And Peter Kwong, a leading scholar of Asian-American studies and immigration has died. Born in Taiwan in 1941, Kwong was a distinguished professor of urban affairs and planning at Hunter College and a professor of sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His work was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2010, Kwong appeared on Democracy Now! to talk about his Oscar-nominated film, “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province.” This is Kwong speaking about how the Chinese government was seeking to suppress information about the earthquake, which killed 80,000 people.

Peter Kwong: “So, ironically, ours is the only document of history. This is the only thing that’s left. And so, it is therefore very, very important for us to continue to push. People in China are pushing, but we have to do our task. This is really very important, because the parents knew, we’re the only ones could let the rest of the world know.”