현재 미 의회에서는 어려운 가운데서도 열심히 일하는 저소득층 가정을 위한 자녀 세액 공제를 제한하는 법안이 논의되고 있습니다. 종업원 세금 감면 연장을 위한 기금을 확보하기 위해 부자증세를 통해 백만장자들이 공평한 세금을 납부하도록 하는 대신 의회는 세금 혜택이 필요한 저소득 가정에게 경제적 부담을 지도록 하려는 것입니다. 이 법안은 사회보장번호가 있는 사람에 한해 자녀 세액 공제를 받을 수 있도록 제한하여 개인납세자번호(ITIN)을 통해 세금보고를 하는 이민자들은 자녀 세액 공제 혜택을 받을 수 없게 합니다.이 법안이 통과되면 이에 해당하는 가정은 평균 1천 8백 달러의 세금 크레딧을 받지 못하게 되며 이로 인해 자녀 양육에 필수적인 지출을 줄일 수 밖에 없을 것입니다.

• 상원의장 해리 리드 의원에게 866-572-7042로 전화하여 다음과 같이 말씀하십시오: 어린이들을 보호하기 위해 지도력을 발휘해준 것에 감사합니다. 자녀 세금 공제의 자격조건을 제한하는 것에 계속 반대해 주십시오.
• 재무위원장 맥스 바커스 의원에게 866-974-8813으로 전화하여 다음과 같이 말씀하십시오: 어린이들을 보호해 주십시오. 자녀 세금 공제의 자격조건을 제한하는 것을 반대해 주십시오.
• 또한, 202-224-3121로 전화하신 후 조세 개편 위원회 위원들과 연결하여 자녀 세금 공제의 자격 조건을 변경하는 것에 반대의사를 전해 주십시오.

우리의 국회의원들이 아동세금공제 자격을 변경하지 않도록 함께 합시다.

On Twitter? RT!

Tweet: @SenatorReid Reject changes to Child Tax Credit & protect low-income immigrant families bit.ly/CTCaction #InvestInKids #nakasec

• For many immigrant families, $1,800 means the difference between rent or eviction. What does $1,800 mean to you. #InvestInKids
• ACTC gives tax credits of ~$1,800 to 2 mil immigrant families. Congress wants to get rid of it, send millions into poverty. #InvestInKids
• What does $1,800 mean to your family? For millions of immigrants it means the difference between living in poverty … or not. #InvestInKids
• Tell us what $1,800 means to you and your family. We’ll deliver your messages to Congress next week. #InvestInKids

문의: 유재은, jyoo@nakasec.org or 202-299-9540.

Click here to view in Korean (우리말)

Right now, legislators are considering a bill that would restrict access to the critical Child Tax Credit – a credit designed to keep hardworking low-income families from falling into poverty. Rather than ask millionaires to pay their fair share, Congress is putting the burden on families who can least afford it in order to fund the payroll tax extension.

The proposal requires the use of a Social Security Number in order to receive the Child Tax Credit. Taxpaying immigrants who use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) would no longer be eligible. If passed, these families could lose an average of $1,800 of much-needed tax credits, forcing parents to cut back on essential care for their children.

JOIN US this Wednesday and Thursday (2/1 & 2/2) for national call-in actions! Make calls to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Caucus and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to protect hardworking immigrant families!:

Call Senator Reid at 866-572-7042 and say:

•    Thank you for your leadership in protecting children
•    Please continue your opposition to any restriction to eligibility for the Child Tax Credit

Call Senator Baucus at 866-974-8813 and say:

•    Protect children
•    Oppose any restriction to eligibility for the Child Tax Credit

You can also dial (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to members of the tax package conference to let them know that you oppose changes in eligibility for the Child Tax Credit:

Suggested Script–

“My name is _________. I am a constituent calling from _______. I urge you to oppose any changes in eligibility for the Child Tax Credit. Children in low-income families should not be a source of revenue for the payroll tax cut. No compromises!”

