Author: Marlon Meyer
Northwest Asia Weekly
From top left: Bruce Harrell, Toshiko Hasegawa, Viwan Song Maritz, Han Chen, Steve Hobbs, Michel Saju, Nick Brown, Hamdi Mohamed, Victoria Woodward and James Albertson
As a wave of newly elected and appointed officials from minority communities sweeps across all corners of the state, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and leaders of black communities are forming alliances.
Partly inspired by the election of Bruce Harrell as mayor of Seattle and the successful event celebrating his legacy in the two communities last month, the leader is organizing several events to build unity between the two communities.
Eli Lilly’s long-time community leader and executive Nate Miles said: “We have the first black and Asian American mayor, which provides an unprecedented opportunity for our two communities to collaborate. .”
Organizers plan to hold a virtual celebration called “The Voice of Unity” for more than 80 newly appointed AAPI and black officials on January 13.
A face-to-face secret meeting will be held in the spring, during which officials can further build relationships and propose a series of issues of mutual concern that they can resolve.
Nonetheless, the plans for the celebration on January 13 have helped to establish a connection between the two groups.
“I already know some other organizers,” said Henry Yates, a consultant representing minority and female-owned companies.
“I already know some. But I have reached the point where I will ask for help without hesitation. I know this attitude is mutual because I have been asked to ask for help.”
This way of establishing a relationship is what the organizer hopes the meeting can achieve.
Yates pointed out that many of the new officials are in remote areas, or because of demographic differences, people usually don’t expect minority candidates to win.
Kyoko Matsumoto Wright, the mayor of Mountlake Terrace, is an Asian American woman. Olympia and Tumwater have three new black councillors — Don Tai Payne, Angela Jefferson, and Peter Agabi — not to mention AAPI councillor Yen Huynh. More than 40 years ago, David Chen, the fire chief of Yugosnohomish, immigrated from Hong Kong.
“The leadership of Asian and African Americans has expanded to all of these places,” he said.
The virtual celebration is also aimed at expressing support for Harrell and at the same time building solidarity, as minority officials and their communities seek to cooperate with him when he begins to govern.
“We want him to be the mayor of everyone,” said David Della, a long-time leader of Philippine communities and labor activists. “This is a two-way street.”
Della said that the purpose of this event was to enhance the vitality of a noisy large-scale dinner last month. More than 400 people from many minority communities in the city attended the celebration and commemoration of Harrell. He was greeted by loud and repeated applause and cheers.
The dinner also represented the gathering of different groups to commemorate what they called a landmark election.
For example, Della made sure that there were representatives of the Filipino community, filling up seven tables.
However, Yates said that the emergence of so many new officials from these communities did not come from racial politics.
“These people are required to hold leadership positions,” he said. “They didn’t represent themselves in a racial way.”
However, he said that their existence is to some extent a response of voters and administrators to the turmoil and activism of modern society-including “the fate of blacks is also fate” and anti-AAPI hatred.
“Some people admit that some of these communities are at a disadvantage, some try to deny the basic rights of these communities, and people see this and say,’isn’t it time for these communities to be represented as a way? Fair competition,’ “Yates said.
He said that 21-year-old Joshua Binda, who was elected to the Linwood City Council, claimed to be a “black man’s fate is also a fate” activist.
At the same time, Clarence Morwaki, who was elected mayor of Bainbridge Island, built a memorial there to commemorate the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“His family was affected by this incident,” Yates said. “Now he will make policies for the community.”
Organizers said that the appearance of new officials in the two communities was also due to the progress made by their predecessors.
Yates pointed out that Harrell chose to stand with former Mayor Noam Rice on the night he celebrated his victory.
De La hopes that Harrell can provide similar support to the Philippines and other minority communities like Rice did. He said that an organization to protect the rights of Filipino workers was established in Rice’s office.
“He is really supportive, he meets with the leadership every quarter,” Della said. “This is the forerunner of the city’s so-called racial and social justice initiative.”
Looking ahead, the cooperation between these new officials may cause some problems, including finding ways to allow minority communities to benefit from the taxes they pay.
Yates said: “We can unify to ensure that public funds are used more equitably.”
For Miles, who has been cooperating with Asian community leaders for many years, whether it is a campaign or fundraising for critical infrastructure such as health and safety nursing homes, cooperation has always proved to be the best way forward.
“They all told me that although we might achieve something, when we work together, we will become stronger, smarter, and achieve more,” he said.
The event was organized by Seattle’s AAPI and black community leaders: Nate Miles, Regina Glenn, Elaine Ikoma Ko, Tim Otani, Janice Zahn, Henry Yates, David Della, Winona Hollins-Hauge, Kristin Ang, George Northcroft, Girmay Zahilay, Abdul Yusuf , Lem Howell, Cindy Wong-Li and Assunta Ng.
To meet new officials, please register for the Zoom meeting:
Conference ID: 984 1825 8953
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You can contact Mahlon in the following ways info@nwasianweekly.com.
