Civic Leadership Forum – Different Culture, Common Ground, A Culture Dialog between Communities
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In ages past, humankind joined hands in solidarity to beautifully birth what we now call “Community,” a word and concept whose origin is rooted in holding “Common Ground.”
It was in Solidarity that the most affluent and diverse cultures in history flourished.
In fact, we can see every center of learning and wealth throughout history is built upon the foundation of a strong heterogeneous community. They may have held different cultures, but they all found common ground.
Unfortunately, solidarity and unity often find themselves poisoned by the ravages and chaos of cultures holding to the toxicity of envy, intolerance, and isolationism.
Will we allow our great community to suffer a similar fate?
We are all acutely aware of the attacks on Asian Americans who have been targeted by racism, xenophobia, and acts of violence related to COVID-19. An intolerance driven by fear and blame.
However, it’s not only the Asian Americans that are suffering. African Americans have also seen an increase in racism and hate crimes since the advent of Covid.
To make things worse, news media have fueled the fires with misunderstanding, exacerbating and promoting poor relationships between our two cultures within the community.
Even the vast majority of resources online propagate bias and slant, shifting blame on one group or another and even proclaiming a separate 3rd axis at fault.
Our purpose and mission are to break down these formidable walls that separate and isolate us from sincere dialogue that will only foster a greater sense of unity and solidarity. We hold the unique privilege of connecting both cultures in unbiased dialogue without hidden agendas.
We aim to stand on common ground and lift our voices high above the noise and call our community to appreciate and respect our differences and thereby learn and grow together.
Our Asian elders do not need to live in fear of our African neighbors. Our African neighbors need not feel unwelcome or unaccepted by our Asian brothers and sisters. Instead let’s talk about the lessons we can learn from these events and what steps we can take together.
Asians as well as all People of Color have a common goal: making America, our home, a better and safer place for multicultural unity –to live together as one community.
We are more alike than different.
We all bleed red and shed tears. We all experience joy, grief, hope, and fear. We are more than the sum of our geography and upbringing.
We are all one Humankind.
Let’s engage the difficult dialogues and be candid, yet courteous. Let’s look beyond the hurt, beyond Asian America, beyond an African America, and let’s observe a United America built upon the foundations of understanding and solidarity.
Join us Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. (PST) to hear the powerful stories and histories from both our Asian and African brothers and sisters as we hold a sincere and honest discussion that bridges the gap of ignorance and builds greater understanding for lasting solidarity.
We believe this will be a unique opportunity for Asian Americans and African Americans to learn about each other’s untold stories, gain respect for our mutual journeys and build an ongoing relationship.
Several Asian and African community leaders have committed to speak at this social media event including Mr. Sandy Chau, a formidable Silicon Valley investor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist will share the stories about early Chinese entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Mr. Stephen Ward, the author of “In Love and Struggle: The Revolutionary Lives of James and Grace Lee Boggs,” will tell us of the impactful life of Grace Lee Boggs, a key figure in the Asian American Movement and a well-respected civic leader in both Asian and African American lives.
Ward will be followed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and California State Assemblymember Alex Lee as they deliver our keynote speeches.
Following these profound stories, we will then hold a panel discussion on Different Cultures, Common Ground, A Culture Dialogue Between Communities with Kim Sherobbi, Gerald Green, Carl Chan, Kim Sherobbi, Piyush Malik, Taipei Shue, and Alex Anderson as guest speakers.
They will touch on subjects such as:
- how we got to this critical point of hate and racism,
- how we can end the madness,
- what’s been done so far, and most importantly,
- how we can rebuild trust and live in unity.
Be a part of the solution. Join us and help build a united community for the health, safety, and prosperity of our friends and families. The event will be on Zoom and the Clubhouse App on Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Please be sure to set aside two hours for the event and register here.
This forum is presented by Ding Ding TV, Silicon Valley Community Media, Civic Leadership USA, partner with James and Grace Lee Boggs Center, United Chinese American, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, ASEI, APAPA – Asian Pacific Islanders American Public Affairs, Young & Lamei Association, United Asian Americans, AAUC, Care U, and many other organizations and ethnic groups.
More information: http://www.dingdingtv.com/?p=84834
Organizer:
Partner:
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Keynote Speakers:
Sandy Chau
Chairman of Civic Leadership USA
He is co-founded Achievo Corporation. He founded Universal Semiconductor in 1977 and served as its Chief Executive Officer. From 1992 to 1997, he served as Chief Executive Officer of one of the largest and most diversified listed construction and real estate firms in Taiwan. He provided venture capital in Taiwan. He served as President of Pacific Constructions from 1992
Stephen Ward
Stephen M. Ward is associate professor of Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan. Stephen Ward’s highly anticipated biography of James and Grace Lee Boggs lives up to its promise, and then some. Set largely in Detroit, the center of black working-class insurgency, In Love and Struggle tells the compelling story of what happens when two of America’s most original thinkers dedicate their lives to acting in the world. Jimmy and Grace insisted on the urgency of philosophy, on constantly questioning, and on staying grounded in community. With absolute clarity and care, Ward traces the couple’s evolution toward revolution, engages the prodigious body of work they left behind, constructs a new history of U.S. radical movements, and opens a window onto an unfinished future.–Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination.
