DISQUS

jozjozjoz · 1 year ago

You said: "Well, wouldn’t it surprise you if the largest ethnic neighborhood of any of America’s largest cities not ever have someone from that ethnic background representing that neighborhood?"

That's really misleading. For instance, it is well known that the Chinatown in Los Angeles is not really the location where Asians (Taiwanese, mainland Chinese, Vietnamese and other immigrants) have migrated to in (at least) over 35 years. In Los Angeles, there are suburbs like Monterey Park and Alhambra where Asians have become the majority since the 1980s AND have elected Asian American representatives to city council and mayor. (See Judy Chu or Michael Eng).

At the same time, a lot of people seem to forget about Michael Woo, who was a long-time Los Angeles City Councilman of District 13 (which is adjacent to Chinatown, but not actually Chinatown). Chinatown in Los Angeles is in "District 1" which is also the same district as "downtown" Los Angeles. Regardless, even if Michael Woo had been elected in District 1 back in the 80s, it would have been a stretch to say he was representing Asians because, large populations of Asians did not live in District 1. In fact, Chinatown is a really small part of District 1.

Nonetheless, congratulations to David Chiu on his election.

John · 1 year ago

@jozjozjoz - I agree that "Chinatown in Los Angeles is not really the location where Asians (Taiwanese, mainland Chinese, Vietnamese and other immigrants) have migrated to in (at least) over 35 years." - but having elected Chiu in San Francisco is *very* symbolic, especially given that Chinatown SF is the OLDEST and LARGEST Chinatown in America.

I am generally happy whenever an Asian American (Republican or Democrat) is elected to public office since I have often blogged about the lack of Asian American involvement in civic duty as well as public office.

jeffat8asians · 1 year ago

John, Kansen Chu represents a heavily Asian district 4 in San Jose, which is larger in area and in population than San Francisco. Lots of Chinese Americans in that district - I know because I live there!

Also, Mike Honda's district in Silicon Valley is heavily Asian, as it includes Milpitas, Cupertino, and North San Jose.

jozjozjoz · 1 year ago

Agreed that David Chiu's election is symbolic given the "OLDEST and LARGEST Chinatown" aspect. It's just that you didn't really make that point very clear in the original post and you made it sound like an Asian representing Asians has never happened before.

Speaking of which, the Little Saigon area has been very good in the recent past in electing Vietnamese Americans into office.

PS - With regard to your statement "I am generally happy whenever an Asian American (Republican or Democrat) is elected to public office since I have often blogged about the lack of Asian American involvement in civic duty as well as public office."

I don't think you should blindly support people based on race. Asian American or not. Likewise, I don't think women should vote for women, solely based on gender. If we want to get anywhere in this country, we should do what many people did in the Presidential Election of 2008: LOOK BEYOND RACE AND VOTE FOR THE CANDIDATE THEY BELIEVE IN.

Also, I wish you would stop talking about the "lack of Asian American involvement in civic duty." The more you say things like that, the more people believe it.

The truth is, Asian Americans ARE involved in civic matters; I mean you blog about Asian Americans in politics ALL THE TIME!

Please stop perpetuating myths about "uninvolved Asian Americans!" You give the ones who are involved a bad rap!

Jim · 1 year ago

The author appears to misunderstand the short history of district elections in SF.

Gordon Lau, for one, represented all of SF, including C-Town of course, when we had at-large elections.

Two people have represented this particular district in all of history - John Molinari and Aaron Peskin. David Chiu will be the third.

John · 1 year ago

@Jim - actually, I did know that the first Asian American was elected to an at-large supervisor position during the Harvey Milk, George Moscone era, but I was unable to actually Google info regarding the specific name/person until you mentioned it.

A Lawmaker's Legacy
S.F. mourns the death of its first elected Asian American supervisor
http://asianweek.com/042398/bay1.html

My point still stands though - no Asian American or Chinese American has specifically been elected to represent the very symbolic Chinatown San Francisco - the oldest and largest "Chinatown" in the United States.

@jozjozjoz - as I had said, I am *generally* happy that Asian Americans *are* elected to public office *because* Asian Americans *are* generally not as involved in civic and community service. This is a fact that I have unfortunately observed while being active in the San Francisco Bay Area. I had commented or blogged when I met another Asian American who had volunteered for the Obama campaign and he said when he was phone banking, he was the only Asian American volunteer, despite the fact that Asian Americans in most communities in the Bay Area represent 15% to 25% of the population on the peninsula / Silicon Valley.

Yes, it is nice to see an active Vietnamese American community in San Jose, despite the efforts to recall Madison Nguyen.

Chris Wong · 1 year ago

And also, what about the larger Chinese-plurality neighborhoods in SF like Sunset or Richmond?

Efren · 1 year ago

Chris: There has actually been a long history of Asians who have been supervisors in the Sunset, and they have used it as a springboard for state politics, like Leland Yee and Fiona Ma, and now Eric Mar's the supervisor for the Richmond.

Guess our esteemed colleague doesn't realize that SF does have a lot of Asians everywhere.