NEWPORT BEACH (CA) President Bush met June19 with nine Asian Pacific American journalists at the Four Seasons Hotel for a brief roundtable discussion on issues relating to the Asian communities."I hope that our administration has demonstrated a sensitivity to issues that affect Asian Americans appointments to legislation, and that our foreign policy has made sense to Asian Americans," Bush said, as subjects varied from the L.A. riots to anti-hate crimes to the U.S. economy and the reinstatement of China's most favored nation trade status.Representatives from the following newspapers were present: Asian Week, California Examiner, India West, International Daily News, Korean Central Daily News, Korean Times, Rafu Shimpo, Sing Ta Jih Pa and World Journal.Bush's visit was questioned because of the close timing of likely presidential candidate Ross Perot's recent visit to Los Angeles to meet with various minority groups. "This is totally unrelated," said the president, NEWPORT BEACH (CA) President Bush met June19 with nine Asian Pacific American journalists at the Four Seasons Hotel for a brief roundtable discussion on issues relating to the Asian communities."I hope that our administration has demonstrated a sensitivity to issues that affect Asian Americans appointments to legislation, and that our foreign policy has made sense to Asian Americans," Bush said, as subjects varied from the L.A. riots to anti-hate crimes to the U.S. economy and the reinstatement of China's most favored nation trade status.Representatives from the following newspapers were present: Asian Week, California Examiner, India West, International Daily News, Korean Central Daily News, Korean Times, Rafu Shimpo, Sing Ta Jih Pa and World Journal.Bush's visit was questioned because of the close timing of likely presidential candidate Ross Perot's recent visit to Los Angeles to meet with various minority groups. "This is totally unrelated," said the president, Korean victims as well as other Asian victims still suffer from the inert assistance from local, state and federal governmentsmany who want to rebuild their businesses and society, he said. Bush responded by saying, "In the first place, to a person whose business has been wiped out, to aSee Bush, page14

SAN FRANCISCO– Books, books and more books will play a central role in the upcoming week as various library associations will hold their annual feature-packed conferences. The funding crisis facing libraries nationwide will be among the issues addressed, but politics aside, the primary purpose of the conferences will be to entertain and educate- -the original vision of libraries around the world.The most celebrated event will be the 111th Annual Confercnce of the American Library Association (ALA), to beheld June 25-July 2 in San Francisco. More than 18,000 librarians, educators, writers, publishers and special guests will converge on the Moscone Convention Center for more than 2,000 meetings and programs, and to visualize more than 1,300 exhibits.The Asian Pacific American Libraries Association (APALA) and the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) will also hold their respective conferences in the upcoming week. APALA and CALA will hold ajoint program that will feature book signings by Asian Amer- ican authors and special programs and exhibits. [Check the Asian Week supplement for an extensive schedule of events.]ALA's week-long Moscone conference will hold an opening session on Saturday, June 27, at 4:15 p.m. in the Esplande Ballroom. Past presidential candidate and current Congresswoman Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) will be the keynote speaker. Feminist author Gloria Steinem will also address conference attendants.The following day, ALA President Patrica Glass Schuman hosts an all-day program, which will feature political activist Cesar Chavez, who will speak on "Public Action Faces Public Policy: Supporting Our Right to Know." The illiteracy problem has been a thorn in America's side for quite sometime, and it is the hope of conference organizers that people with reading difficulties will come in droves to learn about special programs.Some of the major book awards, including the Newbery, Caldecott and Wilder, will beSee ALA, page17

WASHINGTON, D.C.Bridging the gap between "fight-ing words" and free speech, the Supreme Court ruled June22 that aSt. Paul, Minn., anti-hate law violates First Amendment rights. In a unanimous ruling, the court declared unconstitutional the 1989 ordinance, which makes it illegal to engage in speech or behavior based on "race, color, creed, religion or gender" that "arouses anger or alarm."The nine justices, however, were split in their philosophical reasons as four justices concurred. Speaking for the court, Justice Antonin Scalia said, "The point of the First Amendment is that majority preferences must be expressed in some fashion other than silencing speech on the basis of its content." Joining in Scalia's majority opinion were Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices David Souter, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas."Fighting words," which have been defined as those that might incite violence, have traditionally been unprotected by the Constitution. However, this ruling appears to narrow the area between such words and protected speech considered to be minority opinion. Scalia said the Minnesota ordinance singled out "fighting words" that involved only racial or ethnic contempt, which is unconstitutional.The challenge to the ordinance, which prohibited burning crosses and painting Nazi swastikas, came on behalf of a white teenager who was accused of burning across on the lawn of a black family who had recently moved into the neighborhood. The 1990 case, which involves then 17-year-old Robert Viktora, will be sent back to Minnesota courts for review.The question of the constitutionality of fighting words risks other hate crime laws, said Richard Hirschhaut, executive director of the Central Pacific Region of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith. The ruling may be away for the high courtSee Speech, page22

SAN FRANCISCO–Newly immigrated Filipino American students aregetting a quick educationabout safe sex at BalboaHighSchool, SanFrancisco's first school to begin a condom giveaway program, and theirresponses to the policy are rather surprising. Out ofeight students interviewed, only one was in full support of it, one remained un-decided and the rest wereadamantly opposed-contradicting the response of most American teens who welcome or, in some cases, demand a similar safe sexprogram in their schools.Free condoms will beaccessible to students ingrades nine through12 atBalboa's Teen HealthCenter, the only clinic of its kind in the San Franciscopublic school system. The objective is to prevent thespread of sexuallytransmitted diseases, such as AIDS, among teenagers.The students interviewed, whose ages range from14 to 18, are members of thePilipino Club at Balboa,which is composed ofmostly recently immigrated students from thePhilippines. At a recentlyheld informal meeting thekids discussed how they felt about the school's newlyincorporated condomavailability policy.Hermino, 15, has been in the States for about eightmonths and says hedisagrees with the condom distribution policy inschools. "I don't like thatpeople have sex too young. They're distributingcondoms to ninth and tenth graders." Herminosuggested that condoms be distributed to seniors only because "no one youngerthan18 should behavingsex," he said. One teen named Carlossaid he felt the policy was a good idea at first, but now realizes kids aren't treating the issue of safe sexseriously. "I saw one guytake one of the condoms and blow it up like a balloon.It's not like a serious thing to them. Most kids think it's a joke."Edelyn, 16, has been inthe States for five years and said she has friends whohave become pregnant and who have had abortions.Although she's well aware that her peers are engaging in sexual intercourse, shebelieves the message from the schools and parentsshould not be "safe sex." It should be "no sex." "I don't think my friends who got in trouble should have beenhaving sex in the firstplace," she said.See Condoms, page22