London Breed
Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco
She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the Board of Supervisors from 2015 to 2018. Raised in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco, Breed worked in government after college. She was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2012 (taking office in January 2013), and elected its president in 2015. As president of the Board, Breed, according to the city charter, became the acting mayor of San Francisco following the death of Mayor Ed Lee. She served in this role from December 12, 2017, to January 23, 2018.
Alex Lee
California Assembly member
Alex Tinming Lee was born in San Jose, California to immigrant parents from Hong Kong. His father is an engineer, and his mother is a nurse. After his parents divorced, Alex Lee lived alternately with his father in Milpitas and his mother in North San Jose. He graduated from Milpitas High School in 2013, then became interested in filmmaking, and eventually decided to pursue a dual degree in political science and communications at University of California, Davis. Lee ran for a seat on the student senate at UC Davis in 2014 and served as student body president in 2016.
Ken Fong
Chairman at Kenson Ventures LLC
Kenneth Fong has spent the last 32 years in the biotech industry after completing his pursuit of biomedical research. He is best known for founding the biotech company, Clontech in 1984 where he had cultivated it to be one of the largest genetic tool companies founded by an Asian American in the US ( 400 people with 65 PhD scientists) . Clontech was acquired by Becton Dickinson in 1999 and Ken has continued his career as a Venture Capitalist with Kenson Ventures that he founded. He has since cultivated more than 10 highly successful entrepreneurs, advising and working with them on the growth of their companies.
Currently, he sits on the board of 4 biotech companies and he was intimately involved with the M/A and IPO of more than 10 companies that are worth north of $3B. These companies range from research tools, medical diagnostics to drug development. In almost all cases, he has been instrumental in providing strategies for sustainable growth, value creation and liquidity. Those successful entrepreneurs have moved on to assume leadership position in other start-up and mid-sized companies.
Ken has held a number of leadership positions over the years. He served as the President of the Chinese Bioscientists in North America ( 2006-07) and President of the Bay Area Asian American Manufacturers’ Association (AAMA, 1987). He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the California State University System (1006-13). His Philanthropic interests include scholarships to San Francisco State University, the Kenneth Fong-Hearst endowed scholarships to the CSU system and 40 student scholarships to Peking University. In 2002, he was involved with establishing the Fong Optometry and Medical Library at UC Berkeley, and in 2012 an Endowed Professorship at Stanford University and a Technology Translation Endowed Fund at San Francisco State University ( 2014).
Panelists:
Gerald Green
Former Director of San Francisco Planning Dept
Planning Manager, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Planning Director, City & County of San Francisco – Department of Public Works Appointed by then-Mayor Willie Brown. Board of Supervisors and City Planning Commission. Development Consultant in San Francisco California
Carl Chan
President, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce
In addition to his role as Board Chair of Asian Health Services, Mr. Chan is also known as the “mayor” of Oakland Chinatown due to his leadership in organizations like the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and the Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council.
Kim Sherobbi
Council Member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center
The Boggs Center is a revolutionary and visionary leadership organization that focuses on creating change through two-sided transformation both individual and institutional. She is a retired Detroit Public Schools teacher. Kim founded Birwood House in 2016, a non-profit organization located on the street where she lived as a child. Presently, Kim is living, organizing, and building in her childhood community.
Piyush Malik
President, American Society of Engineers (ASEI) & SVP, SpringML
Piyush is a startup executive, social entrepreneur, board advisor and business transformation practitioner in the domain of emerging technologies. He serves as the National Chairman at American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) in addition to being the founding President of ASEI Silicon Valley Chapter since 2015. Professionally, working as Senior Vice President at an AI/ML startup SpringML in the Silicon Valley for the past 5 years partnering with Google, he currently focuses on data science, IoT and all things related to machine learning and data analytics on the cloud. Formerly he spent 14 years with IBM and led the Worldwide Big Data & Analytics Center of Excellence within IBM’s Digital consulting business and was appointed as member of IBM’s highly selective Academy of Technology in 2015. After 25 years of Engineering, Product Management and Big-4 Management Consulting background spanning multiple industries and travelling to serve and grow business with Global clients in over 40 countries, he ventured into the world of startups and entrepreneurship. He received undergraduate degree in electronics and communications engineering and a masters in management of technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and has been serving the community and on the boards of a number of professional and non-profit organizations for two decades.
Haipei Shue
President of United Chinese Americans
He has served as a Chinese American community activist in Washington DC for decades. He played a leadership role in passing the Congressional “Chinese Students Protection Bill” in 1992 and advocated with American business community on China trade issues. In particular, Haipei was instrumental in the passage of the Congressional Apology Resolution on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. In 2016 he started to mobilize Chinese American community to form United Chinese Americans (UCA) and organized the Inaugural Chinese American Convention in DC for community leaders, activists, and elected officials to set a common agenda and move the community forward. In addition, Haipei has worked as a commentator for Phoenix TV and was an advocate for environmental causes in China and beyond.
