Asian Americans focus on involvement in U.S. politics

As an issue that is typically perceived in terms of black and white, many people say the civil rights movement has often glossed over the role of the Asian-American community. That lack of representation was one of the main points raised last Friday by the keynote speakers of "Origins and Crossings," the 16th National Conference of the Association for Asian-American Studies. The session, part of a four-day program in Philadelphia, took place at the University Museum's Harrison Auditorium before a crowd of about 100 people. According to keynote speakers Stuart Ishimaru, senior counsel in the Civil Rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Karen Narasaki, executive director of the National Asian American Legal Consortium, Asian Americans have failed to make their agenda known to the American public. That failure has come despite invitations to join civil rights coalition groups like the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition. The speakers brought attention to the fact that Asians themselves are negligent of the responsibility they have to seek greater political recognition. Both Narasaki and Ishimaru are involved with lobbying in Washington for Asian-American interests. "There is very little data about how discrimination [against Asian Americans] is taking place," said Narasaki, citing the lack of specialists on the topic to provide her with the statistical evidence to forward her lobbying efforts. One reason that Asian Americans have little political involvement is that many people within the Asian-American community feel that the link between political change and their standard of living is rather weak. "A lot of the people who were immigrants from far worse countries [than the U.S.] feel like they've bettered themselves by moving here," Narasaki said. Additionally, the fact that the Asian-American community has found little common political ground with the African-American and Latino communities has, according to Narasaki, further weakened its political clout. "You know that most of the time people talk about minority issues that they're not talking about [Asian Americans]," Narasaki said. But with the appointment of Bill Lee to the position of assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights -- although it has not yet been made permanent -- many Asian-American community members directly involved with lobbying in Washington believe that Asian American interests will attract more attention. "By having Bill Lee at the table, it makes sure that Asian American interests are represented," Ishimaru said. Change may also be felt in the increased involvement of Asians with legal affairs in Washington. "I would go to the Asian Bar meeting [in Washington] and you could literally fit its members into a phone booth," Narasaki recalled. "Now I see hundreds of people there." And perhaps the speeches themselves may have galvanized a few community members to become more aware of the political issues they face. "[Narasaki] was very clear on the direction we need to take towards rethinking [Asian-American] issues," said Rona Halualani, a professor of Hawaiian Studies at San Jose State University.