In Asian communities, just another day

[Gormy Cuss]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/02/in_asian_communities_just_another_day/

In Asian communities, just another day

By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff | May 2, 2006

LOWELL -- Traffic was gridlocked at lunchtime yesterday in the parking lot at Pai Lin Plaza, a bustling, red-roofed shopping center in the heart of this city's Cambodian neighborhood, just as it is on any other weekday.

There was no sign here, as customers streamed in and out of small businesses, of the mass walkout being staged by immigrants elsewhere around the state and country. As thousands of immigrants stayed home to make a point about their vital role in American life, some immigrant communities, especially in Asian strongholds in and around Boston, did not participate in the national Day Without Immigrants.

In Lowell, the day was like any other for many Cambodian transplants; in Dorchester, the protest caused barely a ripple in Vietnamese neighborhoods. Few immigrants in Boston's Chinatown even knew the event was happening, one activist said.

This story is about Boston and other Massachusetts urban communities but I was wondering about the rate of Asian community participation in yesterday's "Day without an Immigrant" events after I noticed the lack of Asian faces and references in the San Francisco reports. Were Asians prominent participants in other cities?

[Warpy]

1. Nah, hate radio has just been screeching about people

who speak Spanish. They don't acknowledge that people from Asia exist.

Most of the marchers here were Hispanic and most of them are here legally.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. The talk radio and or reporting bias is the issue.

I've been around the block enough times to know that there could be broad participation beyond Spanish-speaking immigrants yet the media would focus on the Mexican flags and Latino faces. It is striking that I don't see a discussion of the presence or absence of the Asian community in San Francisco .