CADC Endorsements for November 3rd 2020 Elections
District 1 Supervisor:
1st Choice: Marjan Philhour
2nd Choice: Veronica Shinzato
3rd Choice: David Lee
4th Choice: Connie Chan
District 3 Supervisor:
Danny Sauter - Sole Endorsement
District 5 Supervisor:
1st Choice: Vallie Brown
2nd Choice: Daniel Landry
District 7 Supervisor:
1st Choice: Joel Engardio
2nd Choice: Ben Matranga
3rd Choice: Emily Murase
4th Choice: Myrna Melgar
District 11 Supervisor:
Ahsha Safai - Sole Endorsement
San Francisco Board of Education (4 Seats):
Jenny Lam
Mark Sanchez
Michelle Parker
Matt Alexander
San Francisco City College Board of Trustees (4 Seats):
Alan Wong
Tom Temprano
Shanell Williams
Anita Martinez
For the complete list of the Current Endorsements:
- CADC November 2020 Endorsements
For the Endorsement Graphics:
August General Meeting
1) Return of the July Candidates
Scott Wiener, Ahsha Safai, Joel Engardio, Marjan Philhour, Vallie Brown, Michelle Parker, Danny Sauter
2) Candidates’ Meet & Greet
Myrna Melgar, Ben Matranga, Jenny Lam, Veronica Shinzato, Tom Temprano, Matt Alexander, Shanell Williams, Emily Murase, Aliya Chistie, Mark Sanchez, Connie Chan, Han Zou, Vilaska Nguyen
3) Voting members to rectify the Endorsement Recommendations
CADC Endorsement Slate for November 2020
Congratulations to the endorsed candidates. CADC wishes you success!
July 2020 General Meeting
Synopsis of the the July 11th, 2020 meeting held over Zoom
Issues Discussed
Joining Save SF Jobs Coalitions
Speakers In Attendance
Scott Wiener for State Senator Re-election
Marjan Philhour for D1 Supervisor
Danny Sauter for D3 Supervisor
https://www.northbeachdelivers.com
Vallie Brown for D5 Supervisor
Email: hello@votevallie.com
Joel Engardio for D7 Supervisor
https://www.engardio.com/chinese-traditional
Ahsha Safai for D11 Supervisor
https://www.ahshaforsupervisor.com
Michelle Parker for School Board
https://www.michelleparker.org
CADC's Statement on George Floyd
Press Release!
The Chinese American Democratic Club (CADC) of San Francisco joins in solidarity with the African American Community to protest the senseless and violent death of African Americans at the hands of police officers.
We watched with horror how Mr. George Floyd’s life was squeezed out of him in a matter of 8 minutes by a police officer allegedly acting within the scope of his official duty. A police officer’s primary responsibility is to protect and serve the safety of citizens. The United States loses the moral high ground when our law enforcement engages in such brutality. We cannot advocate for freedom and democracy for other’s sovereignty and sanction those countries that we deem to violate human rights when we do much worse.
The treatment of minorities in this country requires an honest assessment and recognition by our political leaders that we have a very serious racial problem in the United States that cannot be swept under the carpet. This history of oppression has also been felt amongst Asian Americans from Japanese Internment, to the LA riots, and the murder of Vincent Chin. The Asian communities understand how precariously we are treated within this country and so we understand the need to be better allies with other communities instead of joining in with the divisive rhetoric that seeks to highlight our differences.
We join in solidarity with our African American brothers and sisters to protest against racism and police brutality. We strongly oppose the way President Trump is handling this serious tragedy by ordering the shooting of looters. Social remedies need to be developed and implemented. The major US Departments, and humanity based non-profit organizations need to form a Coalition, to develop a summary of the problem, identify the root causes, and develop a list of recommendations, and with goals and timetables.
CADC stands up with America, as part of Humanity. Understanding we must seek to return to the theme of acting as brother/sister with all countries. Our air, our water, our environment, our fisheries, our wildlife, our trees are all intertwined. It’s time to Stand Up together to tackle this problem...and at the same time tackle the many other problems that face Humanity.
Please contact us to participate and/or assist in leading this important project.
Sincerely,
Josephine Zhao, President
Bayard Fong, vice-president
Board and Members
The Chinese American Democratic Club efforts during COVID-19
Please read about our club's efforts during COVID-19 to learn how you can help make a difference as we deal with this pandemic together.
