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My Turnby Maileen Hamto |
 |
From The Asian Reporter, V17, #20 (May 15, 2007), page 6 & 7.
Political consciousness
Spring is in the air. In Portland, the season for street protests is in full swing. Ads for ballot initiatives fill the airwaves, and candidates for the presidency now have MySpace pages. (For the record, my list of Top Friends now includes Barack Obama, John McCain, and Bill Richardson.)
Exciting times yield engaging e-mail convos. Consider the following, my response to a question posed by a friend (who is steeped in Native American traditions) about whether socioeconomic status trumps race when it comes to issues of power: economic development, access to resources, and political clout.
"Race still matters — and its manifestation is more apparent when you look at leaders of industry. Among the largest U.S. corporations, less than two percent are run by people of color. Given the same educational background, experience, and skill sets, professionals and managers of color hardly ever make it to the top. For example, there are tons of Asians in middle management across all sectors of industry, but there are only a handful of Asian CEOs leading top firms. Same is true with African Americans and Latinos — all superb cooks, but very few make ‘head chef.’
"On a more ‘global’ view — if it were true that money matters more than race or gender — then I guess it’s hard to understand why the U.S. has never had a Jewish, a woman, or a black president, despite the fact that there are many moneyed African Americans, Jews, and women in this country.
"One cannot ignore the complex intermingling of religion and power in our supposedly secular society. With the exception of J.F.K. (Irish Catholic — and he didn’t even finish his term), men who run the world are mostly WASPs [White Anglo-Saxon Protestants]. Of course, one cannot ignore the role religion plays in the game of global power. Just look at the cadre of candidates for the presidency: all of them are Christians."
Seeing what’s dubbed as the most diverse cadre of presidential hopefuls has made me realize that Asians have a long, long way to go when it comes to acquiring lasting political clout. Which brings me to ponder this: If it took this long for an African-American male to join the A-list of "serious" candidates, will I live to see an Asian-American, non-Christian candidate for President of the United States?
Of course, being a name on the ballot is not the be all end all of political participation in American politics. Campaign workers, community organizers, lobbyists for special interests all play important roles in the outcomes of races and ballot measures. But with the exception of a few token representatives, Asians — particularly first-generation immigrants — are invisible at most levels of the political spectrum. This is especially alarming because Asians have the highest levels of naturalization rates when compared to other immigrant groups.
Immigrants of all colors quite possibly have a better grasp of political consciousness than most pollsters and pundits give us credit for. Whether refugees from war-torn countries or economically and infrastructurally nonviable democracies, we know full well why who’s in charge can make or break a society. We’ve lived through crippling recessions brought about by the badly executed plans of a handful of our leaders. We harbor much guilt over the "brain drain" our countries are left to grapple with when the best and brightest leave home for better prospects elsewhere.
The political system in the United States is orderly and bound by rules of play. It’s not like the messy, chaotic, yet accessible politics many new Americans are used to in the old country. Back home, we are used to grassroots politics — often populist in flavor.
Here in America, one doesn’t simply vote on election day, and call it good. New voters need to be schooled about how politics work in the United States. The checks and balances and formalities of American political life — primaries, run-offs, etc. — could be quite intimidating for those new to the system.
The formidable two-party system makes "taking a side" a bit of a conundrum for many new Americans. We are a self-reliant, hard-working bunch; many of us run our own businesses, producing jobs that benefit not only our families but also our communities.
Given the backgrounds of many new Americans, it’s difficult to see how we can be expected to affiliate with either (1) the party that espouses diversity, yet whose constituencies are deeply divided about the optimal stance on immigration reform; and (2) the party that is supposedly pro-business, but hardly advocates for small and emerging businesses.
For a short period, I spent my lunch hours stuffing envelopes for a progressive political party with a heavy orientation toward environmental issues. It didn’t take long for me to feel severely restricted by its xenophonic anti-Wal-Mart, anti-corporation, and anti-business views. To me, what the anti-globalization stance translated to is this: "We’re anti-China and anti-India."
Parsed further, it also meant: "We’re against any rising powers that pose a threat to the economic dominance of the United States."
The moral of the story? The issues of people and immigrants of color are complex. We’re grateful for the opportunities in our new home in the United States, but many of us also nurture the humility and worldview of a colonized people. We understand how — for some countries that have figured out how to compete in the new economy — the forces of globalization are helping improve the lives of people left back home. In Vietnam, for example, the middle class is widening, while the gap between rich and poor is decreasing.
But it’s not enough that we understand, and do little or nothing about voicing our concerns and demands. Political participation is an important step toward ensuring that our communities’ needs are adequately represented.
Forget the adage: "Silent waters run deep." Here it’s a different world, where "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" in all areas of American life, especially in politics.