Let’s work together to keep our legislators accountable and ensure that no changes are made to the Child Tax Credit eligibility.

On Twitter? RT!

Tweet: @SenatorReid Reject changes to Child Tax Credit & protect low-income immigrant families bit.ly/CTCaction #InvestInKids #nakasec

• For many immigrant families, $1,800 means the difference between rent or eviction. What does $1,800 mean to you. #InvestInKids
• ACTC gives tax credits of ~$1,800 to 2 mil immigrant families. Congress wants to get rid of it, send millions into poverty. #InvestInKids
• What does $1,800 mean to your family? For millions of immigrants it means the difference between living in poverty … or not. #InvestInKids
• Tell us what $1,800 means to you and your family. We’ll deliver your messages to Congress next week. #InvestInKids

If you have any questions, please contact Joyce Yin at jyin@nakasec.org or 202-299-9540.

NAKASEC’s Los Angeles affiliate, the Korean Resource Center (KRC) organized a press conference on January 17, featuring representatives of immigrant rights and Korean American organizations to stand against inflammatory remarks made against our community by John Kobylt (KFI 640) during the January 5 broadcast of Clear Channel’s “The John and Ken Show.” NAKASEC executive director, Morna Ha, also spoke and condemned the racist rhetoric and called for responsible speech in the media.

Coverage of the press conference in the Korea Times:

For years, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, hosts of “The John and Ken Show” have spread false facts and hate speech targeting Latino, Asian American and African American communities in Los Angeles. Korean Americans, consumers, community members, immigrants and Californians are no longer willing to tolerate such hate speech in the media.

On January 19, following the press conference, KRC and NAKASEC organized a rally outside the offices of KFI Radio. Around 30 community members and advocates attended the rally to call for the John & Ken Show to be taken off air.

2012-01-19 KFI Racism Protest from Korean Resource Center on Vimeo.

The Korean American Bar Association is also holding efforts to demand an apology from KFI AM640 and its parent company Clear Channel Communications. Click here to sign the letter and show that you condemn racist rhetoric.

From left to Right: Back Row - Kevin Lee, Ju Hong, Bryan Wright, Carla Navoa, Jamie Kim, Dayne Lee, Brian Lee, Chan Kho Kim. Front Row - Jani Kim, Joyce Yin, Tony Choi, Jane Yoo, Keish Kim, Justin Valas. (Photo Credit: Southern Poverty Law Center)

On Saturday, December 17th, 14 undocumented Asian American youth leaders and allies from California, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia and Washington, DC gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to join community members and organizers from across the country to oppose HB 56, the state’s harsh anti-immigrant law, and strategize ways to engage Asian American communities in the movement for immigrant rights and the DREAM Act.

Organized by NAKASEC and affiliates KRC and KRCC, they were provided a space to bond, talk about issues they are dealing with in their respective home states, participate in skills-building training and build leadership. At the end of the two days, they not only came away with better engagement tactics for Asian American undocumented youth and their families and also a feeling of deeper connection and bond with each other.

As a NAKASEC staffer, I feel fortunate to have been able to be in that space and have the opportunity to help facilitate dialogue on organizing in Asian American communities but also to listen and exchange what were some, truth be told, incredibly intimate stories with one another.  When I left everyone to head to the airport to return to Washington, DC, to be perfectly honest, I felt a slight pang. I was missing everyone already! The moments of seeing ideas unfold into concrete action plans, of feeling comfortable with everyone even though I’d only known most of them in a face-to-face capacity for a few days, of witnessing the birth of a much-needed community safe space, were all things that I am incredibly grateful to have been able to partake in.

This Asian American youth network is still in its infant stages and there is still a lot of work to be done but after these last two days, I feel more confident than ever that this collective of passionate youth leaders are on their way towards building something extraordinarily powerful. As Carla, one of our youth leaders and organizer at KRCC, said, ‘this is only the beginning!’

Also, take a look at the Top 10 Reasons Why Alabama’s New Immigration Law Is a Disaster for the Rule of Law written by the Center for American Progress Immigration Team. You can also download and read the Korean translation of this blog post.

