美國新冠疫情日記08/29

Legal Assistance To Our Community

We are so happy for our community that our good friend, Mr. Robert Eckels, has agreed to join the International Trade Center as our legal advisor to help our local community. 

I met Mr. Eckels way back in his state representative days and later thereafter he became Harris County Judge and served from January 1995 until March 2007. Under his leadership there were many infrastructure improvements carried out in our county, including the beltway construction. Currently he is the president of Texas Central Rail (https://www.hsrail.org/texas), a group engaged in the construction of a bullet train service between Houston and Dallas.   

In the last several years, Judge Eckels has always supported our community events. His district included Asian town when he served as state representative. 

Today our community is facing more challenges than ever before. This coronavirus pandemic has really changed our lives, especially in the Asian and immigrant community. A lot of those living there are newcomers. When it comes to legal protection, they really need more help. 

The International Trade Center (ITC) has been a 501C3 organization for over 15 years. We have served more than 10,000 small businesses in Houston and the surrounding area. We have provided mostly business services in the past, and now we will offer legal services at a time when it is really needed in the community.

 I am very happy that many of my old friends including Mr. Ben Hall and Judge Eckels have agreed to help our community.  We also will be working with more legal experts who will join us in the very near future.

At such a very critical time, people helping each other is our American spirit in action.

我們的法律顧問團正在成軍中

曾任德州州議員多年後出任赫里斯郡郡長羅拔艾克律師是我們多年之好友，在他任職期間，曾經為大休斯敦地區大興土木， 尤其是環市的八號公路都是他在任內完成 ，他卸任後除了自任律師業務外，目前也出仼休斯敦到達拉斯高鐵委員會主席， 為此地區策劃第一個高鐵項目。

艾克律師過去數十年來和我們社區交往非常密切， 他在仼時期曾多次到亞洲各國參訪，凡是社區之大型活動他從未缺席，尤其是農曆新年游園會他一定出席，向我們社區拜年。

目前我們正在籌組的法律援助顧問團，目前已徴得數位重量級律師加入我們的陣容 ，主要是為了維護我們的公民權，定期舉辦各種法律座談，為新移民社區提供法律上之知識及必要之援助。

今天我們正面臨前所未有之變化，警察暴力之頻傳，帶來社會之不安，政客們正在利用種族民粹來操控政治，已經赤祼祼顯示出來，我們唯有团结起來，共同維護應有的權益。