Lan Le has lived in Massachusetts for over 40 years, after her family came here as refugees in 1981. They fled war-torn Vietnam by boat when she was just 9, and spent time living in a refugee camp in Macau before settling in the United States. She has no real connection to her birthplace and has since raised her nine U.S. citizen children in the U.S., where she holds a green card. But now she, like thousands other immigrants, faces […]
A recent Supreme Court ruling that could influence the lives of thousands of people seeking immigration to the U.S. via consular offices gives renewed life to legal precedents built on anti-Asian discrimination of the 1800s, say advocates and legal experts. The case, decided late last month, was “Department of State v. Muñoz.” It centers on a U.S. citizen’s years’ long attempts to sponsor her husband from El Salvador to live with her and their child. A consular official denied their […]
“The doctrine of consular nonreviewability was born broken.” That’s how the Fred T. Korematsu Center and Asian Americans Advancing Justice described this little-known doctrine that gives significant powers to consular officials in immigration matters. The line was in a legal brief they submitted to the recently ruled Supreme Court case, “Department of State v. Muñoz,” which many see as a setback for immigration marriage rights. The groups make a strong case that the doctrine was built on a series of […]
For Adam King, his shoe line, 1587 Sneakers, is about more than just footwear. It’s about identity and pride. “We want all people to be unapologetically themselves,” said King. “For me, that’s being a loud, proud Asian American.” Growing up in Dover and Wellesley with few Asian Americans, King remembers the feeling of being from a different culture. “Sometimes you hide them a little bit, or you don’t celebrate them as much as you should. We don’t want any Asian […]
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has a heat map of the United States that at first glance appears like the state-by-state map Americans grew so accustomed to during the Covid pandemic. Texas and Florida are dark maroon, while many other states are hot orange. Massachusetts is a tad lighter, but still fiery. The map, however, is not warning of the danger of disease spread. It’s warning of something just as perilous to Democracy: attempts to curb free […]
As libraries across then nation face ever growing pressure to remove books from their shelves, censor materials and cancel events, staff at these public institutions are taking the brunt of the stress.“I have strong concerns about librarian burnout,” a librarian in Greater Boston, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely, told the Sampan. “I personally know of many librarians who are considering or have left the profession and moved on to corporate … or … retail positions […]
Photojournalism at its best will do what the dedication of this book promises. It will afford recognition, respect, and equality to the subjects it presents. In this remarkably thorough and beautifully rendered new coffee table book from Penguin Random House, the life and legacy of photographer Corky Lee is on full display, Hua Hsu remarks, in his introduction, about the range and breadth of Lee’s work, going from the tight focus of Manhattan’s Chinatown to the diverse spectrum of Asian […]
For the past year, migrants have been staying at Boston Logan Airport as Massachusetts’s emergency shelter system struggled with the influx of new arrivals. With the shelters full, they sleep on makeshift bedding spread across baggage claim under constant lighting and announcements, are carted out of Logan in the morning to welcome centers, then sent back at night. Authorities have limited knowledge and control of the situation. When asked, Governor Healey’s administration couldn’t state how many migrants were arriving at […]
The Boston Air Pollution Control Commission voted last month in decision that would effectively end the use of 30, longtime parking spaces in Chinatown, which were deemed out of compliance with city regulations. The land in question, located on Tyler Street, has been used by Tufts Shared Services for decades, providing parking primarily for Tufts Medical Center’s medical patients. It was the site of Boston’s Chinese Church before its relocation outside of the neighborhood. “The Air Pollution Control Commission does […]
Wearing T-shirts reading “STOP ASIAN HATE,” a group of residents and activists arranged candles in the shape of a heart and displayed a portrait of Vincent Chin with his name written in Chinese and “May 18, 1955 — June 23, 1982” last month under the Chinatown Gate. Wilson Lee, co-founder of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Boston Lodge and the Chinese American Heritage Foundation, said he and his wife Esther Zee Lee have organized a vigil for Chin every June […]
