Racism and Our History

Chinese exclusion to Filipino colonialism to the incarceration of Japanese Americans, it’s amazing what we’ve survived as a community.

By Emil Guillermo

mil Amok: Lost NPR Host…,” the oneman show

I’m doing at Under St. Marks Theater in New York City now (head to https://www.frigid.nyc/ event/6897:338/ for tickets), wasn’t really intended as a history show. But it has turned into that.

I talk about how Filipino Americans continue to overcome the cloud of being descendants of the Philippines, America’s First Colony. After being one of 13 original colonies, I guess America just felt the need to have a colony of its own in order to feel its own oppressive power.

As I prepared for my show looking at history, it’s incredible how much crap a group AAPIs have had to endure. If you look throughout Asian American history, from the

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COVER STORY: Dr. Lee ....from page 5)

She said Dean Hedges worked very hard to increase scholarships so that JABSOM students can graduate with less educational debt - this also helps to keep them in Hawai’i after their training is complete. Once someone completes medical school, they complete additional training in their chosen specialty area (also known as a residency program).

“We currently have 19 residency and fellowship specialty programs in Hawai’i and are working to increase portions of their training on neighbor islands, where the physician need is greatest. We also have a successful loan repayment program which, in exchange for working in an underserved area in the State for two years, pays off up to $50,000 of student loans.

“We also work close-

And those Filipinos in Hawaii know that the state has a rich indigenous history and how it transformed into the 50th state. It is a history that is almost equal parts pride and shame.

So it’s so frustrating to see how things keep coming up in our history as responses to us as Asian Americans.

That’s historical racism for you. In fact, if you think it’s taken a toll on your brain, you’re right.

Richard Sima, a neuroscientist and science journalist in the Washington Post, writes:

“Experiences of racial discrimination are consistently linked with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, substance use and PTSD, as well as physical ailments such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Black Americans, for instance, are about twice as likely as White Americans to develop dementia.”

Sima says over the long term, racism accelerates aging ly with our health system partners and others to attract Hawai’i-born and raised physicians back to home by creating excellent learning and work environments that embrace teaching the next generation of health providers,”

Buenconsejo-Lum said.

JABSOM’s top priorities

The interim dean said, “JABSOM, as part of the fabric of Hawai’i, has many strategic priorities to help achieve the vision of ALOHA or Attaining Lasting Optimal Health for All. Our top priority is to train excellent physicians, biomedical scientists, and allied health workers (in medical laboratory technology and speech-language pathology) to care for the peoples of Hawai’i and the Pacific.”

She said JABSOM was founded to provide an opportunity for medical education the problem. The self-doubt leads to “individual invalidation” and the struggle over self-worth. and degrades the parts of the brain that deal with emotion and cognition.

And either we think about it, get vigilant, and struggle to overcome it. Or we get crushed by it, run out of resources and can’t regulate the constancy of racism in our everyday experience.

“This is not an effect of race,” Nathaniel Harnett, a neuroscientist at McLean Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, told Sima. “It is an effect of the burdens we place on racial groups.”

The problems really kick in personally when the trauma we experience from race is invalidated or questioned by society.

How many times do people tell you, “That’s not racism” or “It’s in your head” or “You’re imagining things.”

Chance are you’re not imagining things. But that’s previously not available to residents of Hawai’i and other Pacific nations. JABSOM is one of the nation’s most culturally and ethnically diverse schools. “We strive to be a Native Hawaiian place of learning – meaning that we embrace and teach values core to the indigenous peoples of Hawai’i, work in partnerships with all facets of society, and have the responsibility and privilege to act with respect, fairness, and in harmony to achieve healthy communities and people.

Back to her roots

Buenconsejo-Lum grew up in Wahiawā and Mililani. Her parents, Gervacio “Harvey” Buenconsejo and Fay Molina, were both teachers at Leilehua High School. Her father’s parents, Lino and Leonarda Buenconsejo, arrived from Baler in Central Luzon in 1928 and worked as a bar- reports indicating the Japanese Americans on the west coast represented no threat, more than 120,000 were forcibly rounded up and incarcerated in camps.

Seventy percent were American citizens. You thought that mattered? Not when your blood was Asian.

I choose to do my one-man show about being Filipino in America. It’s not therapy. But it’s entertaining.

Get tickets: https://www. frigid.nyc/event/6897:338/

Presidents Day and E.O. 9066

The Presidents Day holiday this year, Feb. 20, was a time to remember how damning a single action like a presidential order can be.

For Asian Americans, is there anything more damning than Executive Order 9066?

It was specific to Japanese Americans, but it is the justification for taking action against all of us whenever any executive damn well pleases.

Executive Order 9066 was signed into law on February 19, 1942, by FDR.

Despite two intelligence ber and a seamstress, respectively.

Her maternal grandmother, Ellen Wee, was born in Kona to emigrants from what is now North Korea, raised in Wahiawā, and taught in Wailuku, Maui, where she met her husband, Manuel Molina.

Buenconsejo-Lum said her maternal grandfather and his family arrived from Casares, Malaga, Spain, in the early 1900s and worked for Maui Pineapple Company in Keahua, Maui.

Her great uncle Timothy Wee was a general practice physician in Wahiawā.

“My family instilled the work ethic and values that inspired me to pursue medicine. Growing up around my ‘uncle doctor’s’ office, I found it pretty special that he had formed bonds with and cared for many generations of families from Wahiawā and surrounding areas. I also shadowed or

When it comes to policy, immigration remains a hot-button issue as it has since the first Asians came to the U.S. And even though immigration reform at this point appears politically dormant, the Biden Administration has had a plan ready to go that includes a real path to citizenship for 11 million people, relief for DACA recipients, more work visas, and increased family reunification efforts. There’s also a move to strike the word “alien” and replace it with “non-citizen.”

Let’s not forget: the guiding phrase of America has always been “we the people,” not “we the citizens.”

Will we ever see it passed into law in our current divided government? Unlikely, but there’s a better chance under a Biden presidency.

What about the South

(continue on page 13) worked for other physicians in Wahiawā, who taught me always to keep the needs of patients and families at the core.”

She said her leadership journey started at Wahiawā Elementary School, in student council, and as a Junior Police Officer and has continued since then. Her favorite non-class was student council, followed in close second by band. “I was blessed to be given the opportunity to serve in the Central O’ahu district, Hawai’i State Student Councils, and other state committees.

“I had the chance to learn from government officials and work to address many issues facing public school students and families, including poverty, safety, and the need for better school-based health services, including STD and HIV prevention.”

By Atty. Emmanuel S. Tipon

President Biden has shown compassion for students who borrowed heavily to finance their higher education by announcing that the federal government will forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans. Aug. 25, 2022. About 26 million borrowers have reportedly applied for the loan relief.

But does the President have the power?

And is it fair to the students who (a) borrowed money for higher education and have paid their loans, or (b) never borrowed money for their higher education, or (c) did not seek higher education but borrowed money to finance a business?

These issues are now before the Supreme Court in