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APAs Not Invited to the Party

By: Samson Wong, Jun 05, 2008
Tags: Bay Area, Potstickers |

THE LEFT AND LEFT OUT: The lefty Bay Guardian newspaper, like AsianWeek, has a custom of proudly flaunting on the front page its endorsements — in particular the obscure San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, to which five APAs were elected last Tuesday. While AsianWeek endorsed nine out of 10 APAs running, from left to right on the ideological spectrum, there were few APA names for the committee on the Bay Guardian’s “clean slate,” representing a pro-tenant, -enviro, -labor and -PG&E takeover platform (in San Francisco, progressive is to the left of liberal). In the 12th Assembly, teeming with seven mostly centrist Chinese American candidates, the Guardian found only one APA candidate to its liking — School Board member Eric Mar, who was elected in the 44 percent APA western district. Interestingly, the publication snubbed Deputy Sheriffs Association President David Wong, who lost re-election (Wong’s union supported progressive Matt Gonzalez for mayor in 2003). And in the eastern 13th Assembly, the tabloid reached for business executive David Chiu and educator Joe Julian. While Chiu was elected and Julian’s election was tenuous, the paper left off education executive Rebecca Delgado Rottman, who lost despite her long history of helping immigrant and tenant students. …

WHERE’S THE INCLUSION?: The left, like the Guardian, always preaches inclusion but demonstrated damn little with APAs in the county committee race, let alone the Board of Supervisors, which has finally been cleansed of all elected APA supervisors under the eight-year progressive reform called district elections (appointee Carmen Chu awaits election this November). ….

SO HERE’S THE TALENT: The issue goes to the left recruiting for the county committee race. This spring, they tried to entice Public Defender Jeff Adachi. Assuming that they’re Democrats and live in San Francisco, there are fertile recruiting grounds. Ex-public housing commissioner and Chinatown Community Development Center staffer, Rev.
Norman Fong, would have been a good county committee candidate given his tenant and senior advocacy. A hotbed for recruits would have been the Chinese Progressive Association, with labor and tenant activists Leon Chow, Alex Tom, Gordon Mar
or Sarah He, who once worked for the board’s only African American supervisor, Sophie Maxwell. … And speaking of aides, there is Rachel Redondiez, a homeless advocate of Supervisor Chris Daly’s office (Daly himself won a seat on the county committee); Frances Hsieh of state Sen. Carole Migden’s office; former supervisor candidate Jaynry Mak; or Tomas Lee, formerly of Supervisor (and two-time progressive mayoral candidate) Tom Ammiano’s office. Then there are environmentalists-preservationists like Arthur Chang of S.F. Tomorrow or architect/former SPUR board member Howard Wong, both critics of the Chinatown City College campus plans. And there’s former appointed county committee member Roy Recio, who lost his own run once. Or how about transgender activist/former S.F. Human Rights Commissioner Cecilia Chung, who thought of a run for supervisor in District 11 (Excelsior)? … The left has no excuse for not including more APAs.
 
ROLE OF THE PARTY: Last Tuesday’s skirmish for the 24 county committee seats was over its major clout in endorsing local candidates for office — and less about empowering communities — particularly the APA community. That downplayed the party’s opportunity to groom future candidates for higher office: David Wong (sheriff) or David Chiu (District 3 North Beach/Chinatown supervisor candidate). That also detracted from the less glamorous party building activities like registering more APA voters performed by grunts and incumbents like Mary Jung and Jason Wong of the Asian Pacific Democratic Club, Tom Hsieh of the Westside Chinese Democratic Club and Joe Julian of the Filipino American Democratic Club or challenger Doug Chan, who lost his bid but has decades long history with the Chinese American Voters Education Committee. Hsieh and Jung won re-election while Wong lost his bid. …
 
AND THE ELEPHANTS: While two of three APAs won seats (Stephanie Jeong and Harmeet Dhillon) to the 25-member S.F. Republican County Central Committee, the S.F. Republican Party found three APA candidates who won nomination — all South Asian — to run for 12th Assembly member (Conchita Applegate), 3rd state senator (Sashi McEntee) and 13th Assembly member (Harmeet Dhillon).
 
For more about APAs and San Francisco’s parties: asianweek.com. Reach Samson Wong at (415) 321-5886 or swong@asianweek.com.

Comments

  1. Well hearing this article of Liberals vs. APA doesn’t surprise me at all. Growing up a liberal I at times feel like I’m being treated differently or being tested how liberal I was to the other left-wingers who were mainly white. Not only was I treated differently but also to people I know.

    For example, in high school not too long ago, my classmates told me they were on a field trip to some Green Party meeting where they talked about the race for the 2006 Governor Election and while there, when they took their seats, the committee members told them to get up because those seats were reserved for the members of the party. The whole night none of the party leaders made them feel welcome and the teacher was furious over the treatment he and his students (mainly Asian and African-American) received.

    Though I don’t feel liberals are as open-minded or accepting as they claim to be, I don’t think of conservatives as any better so now I’m an independent and with that said I like to say that extreme liberals are nothing but bigoted hippies and they will never get my vote unless they stick to their ideals and be inclusive for a change.

    –Rocko on Jun 06, 2008

  2. Dear Rocko:
    From the foregoing, it would appear you are “young,” as in years, which, of course, has little or nothing to do with ANYthing.
    But, still, may I pull that old Asian thing?, you know, that generational and priority bit, and reassure you that you are absolutely correct in your assay and responses to your own experience here.
    On the other hand, beware and be askant about “labels” and such. You are now an “independent” rather than a “liberal,” although, rock bottom, I DO believe you are, in fact, “progressive,” as in not dead and not fearful.
    That said, I also must agree with you on the subject and the matter of the “greens” and the “Sierra” clubbers, accent on the club and not too much reference to the glories of ALL “nature,” lower-case.
    Those self-anointed curators and docents of the landscape and the ecology may well be correct in their beliefs, but, in my view, they are bemusingly “elitist” AND shockingly hubristic in their “stance.”
    Which is to say, save the “blue” in Tahoe waters and keep the unwashed away if necessary, but have they even begun to assay the equally beautiful and God-given glories of, say, the Canyon de Chelly, the while they blithely? ignore the iniquities and inequities of the lives and prospects of the native inhabitants?
    They celebrate, memorialize the justly celebrated photographs of the “masters,” the while few, if any, celebrate, much less honor, the ageless observation of one Chief Joseph of the Nez Parce anent the rivers and the grasses.
    No, the rich and the comfy and complaisant are far too inured to their wealth and comforts and complacencies to bother to note their “proprietary” airs herein.
    Fact is, Rocko, if you have access to any of nature’s bounty, the only delimitations are your own sensibilities and “awareness.”
    Meanwhile, join the “greening,” even as you must overlook some of the “greeners,” who are greener than the rest of us.
    And pray that neither earth-skin nor atmospheric confluences strike “home,” wherever home may be, be it Sichuan or the Irrawaddy Delta OR the San Andreas Fault. Mr. St. Helens? That and Spirit Lake as well.
    And, please, make sure you vote come November.
    Cheers.
    Frank Eng

    -

    –frank eng on Jun 07, 2008

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