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James Mai (left) and Cerritos Mayor Chuong Vo. Mai is a major sponsor of an anti-hate event in Cerritos on September 24, but Instagram posts show him committing a hate crime against an Indian restaurant in May of this year. Vo is also a sponsor of the event and included the City of Cerritos in his sponsorship logo; two Cerritos Council did not know about the event.
By Brian Hews
Hews Media Group-Community News has learned that a “Unite for Progress” event will be held September 24 at Don Knabe Regional Park in Cerritos, billing itself as “a resource fair with vendors, giveaways, food trucks and event speakers.”
The informational flyer proclaims the event, “is a day to jumpstart progress in the face of hate and rising violent attacks.
Listed as one of the major sponsors is Torrance Police Detective and Cerritos Mayor Chuong Vo, with a logo that also includes the words “Cerritos City Council,” indicating that Cerritos is sponsoring the event.
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Cerritos Mayor Chuong Vo, with a logo that also includes the words Cerritos City Council.
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HMG spoke to Councilmen Frank Yokoyama and Naresh Solanki, both had no idea the event was occurring.
Another sponsor is the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who is under investigation and who threatened a Los Angeles Times reporter.
But its the speakers and organizers that call into question the real purpose of the Republican-led event in Cerritos, a city that has recently seen a letter to residents recruiting extreme right-wing candidates to run for the ABC School Board and fight “woke Democrats;” witnessed Mayor Vo openly snub Democratic candidates at the city’s bi-partisan Let Freedom Ring Event, and seen Soo Yoo, the ABC School Board President, meet with alt-right wing MAGA members who use Critical Race Theory to divide residents.
The Unite for Progress event boasts two sponsors that have been documented in media reports as hatemongers and intimidators, one sponsor allegedly illegally releasing the information of another, a practice known as doxxing.
Jane Yim is listed as the lead organizer of the event; Yim viciously attacked HMG-CN and its staff after this newspaper sided with Bellflower students, along with four on the City Council, to receive free Cerritos Library cards.
Yim and her associates were vehemently against the students obtaining the cards, suggesting at one point that they “were of a lower class and education than Cerritos students;” for weeks Yim verbally attacked the City Council and HMG-CN during public comment over the issue.
On top of the attacks, Yim and one associate, Cerritos resident Sam Desai who is running for ABC School Board, created a hashtag that contained personal information about HMG-CN staff; the hashtag triggered several emailed threats to HMG-CN from “concerned residents.”
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THREATENING HASHTAG: Cerritos residents attempt to incite violence against HMG-LCCN publisher
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More concerning is the co-sponsorship between Mayor Chuong Vo and the Cerritos City Council and James Mai, a controversial Commissioner of the Orange County Housing and Community Development Authority.
According to a local Orange County blog, Mai not only pretends to be a lawyer but committed a heinous hate crime against an Indian restaurant owner this past May.
In one published article, the orangejuiceblog.com posted a picture of Mai calling himself James Mai, Esq., but Mai is not listed as an attorney on the State Bar of California’s attorney search website.
An examination of Mai’s website shows he continues to label himself an attorney.
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Screenshot from Mai’s website using the moniker Esq.; Mai it’s not listed on the California State Bar attorney website.
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The remainder of the article, with evidence from social media posts, shows Mai as a vengeful, hate-filled political operative capable of using his contacts and bogus social media accounts to threaten and intimidate detractors.
This despite the fact he is the Founder and Chairman of the non-profit AAPI United, a company that is against anti-Asian hate.
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Pictures from Mai’s AAPI United website espousing anti-hate.
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In May 2022, according to the blog, Mai dined at an Indian restaurant, posting on his Instagram account soon after he left that the restaurant overcharged him.
Mai claims in the post that he went back to the restaurant and tried and get his money back but “they locked the doors when they saw me coming.”
There are accusations that Mai concocted the situation citing the fact he did not complain about the bill until he left the restaurant.
Inferring that the owners of the Indian restaurant were possibly Hindu, Mai posted “I went to a butcher shop got a cow head and put it on their door, and a rubbed a bucket of cow blood over their window….. they refunded me the money.”
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Instagram shots posted by Orangejuiceblog.com show Mai proclaiming he committed a hate crime.
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Mai could have been easily vetted and his hate-crime against the Indian restaurant exposed if Mayor Vo had told his fellow councilmembers about the event.
It was Cerritos City Councilman Frank Yokoyama who alerted HMG-CN of the event and the blog’s hate-crime article on Mai.
But Yokoyama has been ostracized by Vo and recently elected Councilwoman Lynda Johnson, who violated the Brown Act at her second meeting; now Vo and Cerritos are affiliated with an event sponsored by a hate-crime perpetrator.
Emails into Mai went unreturned, emails informing the Cerritos City Council, Mayor Chuong Vo, and City Administration also went unreturned.
Another major sponsor is Supervisor Janice Hahn who was surprised when informed about Mai’s hate-crime and said she “would look into it.”
