Letters to the Editor

December 15, 2000

Facts about Phelan

Dear Editor: I want to add some more historical facts about the late James Duval Phelan, whom Joseph Hong wrote about in “What’s in a Name,” (Nov. 30), which concerns the renaming of Phelan Avenue to Violeta Marasigan Street.

In the interest of social justice, it’s helpful to recall these facts about Phelan, who served as San Francisco mayor and later U.S. senator. He is associated with the Phelan Building on Market Street, Phelan Hall at the University of San Francisco (USF), and contributed some $100,000 in 1929 to the construction of the St. Ignatius High School at Turk and Stanyan Streets, on the lot where USF’s Koret Sports Center now stands.

Phelan was an 1881 graduate of St. Ignatius College, USF’s forerunner. He grew into manhood during the serious economic distress of 1870 when agitator Denis Kearney scapegoated Chinese immigrants with his “The Chinese Must Go” edict.

For the remainder of his political life, Phelan led a split life of being both a philanthropist to his Catholic church and the local Jesuits, and a demagogue for a white separatist movement in California,which led to his senate re-election defeat in 1920.

Ironically, during the dedication of Phelan Hall at USF in 1955, the university’s president said the residence hall would be a home “where young men from afar and from foreign lands may live and learn the ideals [of love and service] to which this university is dedicated.” Though there are currently numerous USF students from the Pacific Rim, many of their countrymen were kept out of this nation from 1882 to 1965 by legislators like Phelan.

Today’s City College of San Francisco students should also be aware of the infamous legacy left by Phelan. San Francisco now has an opportunity to correct a social injustice committed by legislators like Phelan by reserving honors for exemplary role models, not demagogues.

Recently, current USF president Rev. Stephen Privitt announced his vision that this 145-year educational “beacon on the Hilltop” will thrive, in part through its rich multicultural diversity. Phelan would be rolling in his grave.

Raymond A. Lew
San Francisco

Domestic Violence Resources in the South Bay

Dear Editor: We were very pleased to see that AsianWeek featured domestic violence in your publication (“Fighting Back Against Domestic Violence,” Nov. 30). It is very important to get the word out that domestic violence will not be tolerated, and that there are places in the community for women and children to get help.

The concern we had with the article was that the listing for Bay Area resources did not include South Bay centers. Here in the South Bay, there is a large Asian American population that could have benefited from such listings for domestic violence issues.

Our agency, Asian Americans for Community Involvement in San Jose, has a domestic violence prevention and intervention program, along with an Asian women’s home for abused women and their children who need shelter.

It is our hope that next time the South Bay will be included in your resource listing. The more we get the word out to the public that there are safe havens for abused Asian American women and their children, the more we will be able to reach those who so desperately need our help.

Roger F. Chow, Nina Jusuf
San Jose, Calif.

Selling Out Our Neighborhoods

Dear Editor: It’s unbelievable that in this day and age, no cares about the people or residents of a neighborhood. Everything is done for the sake of money. Japantown Bowl is one of those examples.

“J-Town” was a place for young and old to gather. And not just Japanese Americans but all people.

That wasn’t enough, though. The alley didn’t make enough money so it gets closed — and with it goes a piece of history for many people.

As AsianWeek’s editorial, “Keep J-Town Bowl Property for Community Use” (Nov. 30), points out, business has gone down as well. The owners obviously didn’t think about the effect on the community. It’s only the dollar signs or the bottom line that matters. But it’s the way of life in San Francisco these days and it’s unfortunate. San Francisco is a beautiful city, but how can it retain its character when parts of it are closing or shut down because of money?

Donald C. Lee
via e-mail

Corruption, Corruption

Dear Editor: I do not regularly read AsianWeek, but I did catch the Emil Amok column “Gavel to Gavel” (Nov. 30) by Emil Guillermo, and thought it was very good.

I recently heard about something worth looking into: Reportedly, William Rehnquist, now chief justice, was the principal author of a piece produced during the Nixon period of the “southern strategy,” namely the Republican Ballot Security Program. This was essentially a set of proposals aimed at discouraging people of color from exercising their franchise, with long lines, lack of voting supplies, police activity outside polling places, the lot. The time might be ripe for investigating this and publicizing it widely.

Don Sanford
Berkeley, Calif.

Who’s the Bigot?

Dear Editor: “A thinly veiled white supremacist organization” — That’s how some Bay Area officials and media outlets, including AsianWeek, are labeling the European American Issues Forum (Political Potsticker column “Oh, The Times, They are A-Changin’,” Dec. 7).

How has it come to be that American citizens of European heritage are being denigrated for merely trying to participate in our society?

These comments clearly illustrate the bias and bigotry of the Bay Area left and bring shame to the multiculturalist movement.

Philip Melnick
San Francisco

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Written by AsianWeek Staff · Filed Under Letters to the Editor

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