Asian-American Village News Branching out after Katrina Obama brings taste of Hawai'i to White House Seattle restaurateur paid 4 workers to marry New CD from Black Eyed Peas drops with a boom, pow Secret Asian Man The NEW Secret Asian Man   Also Partners

Asian American Village News

By The Associated Press

Branching out after Katrina

By MARY PEREZ

The Sun Herald

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) -- She had a successful retail store in Vietnam that combined pottery with flower arrangement and although the creativity of her work translates to any language, Thu-Hong Nguyen is starting over again in Biloxi speaking broken English.

Despite the significant language challenge, Nguyen has a dream to share her work plus help with everything from designing a logo to securing financing.

Peter Nguyen, an outreach manager for the National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies, said he doesn't know anything about art, but he speaks English and Vietnamese and is helping Thu-Hong start her home-based business.

"After Katrina she lost everything," said Nguyen.

Now she is taking pottery classes at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community Colleges to learn new techniques and hoping to borrow money to buy a kiln to fire her pottery and has worked for some of the casinos.

The majority of their clients are in the seafood industry, said Ginni Tran, the operational community builder at NAVASA's Biloxi office.

"We try to help the small people," she said, who need help to wade through the sea of documents required to get assistance through federal programs.

Since Hurricane Katrina, jobs are the biggest challenge for the Vietnamese on the coast, said Daniel Le, who works in the Biloxi office of Boat People SOS. Most of those who stayed in Biloxi after the storm are still in the seafood industry.

"It's not like they had a choice," Le said, since fishermen don't have job skills that are transferable and most don't speak English well.

Some Vietnamese have opened gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and hair and nail salons, although the economic recession has hurt business.

There are many empty stores around East Biloxi, where Vietnamese businesses thrived before the storm.

Among the notable successes, Le Bakery is back after Hurricane Katrina and serving French, Vietnamese and American pastries and po-boys. On the same street, Hong Ngoc Jewelers soon will move into a much larger building that is under construction across from the current store. The small Hong Kong grocery on the corner is empty but the business has moved into a large store renamed Lee's Supermarket that now sells a variety of American, Chinese and Vietnamese food.

At the New Orleans Style Seafood Po-Boys restaurant in D'Iberville, the combined American and Vietnamese menu draws a mixed clientele. Assistant cook Michelle Vo said Americans like the Pho Vietnamese soup, "and Vietnamese order the po-boys, too."

Owner Huu Dao said the shrimpers who tie up in Biloxi come for his Vietnamese food.

"It's so good," he said, that he recently opened a second restaurant in Petal.

Kaitlin Truong, who leads the local group Asian Americans for Change, said many of the Asian employees lost their jobs at the casinos because of the recession. The skyrocketing insurance rates make it hard to open a business in East Biloxi.

"Many of the small businesses on the Point have not come back and may never come back because of the obstacles in rebuilding there. Many of the Vietnamese shrimpers are struggling," said Trinh Le, community empowerment coordinator at the Hope Community Development Agency, a group that has helped rebuild East Biloxi since Katrina.

Tung Banh, who works for the Catholic Charities' Migration and Refugee Center in Biloxi, said a large percentage of the young Vietnamese men are forgoing working in the seafood industry that employed their parents in Vietnam and now in Biloxi, Instead they are training to become welders and finding higher wages in shipbuilding on the Coast.

Peter Nguyen worked in the seafood industry for 15 years and still helps the fishermen. NAVASA is looking into ways to reduce the insurance costs on shrimp boats and testing nets made of a lighter material that save on fuel costs. The price for these new nets is double the cost of what the fishermen are using now, so Nguyen said they are testing them on one boat to see how it pays off.

Felicia Hillard grew up in East Biloxi and now is working at the Hope CDA and partnering with NAVASA to revitalize the community. She focuses on small business development and is exploring ways to reopen or expand business, including community gardens where the Vietnamese could grow and sell vegetables.

"We have resources for them," said Hillard, who thinks the Vietnamese know to come to them or one of the other agencies in Biloxi for help,

The future of business in East Biloxi is still a blank slate with so much open land since Katrina. Groups of designers came to the Coast after the storm and left behind their visions of a new East Biloxi.

"I personally think the Living Cities plan really scared some Vietnamese folks off," said Trinh Le. "They saw condos, high rises, casinos and hotels on their property in those pictures and didn't understand fully what it meant due to the language barrier. Now folks are waiting to sell their land, or they don't want to rebuild because they don't want the casinos to buy them out later down the line."

