Chinese Americans could be left out
By Julie D. Soo
Despite roots tracing back to the Gold Rush era, and a recent population growth to almost one-third of San Francisco’s nearly 777,000 residents, Asian Americans, particularly Chinese Americans, have far to go in establishing political clout. So said David Lee, executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee (CAVEC), last month at a forum co-hosted by the Sunset Democratic Club and newly-formed Westside Chinese Democratic Club.
One reason Chinese Americans still lack political muscle, Lee pointed out, is that among likely Chinese American voters, over one-half are registered as Independent or decline to state a party. These voters are left out of major party campaigning. They don’t get major party mailers or solicitations. In contrast, the voter rolls show that among other groups of voters citywide, only 14 percent are registered Independent or decline to state a party.
In District 4, where the majority of the Sunset and Westside Chinese Democratic Clubs’ members reside, API presence increased from 45 percent to 54.8 percent, as the population grew from 65,543 in 1990 to 70,672 in 2000. Meanwhile, non-Latino whites lost their majority, dropping from 47 percent down to 37.4 percent.
Districts 2, 7 and 8, each with a non-Latino white majority, boast the highest voter turnout. The districts with lowest turnout, on the other hand, are in black, Latino and API enclaves. Districts 1, 4, 10, and 11 — the Richmond, Sunset, Bayview, Visitacion Valley, Excelsior, and Oceanview-Merced Heights-Ingleside (OMI) areas of the city — are now districts with an API majority. District 3, which includes Chinatown, is still more than 75 percent API. Consistent with the decline in the San Francisco’s black population from 10.9 percent to 8.1 percent according to 2000 census figures, today, no neighborhood district is predominantly African American.
Lee’s presentation brought out other eye-opening information. Nearly 50 percent of the Chinese American voters reported to get their news and information through the Chinese language media.
Furthermore, out of a random poll of 500 voters with Chinese surnames and who have voted in the last three years, 47.8 percent speak Mandarin; 29.5 percent speak Cantonese; and 22.6 percent speak English or are multi-lingual. In a city where Cantonese have dominated the Chinese American population for over a century, Lee surmised that the new dominance of Mandarin speakers reflects the surge in immigration from mainland China.
Dividing Lines
San Francisco’s Asian Americans hope that any redistricting will maximize pockets of Asian American voting power and will help push more APIs into elected office. Whether electing supervisors by district will help diversity and reflect the city’s population remains to be seen. Indeed, with the return of district supervisor elections in 2000 after a 23-year absence, the number of Asian American supervisors dropped from three down to one, with the loss of Michael Yaki in District 1 and Mabel Teng in District 7. Currently, Sophie Maxwell from District 10 is the only African American and the only woman on the Board of Supervisors.
Lee reported that redistricting was supposed to have started this summer. However, a charter amendment proposal may push back the process until January, because of investigations into the alleged irregularities with the Department of Elections.
Currently, based on a 1996 Charter Amendment, the redistricting committee is to be comprised of nine members: three appointed by the mayor; three appointed by the director of elections; and three at-large members. The proposed charter amendment is likely to take away appointments by the director of elections and, perhaps, place the appointments with the Board of Supervisors.
The delay in the redistricting process threatens to disadvantage candidates — particularly those new to campaigning — because with boundary uncertainty, candidates effectively have only seven months to gear up their campaigns for November 2002. In contrast, Alameda County has already completed its redistricting.
Through a random draw in January by the clerk of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, even-numbered supervisor districts will be up for election in 2002. Consequently, the delay in drawing district boundaries could adversely affect the chances of District 4’s Asian Americans to elect an API supervisor. Supervisor Leland Yee, who currently represents the district, has declared his bid for the state Assembly.
Many residents in District 4, with its concentration of single-family homeowners, may hope to keep their boundaries intact to maintain the momentum of neighborhood concerns that have been addressed in the last six months. District elections have brought a surge of improvements to this and other forgotten districts, those districts with seemingly less political clout than more affluent areas. Home ownership remains a high priority in the Sunset area. And, among the city’s Chinese American voters, 55.8 percent are homeowners and 42.2 percent are renters. In dramatic contrast, citywide statistics show that only 26 percent are homeowners and 74 percent are renters.
With a target population of 70,612 for each district, District 4 with 70, 672 doesn’t need to change much. Or, so the audience first thought. Lee and a few politically astute members of the audience pointed that redistricting is not based on the obvious, but rather, a political process that can bring on gerrymandered districts. |
