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? Good morning, and welcome to The Yappie’s AAPI politics briefing — your guide to the policy news and activism affecting Asian Americans + Pacific Islanders. Send tips and feedback to [email protected] and support our work by making a donation.
— Edited by Shawna Chen and Mary Yang
City Spotlight
? Our round-up of headlines from metro areas across the U.S.
SEATTLE — Seattle’s new budget would reduce the city’s fund to combat anti-Asian hate from $400,000 in 2022 to $167,000 in 2023, Brahmjot Kaur of NBC News writes. The proposed cut has faced backlash from community leaders who say further investment is needed for mental health services and trauma-related care.
LOS ANGELES — Progressive House candidate David Kim (D), an immigration and child dependency attorney, is seeking to unseat incumbent Jimmy Gomez (D) in Los Angeles’ 34th congressional district, which spans Koreatown and downtown L.A. Kim, a second-generation Korean American, lost to Gomez in 2020 by a margin of 53% to 47%, Jeong Park of the Los Angeles Times reports.
- Kim, who was endorsed by the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, is viewed as the more outspoken among the two candidates, both progressives. “We need a moral revolution in Los Angeles,” Kim shouted out toward a crowd of protesters in front of City Hall following the audio leak of racist remarks by L.A. city council members.
ST. PAUL — A Hmong American woman will become the next Ramsey County commissioner representing the East Side of St. Paul, Sahan Journal’s Becky Z. Dernbach reports. Either Mai Chong Xiong, 33, or Ying Vang-Pao, 56, will become the first-ever Hmong county commissioner elected in the state of Minnesota. The winner of the election will help oversee the county’s budget, manage long-term projects, and represent the county’s interests at the federal and state level.
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Who is the Entrepreneur? Asian Entrepreneurship on the Rise
Since 1996, the Kauffman Foundation has tracked entrepreneurial data to understand how it has evolved over time.
Important highlights from 2021 data include a notable shift toward older new entrepreneurs and the rise in the share of new Asian entrepreneurs – from 3.4% in 1996 to 7.3% in 2021.
AAPI Nation
? NUMBER OF THE WEEK — 2027: That’s when the U.S. Navy will finish permanently closing its World War II-era fuel storage tanks and pipelines at Red Hill, Honolulu Civil Beat’s Christina Jedra reports. Native Hawaiians have protested the Navy’s delay in shutting down Red Hill since a fuel leak led to a widespread water contamination crisis.
? Here's what else is happening across America…
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released its plan to release the sihek—a bird native to Guam—not on Guam, but on Palmyra Atoll instead, to the dismay of many Chamorros, Julian Aguon writes in a personal column for The Guardian. The population of the sihek, otherwise known as the Guam kingfisher, rapidly declined with the introduction of the invasive brown tree snake, which was inadvertently carried onto the island by military ships after World War II.
The man convicted of killing Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, the first Sikh deputy on the force, was sentenced to the death penalty by a Harris County jury,Houston Public Media’s Adam Zuvanich reports. Dhaliwal, who drew national attention in 2015 when he successfully sought permission to wear his turban while on duty as part of his faith, was fatally shot during a traffic stop in 2019. “We are extremely grateful that justice has been served,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote on Twitter.
Making moves: Sonal Shah, founding president of The Asian American Foundation, will take the helm of The Texas Tribune as the nonprofit newsroom’s new CEO alongside editor-in-chief Sewell Chan.
On our watchlist: Celebrate the legacy of one of the most iconic Asian American pop culture publications with PBS’ new documentary on the Giant Robot magazine, which thrived for decades in an era with few platforms for Asian Americans.
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The Yappie is your must-read briefing on AAPI power, politics, and influence, fiscally sponsored by the Asian American Journalists Association. Make a donation, subscribe, and follow us on Twitter (@theyappie). Send tips and feedback to [email protected].
