Sharkbites Newsletter

*|MC:SUBJECT|*

JULY 27, 2022


Hello, everyone!

On Monday, Harvard University offered a comprehensive defense of affirmative action following the advancing Supreme Court hearing against the University.


In response to the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an anti-affirmative action group that is suing the University for discriminating against Asian American applicants, Harvard filed a 64-page brief that rejected SFFA’s assertions and cited many affirmative action precedents.

The University argued that “Nothing in the text or history of the Fourteenth Amendment suggests that universities must uniquely exclude race from the multitude of factors considered in assembling a class of students best able to learn from each other,” and that “Harvard’s admissions program fully complies with the Court’s holdings” in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Grutter v. Bollinger and Fisher v. University of Texas, the three landmark Supreme Court cases permitting the use of race in college admissions.

University President Lawrence S. Bacow also released a statement in tandem with the brief, expounding upon the importance of a race-conscious admissions process for maintaining a diverse and modern society.

While lower courts have sided with Harvard University, SCOTUS will conduct hearings in January.

Spotlight 💡

Today’s spotlight is Elaine Castillo, a Filipino American author emphasizing the message of interrogative reading in her new book, “How to Read Now.” 


Her collection of essays, dedicated to marginalized communities, ruminates on the question of inheritance and heritage. Castillo shows her audience the meaning of being a good reader: “to be open to the different readings of other people, perhaps especially those you disagree with.”

In eight chapters, Castillo narrates a non-fiction account of readings and mentors, like her father, who pushed her into literary journeys, revelations and discoveries. For Castillo, “critical reading is not meant to be work performed solely by readers and writers of color.” The book is not meant to be a theoretical undertaking, but rather an invitation to disagree, discuss and experiment.

Race in America 🌎

Silicon Valley’s success is built by innovative minds, and more than half of those belong to immigrants.


According to the National Foundation for American Policy, out of the 582 startups valued at $1 billion or more, 55% had one or more immigrant founders. If the stats included children of immigrants, that number rose to two-thirds of the total surveyed. Of those startups, 66 were by Indian immigrants, 54 were from Israel and 21 were from China.

With immigration policy continuing to change and evolve with varying administrations, visas that allow skilled workers to come into the U.S. to fill positions at various companies in the Valley or start their own businesses are growing smaller and smaller.

 

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At BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! in Prospect Park, New York, a Minneapolis-based troupe called the Ragamala Dance Company performed “Sacred Earth,” bringing South Indian classical dance — the Bharatanatyam — and romantic poetry together to meld with the music and energy.

Led by Ranee Ramaswamy and her daughters Aparna and Ashwini, the troupe displayed electrifying imagery with their skills, drawing on kolam — a kind of decorative art made with rice flour — on Warli wall paintings (some of which are reproduced in projections) and on ancient Tamil poetry.

Against a purple background, dancer in traditional clothes uses the Bharatanatyam style to convey a story in tandem with the music.

Image: Ragamala Dance Company

In Other Asian News 🗞

In Nepal, human rights groups, including Amnesty and Human Rights Watch (HRW), filed a joint statement criticizing a new bill to reform war crime laws.


The Nepalese government is still grappling with the consequences of the 13,000 death toll and injustices committed against civilians by security forces and former Maoist rebels during the decade-long civil war. Since 2015, despite 60,000 official complaints, no official probe has resolved a single wartime abuse case, even as residents continue to demand for justice and proper investigations. In local courts, only two cases received convictions, one involving the death of a teenage girl and the other of a journalist.

Human rights organizations have pointed out that the bill will lean toward favoring war criminals and granting amnesty for their misdeeds, and critics say that the truth and reconciliation process, poorly designed and stymied by political inaction, was doomed from the start with many former Maoist rebels in high government ranks.

 

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In an effort to protect the deteriorating biodiversity in India, the India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change collaborated with the government of Namibia to bring in a surprising ally: the African cheetah.

Asiatic cheetahs in India are extinct due to habitat destruction, hunting and loss of prey, but officials are hoping that this project will help restore a cheetah population in the nation that will act as a vital part of the biome. The Ministry plans to bring 50 cheetahs into India over the course of the next five years.

While there is no danger to humans, conservation biologist Sanjay Gubbi expresses a different opinion on the biodiversity viability of these African cheetahs. Because these predators from Africa are attuned to large grasslands, India’s current landscape and geography cannot accommodate their needs, which may prove problematic.

An African cheetah sits in the grass and lounges while a moth sits on its nose.

Image: WION

Restaurants đŸ„˜

Singaporean Chef Akmal Anuar’s restaurant 53, named after its location at 53 West 53rd Street in Midtown, New York, is a contemporary Asian concept that is dishing up plates as artful as paintings at the MoMa, where the restaurant is situated next to.


Anuar blends flavors and cooking styles of China, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore for takes on adapted street food bites, traditional classics and personal childhood favorites. The Michelin-starred chef is serving up morsels like diver scallops brushed with spicy XO sauce on a white plate canvas evoking its shell.

The menu is designed not on cuisine type but preparation of cold, hot, steamed, grilled, clay pot and wok. “We have people who specialize only on the wok. We have people specializing on the grill only working the grill. We cannot mix them all. It’s not like a Western kitchen where everything is pretty simple. It’s a different craft. I think it’s like you’re walking into a restaurant with a few restaurants” Anuar says.

 

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Japanese LA restaurant Yamashiro has been on the forefront as a meeting place for film stars, tourists, business tycoons and celebrations for decades, but it’s also been the backdrop for many classic Hollywood films and television shows. The eatery, built by East Asian artisans, was inspired by palaces in Kyoto, Japan.

It was a site for scenes of beloved shows like “Perry Mason” and “I Spy.” In films, the Asian fusion dining destination has featured in “Kill Bill,” “Gone in 60 Seconds” and three time Academy Award winning film “Memoirs of a Geisha.” The restaurant has its critics who have scoffed at its listing in the National Register of Historic Places, but  Japanese community leader Bill Watanabe told the LA Times that “Yamashiro has likely had a positive effect on the interpretation of Japanese culture in America, igniting curiosity and raising awareness of Japanese-American struggle.”

What else is on our minds? 🧠
 

Japanese men dress in samurai garb and ride decorated horses in a traditional Soma Nomaoi Festival.

To the three newsletter readers that sent us fan mail, thank you so much :)

It made us feel very appreciated.

Sincerely, Mya Sato and Daniel Anderson 

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