What does the world look like as reported on the pages of California's growing ethnic newspapers? PNS monitors the Chinese-, Spanish-, Vietnamese-, Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-language news media as well as English-language newcomer and native-born ethnic press published and/or distributed widely in California. "Gleanings from the Ethnic Media" is a regular weekly column compiled by Emil Guillermo, host of "NCM: New California Media TV" (seen on PBS station KCSM-TV60 in the Bay Area); assisted by Pacific News Service and the NCM Network. Just as the alternative news media connected the disaffected populations in the 1960s, so in the 1990s the ethnic media connects the new ethnic majority communities of California -- to one another and to the larger public forum.

NO CHANCE OF APOLOGY: The tenth anniversary of Tienanmen Square brought public calls for China to forgive and forget, but a reversal of its stand on the Democracy Movement is inconceivable, according to Lu Li, a former student leader writing in the World Journal (San Francisco).

Li says asking China to recognize the movement as legitimate amounts to "putting the power of deciding right and wrong solely in the hands of the government." He supports instead the action taken by over one hundred family members of people killed during Tienanmen who have recently filed a lawsuit against Deng Xiaoping and the then Prime Minister Li Peng, who ordered the crackdown of the protesters. Lu Li says this is the first time since the Communists took power in 1949 that Chinese citizens residing in China have sued leaders of the Party.

DOES THE INTERNET DIVIDE AS WELL AS LINK?: No one disputes figures showing minorities trailing Whites in computer ownership, cyber-access and Internet know-how, but the impact of those facts is a matter of some dispute, according to The Final Call (Chicago).

Some see the gap as a sign that minorities might become second-class citizens in cyberspace.

A Commerce Department report showed Whites are more than twice as likely to own home computers as Blacks or Hispanics, even among families earning more than $75,000 a year.

FEAR IN RIVERSIDE: Members of the black and Latino community in Riverside, CA, interviewed by a reporter for La Opinion (Los Angeles), regarding the police shooting death of Tyisha Miller, expressed concern over what some call "a long history of violent acts" against blacks and Latinos.

Community leaders charge that Riverside police officers have abused several Latinos but no one has been reprimanded, and "Riverside police act with impunity."

But Paul Villanueva of the Riverside Police Department disagreed. "I think we have a good relationship with the Latino community. There have been some incidents because of bad policemen, but they have been rectified."

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY?: As Filipinos everywhere prepare to commemorate the 101st anniversary of independence from Spain, a remnant of the Philippines' other colonial interlude has been revived. With ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement, the Philippines and the U.S. will resume large-scale military exercises. Already, the U.S. is arranging military assistance to the Philippines in the form of navy and coast guard ships, A-4 attack aircraft and UH-1 helicopters, reports the Philippine News (San Francisco). California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said the transfer of military hardware was urgent because of the "ongoing Chinese construction of naval bases in the Spratly Islands and repeated incursions of warships into Philippine territorial waters."

BASHING BACK: Senator Diane Feinstein has agreed to propose an anti-Chinese-bashing bill in the Senate, according to Daqing Loo, chair of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Association of Chinese American, in a report in the World Journal (San Francisco). Loo approached the Senator at a recent fund-raiser for her campaign hosted by San Jose mayor Ron Gonzales.

Feinstein quickly expressed an interest in authoring the Senate bill after Loo informed her a similar bill had already been put forth in the House. The House bill, HR124, is ironically backed by Congressman Christopher Cox, whose report on Chinese espionage has been seen by many as triggering a new wave of anti-China sentiment.

LAW KEEPERS CHARGED WITH LAWBREAKING: African American staffers in the U.S. Marshal's Service have complained that white marshals engage in such racist acts as firing at a photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr. during target practice and dressing in Ku Klux Klan outfits, according to The Sun-Reporter (San Francisco).

This behavior has continued despite the fact that the Dept. of Justice was found guilty of allowing a "racially hostile environment" at Marshal's offices and agreed to a $4 million settlement just last year.

African-Americans who complain are disciplined or fired, the newspaper was told.

VETS' CHOICE: In the Filipino community -- California's largest Asian American community -- World War II vets, who have long been denied military benefits, eagerly await passage of a bill, H.R. 1802, that would allow them Supplemental Social Security Income (SSI).

The Philippine News (San Francisco) reports that the bill would allow vets to receive 75 percent of their monthly SSI benefit, up to a maximum of $380 a month, but only if they choose to leave the U.S. and reside in the Philippines. Without veterans benefits, many of the 26,000 surviving vets have been forced to rely on Food Stamp and Medicaid payments. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that if only 7,000 Filipino vets chose the relocation option, the U.S. could save $7 million per year.

MINISTER CHARGES POLICE BRUTALITY: Michael McBride, a youth pastor, choir member, evangelist and peer counselor connected with the Bible Way Christian Center in San Jose, California, has charged two officers with brutality, according to City Flight (San Jose).

At a press conference held jointly with the San Jose NAACP, McBride told of being stopped while returning from San Francisco by two officers who physically and verbally assaulted him for 45 minutes, and handcuffed him. McBride was neither cited nor charged.

DUAL CITIZENSHIP BILLS DEBATED IN GHANA: Ghana President Jerry John Rawlings told thousands of participants at the 5th African-African American Summit that that country's Parliament is considering two bills that would allow Black Americans and Ghanaians with citizenship abroad to hold dual citizenship, according to a report in The Final Call (Chicago).

One bill grants "any person of African descent" the right to apply for Right of Abode. This does not give a right to vote or hold office, but persons of this status do not need visas, residence permits or work permits and can apply for full citizenship."

A second bill will enable Ghanaians who lost their citizenship by becoming citizens of other countries to hold both nationalities.

IMMIGRATION STUDIES CENTER OPENS: An academic center for the study of worldwide immigration patterns is being launched at UC San Diego. The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies will involve more than 30 faculty members -- political scientists, economists, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, literature and health care specialists, according to a report La Prensa-San Diego.

The center will compare the U.S. immigration experience -- both historical and contemporary -- with that of other labor-importing countries.