APAs pay tribute to the senator on his retirement
| MADE IN CHINA: Sen. Paul Simon was lauded for his support of the Asian Pacific American community at a Sept. 14 event outside Washington, D.C. The senator, whose parents were missionaries in China, retires at the end of this term. |
By Frank H. Wu
The most significant of a series of recent APA events in the Capitol was a dinner to honor a longtime advocate of many issues important to Asian Americans, Sen. Paul Simon. Showing not only that civil rights are a universal cause, but also how the best leaders can effectively bring together many groups, the unprecedented "Asian American tribute" to the retiring politician was organized by the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL). Almost 500 individuals turned out on Sept. 14 at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, Va., a suburb near D.C., for Chinese food and an evening of entertainment and speeches.Although former staffers and past campaign donors had thought that a modest dinner would be an appropriate means of thanking Simon for his service to the country and support for APA interests, they had not anticipated the scale of the event. In the end, many Asian Americans from Simon's home state of Illinois flew to the Capitol to join Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and numerous APA political appointees and community leaders in wishing the Illinois senator well in his retirement.
With a career of more than four decades in public service, Simon is concluding his third term in the Senate. He also served in the House and in the Illinois state legislature, following a journalism career that began when, at age 19, he became the youngest editor of a major newspaper in the country. A respected leader in the Democratic Party, he sought the presidential nomination in 1988.
Perhaps best-known to the general public for his trademark bow tie, Simon is well-known to Asian Americans for being "at the forefront of virtually every issue important for Asian Americans," said dinner host Charlie Chiang, the owner of several restaurants in the area.
Daphne Kwok, the executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans, told AsianWeek, "We've relied on him to be a major leader on interests of the Asian American community."
According to John Huang, vice chair of finance for the Democratic National Committee, Simon was the "single most important person" in fighting for the so-called "fourth preference" in immigration law. The fourth preference provides visas which allow citizens to bring over brothers and sisters.
The many speakers cited numerous other examples of Simon's work on behalf of Asian Americans: Simon sponsored legislation increasing visa quotas for Hong Kong and directed at monitoring hate crimes; he investigated college admissions quotas; and he opposed English-only legislation.
Introducing Simon, Huang explained that Simon's parents had been missionaries in China and, as Huang put it, "Although he was not born in China, he was made in China."
In his own remarks, Simon made many points about both Asian Americans and Asia. On domestic political issues, he talked about the pending immigration bill from the conference committee. "I will be surprised if that bill is a good bill, if it is in the best interest of our country," he said.
"The best interest of our country is served when we pull and attract the kind of talent that is here," Simon continued. He urged Asian Pacific Americans to "stand up" against the bill.
Simon said that the English-only movement was becoming more active, too. He said the idea of an official language "sounds innocuous." While he agreed that "people should learn English," he emphasized, "there is no question that there is an anti-Hispanic, anti-Asian sentiment to this."
As the author of a book arguing that American citizens should try to become more multilingual, Simon said that if anyone in the room knew Chinese or Japanese, "Try to get your children to speak it, too. ... It is an asset to them as well as an asset to our country."
Concluding his views on Asian American issues, Simon said, "I am grateful for your contributions in science, medicine, restaurants, and many other fields ... [but] we need more of your political participation." Based on APA representation in the population, Simon suggested, "You should have at least 16 members of the House and Senate."
Turning his attention to foreign affairs, Simon discussed Sino-American relations. He urged the United States to improve relations between China and Taiwan. Continuing on that theme, Simon said, "I hope we will do more to say to people openly and publicly, we applaud what is happening in Taiwan. The message to the PRC must be clear and unambiguous; violent answers will not be tolerated."
He also argued that, "The United States should not treat Taiwan like a relative with a social disease." Simon mentioned that when he was in South Africa some time ago to greet Nelson Mandela, he suddenly found himself in the VIP section of the room, fortuitously standing between Taiwan President Lee and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. He took the opportunity to introduce the two men, but he regrets that no newspaper ran a photo of the historic occasion when they shook hands.
While the event had many domestic corporate and individual contributors, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the equivalent of an embassy for the Republic of China, and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, were among the overseas sponsors. The connection between Sen. Simon and Taiwan has been so good that Jason C. Hu, the ambassador from the R.O.C., gave a lengthy speech. He also read a letter of thanks from Lee Teng-hui, the president of the R.O.C. Other well-wishers included President Bill Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.
Simon concluded by explaining he would return to his home state to teach and establish a public-policy think tank. Simon said the bad news was that "You have not heard the last of Paul Simon." For Asian Pacific Americans, that is good news indeed.