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Lee B. Lok (center) at his store, Quong Yuen Shing & Co, on Mott Street, New York, c. 1917. Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Collection One day in 1941, Lee Ng Shee went for a stroll in Bradley Beach , New Jersey. She was the wife of a prominent merchant in New York City Chinatown named Lee B. Lok, who in 1891 had established Quong Yuen Shing & Company, a general store on Mott Street. The family liked to spend their summers on the Jersey Shore, though it was a challenge to find landlords who would rent to nonwhites. Lee Ng Shee was passing a house on Newark Avenue, stepping carefully on her bound feet, when a woman came out on the porch. “Are you looking for a house?” the woman called out. “Would you like to buy this one?” Lee knew a deal when she heard one. “Two thousand dollars later, Lee B. Lok and family were ensconced in a summer bungalow of their very own in the village where twenty years before they would have been lucky to be able to rent some rooms over a store,” ...

(Photo: Nadezhda1906 / iStock / Getty Images Plus) This story was made possible by support from readers like you. Help Truthout report on the urgent issues of health care, climate change, US foreign policy and more: Make a tax- deductible donation today . When April's paternal nephews first came to live with her, one was two months old and the other was one-and-a-half years old. She had to fill out the paperwork necessary to retrieve the older boy from foster care, where he had been placed months earlier after being removed from his mother. Under California law, if a potential caregiver -- any adult in the household or any adult who might have "significant contact" with the children has an arrest or conviction for anything other than a minor traffic violation -- they must apply for a criminal record exemption . Granting the exemption is at the discretion of each county -- and often the social workers assigned to the family. This has led to an uneven application of the ...

Aug 16, 2017 The first time Captain Noorullah Aminyar traveled to the United States, in 2012, he felt calm and peaceful in a way he never had before. Back home in Afghanistan, he had slept fully clothed , boots on, hand on his rifle. The Taliban attacked every night, and he had to be ready. "But when I come to America," he told me, "I have no stress in America. I sleep good. I tell you, I have no stress. It was really easy. It was a good thing. You feel safe. I was born in the war. I grew up in the war. Always, your life is in danger. You find a little safe time, for sure you'll be happy." Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Advertisement - Continue Reading Below For Aminyar, then twenty-eight, coming to America was an honor and an achievement. He attended the prestigious Defense Language Institute in San Antonio, the culmination of more than a decade of studying English, followed by a basic infantry officer 's course at Fort Benning, Georgia, with Ame...