More on: awareness
Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, Guest Speaker
Nov 08, 2009
» Engagements
Milpitas, CA
Spoke with approximately 150 students and 50 adults
About the Organization
Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation is a non-profit, non-governmental, humanitarian organization with four major missions: charity, medicine, education, and humanistic culture. The foundation also engages in international disaster relief, bone marrow donation, community volunteerism, and environmental protection. “Tzu Chi” means “compassion and relief.”
The goal of Tzu Chi is to help the poor and sick with “love, compassion, joy, and giving”. The spirit of Tzu Chi is “sincerity, integrity, trust and honesty” and all members invite everyone to come and cultivate Tzu Chi’s field of blessings and together create a world where ten thousand lotus hearts of compassion create the world of Tzu Chi.
The struggles of APA prisoners
Apr 25, 2003
» Articles, Reflections
One inmate’s call for APA community support
by Eddy Zheng, AsianWeek, VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
Asians do not go to prisons. When people mention the word prison they usually conjure up images of hard-core criminals — murderers, kidnappers, drug dealers, gang members and sexual predators. Prison also brings to mind the mass incarceration of African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and poor whites. Rarely do people associate prison with Asian Pacific Americans.
I am an APA prisoner who has been incarcerated for over 17 years. If I have to write about all the struggles APA prisoners have to endure, I can write a book. Since I am writing an essay, I will share with you some of what it is like to be an APA in prison.
The first thing an APA prisoner is subjected to is the surrender of his ethnicity. The prison system promotes racial segregation by grouping prisoners as “Black,†“White,†“Mexican/Hispanic†and “Other.†It is a means of control by creating a separation of culture between races. As soon as an APA is processed into the prison he is categorized as an “Other.†He is no longer Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Japanese or any other ethnicity. Once he is labeled, for the rest of his stay in prison he will be living, showering, eating and hanging out with those who are in the same category.
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