Alex Anderson
Managing Director at Anderson & Associates
Alex has combined advanced studies in business, wall street experience and his community values to deploy several economic empowerment platforms over the past two decades.
He earned his MBA from San Francisco State University and holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Howard University inWashington, D.C. He is founder and Managing Director of Anderson & Associates, a business development firm Mr. Anderson has over 25 plus years of experience incorporate finance, analytical research, investment banking, venture development, insurance and private equity. His experience also includes project financing, leasing, mergers and acquisitions and private placements. He has served as financial advisor, and consultant to the City of Oakland, startups and small- to middle-market companies. His experience includes $270 million in transactions and tenure with highly reputable firms such as Deloitte & Touche,
Hambrecht & Quist, Prudential, Kaiser Hospital and IBM. Alex recently co-founded AAEE, a non-profit vehicle providing innovative solutions to long standing social ills which would benefit from business development solutions. He represents on the national platform the economic interest in Georgia, Washington D.C. Illinois and the Carolina’s business interest on behalf of African American Small businesses. He started with NuCapital Access Group, an innovative firm that provided venture funding, growth capital and acquisition financing to promising companies owned
and operated by minorities and women utilizing CRA funds. He also co-founded the Black Economic Council (BEC), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the self-sufficiency and economic empowerment of African-American communities. Mr. Anderson currently serves as a member on a number of advisory boards including The Commerce Company, PG&E, Los Angeles Metro Vermont Corridor Expansion Advisory and Royal Business Bank. Past board positions include Ashoka’s Youth Venture, The Mentoring Center, Khadafy Foundation, and B.U.I.LD.
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Moderators:
Gloria Young
President, Young and Lamay Associates
Young is a member of the Board of Directors of The Institute for Cultural Engagement: New Wine, New Wineskins, and a past member of the Advisory Council. Young served as the Clerk to the Board and Legislative Administrator for the City and County of San Francisco for 9 years. Young was the first woman and first person of color in this highly influential position leading the entire Legislative Branch. Young also worked for the City of Palo Alto of 25 years. Young held elective office on the Santa Clara Board of Education for 13 years.
Young is also the author of “Knowledge Management Tales — The Tale of Two Cities from San Francisco to Johannesburg”
Diana Ding
Founder & CEO of Ding Ding TV.
Silicon Valley Chinese American media entrepreneur, highly effective networker, and practitioner. 20 years of experience working with both Asia and US companies on PR and marketing. Founder & CEO of Ding Ding TV — The Voice of Asian Americans, has been focused on creating the positive impact in Asian American entrepreneurs Community through contents and events for more than 12 years. She started Ding Ding TV in 2009, founded Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Festival in 2016. Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Festival has become one of the largest international conferences held annually that focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.
Hong Nguyen-Phuong
Co-producer of Asian Americans Network
Hong Nguyen-Phuong is an Amazon international best-selling Author (several months starting February 2020) in the business and leadership categories. He has spoken on technology-based disruption and agility at local chapters of the Project Management Institute, Silicon Valley Engineering Leadership Community, and CIO Vietnam. A veteran of Silicon Valley hi-tech, in project management and market development roles, Hong teaches software project management and enterprise agility at UCSC Silicon Valley. In the time of COVID-19, Hong’s focus has centered around remote and online facilitation and engagement, lifelong learning and skilling.
Keith Koo
Managing Partner, Guardian Insight Group / Host “Silicon Valley Insider”
Keith is a Founder and Managing Partner of Guardian Insight Group a Technology Risk advisory services firm dedicated to identifying, assessing, controlling and mitigating the risks associated with doing business with technology companies and vendors such as: financial, blockchain, pricing/cost, cyber, information security, business resiliency, disaster recovery, regulatory and compliance. Keith also serves as a mentor and advisor to a number of companies, technology startups and incubators.
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About Organizer:
Ding Ding TV:
Founded in 2009, has been the Voice of Silicon Valley Asian Americans, the bridge for National AAPI communities, the hub for global entrepreneurs through media and events. Ding Ding TV is the organizer of quarterly Civic Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, Annually Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Festival since 2016. Ding Ding TV has created millions of internet contents Promoting Cultural Interconnectivity through appreciation of similarities and understanding differences and Encouraging Awareness of civic responsibilities and engaged citizens.
CLUSA:
The Civic Leadership USA is a 501(c)(3) incorporated in Washington DC in 2013. It was the vision of Mr. Sandy Chau, chairman of the board. The Foundation is headquartered in San Mateo California. CLUSA is dedicated to empower and organize the Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) communities, to create a national network of civic-minded organizations and leaders and work in unity. Our main focus & priority are: (1) Civic Leadership Development with a moral compass; (2) Unity/Coalition Building among APIA communities and beyond.
After the inaugural San Mateo, California CLUSA in 2015, Civic Leadership Forums and Public Service Internship Programs have been held across the country. Include 72 Civic Leadership Forums in 35 cities and 15 States. In addition to a national Civic Leadership Forum (NCLF) in Washington DC in the last few years, it turned virtual since 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic with over 750 registered participants and over 150 speakers from around the country.