Asian Americans have made countless distinguished contributions to
American society. Like other American racial minorities who have
historically been denied opportunities within the American
electoral system, Asian Americans have worked steadily to
participate in U.S. politics and its judicial system. Asian
Americans have a long history of seeking social justice and equal
treatment by challenging discriminatory laws and practices in
education, employment, housing, land ownership, immigration, and
other significant public-policy- issue areas. Distinguished Asian
American Political and Governmental Leaders is the first-ever
compilation of biographies of Asian American elected officials,
major political appointees, judges, and activists. It provides
information on the life histories and political accomplishments of
96 Asian Americans, who have participated in political, judicial,
and civil rights arenas of this nation from 1950 to the present.
Most of the distinguished Americans profiled in this important
resource were trailblazers, being the first Asian American or the
first of a particular Asian ethnic community, for example,
Vietnamese Americans, to be elected or appointed to a leadership
position. The late Dalip Singh Saund, for example, became the first
Asian American and the first Indo-American ever elected to the U.S.
House of Representatives when voters in Imperial and Riverside
counties in Southern California elected him in 1957. Elaine Chao
was the first Asian American and Chinese American woman appointed
to a presidential cabinet post when President George W. Bush
nominated her to be the U.S. Secretary of Labor in 2001. And the
late John Aiso became the first Japanese American, as well as Asian
American, judge in California when he was appointed in 1953. In
selecting the leaders for this book, the authors have provided a
glimpse of the diversity of electoral and nonelectoral forms of
political participation and representation that Asian Americans
have pursued. Included are biographies on each Asian American who
has served or is serving as a state governor (Ariyoshi, Cayetano,
Locke, Waihee); other statewide elected office (Eu, Fong, Hirono,
Kealoha, King, Lau, Woo); the U.S. Senate (Akaka, Fong, Hayakawa,
Inouye, Matsunaga); the U.S. House of Representatives
(Faleomavaega, Kim, Matsui, Mineta, Mink, Saiki, Saund, Wu); and as
a presidential cabinet member (Chao, Mineta). The authors have also
provided a cross-section of 45 Asian American elected officials at
the municipal and state levels for 12 states from Alaska to
Massachusetts and from Minnesota to Texas. Among them are the first
Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese American elected officials, as
well as some of the longest-serving Asian Americans, such as Harry
Lee, who has been continuously re-elected as Sheriff of Jefferson
Parish, Louisiana, since 1979. Also profiled are Asian Americans
who have played major leadership roles in nonelectoral political
pursuits, such as Yuri Kochiyama, Philip Vera Cruz, and Angela Oh,
who have made significant contributions in the areas of human
rights, union organizing, and race relations.
General
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