While the President calls for the Congress to pass the Equality Act, which will ensure civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ people and families across our country. he recognizes  there is more work to be done to extend the full promise of America to all our people.  Nearly 11 million people in this country are undocumented — and it is time that the Congress acts by passing the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021. 

It's been a challenge in the last few months with a lot of foregoing issues domestic and overseas from voting rights, gun violence, cyber hacks, middle east crisis, the economy, infrastructure, to the 2022 primary elections, Trump, and so forth. And yes no President in history must have had such all of this together with the greatest pandemic in our lifetime Covid-19. 

Yet. we know the President won and has the high popularity to the 60's because of the his biggest campaign focused which gave him the presidency, fighting Covid-19. It is a fact the organization and structure in place to this point has to be in Joe Biden's credit. So as discussed with all this underlying major issues on hand looking at the big picture whether it's 2024's Veto power with only one congress majority, let us focus on what may be good for the American people and democracy in the next 2-3 decades.

With that in mind, we can look into population, what more demographic cultures will be in the different counties in our neighborhoods and more importantly who will be the working class from the low income wage earners to the agricultural to the factory and retail, hospitality workers that will be building the American economy in the next 20-30 years. 

Immigrants and Equality are the biggest contributors to the factors of what I have just mentioned. In addition to this it's also a fact that there just some districts and counties that population wise there would be more black and brown communities contributing to the workforce, economy and yes voters. And in case people has not seen some data on essential workers of these recent covid-19 pandemic, health-care workers alone, contributed a big chunk of immigrants working day and night as heroes in the last 1 1/2 years and yes blended with the so called un-documented.

Covid-19 was a success in a way that in just almost 2 years Americans are now about 63% vaccinated. They found the cure yet this month as we celebrate PRIDE, when in 1989 when we discovered the first tragedy of AIDS, we haven't still gotten a vaccine and it is 2021. Yes, HIV-AID's has now improve and people's live and survival is different but the stigma remains. We are happy of the new drugs and prep that have been developed to combat the disease but there are still a lot of issues in the LGBTQ and transgender community that needs help and advocacy.

So as we celebrate Pride this month of June, we thank the President of the things he has done so far yet we remind ourselves the things we need to continue to fight for the Immigrant and LGBTQ community. Happy Pride to All.

As any new President's 100 days, Joe Biden's Presidency has been successful with an approval rating way above the 50's than his predecessor. Although considered lower the Bush and Clinton in lieu of the factors of the 2020 elections still lingering lies created by his predecessor. He came to this presidential race with the main goal of the solving the greatest pandemic logistics in the USA for Covid-19. To date, we have about 220 million Americans vaccinated and were seeing the light of the freedom.

Yet, as we know towards the 100 days of this presidency, the biggest and probably the most important and non popular Presidential decision was "Afghanistan". We all know that Joe Biden's career was in the in the Foreign Relations and diplomacy. He was also clear that he wanted to unify and be a transitional President from the chaos of the last four years. We also know his empathy as well as his own losses and stories which I can just speculate in major decision like this, you really put what is best for the country first, 

Why may I say that? Britannica explains,  The development of foreign policy is influenced by domestic considerations, the policies or behavior of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs. Leopold von Ranke emphasized the primacy of geography and external threats in shaping foreign policy, but later writers emphasized domestic factors.  Diplomacy is the tool of foreign policy, and war, alliances, and international trade may all be manifestations of it.

As we discussed about this American Jobs Plan on trillions of dollars in the coming months then we talked about debt and America being the wealthiest nation on earth. Then we have this non ending debates between politicians while the low income people in America are still suffering to survive everyday and small businesses still trying to find working capital each day, these are prime examples of "domestic considerations" the policies of behavior right here in the United States of America.  The funds that we are spending overseas on the war on Afghanistan for example will help this domestic considerations.

On my take on Diplomacy, what the US needs to look into is the life after the US withdrawal in Afghanistan. We know that there could be some exodus to neighboring Pakistan as refuge.    Pakistan stays afloat on an IMF loan with strict conditionality should be a consideration as an example to look into. There should be on the ground efforts established within Afghanistan itself to protect human rights and women by funding agencies the the USAID missions. 

The human and financial costs of the two foreign ‘mis’adventures have been phenomenal: in Vietnam close to 59,000 American soldiers lost their lives; in Afghanistan it is pushing close to 2,500 fatalities and more than 20,000 wounded. In terms of US dollar value in 2019, both Vietnam and Afghanistan have cost US tax payers more than one trillion dollars each; with some independent estimates putting the figure for Afghanistan adventure close to two trillion dollars.

My take on this as this President moves beyond his 100 days there are still so many emergency domestic issues that needs to be address as his priority.  Like what he is now doing on India, he is sharing whatever we can to help but still the main focus is on the domestic front. 

Bestselling author, Roya Hakakian upcoming book describes the book as A stirring, witty, and poignant glimpse into the bewildering American immigrant experience from someone who has lived it. Also, a mirror held up to America.

Myself being middle age living half of my life in the USA, I can totally agree with her. I till this day still ask questions on inclusion. A good example was on a Friday afternoon in a downtown San Francisco's retail location men's restroom which was open for the public. Right after using it passed  walking pass  the stalls,  a middle age heavy set Caucasian man assumed I was headed to the walk out the door and yelled to me "washed your hands". I politely showed in my hands my sanitizers and uttered I had it. Most public restrooms in San Francisco's downtown area are not open due to the homeless problem and vandalism and also the lavatories are really extremely dirty and infected with bacteria. At any rate here's an example why I simply raise the statement of inclusion having live half of my life in America. For all you know the guy had good intentions of reminding me simply to wash my hands but here is where the culture's perspectives open up. 