TAKE ACTION TODAY TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH THE “ONE FAMILY, ONE ALABAMA” CAMPAIGN!

The Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice has asked for your support in these ways:

BILLS FOR BILLBOARDS: Contribute to an ad campaign to change the hearts, minds and votes of Alabama lawmakers.   Your donation will help post billboards across Alabama, challenging legislators to repeal Alabama’s heartless immigration law!  We will use images of “One Family, One Alabama, One America” created by people from all over the country, posted on the Alabama Coalition For Immigrant Justice Facebook page! Click here for donation information.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Post a picture or video to Facebook and Twitter depicting what “One Family, One Alabama, One America” means to you. Post your videos, pictures, and drawings to Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice’s Facebook page, Governor Robert Bentley’s Facebook page. Share on other social media sites that are significant to you and your community—this could be your state legislator, your place of worship or a local leader.   Help us spread the message that we are all One Family! Tell us what One America means to you, your family and your community.  On Twitter, follow @ALimmigrant and #CrisisAL for updates, and share your thoughts with @GovernorBentley.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH “ONE FAMILY, ONE ALABAMA”

1)      Host an action/vigil in your community this week.  Plan a faith vigil to stand in solidarity with the“One Family, One Alabama” campaign launch at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church.  Communities across the country can organize local prayer vigils to highlight Thanksgiving.  As we give thanks for our families, please remember and pray for the families of Alabama that have been torn apart by HB56.

2)      Send a message to ask that Janet Napolitano come to Alabama. Ask Sec. Napolitano to come her to come down to Alabama and speak with impacted families and to stop ICE implementation of HB56. She needs to see for herself the damage that anti-immigrant bills are doing to the community here. Click here to send a personalized message.

3)      Keep anti-immigrant legislation from happening in your state! Send a message to your legislators and state governor to stand up and reject anti-immigrant bills in your state.

Thank you for your support, and be sure to spread the word in your community about ways to show solidarity with Alabama today.

Sincerely,

Rights Working Group, in Solidarity with the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice

Our bloggers and support staff during the NOP: Generation 2 April training in Chicago

(From left: Young Sun Song, Youth Program Director at KRCC; David Cho, Josh Joh-Jung, Chris Ly, Olivia Park, former program associate with NAKASEC; Joyce Yin. Behind the camera: Jane Yoo)

It’s a bitter sweet announcement — bitter because we’re sad to say good-bye to our bloggers, but sweet because of their trailblazing efforts to dig up, pitch and write stories that matter to young AAPIs – immigration, identity, organizing and service – has been amazing.

Our Generation 2 bloggers – Josh Joh-Jung, Chris Ly, Joyce Yin and David Cho – started their social media journey in April with a 2-day training in Chicago. They then kicked off on a 6-month journey starting with blog posts on May APA Heritage Month and ended in October talking about community organizing.

We thank the bloggers for their dedication and all of your support, RTs and likes throughout the project period! Look out for NOP: Generation 3 coming soon to a computer near you.

In the meantime, check out some of our favorite blog posts from the past 6 months & show us some love by tweeting about us using the #NOPit hashtag.

Blogger favs:

• David – Apes & AB131
• Josh – Where in the World is Josh?
• Joyce – 24 Years Later, A Tiger Cub Speaks Out

Staff favs:

• 7 things We Can Do Rally Our Base to Advance a Progressive Agenda
• What Would You Do for Change?
• 5 Tips on Surviving College: The Undocumented Student Version
• To Shave or Not to Shave
• It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! … It’s Ajumma?!
• I’ve Taken the First Step
• My Family’s Immigrant Experience
• Faces of Our Movement
• It’s Been 10 Years…
• Civic Engagement for Newbies

Me passed out at the Asian American Resource & Cultural Center at UIC after our speak-out for Asian American Studies in 2007

When Jane first approached us about writing our final blog posts about why we are doing work in our respective movements, I thought to myself, ‘Oh, that won’t be too hard to write. I know why. Piece of cake.’

