Don’t Let Attacks Stop Momentum

The political fallout for Asian Americans in the wake of adverse publicity from the campaign finance controversy has been a disaster, and not just for the handful of Asian Americans under scrutiny for wrongdoing.

There have been few high-level government appointments at the federal level, but there have been intrusive audits, public officials mimicking Asian accents and making generalized and stereotyped comments about Asian Americans or Asian culture and racist caricatures in national magazines.

Polls indicate that Asian Americans are now less inclined to make political donations and are potentially less interested in political involvement. All this at a time when Asian American political involvement has surged.

Can the Asian American community recover from this controversy? The answer is yes, perhaps not soon, but only if it avoids the temptation to retreat into political inactivity, rejects a solely defensive posture and sheds a go-it-alone attitude.

What should this diverse community do?

First, a move in the right direction was the the plan to form a national Asian American network to coordinate and complement the work of several national organizations to deal with the attacks. Political retreat and the lack of a coordinated response have been ineffective; the stereotyping has only gotten worse. But the focus must be aimed against the defamation and stereotyping of the character and image of the entire community and not be sidetracked to individual cases.

The history of discrimination in 80 years of immigration exclusion for Asians and the internment of 110,000 innocent Japanese Americans during World War II are vivid reminders of what has happened when entire communities are labeled as unacceptable, devious or disloyal.

Necessary, too, are efforts like the petition to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to convene a hearing on the current attacks on the community, the encouragement and promotion of qualified Asian Americans who are seeking top federal appointments and the campaigning for full coverage of the real extent of campaign abuses and genuine election finance reform.

Second, while such national work is vital, that alone is at best defensive. Restoring the status quo is not enough. The emphasis must be on local elections to increase full participation in the political process. It is locally where Asian American strengths in education and economics can best be matched to city councils and school boards. National and statewide elections are important, but Asian American numbers are far more significant in local races.

Participation in the process, as evidenced by last year’s surge--more than 20,000 in Southern California--of newly registered Asian American voters, the significant statewide turnout by Asian American voters in November and the high level of voter education efforts, including many debates on Proposition 209, must be encouraged. While Asian Americans should not stop making legitimate donations to candidates and parties, as is their right, their clout at the ballot box would have a stronger long-term impact, since their numbers will grow from 10% to 15% of the California population in the next few decades.

Finally, Asian Americans cannot recover with a go-it-alone attitude. This applies both to achieving political empowerment and responding to the fund-raising controversy. In Los Angeles, no Asian American candidate currently can be elected by just an Asian American vote; the population is too dispersed. The candidates must appeal to an ethnic cross-section of people and their issues to succeed. Equally important, non-Asian candidates who represent our communities’ issues should be supported by Asian Americans.

Asian Americans have not done an adequate job of reaching out to other ethnic and community groups to gain support on this campaign finance controversy. When they have done so, they have found significant support from Jewish, Latino, African American and individual Democratic and Republican legislators in California. In the long term, breaking down barriers requires sustaining dialogues, networks, coalitions and cultural education.

Asian Americans in Southern California have the most to lose from the continuing campaign finance controversy. Potentially, they also have the most to gain.