisco of the “Minutemen” and to ask City officials and media to support immigrant children and families instead of scapegoating them. You can help by urging the Mayor to advance public safety by supporting the City Sanctuary Ordinance, which helps ensure all residents can safely access City services. The politics are unpredictable so call the Mayor at 415-554-6141 or email him at gavin.newsom@sfgov.org as soon as possible.

Second, I am glad to report that the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees recently voted 7-0 to approve the final design of the second of the two buildings of the proposed permanent Chinatown/North Beach campus. This was an important vote as opponents have not ceased their “behind closed doors” obstruction tactics. Fortunately, well over a hundred community members, students, and faculty came out to show support for the campus, and CAA continues to keep the project on track for groundbreaking this year. Visit www.supportchinatowncampus.org for updates.

Last, recent wildfires and earthquakes have reminded us of how vulnerable California residents are to natural disasters. And in a state where roughly half the population speaks a language other than English at home, providing effective and accessible disaster response and relief information to these communities must be a priority. AB 1930 (Torrico) is legislation sponsored by our Sacramento-based project, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, to ensure State emergency preparedness accounts for limited English-proficient communities. Though AB 1930 will literally save lives, it has been put on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee. As we work to move AB 1930 off suspense, please expect an email action alert from us soon asking for your assistance.

With the November election less than 100 days away, CAA has begun a number of voter education and civic engagement activities, including efforts to increase voter registration, boost voter turnout, and raise the concerns of underserved communities with candidates. I look forward to sharing details about these activities shortly and ask that you consider making a donation today to help support this and all of our important work.