Eddy Zheng

Infobox Person
name = Eddy Zheng


image_size = 250px
birth_name = Xiao Fei Zheng
birth_date = May 29, 1969
birth_place = Guangzhou, China
residence = Oakland, California
nationality = United States
known_for =
education = Associate of Arts
employer = Community Youth Center of San Francisco
occupation = Project Coordinator
religion = World
spouse =
children =
parents =
website = [http://www.eddyzheng.com Official Website]

Eddy Zheng (zh-t|t=鄭小飛, born 29 May, 1969), is a Chinese American writer living in Oakland, California.

Life in the United States

Eddy Zheng came to America at the age of 12 with a green card. At the age of 16, he and two of his peers committed a crime, and was convicted for kidnapping to commit robbery in 1986 and sentenced to 7 years to life in prison. Zheng then ended up serving as a model prisoner, teaching himself English in prison at San Quentin, and completed his GED and got a college degree there. [ [http://www.eddyzheng.com/Background.html Eddy Zheng's Background] ] After being granted parole in 2005 [ [http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archives/2007/02/eddy_zheng_rele.html Hyphen Magazine on Eddy Zheng] ] , he faces deportation back to China, even though Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he poses no threat to society, and for not being a U.S. citizen. [ [http://www.o-dub.com/weblog/2005/03/saving-eddy-zheng-from-deportation.html Pop life: SAVING EDDY ZHENG FROM DEPORTATION] ] [ [http://www.byroncrawford.com/2005/04/deport_eddy_zhe.html Deport Eddy Zheng] ] Though he married Shelly Smith, a U.S. Citizen, and his former teaching assistant at the college program, it did not stop his deportation. [ [http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Asian/politics_law/paccit_zheng_case_0905.asp Zheng Fights Deportation with Love] ] [ [http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/the_last_stand_of_eddie_zheng/Content?oid=289640 East Bay Express | News| The Last Stand of Eddy Zheng] ]

Life after prison

Since his release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in 2007, Eddy has done lots of community work, including speaking at some of the meetings at Adopt-An-Alleyway Youth Empowerment Project. Eddy currently works for the Community Youth Center in San Francisco as a Project Coordinator for the Community Response Network – Asian Pacific Islanders. He visits schools to share his experience with young people about the importance of education, self-respect, individual responsibility, and community awareness. He is an advisory board member of the Asian American Law Journal. Eddy is the recipient of the Chinese World Journal Newspaper Community Hero Award and Bay Area Asian Pacific American Law Students Association’s Outstanding Leadership Award for 2008. He has compiled an anthology of Asian and Pacific Islander prisoner writings, "Other: An Asian & Pacific Islander Prisoners' Anthology" with a preface from Helen Zia and his poetry has been published in Kartika Review. [ [http://www.kartikareview.com/issue1/1eddy.pdf Eddy Zheng Poetry in the Kartika Review] ]

See also

*Norman Fong, the person who advocated for his non-deportation.

References

External links

* [http://www.eddyzheng.com/ Stop the deportation of Eddy Zheng]
* [http://eddyzheng.blogspot.com/ Eddy Zheng: Thoughts from Behind & Beyond the bars]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsFTP17aRqU&feature=related Welcome home Eddy Zheng video]
* [http://www.aaba-bay.com/aaba/showpage.asp?code=eddyzheng Eddy Zheng Fights Deportation] @ Asian American Bar Association
* [http://www.pacificcitizen.org/content/2007/national/mar16-lin-zheng.htm Eddy Zheng Returns to the Free World]
* [http://www.sfbg.com/39/28/news_immigrants.html Money for nothing] , "San Francisco Bay Guardian"
* [http://www.8asians.com/2007/05/06/releasing-their-stories-api-prisoners-narratives/ Releasing Their Stories: API Prisoners' Narratives, "8Asians.com"]