Korean Cultural Center celebrates 20 years
In honor of its 20th anniversary, Morning Star Korean Cultural Center — the largest center for Korean music and dance in the Pacific Northwest — will perform a gala concert at Meany Hall, University of Washington, on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.
Jiyeon Cheh, director of Morning Star, has choreographed several new pieces for this event, which will showcase her signature style of merging contemporary movements with traditional Korean forms. In addition to the music and dance, an award-winning traditional singer, Su-Jung Moon, will fly in from Korea to make a special appearance at the concert.
Morning Star Korean Cultural Center was founded in 1985 to teach Korean music and dance to children of Korean descent in the greater Seattle community.
Tickets are $15 (free to Korean adoptee children) and can be purchased by calling (425) 745-9977 or e-mailing [email protected], or by purchase at the door. www.morningstarkcc.org.
Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish on bilingual ballots
BOSTON – On Oct. 18, a panel of judges approved a settlement that requires the City of Boston to provide Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish language assistance to voters, including bilingual ballots and voter notices, and interpreters, according to a press release. The settlement also requires mandatory poll worker and interpreter trainings, creates mechanisms to complain about poll workers, establishes an advisory task force and permits federal examiners to monitor the elections.
“It’s a case with national impact. This is the first time fully-translated Chinese language ballots have been mandated by a court order. It is also only the third case ever filed under the nondiscrimination provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act concerning Asian Americans,” according to Glenn D. Magpantay, a staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).
Council urges Congress to grant full benefits to Filipino vets
On Oct. 24, King County Council passed a motion asking the U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of the more than 200,000 Filipino soldiers who fought for this country during World War II by granting them full veteran status and military benefits.
“It is time for this country to fulfill a 60-year-old promise,” said Councilmember Larry Gossett, prime sponsor of the motion urging Congress to act on the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill and for the President to issue an Executive Order granting family members of World War II Filipino American Veterans status U.S. citizens. “These men, who were recognized by General Douglas MacArthur for their role in winning the war in the Pacific, are still fighting. Now their fight is to receive the same benefits as the soldiers they fought next to.”
The motion urges Congress to repeal the 1946 Rescission Act, which specifically mandated that services rendered by the over 200,000 members of the Philippines Commonwealth Army and the Special Philippines Scouts “shall not be deemed active military, naval or air service for the purposes of any law of the U.S.” – thereby denying all their rights as veterans.
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