ACTIVISM Restaurants Art Decried As Racist Obachine Owner

ACTIVISM

Restaurant's Art Decried As Racist -- Obachine Owner Dismayed At Complaints By Ferdinand M. De Leon Seattle Times Staff Reporter Thursday, March 5, 1998 Enter downtown's Oba. Chine, the upscale Pan-Asian restaurant owned by chef Wolfgang Puck, and his wife, Barbara Lazaroff, and it's the opulence, not the food, that first commands attention. Lazaroff, who oversees the design of all the restaurants in their California-based food empire, has spared no expense. Walls in the acclaimed restaurant are lavishly adorned with temple carvings, Japanese ink drawings and antique Buddhas. And at the entrance, behind the reservation desk, is a spot Lazaroff saved for a personal favorite, a framed print that's been a good-luck charm since she first used it 15 years ago at Chinois, the Los Angeles restaurant that, along with Spago, established the couple's reputation. Last week, Lazaroff's good-luck charm lost its spell. Now at the center of a simmering controversy, it soon may come down.

Obachine Restaurant Fulfills Rumors: It Closes By Magdalena Kulig Seattle Times Staff Reporter Wednesday, June 2, 1999 The recent closure of Oba. Chine, one of Seattle's upscale pan-Asian restaurants, was a self-fulfilling prophecy, says the president of the restaurant's parent company. Frank Guidara, president and chief executive officer of the Wolfgang Puck Food Co. , said rumors that the restaurant might close had been circulating for a year. "We had a great restaurant in Seattle. . . outstanding employees, we had great customers. . But no matter what we did, we could not stop the rumors, " Guidara said. Oba. Chine, the signature restaurant of Wolfgang Puck, a chef of international renown, was his first foray into the Seattle market in 1997. Previously, Puck had wooed Los Angeles celebrities to Spago, a restaurant in Beverly Hills that exhibited an open kitchen and served innovative dishes with eclectic Asian and European touches. The Seattle Oba. Chine gained national attention for its opulent decor, but that very decor also brought it trouble.

Washington's Initiative 200, like California's Prop 209, uses deceptive language in an attempt to harm civil rights Seattle, Washington Xuan-Trang "Mary" Tran-Thien is the Outreach Coordinator of the Asian Pacific American Coalition for Equality (APACE). APACE was formed a year ago to help defeat Washington state's Initiative 200 (I-200). I-200 proposes to ban affirmative action in public hiring, contracting and education for women and people of color. The interview was conducted for In Motion Magazine by Nic Paget-Clarke (by phone from San Diego) on September 28, 1998. In describing APACE, Xuan-Trang "Mary" Tran-Thien says "APACE works especially in the Asian Pacific American community but has built strong ties with the African American and Latino communities. We've done a series of educational forums and debates as well as voter registration and education predominantly within the greater King County area. Our membership extends throughout the state, but our political stronghold is here in Seattle. "

Ocean Shores Killing Leaves Citizens Caught In Between Tragedy pits white supremacists vs. civil rights groups Seattle Post/July 15, 2000 By Hector Castro and Robert L. Jamieson Jr. Ocean Shores -- In a flash it was over: One man was dying, three men were fleeing a bloodied parking lot in fear, and this quiet beach community, where residents rarely lock their bicycles, was stunned. But the killing of Christopher Kinison, a white man allegedly stabbed to death by an Asian man he showered with racial slurs, continues to pulse through this local tourist mecca. The July 4 slaying has drawn attention from white supremacist groups on one side and human rights organizations on the other. And, caught uncomfortably in between, are townspeople who insist the community is not racist. "It won't go away, " said Randy Deibel, who witnessed the fatal stabbing. "I can't get away from it. " Kinison's death has done more than prompt civic soul-searching about race. It has forced the Ocean Shores Police Department to grapple with only the second homicide in the city's 30 -year history.

FBI Asked To Probe Ocean Shores Killing Oct 3, 2000 By KOMO Staff & News Services SEATTLE - A new development surrounding the death of a man at Ocean Shores over the Fourth of July weekend. 20 -year old Chris Kinison was stabbed to death during what police call a "racially motivated" fight. Now, three Seattle-area Asian organizations want the FBI to investigate possible hate crimes committed by Kinison and his friends that same weekend. 26 -year old Minh Duc Hong of Seattle is charged with first degree manslaughter in Kinison's death. Hong claims Kinison shouted racial slurs at him and two friends provoking the fight that ended in Kinison's death, a case of self-defense, according to Hong. Defense lawyers say Hong stole a knife, used to kill Kinison, from a convenience store only for protection, but Grays Harbor County prosecutors have maintained the stabbing was an overreaction. Asian groups claim Kinison and his friends also attacked a group of Filipinos and threatened a black man over the holiday weekend. Hong is free on $20, 000 bail pending trial in December.

Treatment of arrested scientist protested By Florangela Davila Seattle Times staff reporter Friday, June 9, 2000 Chia-Chi Li, a 19 -year-old University of Washington student, is battling lack of sleep in his quest to complete a triple major in computer science, philosophy and applied mathematics. He figured college would be rigorous. He never imagined, though, that the incarceration of a Chinese-American scientist by the U. S. government would prompt him to take on an even larger crusade. "I always thought to be American was to be industrious, " said the Taiwanese-born Li. He had once envisioned working for the U. S. government. "But the question now drums through my head, `Will I also be like Dr. Wen Ho Lee, unjustly targeted and the victim of racial profiling? ' " Lee was arrested in December and indicted under the Atomic Energy Act and the Espionage Act on 59 felony counts of mishandling nuclear-weapons secrets, charges that could carry a life sentence.

Students Gather To Boycott Abercrombie And Fitch By Marie Tutko, UW Daily Monday, April 29, 2002 A nation-wide movement to boycott Abercrombie and Fitch (AF) reached Seattle Saturday when protesters organized by UW students gathered in front of its Downtown store on the corner of Fourth and Pine to promote the boycott and to protest that the shirts were made in the first place. #The Ohio-based clothing giant recently caught the ire of Asian-Americans after launching a line of graphic T-shirts that has been deemed "racist fashion" by Asian-American groups. Some of the shirts depict men with slanted eyes wearing conical hats, a caricature reminiscent of 1950 s' style of cartoons. #One shirt reads: "Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs can make it white. " #The rally encouraged a boycott of AF with signs reading, "Abercrombie and Fitch -- Asian. Americans are not your bitch!" as passing vehicles honked in support. #The store, during the protest, was full of dichotomy. Three women conversed in Japanese at the store's front counter while they paid for their merchandise, and an Asian-American customer ran out the front door in attempts to dodge protesters. A customer later entered the store wearing one of the controversial T-shirts, which triggered an eruption of dissent from the crowd.

'I Think They Misunderstood Asian Culture' By Joe Furia Published: Apr 27, 2002 SEATTLE - Local Asian-Americans lash out against one of the country's most popular clothing stores. Abercrombie and Fitch is still under fire for a series of shirts many Asian. Americans call racist and offensive. Saturday afternoon protestors gathered outside the Downtown Seattle Store demanding the company issue what they call an appropriate apology. Abercrombie and Fitch claims the shirts were supposed to add humor to the company's fashion line. But the protestors aren't laughing. Jamie Moy says "It's not funny, it's insulting, it's degrading, it hurts us as Asians it hurts this entire country as Americans. " The shirts depict slant-eyed Asians in conical hats and carry slogans like "Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White; " "Pizza Dojo: Eat in or Wok out; " and "Wok and Bowl: Chinese Food and Bowling" Abercrombie did pull the shirts, but for many Asian-Americans that's not enough.

SECTION 203: Enforcement of Chinese Language Ballots 2002 King County

Foreign-language ballots could lose legal underpinning By Lornet Turnbull Seattle Times staff reporter, Monday, March 13, 2006 When King County began offering ballots and voter pamphlets in Chinese four years ago, it was as though someone switched a light on for Qiu Feng Pang. Suddenly, confusing ballot initiatives made sense to the 74 -year-old retiree, who emigrated from China in 1989 and became a U. S. citizen seven years later. She no longer needed to copy the "answers" of friends or family onto the mail-in ballot she received at her home in Seattle's Chinatown International District.

OCA legal workshop informs APIs: Know your rights By The International Examiner Posted in News, Volume 32 No. 21 (November 1, 2006) BY KEN MOCHIZUKI Examiner Staff Bettie Luke, office and project manager of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) Greater Seattle Chapter, said there had been a “growing awareness” within OCA of an “increasing influx of professionals from other countries. ” “Very few knew they had civil rights, ” she said. To address that situation, OCA has been holding informational workshops such as the “Legal Awareness Workshop for Chinese & Asian Americans: Know Your Rights, a Workshop to Discuss Current Trends in the American Legal System Faced by Asian Americans and Immigrants. ” The workshop was held on Saturday, Oct. 28 at the legal offices of Stafford Frey Cooper in downtown Seattle.

Breaking Glass Ceiling Conferences, 1998 -2004

Bill Gates Scholarships, Designated Judges, 2000 s

Annual Clean-Up Danny Woo Garden (1990 s-2000 s)

Golden Circle Awards

APIA U: Leadership 101 Chinatown/International District Street Fair Booths Section 203 OCA National Convention, Westin Hotel, Seattle, 2001

Youth Projects & Interns - 2011 The Heart of a Volunteer: Getting Involved in the API Community Video by Jasmin Eng. Hello! My name is Jasmin Eng and I’m a University of Washington student and intern of the OCA “Youth Legacy” program. The picture you see before you may look like a random photo of a girl jumping midair. My answer is, yes it is. But it is also a metaphor to my journey in becoming a part of the API community of Seattle. Asian Americans Help Pioneer Seattle Soul Sound Video by: Samuel Han. As a kid, Y. K. Kuniyuki, 61, would sit and soak in the R&B, jazz and soul sounds that escaped out of the backdoors of the clubs on South Jackson Street. One of the first Asian American musicians to play professionally in the unique era of soul music that came out of [. . . ]