Many events

OCA History 30 Years of Dedication to Making A Difference

§ 1974-75 - OCA fights the Pekin “Chinks” of Illinois.

§ Oct. 14, 1976 - OCA National President K.L. Wang meets with President Ford.

§ March 3, 1977 - OCA President K.L. Wang testifies before the Senate Agricultural Nutrition & Forestry Committee to advocate the continuing open production of rice and support an extension of the Rice Product Act of 1975.

§ Fall 1977 - OCA National Headquarters sets up in Washington, D.C. with the first Executive Director Hayden Lee.

§ 1977 - OCA begins publishing quarterly issues of IMAGE.

§ 1980 - OCA Business Advisory Council is established in San Francisco.

§ 1982 - First edition of “A Place Called Chinese America” is published.

§ June 29, 1984 -Vincent Chin assailant convicted of civil rights violation.

§ Sept. 1985 - OCA blasts “Year of the Dragon” movie as racist, sexist, violent, and insulting to Chinese Americans.

§ January 10, 1986 - OCA President Andrew Chen meets with President Ronald Reagan for greater opportunities and recognition for Chinese Americans and AAPIs.

§ Oct. 4, 1988 - OCA receives first grant ever to provide minority AIDS education program.

§ July 19, 1989 - OCA President Frank Liu meets with President George Bush to discuss APA issues.

§ May 15, 1990 - OCA President S.B. Woo meets with President George Bush on the Civil Rights Act of 1990.

§ November 29, 1990 - OCA Executive Director Daphne Kwok witnesses the signing of the Immigration Act of 1990.

§ Oct. 15, 1991 - Lloyd Piche sentenced to 4 years for civil rights violations in murder of Jim Loo and six others.

§ January 1992 - OCA President Claudine Cheng is instrumental in the issuance of the first Chinese American commemorative stamp - Year of the Rooster. The idea was initiated by OCA-Georgia Chapter member Jean Chen.

§ Feb. 24, 1992 - OCA publishes “In Pursuit of Justice: Task Force Report & Guidelines for Citizens’ Actions” report.

§ December 9, 1992 - Bradley Mills, first of seven men charged with murder of Luyen Phan Nguyen in Florida, sentenced to 50 years in jail.

§ January 6, 1993 - OCA publishes “Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Entering the Pipeline of Progress” report.

§ June 27, 1993 - OCA meets with Attorney General Janet Reno on AAPI and Hispanic issues.

§ Oct. 13, 1993 - OCA receives $75,000 grant from U.S. Department of Transportation for "Don’t Drink and Drive" project.

§ June 14, 1994 - OCA expresses concern over CBS News story by Connie Chung concerning Chinese spies. OCA President Ginny Gong was the spokesperson for a coalition of Chinese Americans who met with executives from CBS News and extracted an on-air apology from the station.

§ Sept. 24, 1994 - OCA lauds Senate Labor and Human Resources committee for passage of the Justice for Wards Cove Workers Act.

§ April 5, 1995 - OCA condemns Senator D’Amato for mimicking Judge Lance Ito.

§ April 7, 1995 - OCA denounces racist actions of O.J. Simpson attorneys Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran.

§ June 20, 1995 - OCA praises military jury for acquitting Captain James Wang in friendly fire shooting over Iraq.

§ July 29, 1995 - OCA presents the first OCA Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award to Chancellor Chang Lin Tien and actor George Takei.

§ August 15, 1995 - OCA National President Michael Lin meets with President Clinton and Secretary of Defense Perry on affirmative action.

§ June 28, 1996 - OCA presents the first Pioneer Awards in San Francisco.

§ Fall 1996 - OCA coordinates historic first national AAPI voter registration campaign.

§ March 26, 1997 - OCA leads outrage over the National Review’s racist cover.

§ Oct. 7, 1997 - OCA receives the Spirit of Democracy Award from the National Coalition of Black Voters for the 1996 National APA Voter Registration Campaign.

§ Dec. 5, 1997 - OCA testifies before U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about the impact of the campaign fundraising controversy on the APA community.

§ 1997 - OCA is elected Interim Chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.

§ 1998 – OCA is one of ten AAPI organizations that met with President Clinton and Vice President Gore.

§ 1998 – OCA is one of two AAPI organizations to attend President Clinton’s press conference announcing Bill Lann Lee as acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.

§ 1998 – OCA meets with the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) about the intrusive and discriminatory audits that were performed; OCA ask the DNC to reverse their position on denying legal permanent residents from contributing to political campaigns; OCA helps in the effort to successfully remove from the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform bill the provision which would deny legal permanent residents from contributing to political campaigns; OCA is one of the organizations that submit a petition to the U.S. Civil Commission on Civil Rights requesting that they hold a hearing on the discriminatory aspect that the campaign finance controversy has had on the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

§ 1999 - OCA establishes the OCA/UPS Foundation Gold Mountain Scholarship for Asian American and Pacific Islander students who are the first in their family to enter a college or university.

§ 1999 - OCA receives an Allstate grant for the “National Hate Crime and Safety Education Project” to address growing intolerance nationwide.

§ 1999 - 2000 – OCA calls for due process for Wen Ho Lee who is allegedly accused of espionage while working for Los Alamos National Laboratory.

§ OCA meets with Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, and Assistant to the President and Director of Public Liaison Mary Beth Cahill and others on the impact of this case.

§ OCA visits with Asian Pacific American employees from the national laboratories advocating against racial profiling.

§ In January 2000, Attorney General Janet Reno meet with OCA and APA leaders on the case. Secretary Richardson meet with the OCA National Board and expresses his deep concern for the impact which employees at the National Laboratories are experiencing as a result of the Wen Ho Lee case and he states his zero tolerance policy for racial discrimination.

