A Seat at the Table
August 19, 2008
This year’s Democratic convention, which opens next week in Denver, will provide more access and more visibility than ever for Asian Pacific American Democrats. However, APAs have had a seat at the table at the Democratic Party’s quadrennial presidential convention ever since the large-scale alliance between progressive Hawaiian labor unions and returning Japanese American war hero-candidates wrested control of Hawaiian politics from Republican-leaning plantation owners a half-century ago.
In the 1940s and ’50s, Daniel Inouye, Spark Matsunaga and other Democratic APAs became leaders of the Hawaiian Democratic Party as well as territorial and then federal elected officials. When Patsy Mink (1964), Norman Mineta (1974), Daniel Akaka (1976) and Robert Matsui (1978) joined the United States House of Representatives, they also became leaders of the Democratic Party and players at the Democratic Party’s official convention.
The Jimmy Carter (1976-1980) and Bill Clinton (1992-2000) presidencies brought many APAs into Democratic Party politics as well as into service in the federal government. The presidential campaigns of Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988 were also a major vehicle for bringing young APAs into electoral politics, which some of them had previously avoided in favor of more direct-action grassroots politics.
It was Rev. Jackson, in fact, who delivered the keynote at the Democratic convention in San Francisco in 1984, which called for a “Rainbow Coalition” to use political empowerment for the goals of social justice. With Eddie Wong, Butch Wing and other high-level staffers of APA background, Jackson explicitly mentioned APAs, as well as African Americans, Native Americans, Jewish and Arab Americans, gays, youth and others, in his keynote speech.
Party conventions used to be the place where parties gathered to discuss issues and choose a presidential candidate. While this may sound unbelievable in the age of the corporate-controlled media and never-ending presidential campaigns, candidates used to announce their candidacies early in the same year as the election, conventions used to open without a presidential candidate already chosen and candidates used to have to stand for something more than what their high-priced campaign consultants determined were the most popular issues.
Ever since John F. Kennedy won the 1960 election based, in part, on a good impression he made on television, television has become more important to politics. For this reason, conventions have become as scripted as a television show. Speaking slots are allocated based on factors such as who will be speaking opposite a popular game show or who will be able to reach markets on the west coast before the east coast market goes to bed.
Asian Pacific Americans will have several important roles at this year’s Democratic party convention. Rep. Mike Honda, the Congressman who represents the San Jose area, is vice president of the Democratic Party and head of the Congressional APA Caucus. He will join Minnesota Congressional candidate Ashwin Madia, the Obama APA Outreach Team, APA Delegates and Battleground State Party Leaders for an Asian Pacific American Power Hour at the Democratic National Convention on August 25.
This so-called Power Hour will focus on strategies to integrate APA outreach into the Obama Campaign, make outreach to APA communities a priority for each state’s Democratic Party and get more APAs into the political process.
APAs also will have a role as official reporters from the convention this year, thanks to the Democratic national Committee’s designation of the Asian American Action Fund’s blog as an official convention-sanctioned news source. Visit aaa-fund.com to read real-time updates from the convention by APA bloggers.
The whole point of a convention is to vote for the presidential ticket for the party, and some APAs have been elected by their non-APA and APA neighbors to serve as voting Obama delegates to the convention. These include Bobbi Kommineni (TX), Brian Wang (CA), Jay Chen (Calif. CD 38), Julie Agarwal (VA), Ramey Ko (TX) and Serena Kirk (CA).
For more information about the convention or about the Democratic Party’s outreach to APAs, contact Obama AAPI Outreach Director and Deputy Director Charmaine Manansala and Betsy Kim at Asian Americans for Obama (tinyurl.com/6euaus).
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