LOS ANGELES: THE ASTONISHING TIMING OF ASIA SOCIETY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES— In the wake of countless protests that broke out across the United States in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration this past Friday,the timing of the Asia Society Southern California’s special conference on Monday Jan. 23 is almost magical.

So please consider attending (details below) Asia Society Southern California’s notably relevant program about the implications of President Trump’s administration on domestic and foreign policies that affect Asian and Asian American communities. Its ‘global Asia Society’ initiative has been thoughtfully designed to examine both challenges and opportunities for the Trump Administration in dealing with Asian countries and potentially close-aligned American diaspora populations.

Undoubtedly this new government comes into power amid unusual turbulence. Consider, for starters, the weekend’s Women’s March. It was originally predicted to draw about 200,000 protestors to Washington D.C. in a street rally for social justice causes, including women and LGBTQ rights, immigration reform, systemic racism in national and local institutional structures, and environmental issues. As it turned out, the D.C. march was to echo a global array of similar large demonstrations across the globe. President Donald J. Trump’s controversial victory in the U.S. presidential election reflected, and to some extent at least exacerbated, a clear cultural and political divide that prevails not only in America but elsewhere.

Included among the most concerned citizens in this charged atmosphere are the fastest growing ethnic group in America: Asian Americans.

Continued if informal chatter about some kind of national Muslim registry amid the fact of our gradually growing population of Muslim Americans from Asian countries such as Indonesia and India reveals the need for urgent discussion between Asian and foreign policy scholars. What issues will most influence the lives of Asian and Asian Americans? To what extend can the rise of hate crimes be pinned on the Trump Administration’s alleged Islamophobic sentiment? This issue, among others, will undoubtedly affect how marginalized communities, including Asian community ones in America and perhaps elsewhere around the world, will be treated.

Here are some details about the Asia Society Southern California’s timely event – “Asia and Asian Americans in the Time of Trump”:

Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok, Consul General of India in San Francisco

David Huebner, Former U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa

Kantathi Suphamongkhon, Former Foreign Minister of Thailand

Robert C. O’Brien, Partner, Larson O’Brien and Former Adviser to Mitt Romney

Two MacArthur Foundation Fellows, leaders in immigration and minority issues, will also be speakers:

Stewart Kwoh, President and Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – LA
and
Ahilan Arulanantham, Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California

To register, please go to: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=9451ff

And for more information on the event, please go to: http://asiasociety.org/southern-california/events/asia-and-asian-americans-time-trump

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