Practice Makes It Better

It's new year's eve. People celebrate it differently across the world. However, everyone's looking forward to embracing the new year because it is a new beginning. It is also the hope that the upcoming year will be better than the past year. Hope is definitely a motivator for people to want to live and appreciate their finite journey on this earth.

As a celebration, I chose to go with some friends to snowboarding. It's my first time, but I enjoyed the process of learning something new. Of course, I fail numerous times in attempting to control the movement and speed of the snowboard. However, each time I fail, I got back up. Yes, my butt, wrists, thighs, shins and body ached, but I didn't give up. I learned how to go with the flow and relax. By the end of the day, I was enjoying gliding down the slop with a sense of appreciation - practice makes it better.

Life is a process of practices...

Justifiable Homicide

"What is the General Order for the Police Officer when it comes to dealing with a person who is unarmed but knows martial art, someone who has a knife, and someone who has a gun?" That's the question I asked the Chief of Police at the San Francisco town hall meeting after Police Officers shot and killed a mentally ill Asian man with a scalpel yesterday in District 10.

The Chief was quick to call a town hall meeting to provide an explanation and justification for the Officers necessary actions. All the rank and file from the Police Department were there. As a matter of fact, there's more police than community members. Of course, all the media was invited. It will take a long time (could be years) before a report is given after an investigation on whether the Police Officers use excess force in dealing with a mentally ill person.

I can't help but wonder how many town hall meetings were held when Black people are killed by Police Officers.

exercising the mind

I just came home from a four hours discussion with a dear friend on the topic of Anti Black racism. It's been a long time since I had such a critical analysis on how racism effects the international community and how difficult it is to acknowledge that many of actions contribute to perpetuate the systematic structure. My mind definitely received its share of exercise.

The question I'm left with pondering are, "How can a group of human beings who are being treated as sub humans find their humanity? and How much does the Asians slash Asian Americans understand or care about racism?"

Pardon me...

"Do you have the pardon petition with you?" Yuri Kochiyama asked me as soon as she saw me and five more times throughout the night. "You're not going to let them deport you, are you?"

No, I'm not going to lay down and let them deport me Yuri. That's why I've applied for a pardon from the outgoing California Governor Schwarzenegger.I've started an online petition asking people to sign it so I can send them to the Governor. Please sign the petition if you haven't done so -

Tell Gov. Schwarzenegger to Pardon Eddy Zheng | Change.org

With the community on my side, I believe things will workout for me. I'm grateful for everyone's support.

*And yes, I'm back on blogging...