美国新冠疫情日记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.

我们的法律顾问团正在成军中

曾任德州州议员多年后出任赫里斯郡郡长罗拔艾克律师是我们多年之好友，在他任职期间，曾经為大休斯敦地区大兴土木， 尤其是环市的八号公路都是他在任内完成 ，他卸任后除了自任律师业务外，目前也出仼休斯敦到达拉斯高铁委员会主席， 為此地区策划第一个高铁项目。

艾克律师过去数十年来和我们社区交往非常密切， 他在仼时期曾多次到亚洲各国参访，凡是社区之大型活动他从未缺席，尤其是农历新年游园会他一定出席，向我们社区拜年。

目前我们正在筹组的法律援助顾问团，目前已徴得数位重量级律师加入我们的阵容 ，主要是為了维护我们的公民权，定期举办各种法律座谈，為新移民社区提供法律上之知识及必要之援助。

今天我们正面临前所未有之变化，警察暴力之频传，带来社会之不安，政客们正在利用种族民粹来操控政治，已经赤祼祼显示出来，我们唯有团结起来，共同维护应有的权益。