Wrong.

When I initially sat down to write my blog post a few days ago, I can’t lie, it was a struggle. I kept starting, writing a few sentences and would end up scrapping everything I’d written and start over again. I didn’t understand why it was so hard for me. Social justice work is something I’ve been working on since the beginning of college, something I knew I was invested in and dedicated to. I knew this. I knew this in my bones. But articulating ‘why’ just didn’t come easily to me.

It finally occurred to me that, for me, I don’t think there’s ever really been one moment I could say was THE moment when I knew I wanted to get involved in social justice movements. Rather, it’s been an ongoing accumulation of experiences that provided me [and still do] the motivation to do this work. From the not-so-pleasant, like being told I wasn’t good enough because I’m female, to the transformative, like watching AAPI undocumented youth ‘come out’ and share their empowering stories, these are all reminders and driving forces for me.

That being said, I do distinctly remember a moment where my consciousness changed from one of complacency to actually wanting to do something about the inequalities I witnessed on a daily basis. It was junior year of high school. I had to write a mini-critical analysis paper on a topic of my choosing but I couldn’t decide what to write about. When I spoke to my sister, who was then involved in her own fight for Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she suggested writing about the model minority myth. I had no idea what she was talking about. Model minority? What?

But as she explained this concept to me, I realized that that inadequacy I’d always felt in relation to other Asian Americans, that I wasn’t ’smart enough,’ well, it wasn’t just me. I wasn’t just imagining things. What I felt was real. And a whole community of other people had experienced what I’d felt too. This feeling of knowing that you aren’t alone. And that others were actually being active participants in their own lives and not simply sitting around complaining about how dissatisfied they were with life. It acted as a kind of catalyst in my life. It was like I’d woken up.

From that point on, it was a domino effect. I wanted to change things. I wanted to do something. I got to college and I’ve been involved in social justice work in some capacity ever since. I don’t think I have one specific issue area that I care about. While my experience has been primarily focused on ethnic studies, media representation equity and immigration, I care about so many more in addition to those. I don’t think I could choose. I’m passionate about just about all of them!

Looking back over this last year, having been a NOP blogger for phase one and now phase two, I’m so grateful to have had this experience. I’ve never particularly thought of  myself as a writer but NOP has helped me better articulate myself in both writing and speaking. I found that many times as I was writing a blog post, the process would help me sort through my thoughts and even allowed me to have some mini-epiphanies [really!]. It was both a transformative and therapeutic experience for me. And, can’t deny it, receiving kind words from everyone didn’t hurt either. It never gets tiring to hear that someone connected with your writing, especially when it comes from someone you never would have expected.

As a result of being a NOP-er, my voice is a little less muffled and I hope to continue blogging on my own. If you’re a blogger or have thought about starting up a blog, I encourage you to think about becoming one of our phase 3 bloggers when the time comes – you won’t regret it!

It’s hard to believe that the ‘occupy _____’ movement is a little more than a month old. Since the first Occupy Wallstreet action on September 17th, 2011, there has been a domino effect across the country. Thousands of people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and communities have come together to protest, well, a little bit of everything. But it seems like the reoccurring theme is, “we’ve had enough of this economic inequality and corporate greed. We are the 99%.”

And you know what? I can relate to that to some degree. I’m tired of big banks being bailed out, corporations being treated like people. However, after reading the colorlines article about (de)occupying Albuquerque,  the article put this entire movement into a different perspective that I hadn’t even considered: we, the ‘99%’ are also screwing other people over whether we realize it or not. We’ve been screwing over Native Americans since we got here 600+ years ago, occupying a land and oppressing an entire community.

So while I can get down with this ‘occupy ____’ movement to a certain degree, I think  it’s important for all of us to remember that we are not free from a certain amount of privilege either. Yes, the majority of us may belong to the ‘99%’ but in some ways, as much as we might hate to admit it to ourselves, we are also the 1%.