President's Race Committee Meets In San Jose

Photo by Sam Chu Lin

Members of the President's Race Initiative Advisory Board listen to comments at a public hearing in San Jose last Wednesday. From left to right are Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, Los Angeles attorney Angela Oh, and historian and Board Chair John Hope Franklin.

BY SAM CHU LIN

Is racism a problem in booming Silicon Valley where unemployment is at an all-time low and where many homes are now among the highest priced in the country? This past week, President Clinton's advisory committee on race found out first hand how residents feel about this controversial subject when the committee staged two days of hearings at San Jose's Independence High School.

Richard Konda, executive director of the Asian Law Alliance, reminded the board that the Asian American experience in regard to race has often been overlooked in the past and that hate crimes are on the rise.

Discounting the positive economic picture that is painted in regard to the area, Konda said, "In Santa Clara County, we are at the edge in terms of technology and development, but there is a growing number of people in poverty. Many of them are Latino. Many of them are Asians. Many are refugees. We need to remember that there is poverty in this valley."

Not everyone in the audience was willing to listen to this kind of dialogue.

A shouting match erupted when Lou Calabro, president of a group called the European American Issues Forum, criticized the panel for not including conservatives and a "representation of European Americans, who make up a majority of the people living in this country."

William Winter, former Mississippi governor and an advisory board member, quickly responded.

"I didn't realize that we weren't at the table. Three of the seven members of the president's advisory board on race are European Americans," he said.

Another white man wearing a baseball cap shouted, "We don't want to be a minority in our own country! We want our own land. We want control of our community."

When he continued his diatribe and refused to sit down, police escorted him out of the auditorium, followed by a number of other spectators.

Brian Cheu, chairman of the Organization for Chinese Americans in San Francisco, told the board, "When this fellow said '73 percent of the nation is European American,' I'm thinking only 2 or 3 percent is Asian Pacific Islander. Although I'm happy I'm living in a republic and a democracy, the fact is when I think about that man and I think of who's voting and who is in the majority, then I feel scared."

Angela Oh, the only Asian American on the president's panel and a Los Angeles defense attorney, later reacted, "For me, those incidents were not a big deal. To me that's what you can expect if you have an open forum.

"I wish the person who was escorted out could have been more respectful of the process, because we could have had a very interesting discussion, especially if he had been there."

The president's panel is on a nationwide tour to gather public testimony on race relations. During its Bay Area visit, the advisors tried to "examine the relationship between race, poverty, and public policy in both urban and rural America."

State Assemblyman Mike Honda, D-San Jose, who welcomed the board, said, "I think that the valley is diverse. I think there are many solutions here, but there are also many challenges that we need to work together to seek the solutions.

"I'm very gratitified that the president has decided to take on the issue of race in this country as an issue, as an initiative, because we can no longer turn a blind eye or go into a state of denial that the problems do not exist."

Asian Pacific Americans represent almost 25 percent of the local population, but during the two days of hearings, there were only a handful of Asian Pacific Americans in attendance.

"This is one of the challenges within our community," Oh said. "We tend to be silent, even if they're present or they're not too interested."

Oh added, "The research among our populations is not very deep. We're too new of a population, and I'm seeing that this is really hurting us in terms of having a voice and being taken seriously."

Honda felt that the moderators should have recognized more of the Asian Americans in the audience. "I had to encourage Richard [Konda] to raise his hand," he said. "They [White House staff] have to go out into the community more with the commissioners. They have a bent on discrimination and affirmative action that it is a black and white issue, but a lot of people that spoke said that it was not a black and white issue only. It's Asians. It's Hispanics."

Some people in attendance also expressed fears that the White House staff is trying to stay away from controversy and may try to dictate to the committee what recommendations will be made to the president when it completes its duties.

To avoid such perceptions, Honda suggested that the president's advisory committee use at least one of its public meetings to discuss what they have learned and some of the recommendations they are considering.

The San Jose state lawmaker said, "My expectation is that the advisory committee will have a written list of recommendations to share with the president. If this is the only thing that they are going to do, then the president's initiative is a sham, and he's used the members of our community."

"It seems to me that the advisory committee is not set up to be worried about what a cost of a solution is going to be, but that they come back with solutions or recommendations.

"No one should be concerned about the costs, because what is the cost of racism? What is the cost of continuing ignorance? What is the cost of the continuing poor education of our children?" he asked.

Oh reacted, "I agree that we need to have some time among ourselves to discuss what we've learned thus far from all of the meetings. We've made the request, but we don't know if it will turn into an opportunity."

Next month, the president's committee on race continues its hearings in Denver.

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