OPINION July 6, 2020 THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7 TALKING STORY IN ASIAN AMERICA Night after night, Anglo America’s daughters and sons are here, demonstrating their anger ... Our angry kids are taking beatings designed for browns and blacks and blues like me. n Polo Love letter to young Anglo America I walked away from my job at Portland’s City Hall, after 10 years of trying and trying my very best there. I was mad. I was sad. And no, I’m not ramping you into an ambitious story that ended badly. Tentu tidak. Not at all. I’m talking about a love affair I’m still totally into. And always will be. Insh’allaah. It’s that dreamy immigrant-thing. The one about American aspirations so much above and beyond even our most sincere city policy leader’s shortcomings. The thing is: Every ridiculously optimistic immigrant, exactly like every intoxicated lover, cannot hear “no.” Not from anyone. Deaf as driftwood, our grumpy grandpas say back home, about sojourners and about smitten boys like me. Dumb as a brick, we say here. Red brick, like Pioneer Courthouse Square’s bricks. “I don’t love you” does not discourage stubborn believers. It never has. Not in all of American history. No matter whether we’re ethnically cleansed children of this grand continent, or cruelly segregated children of Mother Africa. No matter whether we shipped here because of bad bugs blighting Ireland, or because of bad leaders warring over the loamy lands nurtured by Maekong. Mother River. We’re not deterred no matter how many times we walk and walk blinding deserts. No matter how much border cops despise Mother Mexico’s lover boys. Tentu tidak. Of course not. A moment, some decades, several centuries of emasculation means nothing. Nothing compared to this love right now swelling my heart — my raging love for our abuelas, for our mom, for my wife and those pretty babies of her precious body. It’s nothing compared to how proud my American trying and trying makes each of them. Surely you know this. Pero maybe you don’t know that — our love affair with your America. “Aduh’illaah, joh” (OMG, boy!) was all our Elder Auntie Kris said, over 40 years ago when she found out that my loving an American girl was why I was leaving her Indo household. “Love is like that,” she whispered at her cool clay tile floor. “Jah tentu.” Sure it is. And after that love story ended bad and I returned sad, Auntie Kris’ trembly hands gestured come rest your head here, boy. In her lap. Sure she did, and I did too. “Hati hati, joh.” Be careful, boy — she said, tenderly raking her nails through my hair, like our elder aunties do. “Always-always we love ideas, joh. Pero you know, ideas don’t love us back.” For love you come here, her warm hands said. Forty years later I take my slim place behind a Pioneer Square pillar shadow. It’s late now, but mayor Wheeler lifted government’s dark curfew. Night after night, Anglo America’s daughters and sons are here, demon- strating their anger. Betrayed they are, these young dreamers. And beautiful they are, for this grief. For grieving with dear Mr. Floyd’s sorrowing family. And so brave our young American lovers are here. Daring all these mad and sad, all our bad and our good cops, to do what law and order enforcers have been armed to do since settlers cleared native families from here; since emancipated families dreamily migrated here. Our angry kids are taking beatings designed for browns and blacks and blues like me, ducking behind pillars like mine. On Pioneer Square’s red brick. Alhamdu’lillaah, thank God for how bad America’s young hearts hurt. For how much love their parents and their leaders promised, but have not delivered. For true love not actually lived. Terima kasih banjak (I offer you, our love) anak-anak manis kami (children dear of us). Serious coronavirus-linked condition hit 285 U.S. children By Lindsey Tanner The Associated Press A t least 285 U.S. children have developed a serious inflammatory condition linked to the coronavirus and while most recovered, the potential for long-term or permanent damage is unknown, two new studies suggest. The papers, published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide the fullest report yet on the condition. The condition is known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. It is considered uncommon and deaths are rare; six children died among the 285 in the new studies. Including cases in Europe, where it was first reported, about 1,000 children worldwide have been affected, a journal editorial said. The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention’s case definition includes current or recent COVID-19 infection or exposure to the virus; a fever of at least 100.4º for at least 24 hours; severe illness requiring hospitalization; inflammatory markers in blood tests; and evidence of problems affecting at least two organs that could include the heart, kidneys, lungs, skin, or other nervous system. Digestive symptoms including nausea and diarrhea are common. Some children may have symptoms resembling Kawasaki disease, a rare condition in children that can cause swelling and heart problems. At least 35 states have had cases, and they seem to crop up a few weeks after local COVID-19 activity peaks, said Dr. Adrienne Randolph of Boston Children’s Hospital. She is a lead researcher for a multistate study that includes CDC scientists. The second paper involved 99 children in Japanese island remembers 75 years since Battle of Okinawa Continued from page 5 The majority of U.S. military facilities in Japan are on Okinawa, and more than half of the approximate 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan. Okinawans continue to be affected by base-related crime, pollution, and noise 75 years since the end of the war, Tamaki said. Okinawa has asked the central government to do more to reduce their burden, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government repeatedly says it is mindful of their feelings, but the changes are slow to come. Many Okinawans also want a revision to the Status of Forces Agreement with the United States, which gives American military personnel certain legal privileges. A key disagreement is a decades-old plan to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps air station from the densely populated area of Futenma in southern Okinawa to less-crowded Henoko on the east coast. Many Okinawans want the air station to be moved off the island instead. Tamaki renewed his pledge to protect the environment at Henoko and block the relocation. Many Okinawans consider Tokyo’s postwar defense stance under the Japan-U.S. security alliance to have been built on Okinawa’s sacrifice, dating to the U.S. confiscation of Okinawan land after Japan’s World War II defeat. The dispute over the Futenma relocation also reflects centuries-old tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1878. Okinawa was Japan’s only home battleground in World War II, and the island remained under U.S. rule for 20 years longer than the rest of Japan. Go paperless! Read The Asian Reporter – exactly as it’s printed here – online! Visit and click the “Online Paper (PDF)” link to view our last two issues. COVID & CHILDREN. This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the spherical coronavirus particles from the first U.S. case of COVID-19. At least 285 U.S. children have developed a serious inflammatory condi- tion linked to the coronavirus (C.S. Goldsmith, A. Tamin/CDC via AP) New York state, where the first U.S. cases occurred. Combined, the papers show 285 cases from March through mid- to late-May but Randolph said additional U.S. children were diagnosed in June. Most had current or recent COVID-19 infections but had previously been healthy. About 80% of children in the multistate study had heart-related problems, which included coronary aneurysms — a bulge in a heart artery that can be fatal. “Those need to be followed up,” Randolph said. “This is a life-threatening concern for a lot of patients.” Most affected children had no other health condition but about 30% were obese. The condition also appears to disproportionately affect Latino and Black children and boys. The average age was eight years old. Researchers don’t know if adults can be affected. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.