After a year of feeling battered, abandoned and discriminated against, Asian American groups and individuals have appealed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to investigate the cumulative impact of the campaign fund-raising controversy on the treatment of this racial minority group by national media and politicians.
Since the controversy first made headlines, signs of unfairness abound. Some news commentators, reporters and politicians have made racially insensitive remarks, verbal and written, about alleged Asian American involvement in illegal fund-raising. (Two months ago, under the cloud of fund-raising reports, an Asian American member of the Commission on Civil Rights was detained at the White House entrance under suspicion of being a foreign national.)
The prejudice against Asian Americans manifested in this episode has been a bitter blow to the community, but Asian Americans also must learn that taking the money route to gain a voice, however well-intentioned, was ill-advised. Instead, we must return to working the issues.
Before the fund-raising controversy broke, many politically active Asian Americans had high hopes that they could secure a firm voice and influence in a second Clinton administration. Knowing how difficult it is to match the cohesiveness and influence of the African American, Latino and other voting blocs, some politically active Asian Americans calculated some time ago that there is enough wealth in the Asian American community to impress the president and national political parties with monetary contributions.
Administration officials began to look at the Asian American community as a cash cow to assist the Democratic Party agenda, but short of policy substance and unable to deliver a substantial bloc of votes. As the controversy heated up and "soft money" contributions were returned to donors, the administration conspicuously distanced itself from Asian Americans and their concerns.
It was heady for some Asian Americans to be involved with million-dollar fund-raisers and to be invited to the White House for coffee. Photo ops with the president became routine.
It was this eagerness to play the money game with both political parties that some Asian Americans have come to regret. Ironically, as they correctly oppose any legislative prohibition against political donations by legal permanent residents, Asian Americans have come to realize that soft and hard money contributions have not bought any respect for their political involvement, only grief and suspicions that they may be foreign government operatives.