Officer Vong’s Speech at the 61st CADC Banquet
Good Evening ladies, and gentlemen, distinguished guests, Madam Mayor. It is an honor to be part of this great event and to be speaking before you. I am very grateful and humbled by this amazing award.
I am Johnny Vong, and I have been a police officer for 13 years, proudly serving our great city of San Francisco. I am currently assigned to Ingleside Station, and with the support from Captain Hart, I patrol the area of Visitacion Valley with my partner Matt Leong, who could not be here with us tonight.
Today's event theme is Community and Unity, and I wanted to discuss how this pertains to public safety. Our communities are diverse - we have people with different ethnicities, cultures, languages, and beliefs. But we all share one thing in common, and that is we are all San Franciscans.
I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we want our neighborhoods to be a place where our children, our seniors, and ourselves can feel safe. Only united, can we strive towards the goal of making our communities safer. We need to send a message to those looking to commit bad deeds in our neighborhoods that we will not tolerate crime.
The police are only a part of the solution to prevent crime. Another part, and an important one, is the community, because the police can only be effective with your trust and support. When you witness a crime, after making sure you are safe, pick up the phone and report it to the police Be the best witness you can be by making a mental note of what you saw or record the event with your cell phone if possible. I have come across many cases that were solved because a member of the community was willing to tell me what they saw, or they provided me with video surveillance from their security cameras. People who do bad things need to be held accountable.
Lastly, and most importantly, care and look out for each other. Introduce yourself, and get to know your neighbors and the members of your community. Even when you do not share a common language, sometimes waving hello to someone can be enough to establish friendly relations. An example of looking out for each other is if you see a suspicious person, someone you never saw before, looking into your neighbor's car or yard - alert the police so we can investigate. Those who look to commit crimes do not like to be in neighborhoods where everyone is watching and looking out for each other.
*The speech was delivered by Officer Vong at the 61st CADC's annual banquet on September 20th, 2019.
Keynote Speech by Sasanna Yee at the 61st CADC Banquet
Thank you for this recognition. My name is Sasanna Yee, Yu Jia Wen and my pronouns are she and they. I want to acknowledge the First Nation Ohlone people and to recognize that we are settlers on their land. I want to acknowledge my ancestors from China. I am the proud granddaughter of Huang Yik Oi and Yan Miu Yu. I am the courageous daughter of Huang Yue Yuan and Yu Yun Wing.
I am a first generation Chinese-American, born and raised in Visitacion Valley, in the southeast corner of San Francisco. My own journey has always been one of transmuting and alchemizing pain and anger into love, healing, unity, and illumination. As a youth, I played a certain mantra in my mind over and over as a result of hearing countless stories of violence against Chinese people, against black people, against immigrants. I would chant, Peace in the southeast. Peace in the southeast. I like the sound of that, don’t you? :).
So I too have a dream...that there’s unity in diversity, that people from different cultural backgrounds can peacefully coexist without living in fear and hatred of one another. However, a nightmare occurred on January 8th. While going out for her morning walk, my 89 year old vulnerable grandmother was brutally beaten up within inches of her life by an 18 year old young man. This is a tragedy all around, for both families. Violence divides, hurting another being is never OK.
We are in September now. It is almost 9 months after the attack, yet the pain remains for me and my family. My mom and aunt visits my Popo every single day. My Popo was 100% independent taking the bus to Chinatown for groceries, hanging out with her friends. Now she’s 100% dependent, not able to speak, eat, or walk. You bet I’m angry that this happened and keeps happening to our most cherished and vulnerable citizens. If you’re not angry about all the violence, segregation, and racism that is happening right now, you are asleep. If you are angry, then you are alive and have a beating heart. Yet we are so scared of our anger. We’re not taught how to harness this powerful emotion for good. If you are outraged about the way you were treated before in your life, good! Let’s channel that energy and redirect it in a creative way. However, if we are not mindful about our anger, then it turns into violence.
A simple way to evaluate anger is with two equations.
Anger x Hopelessness =Violence, Resentment, and Abuse. It results in Heinous crimes like what happened to my grandmother.
