[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 70 (Wednesday, June 8, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      COMMON GOALS IN CIVIL RIGHTS

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the person in charge of my Chicago 
office, which is the largest office I have in Illinois, is Nancy Chen, 
who happens to be a Chinese-American by heritage.
  She was recently been named to the Illinois Advisory Committee to the 
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and she gave a keynote address to a 
meeting of the Commission regarding the problems faced by Asian-
Americans.
  Because it has implications for the entire Nation, not simply for the 
State of Illinois, I ask that her comments be inserted into the Record 
at the end of these remarks.
  Asian-Americans face problems, as she points out.
  And she includes a personal comment of an experience that she had 
heading my office.
  In her address, she says:

       As the head of Senator Simon's office, I was recently asked 
     to meet with a constituent who was complaining about the 
     service of my staff members. But when she saw me, she refused 
     to deal with me because as she put it, I was not American. 
     She also said she did not want to deal with anyone who bombed 
     Pearl Harbor. While others may not be as insensitive and 
     crude as this particular person, the perception that Asians 
     are foreigners contributes to many problems we discuss here 
     today.

  I ask to insert Nancy Chen's full statement into the Record at this 
point.
  The statement follows:

    Keynote Speech for the Illinois Advisory Committee to the U.S. 
                Commission on Civil Rights, May 25, 1994

                            (By Nancy Chen)

       I would like first to thank the members of the Illinois 
     Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for 
     your authorizing this consultation project on Asian American 
     Issues in the Greater Chicago area. As a new kid on the block 
     to the advisory committee, I am very grateful that you took 
     on this project that is very important to the Asian American 
     Community in Illinois and to me personally. As I understand, 
     this consultation on Asian American issues is a historic 
     first for the Illinois Advisory Committee to undertake.
       From the inception of this consultation to the actual 
     conference, it has been a gratifying experience working with 
     the Commission's regional staff, Connie Davis, Peter Manarik 
     and Carolyn Whitfield, whose professionalism and enthusiasm 
     greatly contributed toward the success of this project.
       It is projected that the Asian American population will 
     reach 20 million by the year 2020. It is the fastest growing 
     group in America. It is important that we do not 
     underestimate the social, economic and political impact of 
     Asian Americans in the next 25 years, nor should we neglect 
     the needs and concerns of this community today.
       Although Asian Americans have been in this country since 
     the middle of the last century, we are often considered a new 
     group in the civil rights community. The U.S. Commission on 
     Civil Rights issued an extensive report in 1992 on the Civil 
     Rights Status of Asian Americans in the 1990s, citing wide 
     spread discrimination and barriers in many areas. At a time 
     when our nation is going through another inward looking stage 
     in which anti-immigrant sentiment is not just expressed by a 
     few, but openly used by some politicians to win votes, this 
     consultation project offers an important and timely 
     opportunity for the public as well as Asian Americans 
     themselves to take a closer look at a community that still is 
     comprised largely of immigrants.
       Asian Americans grew 4 times in populations since 1965 from 
     around 1 million to over 7 million in 1990. The Asian 
     community in the Chicago area almost doubled its size from 
     around 150,000 to almost 300,000 between 1980 and 1990. The 
     uniqueness about the community here is that, it is a 
     microcosm of the Asian community in the nation--with every 
     major ethnic group from Asia represented, but no particular 
     group more dominant than others as is often the case on the 
     East or West Coasts or Hawaii, where Chinese and Japanese 
     American communities are well established. Asian Americans 
     here have been able to work together without the exclusion of 
     others. The best example is the Asian Coalition Dinner hosted 
     by a different community each year through a rotation system. 
     The dinner, started 10 years ago by the Chinese community, 
     has grown to become a major cultural and political event for 
     the city, a must visit for local and statewise elected 
     officials and candidates. The uniqueness of the Asian 
     community here, however, does not free it from problems 
     described by the Commission's report.
       Today and tomorrow morning, you will hear the testimonies 
     from a group of community experts and scholars on issues with 
     both national and local perspectives.
       Asian Americans here have often bemoaned the lack of 
     political representation for the community. Unlike the 
     African American and Latino communities in Chicago which have 
     successfully attained greater political strength through 
     redistricting, Asian Americans have remained largely ignorant 
     to the process. Redistricting is a frontier which has been 
     paid little attention, yet is so crucial for Asian Americans 
     to achieve full political empowerment. The panelists will 
     tell you how the redistricting affected Asian Americans' 
     voting power in the city of Chicago and Cook County--an issue 
     which is just beginning to be addressed by the community in 
     the aftermath of the recent redistricting. It has certainly 
     been a frustrating experience for Chinese Americans in South 
     Chinatown who tried to learn the intricacy of the politics of 
     remapping as they attempted to stop Chinatown from being 
     fractionalized. Sadly, they realized that they did too 
     little and too late.
       I hope that by bringing this issue to the forefront, Asian 
     Americans will be better informed about the impact that 
     unfair redistricting plans have to dilute their voting 
     strength and discourage Asian American candidates from 
     running for office. It is also important for Asian Americans 
     to be aware that under the ``one person, one vote'' standard 
     in the U.S. Constitution, Asian Americans are protected from 
     dilution of their voting strength when we constitute a 
     substantial percentage of the voting age population. While 
     redistricting fights are more commonly associated with black 
     and Hispanic districts because of the size of those 
     communities, there will be opportunities for Asian Americans, 
     if only to be kept intact in the district to comprise the 
     influential swing vote. We are robbed of the opportunity to 
     exert the maximum influence of our numbers if we are split 
     over 2 or 3 districts, as is the case in the Chicago City 
     Council. Let me also add that last year's U.S. Supreme Court 
     decision in Shaw v. Reno which questions the validity of 
     majority-minority districts will have future impact on Asian 
     American political progress. The lawyers in our community 
     should watch how it is interpreted around the country by 
     lower courts. It is not too early for Asian Americans to be 
     prepared for the next round of reapportionments following the 
     Census in the year of 2000.
       Perceptions about Asian Americans are often contradictory-
     with reports such as the one in the February issue of the 
     Atlantic Monthly complaining about Southeast Asian refugees 
     taxing our nation's welfare system on one hand, and on the 
     other, a study published by the Center for Immigration 
     Studies warning about Asian American professionals edging out 
     other minority groups and whites in high paying jobs.
       Asian Americans in Illinois have been fortunate that there 
     is less confrontation and hostility directed toward them from 
     either the public or the private sector than those who live 
     on the West Coast. However, job discrimination, glass ceiling 
     and misconceptions about Asian Americans have no geographic 
     limit. In the Chicago area, these problems remain pervasive. 
     Today, We have an opportunity to learn first hand about 
     the conflicting images of Asian Americans--affluence vs. 
     poverty, professionals vs. low-wage workers, etc. The 
     working status of Asian Americans in this area ranges from 
     unskilled workers staying at the bottom rung of the job 
     market to those highly trained professionals who are also 
     in the rut of becoming what many called ``frozen 
     talents'', forever stuck in their technical station, 
     feeling under-utilized and disillusioned. Being labeled as 
     ``model minority'' is more a curse than a blessing for 
     Asian Americans. This well meaning nickname for Asian 
     Americans ignores those in our community who have not 
     advanced and ignores the barriers we face, the promotions 
     lost, the political appointments not secured that we would 
     otherwise expect from our educational and economic 
     accomplishments.
       As many Asian Americans share similar civil rights 
     concerns, the diversity in cultures and ethnicities found in 
     the community here also present many challenges ranging from 
     conflicts within the community to race relations with non-
     Asian communities. The conflicts within the community can be 
     attributed to differences in religion and to historical 
     animosity in the homelands. Although there have been fewer 
     hate crimes against Asian Americans in this area compared to 
     nationwide statistics, there are still concerns that such 
     incidents are underreported because of language and cultural 
     barriers.
       A more serious problem for Asian Americans which is not 
     shared by European or Hispanic immigrants is that we are 
     often not considered American. As the head of Senator Simon's 
     office, I was recently asked to meet with a constituent who 
     was complaining about the service of my staff members. But 
     when she saw me, she refused to deal with me because as she 
     put it, I was not American. She also said she did not want to 
     deal with anyone who bombed Pearl Harbor. While others may 
     not be as insensitive and crude as this particular person, 
     the perception that Asians are foreigners contributes to many 
     problems we discuss here today. Anti-Asian sentiment rises 
     whenever there is political or economic friction between the 
     United States and an Asian country. Asian American candidates 
     have difficulty to be accepted because of their appearance 
     and their ancestry. The feeling that Asian Americans just do 
     not fit into the vision of America keeps Asian Americans 
     behind in their professions, in politics and in their overall 
     pursuit of happiness in a country to which they or their 
     ancestors as many as five generations back have chosen to 
     belong.
       As we look ahead to the 21st Century in which the Asian 
     American population will have a more significant impact in 
     our nation's workforce and economy, the issue of racial 
     discrimination will not go away unless we begin to work on 
     it. To achieve full equality for Asian Americans, we need a 
     lot of allies to help work on common goals. The Asian 
     community has begun to reach out to African American and 
     Latino groups to build civil rights coalitions. It is also 
     important that our policy makers do not view race relations 
     as just black and white.
       In conclusion, I want to thank all the panelists for their 
     commitment to be here to share their insights and to 
     contribute to this important discussion about the state of 
     Asian America. This will be the beginning of many more 
     dialogues that we must actively pursue to promote better 
     understanding and better relations with everyone in our city, 
     state and nation.

                          ____________________