We're dancing for joy over at Amoeba. With everyone who contributed to our monthly auctions, in-store donation jugs and off-site events, we have raised more than $60,000 this year!

Our charity auctions, in which comedians, musicians and friends auction off concert tickets, prize packages and more, take place the first Saturday of every month at 4 p.m. at Amoeba Hollywood. Some of the people involved this year were Upright Citizens Brigade, Don Barris, Kurt Braunohler, Jimmy Pardo, Beth Stelling, Matt Ingebretson and Gustavo Arellano—thank you all for hosting and helping to raise funds for various charities!

Right now we are collecting donations for disaster relief in the Philippines. Monetary donations are being accepted at the registers for Doctors Without Borders' relief efforts in the Philippines. Find out more or directly donate at their website.

Find out more about the charities we're involved with below, or pick up a “How You Can Help” pamphlet at any Amoeba Music location:

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

Even in a multicultural, polyglot city like Los Angeles (which has the largest population of Asian-Americans (1.4 million) in the country and where the percentage of the population which is Asian-American is roughly twice that which is black) most discussions of race appear continue to be framed in the outmoded, bipolar terms of  black and white.  For example, whereas a lot of people and many organizations honor Black History Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is by comparison almost completely unrecognized except by some Asian-American organization and individuals.

The centuries-long struggle and strife of blacks in America is well-documented and worth honoring -- many have suggested that Black Americans invented the Civil Rights Movement (some Native Americans might take issue with that). Asians, like other non-whites, have also been subjected to legal segregation, racist violence, widespread discrimination and harassment. So why is it that the Asian-American experience is so... obscure? I hadn't even heard of its existence until I was hipped to it by reknowned Asian-American rights activist, Ngoc-thu Thi Nguyen.


CONTINUED PREJUDICE AGAINST ASIAN-AMERICANS