Minority Majority

Kal Penn goes to Washington

minoritymajority — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:12:23 +0000

The star of Harold & Kumar will join the Obama Administration as associate director in the Office of Public Liaison. He will reach out to the Asian American/Pacific Islander community as well as arts and entertainment groups.

I always loved the original H&K movie, not only because it made me laugh, but it also addressed issues relevant to the children of South and East Asian immigrants. Kal Penn also starred in the Namesake, based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel.

Asian glow may signal cancer risk

minoritymajority — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:05:50 +0000

Bad news bears for anyone who has ever felt flushed after a few sips of alcohol. If you know what I’m talking about, chances are you’re Asian. And if you’ve ever taken Pepcid AC to prevent the reddening face, racing heartbeat, or rising body temperature associated with drinking — you’re only reducing the symptoms, not the risk.

Dallas Police Chief apologizes for officer’s actions during traffic stop

minoritymajority — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:07:04 +0000

NFL player Ryan Moats ran a traffic light as he rushed to a Dallas hospital to see his dying mother-in-law. Officer Robert Powell stopped Moats for a traffic violation but kept him for 13 minutes to write the ticket. Powell berated the driver and threatened to arrest him, according to a DPD camera. Police Chief Kunkle apologized and said that Powell has been placed on paid leave.

Becoming American

minoritymajority — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:31:16 +0000

There are few things that interest me more than the immigrant experience, which is closely intertwined to the topic of this blog — examining how race and ethnicity affect the lives of people in America. In honor of Thanksgiving NPR is asking authors who have written about immigrants, what it means to become American.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, who was born in England to Indian parents and grew up in the U.S., said:

For me there is sort of a half-way feeling [of being American].

She said that growing up, her loyalty to her parents conflicted with her desire to fit in, but writing fiction stories about the immigrant experience has helped her address her own feelings.

A lot of my upbringing was about denying or fretting or evading…It has been liberating and brought me some peace to just confront that truth, if not to be able to solve it or answer it.

Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz, who emigrated from the Dominican Republic at age six, said that the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” is one that we wrestle with everyday, both as individuals and as a country.

It’s the wrestling with that question that defines us. It’s not any of the answers.

He also said that being an American means dealing with multiple Americas. One he called xenophobic, closed-minded and racist. The other he described as an America where simultaneously

“…many things are possible, where a kid like me can come from a non-bookish culture and miraculously be transformed.”

I highly recommend books by both authors, especially Lahiri.

Blacks and immigrants overwhelm unemployment centers

minoritymajority — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:47:02 +0000

The nation’s 2,942 one-stop job centers have been inundated in recent months as unemployment soars. The NYT reported that:

“those most in need are largely invisible — unskilled, less educated and disproportionately black or from immigrant communities.“

Initial jobless claims are at a 16-year high while the number of people receiving unemployment benefits is at a 25-year high.

NFL hires its first Hispanic referee

minoritymajority — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:44:35 +0000

Alberto Riveron, who emigrated from Cuba more than 40 years ago, was promoted to NFL referee this season. He is the first Hispanic referee to earn one of the league’s top 17 positions.

Riveron, who lives in Miami, told the NYT:

We’re the only sport where the game stops for an official to talk to you. You turn on your microphone and tell 50 million people what you decided, and why.

Most of my posts illustrate racial disparities or tell sad stories about poor immigrants, but alas, here is a happy one.

Racial barriers between doctors and patients

minoritymajority — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:27:58 +0000

Dr. Pauline W. Chen posed the question of how high do racial barriers remain in the state of health care? In her latest NYT article she wrote that minority patients and white patients reported better health care experiences when treated by doctors of the same race or ethnicity, according to doctors at the Oregon Health and Science University.

Dr. Saha, author of the report said:

On the one hand Obama’s election really provides some hope for people who thought it was impossible. But his election doesn’t automatically change what happens on the ground floor. Part of the downside of this historical event is that we may no longer believe that race can create a disadvantage. We may forget that we still do look at certain racial and ethnic minorities in a different way — not consciously but unconsciously.

Dr. Chen also referenced a University of South Caorlina, Columbia study that revealed white patients who had minority doctors were more likely to report a medical error than white patients with white doctors.

Texas as a future battleground state

minoritymajority — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:29:08 +0000

McCain won 55.5 percent of the votes in Texas, or 950,000 more votes than Obama’s 43.8 percent. This is a huge change compared with the 2004 election, which earned Bush more than 61 percent and Kerry 38 percent of Texans’ votes.

Last week the Democratic party won votes from young people, suburban whites, blacks and especially Latinos, whose population in Texas totals about 8 million. This shifting demographic is expected to play a key role in altering the future landscape of Texas politics.

Texas is the second most populous state with 34 electoral votes. Three of the country’s ten largest cities call the Lone Star State home: Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. All three cities voted for Bush in 2004 and for Obama in 2008 (Austin, the traditionally liberal oasis in Texas, voted democrat both years).

Unemployment affects day laborers

minoritymajority — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:11:53 +0000

The unemployment rate in October hit a 14-year high of 6.5 percent. Last month employers cut 240,000 jobs, and 10.1 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits, which is more than at any other time in the last quarter of a century, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Unemployment has pervaded one arena that is often overlooked: day laborers. Immigrants make up a large portion of day workers, many of whom are undocumented. But despite living weeks or months without work, some immigrants refuse to give up and return home.

One immigrant told NPR:

If we go back to Honduras now, it’s for nothing. All our sacrifice will have been a waste. You have to remain an optimist inside yourself and believe things will improve, if you just wait.

Hospitals repatriate uninsured immigrants

minoritymajority — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:47:30 +0000

The sad fact is that many American hospitals send uninsured, illegal immigrants back to their native countries. St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix does this about eight times a month.

But here is a more unusual story about an uninsured, legal immigrant who was deported to an emergency room in Mexico. (He was evenutally treated at a hospital in California and is now doing well at home with his family in Arizona. This story depicts the complex issues that tangle immigration and health care.

We don’t export patients. I can understand the frustrations of other hospitals, but the flip side is the human being element. [David R. Green, chief executive of El Centro Regional Medical Center in California]