uNAVSA Press Release
October 28, 2009
San Jose Police Brutally Beat San Jose State University Student

20-year-old, Phuong Ho was brutally beaten by San Jose police officers on September 3, 2009 in his home. A cell phone video taken by Dimitri Masouris, Ho’s roommate, show police officers using batons and a Taser gun on the unarmed Phuong as he laid sprawled against the wall. Ho can be seen and heard on the ground moaning, crying and pleading with officers as their baton strikes were distinctly audible. The video documents a further baton strike after Ho was handcuffed, despite Phuong offering no signs of resistance.

http://news.aol.com/article/video-shows-san-jose-police-beating/493066
http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_13645936?nclick_check=1

Let Us Not Forget
Unfortunately, the brutal beating of Phuong Ho was not the San Jose law enforcement’s first time of questionable decision-making and actions when it has dealt with the Vietnamese community. Vietnamese Americans still mourn the 2003 police killing of Cau Thi Bich Tran in San Jose, CA. Tran, a Vietnamese mother of two, was shot and killed in her apartment as her husband and children begged and pleaded for officers not to shoot. At the time, Cau Tran was holding a vegetable cleaver, which the San Jose police officer used as justification for the shooting.
On Mother’s Day, May 10, 2009, Daniel Pham was shot and killed by San Jose police officers in the backyard of his home, despite protests from Brian Pham, Daniel’s brother, to not shoot. Pham was mentally ill. Over five months later, the two officers have not been held accountable for their fatal, excessive use of force.  Neither officer was reprimanded as the San Jose police department has not accepted any responsibility of wrong doing.

Take a Stand
Sadly, the actions of the San Jose police department are not isolated occurrences. They stem from a deeper rooted ignorance and misunderstanding of differences in cultures and communities. While these incidents directly impacted our Vietnamese American community, we stand in solidarity with all people of color as we collectively fight prejudice and injustice. As uNAVSA works with UVSA NorCal and other local, regional organizations to formally respond to these brutalities, we strongly encourage you to take your own stand however you can, whether as part of a rally or protest, a solemn candlelight vigil, or even a personal reflection to educate oneself.
We should never wait for these tragedies to feel the urgency to take action.  However, as they occur in such a repetitive fashion, we must feel the imperative to stand up against injustice and the wrongful loss of life. In the wake of historical misunderstandings between law enforcement and immigrant, low-income communities that have led to varying outcomes of excessive force to death, we must be the momentum that begins to hold such officers accountable for their actions. In addition to fighting and raising awareness around police brutality and racial profiling, we must also pro-actively educate our communities about our differences and the barriers that divide us only in perception.
Only through such a holistic approach that treats not only the symptoms, but also fights the root causes can we advocate for sustainable change and progress in our communities. We hope this can begin a healthy and productive dialogue in our community as we try to grow and push forward through the aftermath of this tragedy.

In Solidarity,

Seng So
uNAVSA CoRR Representative, Northern California

Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (uNAVSA)
Press Release
SE Asia Typhoon
October 13, 2009

For the past two weeks, Typhoon Ketsana has swept through Southeast Asia, devastating Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand and killing an estimated 400 people since Thursday, October 1.

“Ketsana dumped the heaviest rains in more than four decades on Manila and surrounding areas, submerging most of the capital.” According to the Filipino government, at least 2.5 million people have been affected and 246 people have died (bankokpost.com). In Vietnam, a sea of brown water flooded houses in Quang Nam province when the typhoon swept through on Tuesday, September 29.  Because the scale of the flooding has been too tremendous along with the lack of resources and personnel in the region, adequate government aid and humanitarian relief in the region have been difficult.  According to Vietnamese authorities and the United Nations, approximately 400,000 Vietnamese have fled their homes; 530 homes have collapsed and another 100,000 were flooded or damaged. The government estimates damages to be about 120 million dollars.

Typhoon Ketsana is one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit Southeast Asia, namely Vietnam, in many years and as such,the uNAVSA community must mobilize quickly to address this urgent and catastrophic natural disaster to help our brothers and sisters in Vietnam.  We urge you, your VSA, and/or region to contribute to the relief effort.

uNAVSA is supporting the fundraising efforts of Lend A Hand, Inc and we highly encourage you to send any donations through Lend A Hand’s website.  Lend A Hand Vietnamese Youth Organization, Inc., founded on November 23, 2003, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to provide health care and educational assistance to impoverished children in South Vietnam and to promote cultural diversities, leadership abilities, teamwork, and higher education through workshops, conferences, and summits for Vietnamese American students.  Lend A Hand has been on eight humanitarian aid trips in Vietnam and is the most trusted organization by the Vietnamese community in Houston to deliver fundraised proceeds for the impoverished without going through a third party.  Lend A Hand, Inc. consists of young, motivated and determined Vietnamese Americans who realize and understand the harsh realities of life in Vietnam and want to make a difference.

On October 18th, Lend-A-Hand will be traveling to Vietnam to provide direct relief to those affected by the typhoon.  The following message from Duc Dinh, the founder of Lend a Hand, describes how the funds will be utilized and distributed: “Donated funds will go to food and non-perishable items such as noodles, rice, canned food, cooking oil, water and fish sauces.  We will also be giving out medications and whatever the damaged schools need such as tables, chairs, and school supplies for students.  We will distribute food such as noodles and rice, assist the injured from the typhoon in getting treatments from the hospital, and help the schools damaged because of the typhoon.  I will be in Vietnam from October 18th to October 30th.  We are paying for our own expenses and I, Duc Dinh, guarantee that 100% of the money will go directly to the hands of those in needs.  Not a single dollar will be used for personal purposes.  If you donate after October 17th, my officers from LAH will send the funds to me in Vietnam.”

