Hot APA Races to Watch Nov. 5 Colorado Congressional Campaign Historic for Both APAs and Democrats APAs Make Strides in the Green Party Crowding the Ballot San Francisco Candidates State Candidates San Francisco Propositions State Propositions
	APAs in the Elections & Endorsements 2002: San Francisco and California (Feature) Columbus Day Dissent Strengthens Solidarity Between APAs and Indigenous Peoples (in National News) Honda Opposes Bush Administration’s Force in Iraq (in Bay Area News) Fashion and Compassion (in Business) Lowell High School Wins First Place in Dragon Boat Championship (in Sports) From ‘Oriental’ to ‘Asian American’ (in A&E) Emil Amok: Don’t Be Fooled By Kung Fool Company (in Opinion)

Kahealaniku‘Uleialoha “Kahea” Aipia.

APAs Make Strides in the Green Party

But members say that more can be done to outreach

By May Chow
AsianWeek Staff Writer

With 541 candidates running for office in November, the Green Party sees its strongest representation this election year. Last fall, the Federal Election Commission recognized the Green Party as a national party and this spring, the party opened its national headquarters in Washington, D.C.

One of the main goals of the Green Party is to increase its diversity; it has created a committee that will track and highlight electoral campaigns and victories of people of color affiliated with the Green Party. “The Green Party is making a strong effort to get more communities of color running for them,” said Ralph Nader, who ran for president in 2000. “There are many seats to be had in the United States. I actually encourage [Asian Pacific Americans] to run for local seats such as city councils and school boards.”

Nader said that one of best ways to broaden the Green Party to the APA community is to develop epicenters in neighborhood communities. But many activists and politicians said the Green Party still has a long way to go before it can be successful with its outreach to APA communities and other communities of color.

Gordon Mar, director of the San Francisco Chinese Progressive Association, said the Green Party movement is a positive political trend because it represents a real alternative to the two-party system.

“Currently, the Green Party is not very diverse,” said Mar. “If they want to be a political factor in cities and states that have diverse populations, they need to really address this weakness. Here in San Francisco, I have seen some small steps to improve diversity among the Green Party, but there still is a lot of work to be done.”

Howard Chong.

Of the 541 candidates listed on the Green Party Web site who are up for election in November, there are six who are APA. Ross Mirkarimi, spokesperson for the California Green Party, said the numbers might be higher since volunteers man the websites.

Kahealaniku’Uleialoha “Kahea” Aipia is running for State Senate in Hawai‘i. Born and raised on the big island, Aipia is an environmental activist and has no political experience.

D.C. Amarasinghe is the Green candidate for U.S. Congress in Virginia’s 2nd District. Amarasinghe has been a physician in the Tidewater area of Virginia for 30 years. He was born in Sri Lanka in 1941 and graduated from the Medical School University of Ceylon. Amarasinghe is running on a platform that focuses on affordable health care, environmentalism and social equality.

Berkeley resident and incumbent Howard Chong, 23, is running to retain his seat on the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. Chong said becoming a member of the Green Party was a political statement. He added that he wanted to be affiliated with a party that respected diversity and community solidarity.

“To be with the Green Party also means that I stand against the current pay-to-play political system,” Chong said. “I stand strongly for business responsibility, for respect of the environment and for peace. Democrats are split on the issue, and so I changed my registration a few years ago to let myself be counted.”

Evergreen Chou.

“I am Chinese American,” Chou said. “I live in Flushing, a predominately Asian district. So this job has my name written on it.”

Chou first got involved with the Green Party when Ralph Nader ran for president in 1996 and picked Winona LaDuke, a Native American woman, as his vice presidential running mate.

“Imagine that, an Arab American and Native American for president and vice president,” said Chou, 41, who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan when he was 9 years old. “Of course it is also the emphasis of the Green Party’s platform that attracted me to the Green Party. Ecology, social and economic justice, naming the real enemy: greedy corporate take-over of our government. Those are some simple concepts that won me over to be a Green.”

Chou founded Flushing Greens with his wife Day Starr. Having a close relationship with the Chinese press, he has become one of the city’s leading Chinese American voices. He said he wants to change the image of the Green Party by telling people that the Greens are not an environmental party but a social justice party as well.

Rahul Mahajan.

In Texas, Rahul Mahajan is earning a name for himself. As a Green candidate running for governor, Mahajan is running against five other candidates. Mahajan faces a tough monetary battle: as of September, he had less than $1,000 in campaign funds.

Mahajan has a doctorate in physics from the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of The New Crusade, a book about the war on terrorism. His platform includes limiting corporate power, and giving voice to low income people.

Joyce Chen.

Tomas Lee, who helped found Mixed Greens, a Bay Area organization that promotes diversity in the Green Party, said although there are APAs running for public office, there still needs to be more APA representation in the Green Party.

“We want to bring more communities of color into the Green Party and let people know who we are,” said Lee, who has been a Green for 10 years. “I think in the Bay Area, the Green Party lacks a large constituency of diverse communities.”

Currently, there are a handful of Green APAs who hold elected office across the nation. Twenty-two year-old Joyce Chen of New Haven, Conn., became the first APA elected to the Board of Aldermen in her district. She won the Ward 2 seat in the mostly African American Dwight neighborhood. Spending less than $500 for her campaign, Chen won the race against an African American incumbent with a good track record.

The same neighborhood, earlier that year, had protested an APA couple’s purchase of an empty storefront.

Raised in Harlem, N.Y., Chen had just finished her studies at Yale University when she decided to run for public office. She personally knocked on 1,000 doors and registered about 150 voters. She and another running mate become the first third-party candidates to win in general elections in New Haven in 65 years.

In Madison, Wis., Shwaw Vang, 34, became the first Hmong to win local elected office. Vang won a citywide school board race in April 2001. Born in Laos, Vang immigrated to the United States in 1978 as a Hmong refugee with his three brothers.

Shwaw Vang.

In Lower Paxton Township, Penn., Nazeer Chaudhry won a Judge of Elections seat in November 2001.

Also in 2001, 18-year-old Young Han ran as the Green Party candidate for the 21st District seat in the State Legislature in Washington state. Han was the first Green Party candidate in the race. Han lost the race, but plans to run again.

“If I find that I have any other political ambitions — I have the taste for blood now, and I think I like it — you’ll be the first to know,” Han says on his now-defunct website.

The Road Ahead

Respite some representation of APAs, many feel the party needs to be more diverse.

“Asians should be making up more of the Green Party,” Chong said. “The Asian values of fairness and familiar and community responsibility are in line with the Green Party’s key issues.”

Mirkarimi said the Green Party has been aggressively organizing in communities of color, especially in APA communities in California, through bilingual messaging.

“We try and do many recruitment meetings and neighborhood forums where we invite civic leaders [who] reflect some of the values of the Green Party,” said Mirkarimi. “I know we have a long way to go when it comes to diversity.”

Mirkarimi added that if APAs want more support from the Green Party, they need to heed issues that are important to the Green Party.

Nader said he hopes to see more APAs running for office and getting involved with the Green Party.

“Well, APAs are just starting out; they’re just [starting] to make a name for themselves,” Nader said. “So you have to give them some time.”

Reach May Chow at mchow@asianweek.com.