In the San Francisco area, home to the nation's largest and oldest Chinatown, there were at least 18 attacks against Asians in February alone, TODAY previously reported. An 84-year-old Thai American, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was pushed to the ground in January and died from his injuries a few days later, NBC News reported. In 2020, New York City police recorded 28 hate crimes against Asian Americans, up from three in 2019, quoted from https://www.today.com/news/anti-asian-violence-history-anti-asian-racism-us-t210645  Another issue that came up during this Covid-19 is when the term "China Virus" was downplayed by no other than the 45th President of the United States. This has enabled an anti-Asian hate and violence campaign. 

Meanwhile, there's an influx of undocumented children on the southern border trying to enter after Biden rolled back a number of Trump-era immigration policies, including the “Remain in Mexico” policy that advocates say gutted the nation’s asylum system and the "zero tolerance" policy of separating families at the border.  It is extremely hard for politicians based on my personal experiences having dealt with them of their desire for power and wealth to understand the true meaning of "Asylum". If you make from $170,000 to $300,00 and have net worth's of $2M to $10B or more and ambitions to even be the President of the USA you will never need to know the meaning of what it stands or what the word "Immigration" is about in a real democracy.

Hakakian grew up in a Jewish family living in a middle-class neighborhood in Tehran in the 70's in her book and I remember my father serving in the US Army at the same time at the base. She mentioned about her scarf as part of her dress code and when she arrived in New York's subway in 1985 after her asylum she tried to reach for her scarf realizing she had none physically.   Here also shows as immigrants bring memories with us when we settle in the US. 

Just like a few months ago when we had these marches on the boarded windows on the  downtown streets in Portland, Or and San Francisco, CA it reminded me back in the Philippines when  then Ferdinand Marcos was about to declare Martial Law, those were the same pictures, and then again during the EDSA revolution when he again tried to hang on to power before fleeing for asylum and to where, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA through the help of Republican President Ronald Reagan.

In the case of the Iran empire itself, the Shah of Iran eventually went into asylum also in the United Sates for health reasons. This is is how politicians interrelates with the two words mentioned.  Hence for decades is also why this country has not enacted a real Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill.

The topic is huge for discussion but where does one begin?

ISBN: 9789213632567, Copyright @2018 at the United Nations. All Rights Reserved. New York USA. 

It's Executive Summary focuses on the Youth and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Advancing Youth Development, youth policies and the role of the youth.

Reading on Chapter 3: Youth Employment's Formal versus informal I'm happy to note that some of our initiative's then in my time with APEC has been followed through with this initiatives. 

Page 27 also touch on Entrepreneurship Education something which was really very close to me personally to this which is why I continue on to this day on a private capacity through bookselling. The report is very much accurate in describing about the necessity or subsistence entrepreneurs are those who are self employed because they cannot secure work elsewhere and are focused into self employment by "economic necessity". They are indeed making up a large share of the informal economy but lack the capacity to become true engines of "growth". 

This report is very comprehensive for the inter-agency and although I commend that I believe it will be a good blue print moving forward, I have to also note as a reader that some of the 2020 goals set especially for developing countries were not really or just partially met observing as a lay person no longer in policy initiative roles. At the same there were so many recent events alone since last year in a global perspective that affected every nation in the world.

We have a lot of soul searching, re-direction, re-focusing, questions to ask, and prioritization. There's so many high priorities that affects human existence of survival to education and economics. The global pandemic right now is taking much of our daily lives. As we await for the cure and vaccines for normal life to be back, it's also a time to plan. When I saw this report I got reminded myself on the focus alone in the USA. A new World Leader with more than a week in power almost 40 executive orders with a lot of global hope.

Yet, one thing I haven't seen with with this new Biden/Harris administration is somehow some focus on the Youth Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Minorities, Disabled  Youth Involvement. Something I will be watching from a far if there will be some interest.

As  we reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King's  message by revisiting his celebrated I Have a Dream speech in its entirety delivered on August 28, 1963, part if the speech says "It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds". 

Another part of the speech continues, "This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring". 

 

Nearly 400 miles of new border wall system is now complete. Just as important, the Trump Administration is prosecuting and deporting violent criminals, stopping the flow of illegal drugs, and closing the loopholes that help human smugglers while hurting our own citizens, including legal immigrants". Illegal immigration hurts everyone. It empowers criminals, bankrolls human smugglers, and fuels transnational gangs. It costs both legal immigrants and U.S. citizens a shot at the American Dream. It endangers law enforcement officers, makes our communities less stable, and puts law-abiding workers and businesses at a disadvantage.

It is the same narrative, today we celebrate the heroism on Dr. King. He started the fight risking his own life for democracy. January 6, 2020 will be read by generations after our life time when the Supreme leader of White Supremacy led an unsuccessful insurrection to democracy and people of color in the United States of America. 

This hate extends to the undocumented immigrants mostly on the front lines of the dreaded pandemic a lot of which classified as essential workers. A lot of whom are hard working law abiding, tax paying members of the society who cannot even access unemployment or health care in this country. 

As the I have a dream speech mentioned I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. Martin Luther King continued. 

I believe that it is the right first direction to tackle an immigration reform in this country to show the insurrects that people of color are here to stay as part of the land of the free, the greatest democracy in the world and they have to accept we cannot be extinct. 

No one can compete with American workers when they’re given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades.