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POWs Waiting for Apologies (in National News) Asian Food Markets in the Bay Area (in Business) Lampo Leong's Forces • Contemplation (in A&E) Reasons to Celebrate (in Opinion) API Commission Urges Community Input By Lena Chou Members of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders held a press briefing last Friday at the headquarters of the San Francisco-based Chinese for Affirmative Action, touting their efforts and urging the community to get involved in commission-sponsored town hall meetings, which begin this month. It’s no surprise the commission conducted the press briefing in California. About 40 percent of the API population reside in the state. Four of the fifteen commissioners, in fact, are California natives, including Tessie Guillermo, Jonathan Leong and Norman Mineta, who chairs the committee. Mineta, however, was recently nominated by President Clinton as Commerce Secretary, and will resign from the commission if he receives Senate confirmation for the Cabinet post. The three commissioners who attended the briefing—Guillermo, Leong, and Shamina Singh—presented a general itinerary of what they hope to accomplish by 2001, the year the commission is expected to have completed a three-year Integrated Federal Plan containing the blueprints for a federal overhaul to better the lives of Asian Pacific Islanders (API). Specifically, the plan will address issues of improving API involvement in government programs, developing stronger data collection on APIs, and increasing public and private sector and community involvement in bettering the health and well-being of Asian Americans. The fifteen member commission was established by Executive Order 13125, which was signed on June 7, 1999 by President Clinton forming the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. It was the first executive order to directly affect the status of APIs since E.O. 9066, which sent Japanese Americans to relocation camps during World War II. The Department of Health and Human Services will overlook the activities of the Commission through an Interagency Working Group which will also be advising the president. Commenting on the significance of the commission, Guillermo said, “What you’re seeing now is the direct liaison between the community and the president. This is the first time an executive order will benefit the Asian community directly.” Beginning in July, the commission will hold a series of four regional Community Town Hall meetings in the west, the east, the mid-west and Hawaii. Personal testimony from community members given at the meetings will play an integral role in shaping the study of the commission. Issues to be discussed include civil rights and immigration; health and education; and the socio-economic status of Asian Americans in their communities. The western regional Town Hall meeting will take place in Los Angeles, July 24. The second meeting will be held in New York City. Midwest and the Hawaii meeting dates have not yet been announced. Leong urged the API community to get involved. “We are not small piece of the territory,” he said. “We are a part of the whole. If we don’t participate, someone else is going to make our opinions. Participation in this system is key. Asian people need to do this. This is a good opportunity to become part of the whole.” The Western Region Community Town Hall meeting will take place on Monday 24, 2000 from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Los Angeles Hall of Administration. The event is open to the public. For more information regarding the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders visit: www.hrsa.gov/aapi