§ In March 2000, OCA meets with interim U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Norman Bay to convey the community’s concern about the case.

§ Alberta Lee, daughter of Wen Ho Lee, and Brian Sun, the family’s attorney, brief OCA’s National Board on the current conditions of Wen Ho Lee’s incarceration and the family’s civil lawsuit against the federal government for invasion of privacy and illegal leaks.

§ June 1999 - OCA participates with NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and President/CEO Kweisi Mfume at a press conference opposing I-200, an initiative to eliminate affirmative action in Washington state.

§ June 1999 - OCA opposes offensive MSNBC headline “American Beats Out Kwan” in reference to Michelle Kwan’s Olympic silver medal.

§ June 1999 - OCA National President George Ong meets with Secretary of Commerce William Daley on Census 2000.

§ Fall 1999 – OCA announces the “Training the Next GenerAsian” leadership program (now called APIAU: Leadership 101) with funding provided by State Farm ® in partnership with college affiliates, to be conducted in 11 cities and training nearly 600 Asian American and Pacific Islander students nationwide.

§ January 2000 - OCA is selected as one of 18 Asian and Pacific Islander American organizations to serve on the APIA Advisory Board to the Gates Millennium Scholars program.

§ January 2000 – Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announces the appointment of two OCA members – Jeremy Wu to be the National Ombudsman for the Department of Energy and Daphne Kwok to be a member of the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board.

§ March 2000 – OCA National Service Project promotes literacy, diversity, and AAPI authors through donated money to libraries for the purchase of books by AAPI authors and sponsored readings by AAPI authors. The project is sponsored by Anheuser-Busch.

§ May 2000 – At a White House Rose Garden Ceremony, NCAPA Chair Daphne Kwok presents President Clinton with an award for advancing the well being of AAPIs and for creating Executive Order 13125, which forms an Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and calls for a coordinated federal government effort to improve the quality of life for AAPIs.

§ June 2000 – OCA attends President Clinton’s historic nomination and confirmation of the Honorable Norman Y. Mineta for Secretary of Commerce, the first Asian American Cabinet Secretary.

§ June 2000 – OCA attends the White House award ceremony conferring the Medal of Honor to 22 AAPI World War II veterans.

§ June 2000 – OCA is selected to be the AAPI Gates Millennium Scholars partner.

§ August 2000 – OCA applauds the recess appointment of the Honorable Bill Lann Lee to Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, who served in an acting capacity for over three years.

§ September 2000 – OCA is selected to be a Census Information Center, charged with analyzing data and disseminating the reports of demographic changes in the AAPI community.

§ October 2000 – OCA raises $20,000 for the OCA Wen Ho Lee Family Assistance Fund.

§ January 2001 – OCA congratulates Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta on his unanimous confirmation under President-elect George W. Bush. Mineta makes history again after becoming the first APA Cabinet Secretary in the previous administration.

§ January 2001 – OCA congratulates Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao on being confirmed as the first AAPI woman and first Chinese American to serve as Cabinet Secretary.

§ February 2001 – OCA launches the “OCA/Allstate Hate Crimes Workshop” community education series, funded by Allstate Insurance Company. OCA visits seven cities and over 350 people nationwide attend the workshops.

§ April 2001 – After a U.S. Navy surveillance plane made an emergency landing in southern China after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet, OCA releases a statement condemning the anti-Asian sentiment prevalent in mainstream media; at the time, several radio personalities and newspaper columnists had become caught up in purveying ignorance as entertainment; Americans of Asian descent were regarded as enemies because of their race in the midst of this hysteria.

§ May 2001 – OCA expresses deep concern over accusations targeting Matt Fong, nominee for U.S. Army Undersecretary, over his loyalty to America.

§ May 2001 - OCA takes part in a press conference with other members of Voices of the Electorate (VOTE) Election Reform Coalition to call for Congress to pass election reform legislation.

§ June 2001 – OCA joins other NCAPA member organizations in expressing outrage over the racial profiling of Chinese American Representative David Wu (D-OR) that took place at the Department of Energy; OCA and several other AAPI organizations meet with Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham concerning the incident.

§ July 2001 – OCA passes a resolution to support providing redress to over 2000 Filipino veterans who fought for the United States in World War II.

§ September 2001 – OCA condemns the terrorist activities that claimed the lives of thousands of Americans on September 1, 2001. OCA and 40 other nonprofit groups take part in a vigil at the National Memorial to Japanese American Patriotism to denounce the terrorist violence and the rash of hate violence against Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, Sikh Americans, South Asian Americans, and others after the terrorist attacks.

§ October 2001 – OCA, in partnership with Cathay Bank, establishes the 911 Healing Hands Fund to raise $350,000 for recovery efforts such as the ones led by the Asian American Federation of New York.

§ March 2002 – OCA condemns the Seattle Times for publishing the headline, “Hughes as good as gold; American outshines Kwan; Slutskaya in skating surprise,” which implies that Michelle Kwan is not an American.

§ April 2002 – OCA condemns Abercrombie & Fitch for marketing a line of T-shirts with racially offensive slogans and pictures on T-shirts' front; Abercrombie & Fitch refuses to meet with the community to address these concerns.

§ May 2002 – OCA announces the creation of the Verizon Foundation Scholarship to award 25 scholarships at $2000 each to AAPI college students in financial need.

§ June 2002 – OCA, in coalition with countless other groups, sponsors two days for concerned individuals to call a toll-free number and urge their Senators to support the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (LLEEA), which would strengthen current federal hate crimes laws.

§ June 2002 – OCA commemorates the 20th anniversary of the death of Vincent Chin by holding a press conference with the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC), at which Representative David Wu (D-OR) and Delegate Robert Underwood (D-GU) speak about the historic hate crime and the need to pass LLEEA.

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