She along with residents, business owners and property owners in East Biloxi envision an international marketplace. After two town meetings last year, "It seemed like people, Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese, are genuinely interested in an International District on Oak Street," she said.

Combine that international marketplace with other businesses that will open and Hillard said, "The end product is just going to be phenomenal."

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Information from: The Sun Herald, http://www.sunherald.com

Other Recent Readings of Interest

• Gulf Coast Vietnamese have become a culture dispersed

Obama brings taste of Hawai'i to White House

By JULIE PACE

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is bringing some island flavor to the White House.

The White House is turning the annual picnic for members of Congress and their families into a Hawaiian luau, in celebration of the president's home state. Tents have been set up on the South Lawn, tiki torches line the perimeter, and potted palm trees have been brought in.

"It's almost like the 'Aloha' spirit lives at the White House," said Alan Wong, a famed Hawaiian chef who is preparing Thursday night's meal.

Wong said he's been discussing the menu with the White House for more than a month. While he wouldn't divulge the exact menu, Wong said guests can expect traditional luau dishes, like roast pork and poi, and some standard picnic fare -- but with a twist, like a wasabi potato salad.

Wong first met Obama several years ago, when the then-senator ate at one of his Hawaii restaurants. Wong said the president is showing his guests great respect by throwing a luau.

"To do a luau in Hawaii is a special occasion," Wong said. "You throw a luau for your child's first birthday, or you throw a luau for a wedding."

Hawaii has seen its profile raised in Washington since its native son moved into the White House. In January, the 51st state held its first state inaugural ball -- also a luau -- and the marching band from the president's high school, the Punahou School in Honolulu, performed in the inaugural parade.

In addition to a Hawaiian meal, the White House said the guests will be treated to traditional island entertainment, including a performance by Tihati, a performance group featuring members from each of the Hawaiian islands.

Darlene Morikawa, of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, said the performance will be a blend of Polynesian and traditional hula dancing. Morikawa said she wouldn't be surprised to see the president get into the act.

"He seems to be a good sport," Morikawa said.

Before the luau, the Obamas put some members of Congress to work in their ongoing effort to promote community service. Five representatives joined the Obamas at Fort McNair, where they assembled 15,000 backpacks for children of military families.

The event was part of the president's ongoing effort to promote community service. He launched a new service initiative, "United We Serve", aimed at getting people to tackle problems in the areas of education, health, energy and the environment and community renewal.

Seattle restaurateur paid 4 workers to marry

By GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press Writer

SEATTLE (AP) -- The owner of a chain of popular Seattle-area Thai restaurants has been indicted on charges alleging she paid workers tens of thousands of dollars to enter into sham marriages with her relatives, allowing them to stay in the U.S.

Varee Bradford, who operates five Thai Ginger restaurants in Seattle and its suburbs was arrested at her Issaquah home Tuesday on one count of immigration fraud conspiracy and three counts of immigration document fraud. She was released on personal recognizance Tuesday afternoon after pleading not guilty in U.S. District Court.

A grand jury indictment cites four marriages between Thai Ginger workers who have U.S. citizenship and Thai nationals, three of whom were Bradford's relatives. Bradford paid three of the workers $10,000 to more than $20,000, while another, who had recently been promoted to management, received a loan of $3,780, the indictment said.

Three of the workers were men and one was a woman. They were told the marriages would only have to last two years, until the Thai nationals received their green cards.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Otake said after the court hearing that authorities believe the U.S. citizens knew the sham marriages were illegal and more charges could be forthcoming. She declined to say what prompted the investigation, which began in 2005.

Otake also said Bradford's motives were financial, in that the scheme allowed her relatives to remain in the country and continue working at her restaurant.

She noted that a sham marriage investigation involving Vietnamese nationals in 2006 resulted in the government temporarily halting the issuance of visas to fiances from Vietnam.

"The victims in this case are the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who want to come to this country," Otake said.

Also charged on Tuesday was Porramin Tangchaiwanna, a Thai Ginger employee accused of helping to set up a fifth, attempted marriage between an undercover immigration agent and a Thai woman last year. He remained in custody on an immigration hold after pleading not guilty and could face deportation.

Bradford's attorney, Jesse Cantor, and her husband declined to comment Tuesday.

Bradford faces a maximum prison term of five years on the conspiracy charge and 10 years on each of the document fraud counts. Tangchaiwanna is only charged with immigration fraud conspiracy, and could face a maximum five years.

