EthnicMajority

(Voice of America) Eight years ago, “Mrs. Kim” came to the United States from China “to pursue her American Dream,” but thanks to unscrupulous business practices familiar to many Asian immigrants working in low-wage industries, things went horribly wrong.

Kim, who did not want to use her real name because she is still involved in litigation, began life in the U.S. preparing dumplings and side dishes at a Korean restaurant in Bergen County, New Jersey.

The job went well for a few years. It was hard, but Kim was getting paid for her efforts.

“When I first started working, [the owner] agreed to pay me $600 per week,” she said. “Specific hours were not indicated, but she did indicate I would have to work over 12 hours per day.”

Though she worked as many as 17 hours a day, when the restaurant’s business started to decline, the owner began paying employees late or not paying them at all.

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(Los Angeles Times) Tiger JK's life has been defined by his sense of never quite belonging. He came of age in 1980s and '90s Los Angeles listening to the traditional Korean folk ballads his grandmother played around the apartment, while outside he was drawn in by the city's bustling hip-hop culture. As one of the few Korean American kids at Beverly Hills High, Tiger (who lived on the outskirts of Beverly Hills) never quite felt a kinship with the 90210 lifestyle. And when it came to being taken seriously as an Asian rapper? He wasn't.

"It was rare to see an Asian dude rapping then, so I got a pass — when I was mediocre, they said I was a lot better than they'd thought," said the artist, who now lives in Uijeongbu, South Korea, near Seoul. "But when I got good, they couldn't admit it."

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(Sampan) Considered as an “A list celebrity” in the world of law, Jeannie Suk recently became the first Asian American woman to receive tenure at Harvard Law School. At a young age, Suk was already passionate about becoming a lawyer. Her passion to become a lawyer was intrigued by the idea of arguing cases in front of a jury.

Suk was born in Seoul, Korea. When her father was given the opportunity to attend a medical training program in the U.S., her family immigrated here. Suk commented, “I’ve never totally understood how one undertakes the momentous decision to start a life in a new country.” Fortunately for Suk’s family, her family did not immigrant to the U.S. alone. Instead, they came along with her father’s classmates, where they shared a common goal and provided support for each other – forming a community. Now, Suk’s father is a physician and owns his own private practice; her mother manages the business in Flushing, New York.

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(Los Angeles Times) Two Korean Americans were in jail Thursday, two others were released on bail and two more were being sought in connection with the robbery and assault of a Chinese American man in Diamond Bar in what authorities described as a hate crime.

The Feb. 6 incident began when the 25-year-old victim placed an order for takeout at a Korean restaurant in the 18300 block of East Colima Road in Rowland Heights, said Sgt. Steven Kim of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Asian Gang Team.

A group of seven Korean American men were eating inside the restaurant when one of them approached the victim, whose name was not released, and asked if he was Korean. He responded that he was Chinese and shortly after received his order and left the restaurant.

The man who had approached the victim followed him outside, accompanied by five other men. Once outside, the suspects began beating the victim with their hands and feet “for no apparent reason,” Kim said.

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(Medpage Today) More research is needed on cardiovascular disease in Asian Americans, a science advisory from the American Heart Association stated.

Although limited evidence has found variability in cardiovascular risk among Asian subgroups, most studies lump Asian Americans — the fastest growing racial-ethnic group in the country — into a single cohort, according to the advisory, which was published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“We’ve done an excellent job in researching disparities in other minority groups, but great gaps remain in our knowledge about Asian Americans,” Latha Palaniappan, MD, chair of the AHA’s scientific advisory on cardiovascular disease in Asian Americans, said in a statement.

“We are making a call to action for national funding organizations that the study of Asian Americans should be a priority,” added Palaniappan, who is an investigator at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute in California.

Several major federal surveys have only recently begun dividing Asian Americans into subgroups, including the six largest — Asian Indian (or South Asian), Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese.

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