This Memorial Day, let us give earnest thanks for the all the servicemen and women who have so bravely served and sacrificed themselves for our country so that we may enjoy liberty and freedom.
And let us reflect upon and remember a different class of veterans—those of the Civil Rights Movement. Without their courageous sacrifice of blood, sweat, tears, and sometimes their lives and liberty to brave attack dogs, tear gas and beatings –we’d not be able to enjoy what we have today. Our civil rights heroes chiseled away and broke down bit by bit the racist barriers that keep us from the full equalities that all Americans are entitled to enjoy. To them, we owe an eternal debt.
REMEMBER the human cost to get us here.
While all of us would readily recognize names such as Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., how many of us remember the hundreds of thousands of Chinese coolies who helped develop the West but suffered horrific persecution and discrimination in the 19th century because they were stripped of their rights under the ‘law’ and not permitted to give testimony in the courts? Their plight gave rise to the term, “A Chinaman’s chance” to mean zero chance of redress through the legal system. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, forcibly kept Chinese families apart for 61 years before it was repealed in 1943.
And even though Germany, Japan and Italy were enemies of Allied Forces during World War II, only Japanese Americans had their constitutional rights violated and forced into internment camps.
On the shoulders of giants we stand
Sixty years ago, Thurgood Marshall, a young African American civil rights lawyer won the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) before the Supreme Court. It ended racial segregation in the schools. In 1965 President Johnson signed into law, EO 11246 (the “Equal Opportunity Law”) which helped African Americans, Hispanics and women rise to the upper ranks of management in federal government, at universities and private companies receiving government funding. Yet for nearly 45 years, this important law was not enforced for the benefit of Asian Americans until 80-20 Initiative (NAAPAC’s predecessor) secured written promise to do so from presidential candidate Obama in 2008. Today, the number of AsAm federal judges has increased from 7 in 2007 to 25 in 2014. For these, and other landmark civil rights achievements on behalf of Asian Americans (AsAms), we owe thanks to the enduring leadership of Dr. SB Woo, co-Founder of 80-20 and former Lt. Governor of DE. For nearly eight years, I was privileged to serve under Dr. Woo as a Director of 80-20.
Yet our hard-won civil liberties cannot be taken for granted and are by no means guaranteed. No fewer than nine states have passed measures making it harder to vote since the beginning of 2013. Asian Americans remain the MOST discriminated ethnic group according to the US Dept. of Labor and the most aggrieved, according to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Racism never dies and so the fight for equality and justice is a never-ending quest.
As a small ethnic group, and looking distinctly different from our fellow Americans of European decent, AsAm face a steep barrier of acceptance as “true” Americans. We need look no further than the post-9/11 backlash against dark-skinned Asian Americans (including the 2012 Sikh massacre in Wisconsin) to know that acceptance and equality are dynamic statuses that require unceasing effort to maintain and advance.
Prejudice and ignorance breed bigotry and racism which undermine our democracy and in turn, our personal liberties and future. The most effective countermeasure is to build political power through a united bloc vote so that we can hold our elected officials accountable for non-discriminatory enforcement of equitable laws. This is not anything that we individually can accomplish. We ALL need to step up to the plate and work in unity and concert to succeed.
So, my fellow Asian Americans, on this Memorial Day marking also the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. The Board of Education, let us renew our commitment to carry the torch of equality forward
Please DO YOUR PART to support your civil rights organization. The time for action is NOW. It is our moral and patriotic duty. Do it for ourselves, for future generations of Asian Americans and for a better America.
Thank you!