And the inverse of that is:
Anger x Inspiration = Compassionate, Inspired Action and Activism. The Latin root word for Inspiration is inspiratus meaning to breath into. Remember to breath when we feel anger arise. By taking a mindful breath, we can calm the nervous system and gain a moment of clarity to make quick smart decisions especially when faced with injustice. Let’s all take another breath to feel the effects of it.
With a breath, we gain calmness and clarity. From there we can creatively respond to any situation without causing more harm. I have used this strategy successfully when I was held at gunpoint. I took a calm breath and looked this person in the eyes and felt his fear. I was able to deescalate the situation and get out of it. When my grandma was attacked, I transformed my anger into Inspired Action by making a Facebook live video immediately at the crime scene. If it’s to be, it’s up to me. I shared that violence is never OK, that hurt people are hurting people, and that we need to stop living in fear and hatred of one another. We need to come together to bring Peace to the Southeast Corner of SF. And I’m grateful that with the help of Marlene Tran and many others sharing the news, it got a lot of coverage that led to the arrest of the young man. It also led to more conversations and awareness around this and similar issues. That is the power of unity in action. That is the power of transforming anger into positive and compassionate impact.
To conclude, I want to share a visionary poem by June Jordan who is a Jamaican American bisexual poet, teacher, activist. In her writings, she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation.
Activism is not issue-specific.
It’s a moral posture that, steady state,
propels you forward, from one hard
hour to the next.
Believing that you can do something
to make things better, you do
something, rather than nothing.
You assume responsibility for the
privilege of your abilities.
You do whatever you can.
You reach beyond yourself in your
imagination, and in your wish for
understanding, and for change.
You admit the limitations of individual
perspectives.
You trust somebody else.
You do not turn away.
So thank you to each and everyone here for staying in the fire and not turning away. For showing up to vote, to voice, and to make a difference. I am humbled to be amongst giants, to be amongst veterans of this work. Thank you!
*The keynote speech was delivered by Sasanna Yee on September 20th, 2019 during the CADC's annual banquet.
CADC 61st Annual Banquet on 9/20/2019, 5:30pm at Paramount Superstar
Dear CADC Community,
You are cordially invited to attend CADC’s 61st Annual Banquet on Friday, September 20th, 2019, at the Paramount Superstar (939 Clement Street, 94118). Reception starts at 5:30pm, dinner and program at 7pm.
This is the 61st year that CADC celebrates its mission to empower the Chinese American community and its goal of uplifting the families and young people in San Francisco. We hope to see you there!
Click here to secure your Early Bird tickets now. 10% Discount before 9/2/2019
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Early Bird: 10% discount before 9/2/2019 Fiery Dragon: $300/person or $2,950/table Subsidies available! |
Click here to secure your Early Bird tickets now.
Subsidies available - simply contact us (by emailing to info@sfcadc.org) to be seated at one of the board members table and pay what you can. We appreciate your presence!
We encourage all board members to purchase a sponsorship table and help take in folks who may not be able to afford the full prices.
If you can't attend but would like to donate or help subsidize others on tickets, please click here.
Since 1958, CADC’s mission has been to “Foster active participation in the democratic process of government; to encourage Chinese American candidates to run for elective office; to encourage the appointment of Chinese American to appointive positions; to demand a high standard in government to seek justice and equality for all people; and to study, develop, and advocate for issues relevant to the empowerment and civil rights of Chinese Americans” in San Francisco, the Bay Area, California, and the Country.
Click here to secure your Early Bird tickets now. 10% Discount before 9/2/2019
The dinner will be held on Friday, September 20th, 2019, at 939 Clement Street, Paramount Superstar Restaurant in the Richmond District. Reception starts at 5:30pm. Dinner and Program at 7pm.
Speakers and Theme to be announced later.
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,Chinese American Democratic Club
Justice and Healing for Grandma Huang
CADC had the pleasure to sit with the family of Yik Oi Huang at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association celebration for Norman Yee, President of the Board of Supervisors.
For those that are not aware, 88-year-old Yik Oi Huang, was brutally attacked in Visitation Valley as she went out for her daily exercises. Ms. Huang is in critical, but stable condition.
Ms. Huang’s granddaughters, Sasanna and Diana Yee, reported they are seeing incremental improvements in their grandmother’s health, but life support systems are still required to help her breath.
We are asking CADC members and friends to provide assistance and donate to the GoFundMe website. Donations will be used to help alleviate medical expenses. Link listed below: