Official’s Remark Is Called Bigoted

Members of Garden Grove’s Vietnamese American community, angered over what they say was a racially insensitive remark by a councilman, plan to attend next week’s City Council meeting en masse to demand an apology.

At a Sept. 13 meeting of the city’s redevelopment agency, Councilman Harry Krebs responded to repeated questioning by Councilwoman Janet Nguyen with “I already expressed it very simply -- I can’t do it in Vietnamese.”

The reaction among Vietnamese residents, many of whom saw the exchange on cable television, was swift.

“An affront to one’s dignity in a public forum deserves a public apology,” said Andrew Do, president of the Little Saigon Heritage Foundation and one of several community leaders who have sent dozens of e-mails urging local Vietnamese Americans to express their displeasure at Tuesday’s meeting.

Garden Grove includes part of Little Saigon, the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside Vietnam and a community that has gained national prominence as a center of Vietnamese American culture.

“At the very least,” Do said, “the community needs to hear [an apology] so that we send a clear message that in a multicultural community like Garden Grove, and in this day and age, there is no room in government for that kind of bigotry.”

Krebs declined to say definitively in an interview Wednesday how he would react to the expected demand. He did, however, say of his remark that “in my mind it was a very innocent -- but, in retrospect, very dumb -- thing to say. I would definitely think that I should apologize to the people of Garden Grove, because I don’t think this is the way a leader should react, even when you get provoked.”

That provocation, Krebs said, came during a discussion about a potential commercial development when Nguyen, who was chairing the meeting, asked him repeatedly to explain why a requested city staff report would require four weeks to complete.

“What information would you like that isn’t in front of you right now?” she asked.

Nguyen said that following Kreb’s dismissive response, she cut him off in mid-sentence, brought the matter to an immediate vote and called for a recess.

“I was pretty upset,” Nguyen said, adding that she had been in the U.S. since the age of 3 and spoke English fluently.

“We’re a model for all the other Vietnamese American communities nationwide, and for them to hear that racism is still on display here is extremely regrettable,” she said.

Krebs said -- and Nguyen confirmed -- that he tried to apologize to her immediately after the meeting but was rebuffed. Later, both said, he sent her an e-mail apologizing for his remark.

That, however, may not be enough.

“It’s not just about me anymore,” Nguyen said Wednesday.

“It calls into question his character in being a council member; it’s about his attitude toward Asian Americans. It’s about the public and who he’s representing -- if they ask for a public apology, I think they deserve it.”