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1.07.2007

welcome to america, you're not american enough


As part of a promotional sweepstakes, toy chain Toys 'R' Us was going to offer a $25,000 United States savings bond to the first American baby born in 2007. Cool, right? Too bad the first baby of the year was Yuki Lin, born in New York to Han Lin and Yan Zhu Liu—who happen to be immigrant parents... and according to the contest's fine print, the Toys 'R' us decided, little Yuki was ruled out because her mother was not a legal resident: First-Baby Sweepstakes Fuels Immigration Debate. Welcome to the world, Yuki. Already, people think you're not American enough. The story got the attention of a Chinese American lawyer, who got the ball rolling with an email campaign alerting other Asian American groups, and it got a lot of people talking. And you how us Asian Americans can cause a fuss these days. Due to the all the negative publicity, Toys 'R' Us announced yesterday that it was reversing its decision: Toys 'R' Us changes baby contest ruling. Too bad, I was hoping to keep the above image. Oh well, I'll keep it up anyway. (Thanks, Poplicks)