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By Vicdcy Bdkenrode
The possibility of Bill Lann Lee becoming one of
the highest ranking Asian Americans in the Clinton
administration is still up in the air.
Last summer. President Clinton nominated Lee as
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the
Justice Department.
While many hoped the nomination would sail the
previous Congressional, the nomination hit a road
block when several Senate Republicans opposed
Lee's stance on affirmative action.
justice for victims of discrimination," the press
release stated.
The opposition against Lee's stance on affirmative
action was unfounded, said Matthew Finucane,
executive director of the AFL-CIO's Asian Pacific
American Labor Alliance.
"Bill Lann Lee is a very mainstream civil rights
lawyer and he doesn't believe in racial quotas — his
record is being distorted in effect as a political foot
ball," Finucane said.
"Newt Gingrich and those on the right are often
A force, spearheaded by Senate Judiciary looking for opposition to stir the pot in affirmative
Committee Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, threatened to kill
Lee's nomination in subcommittee — before even
receiving a full Senate vote.
The committee vote appeared like an even 9-9
split, with all eight committee Democrats and one
Republican — Arlen Specter, R-Penn voting for Lee.
As a defensive tactic, Lee's political supporters support base
decided to table the committee vote until the next
legislative session to buy more time and sway more
votes.
According to a White House press release, Lee
has devoted his career to civil rights law — making
him a perfect candidate to head the country's civil
rights department.
"For the past twenty-three years, (Lee) has
worked with a wide variety of organizations and
citizens in order to achieve consensus and obtain
action and in Bill Lann Lee they found an opponent
because he's a civil rights lawyer that would pursue
affirmative action remedies."
Daphne Kwok, executive director of the
Organization of Chinese Americans, said the extra
time allowed Lee's advocates to build a broader
We're trying to get as much education about Bill
Lee into the community as possible," Kwok said.
The extension also allowed a greater part of the
general public to learn about Lee's nomination.
"Inside the beltway it seems like such a pressing
issue," said Bob Sakaniwa, Washington representa
tive of the Japanese American Citizens League.
"But the average person on the street doesn't real
ly know about the nomination — this gives us a
chance to rally the troops."
Kwok said Lee's nomination has won support
from several political officials. "The President has
continued to make a commitment to Bill Lann Lee,"
she said.
Lee also has the backing of members of the
Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses and
Minority Leader, Richard Gephardt.
"The civil right community is totally behind Bill,"
Kwok said.
"His backing is so wide and at a very broad level,
which is very impressive in itself."
Although there is still a danger of Lee's nomina
tion being killed next year, supporters said they
remained optimistic about the outcome.
"We believe if the nomination went to a full
Senate vote, Lee would get at least 51 percent of the
votes," Kwok said.
But, getting Lee's name past the committee vote
will still be the main hurdle when the Senate meets
again in. January.
"The president has said that Bill Lann Lee will be
the next person for the position, but in order to
make that happen pressure must be put on the
Republican senators," Finucane said.
"We must remind these senators that civil rights is
a bi-partisan effort."
By Vicky Bcikenrode
The Asian American community excels
in many fields in this country, however in
■ terms of politics they are still working in a
' baby industry.
’ The lack of political representation and
we
activism stemmed from the short time many immi
grant groups have lived in the united States, said
Betsy Kim, special project director of the
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Institute.
"I think a lot of it's culture — Asian Americans are
likely an immigrant constituency and a fair
ly new group politically," Kim said. "We
should grow in support as we become more
part of the American mainstream."
Kim pointed out that many immigrant
groups were not as attuned to American pol
itics because of the language barri
er.
"Many only read papers in their
local tongues, which focus a lot on
news in their home country," she
said. "There's a lot of concerns fac
ing them and politics is not very
high on their priority list — worrying about assimilating and adjusting to the
culture here is."
But, an interest in the political world is growing within the younger gen
eration. Kat Song, spokeswoman for the Conference on Asian Pacific American
Leadership, said her organization targeted Asian American students to educate
them on APA issues.
"The Asian American political scene in the D.C. area is in its baby state con
cerning political activism APA organizations," Song said.
Another factor hindering political representation for Asian Americans result
ed from an anti-Asian sentiment from the campaign fundraising scandal.
"I think because of the fund raising controversy there's been this climate of
anti-Asian sentiment and I wonder if Bill Lann Lee is a victim of that and the
negative media portrayal of Asian American," Kim said.
Kim said the CAPACI organization monitored the Senate Governmental
Affairs Committee to guard against racial stereotyping.
One such comment made during the hearings came from Sen. Sam
Brownback, R-Kansas. "No raise money, no get bonus," Brownback was report
ed as saying during the July hearings.
Brownback's comment caused outrage among several Asian American groups
in Washington.
"We voiced our protest and Brownback apologized," she said.
Despite the discouraging anti-Asian sentiments floating around D.C., Kim
said there was still hope a formidable Asian American political representation.
"We're working with other groups to form a national council so the Asian
American community will have more of a voice on the national level — we are
making strides."
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