We’ve also included a letter drafted by Lend a Hend to be forwarded widely. For more information, please contact Duc Dinh at ducdinh@lendahandvyo.org
–
Dear friends and family,

Thank you for your patience while Ketsana relief is quickly being pulled together within every moment across the country.  Every email, phone call, tweet, facebook blast, etc. can make a difference in the lives of many.
Duc Dinh (ducdinh@lendahandvyo.org) from Lend A Hand and a team of folks will be making a trip to VIETNAM on October 19th to bring immediate relief to Ketsana victims in the area!  We are asking folks to ask friends, family members, coworkers and everyone around them to make a donation to this effort.  A PayPal account is officially hooked up to the site so folks can now make contributions EASILY and QUICKLY.  JUST CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION. By making a donation here, you can trust that it is a completely grassroots effort led by the Vietnamese community, monitored and distributed by the Vietnamese community to go directly to the victims in Vietnam–none of those shady Red Cross activities!
Attached are:
-Two letters you can use to formally ask for donations.
-A Powerpoint presentation prepared by Duc Dinh, where you can see more photos, stats about damage, and where you money will be going in relief distribution.
Our stories are never covered enough on CNN or U.S. News. Check these articles from Vietnamese News sites for more photos and info.  Click the English Version in the top right corner:
http://www.vietnamnet.vn/xahoi/200910/Bon-dua-tre-mo-coi-sau-con-bao-oan-nghiet-871786/
http://vietnamnet.vn/xahoi/200910/99-nguoi-chet-vi-bao-so-9-thiet-hai-10000-ty-dong-871591/
http://sbtn.net/default.aspx?LangID=38&tabId=193&ArticleID=42300&Page=1
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/typhoon_ketsana_ondoy.html
Thank you for your support! Please help us reach as many people as possible by sharing and forwarding this information.  Every dollar helps.  Every moment counts.  Please donate today.
DONATE HERE
Thank you,
(sign your name here)

–
Mindy Chu
uNAVSA Council of Regional Representatives, Northeast Region

Dear uNAVSA Community,
We are pleased to announce the 2009-2010 uNAVSA Collective Philanthropy Project (CPP) Directors, Phale Le and Lisa Nguyen.  In this coming year, we hope to continue the great success of our annual CPP Campaign to raise funds and awareness for the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation (VAHF) and to help facilitate their project proposal. Phale and Lisa undoubtedly have the skills and experience to drive this year’s campaign and continue the success of uNAVSA’s CPP.

Below you’ll find an introduction to:
1.    The CPP Directors: Phale and Lisa
2.    A description of this year’s CPP beneficiary:  VAHF
3.    The 2009-2010 campaign.

2009- 2010 CPP Directors
Phale Le was a former CPP deputy director in 2007-2008 as well a Council of Regional Representative (CoRR) for the Mid Atlantic region. A recent graduate from the University of Maryland School of Public Health, Phale has held various roles in the community. With past experiences as the program director for the Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, a community liaison for VOICE and currently the Outreach Coordinator for Boat People SOS, Phale will bring great skills to the CPP campaign this year. In addition, as an anchor and reporter for VANTV and SBTN, she will ensure the partnership of the Vietnamese media with this year’s CPP campaign.
Lisa Nguyen began her involvement with the Vietnamese Student Association at the University of Colorado at Boulder as a freshman in 2002. During her summer internships with Toyota Financial Services in California in 2006, she discovered Union of North American Vietnamese Student Association and has since been compelled by and supportive of the group’s causes. After graduating with a B.S. in Finance and Management, she moved to New York where she now works at the headquarters of Teach for America. Last Spring, she also held the role as Director of Communications for the first Hay Qua Conference, bringing together creative Vietnamese Americans on the East Coast.

Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation
http://www.vietnameseamerican.org/
The 2009-2010 CPP beneficiary, Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation (VAHF), is a non-profit organization founded in 2004 with the goal of restoring Vietnamese Americans’ lost identity. VAHF’s mission is to spread awareness about Vietnamese Americans by collecting, preserving, promoting, and celebrating Vietnamese American history and heritage.
VAHF’s objectives are to:
•    Provide opportunities for Vietnamese American individuals or organizations to contribute to the betterment of the American society and Vietnamese American Community through the understanding of our unique history and heritage
•    Support active citizenship for Vietnamese Americans through participation in the American cultural and political system
•    Promote the integration of the Vietnamese American community into American society while maintaining our unique and positive characteristics

CPP Campaign: 500 Oral History Project

uNAVSA will collaborate with VAHF to support its “500 Oral History Project,” which encompasses collecting 500 inspirational personal stories of courageous Vietnamese Americans, archiving it, and publishing it as an anthology.  VAHF will share these stories by hosting seminars and providing exhibits of these stories at community centers and academic institutions throughout the country.  Copies of these published anthologies will be made available to the public to give students and educators and opportunity to hear our side of history and for American teaching institutions to teach our history.
To accomplish the goal of this year’s campaign, uNAVSA and VAHF will collaborate to raise the necessary funds for this project.  Phale and Lisa will be uNAVSA’s main point of contact for this year’s CPP and can be reached at phale.le@unavsa.org and lisa.nguyen@unavsa.org, respectively.  Please don’t hesitate to contact them to find out how you and your organization can become involved in this year’s CPP!

Please join us in welcoming Phale and Lisa as they spearhead the nationwide effort for this year’s CPP campaign with VAHF!

Don Nguyen
uNAVSA Internal Vice President