The indictment includes a criminal forfeiture allegation, meaning the government is seeking to seize any property Bradford may have purchased with proceeds from criminal activity.

Lorie Dankers, a Seattle spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said she could not discuss the immigration status of anyone involved in the case. Otake noted that any who received green cards could have them revoked.

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On the Net:

www.thaiginger.com

New CD from Black Eyed Peas drops with a boom, pow

By MARK KENNEDY

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- The leader of the Black Eyed Peas has some helpful suggestions about when exactly to crank up the group's latest CD.

"In the club. Getting ready for the club. After the club," says will.i.am, smiling. "At a party. Before the party. After the party. When stressed out -- to escape."

Got it. Any other times?

"After you've escaped and you want to party," he says with a laugh.

If you haven't guessed by now -- and the massively successful first single "Boom Boom Pow" is a major tip off -- the Peas' sound has taken a booty-shaking turn.

The band's club-driven fifth studio album -- "The E.N.D," which stands for the Energy Never Dies -- is something of a departure for the foursome, known more for their pop-inspired hip-hop tunes like "Let's Get It Started" and "My Humps."

The 15-song, Interscope-released CD is a beat-heavy party soundtrack, filled with tempo changes and distorted voices, careening from synth soul to electro funk.

"This record is our most focused," will.i.am says after the group performed recently on NBC's "Today" show. "It commands people to the dance floor, rather than suggesting that dancing would be cool idea."

The command is being heard: The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts this month and its first single has been downloaded more than 2,800,000 times, spending 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 -- the first time the band has cracked the chart's No. 1 spot. A second single, "I Gotta Feeling," debuted at No. 2.

Rolling Stone called the album "the best thing the Black Eyed Peas have ever recorded" and Entertainment Weekly raved, "pure Top 40 nirvana." The Associated Press said it is "sure to be the soundtrack to many a summer party."

"It just takes me back to going to raves in high school," says Fergie, 34. "I used to be the girl on the stage with the glow stick, twirling it. And now I'm STILL the girl on stage with the glow stick."

Steve Berman, the president of marketing and sales at Interscope Geffen A&M, credits will.i.am for savvily tapping into the worldwide explosion of DJ culture.

"He really saw that there was a lane here that artistically had been explored for a long time but commercially was just starting to be tapped into," he says.

Will.i.am was inspired to yank the band in a new musical direction while in Australia, filming his role as a teleporting mutant in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

The 34-year-old sonic guru naturally wanted to check out the hip-hop clubs Down Under. Locals told him he was out of luck: Hip-hop, he was told, was dead. To prove it, he was taken to a massive club in Sydney and was greeted by a blast of hard-core electronic music.

"I was like 'Whoa. What is this?' It felt like hip-hop but there was no vocals," he says. "It reminded me of when hip-hop was dance-oriented."

Will.i.am soon pulled out his DJ gear and began experimenting with his own monstrous beats. Other DJs were consulted, other clubs were visited and the rest of the band soon followed his Pied Piper shuffle.

"Hip-hop is forever changing and growing, borrowing, reinterpreting, expanding," says will.i.am. "This sound that we have now is paying homage to where hip-hop came from."

The three-time Grammy Award winners are touring Europe and plan to hook up with U2 on the road before hitting Japan this summer. Fergie is pumped, saying she's as exited as when she first joined the band in 2003.

"I have the same enthusiasm for this album as I feel when we went into 'Elephunk.' It's like, 'Let's pack the bags! Let's go!' We're hungry, we're ready. And it's fresh: It's a fresh new sound and the visuals are fresh."

There had been fears the band would never get to this point: In the four years since their last album "Monkey Business," the individual Peas had set out on their own.

Fergie released the triple-platinum solo CD "The Dutchess" in 2006, launched two shoe lines and filmed a movie adaptation of the Broadway show "Nine."

Will.i.am, besides producing for acts ranging from Nas to U2, released his solo album "Songs About Girls" in 2007 and campaigned for Barack Obama, making the enormously popular "Yes We Can" viral video and "It's a New Day" single.

The band's two other members -- Taboo and apl.de.ap -- have their own solo albums in the works and have embraced community activism, with 34-year-old apl.de.ap helping fellow Filipino performers and 33-year-old Taboo reaching out to kids in East L.A.

Despite all that, the band insists there was never talk of an end before "The E.N.D."

"We all appreciate and realize how strong the unit is and that unit is what allows us to go and do those separate things. You still need a base," will.i.am says. "You still need to come back and refuel."

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On the Net:

http://www.blackeyedpeas.com

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