By MARK F. HALL
Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Calif.) kicked off Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at the Library with a keynote address on May 1 in which he told a capacity crowd that included the ambassadors from Sri Lanka and Nepal: "We have to cherish the diversity in our nation."
Ethnic conflicts, like those in the former Yugoslavia, "indicate how difficult it is to keep a nation together."
Mr. Matsui graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and Hastings College of the Law. He was elected to Congress in 1978 and has been a leader on such issues as trade, tax policy, social security, health care, children's issues and welfare reform. He is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The theme of this year's celebration, "One vision, one mission, one voice," was echoed in Mr. Matsui's address, which illustrated the difficulties of reconciling the often conflicting concerns of different groups. Describing a conflict in the House Ways and Means Committee markup session that he said delayed his arrival at the program, Mr. Matsui told of two colleagues with opposite views on an issue. But both "were absolutely right and absolutely pure in motive," which, as is frequently the case in a democracy, makes finding a suitable compromise challenging.
The United States is particularly demanding because of its great diversity. "If you close your eyes," he said, "it is easy to picture someone who is German, Japanese or even French or English. When one tries to describe an American, it depends on one's perspective or outlook."
Mr. Matsui talked movingly of his parents, born and raised in the United States near Sacramento, Calif., who were among the 120,000 Asian Americans interned for 4 1/2 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Calling internment a "breakdown of the Constitution and society," Mr. Matsui noted that these Americans, interned simply because of their racial heritage, were denied their civil liberties. He said he was thankful that "this government has a way of correcting itself," and that through the legislative process, in 1988, it apologized and made restitution to the remaining survivors.
By the 1980s, according to Mr. Matsui, Asian Americans were popularly regarded as "the model minority," whose achievements in the arts and sciences were well documented by the media. But very few hold positions of political leadership, even today, he noted. Although Asian Americans comprise more than one-tenth of the population of California, they hold only one of the state's 120 legislative seats, Mr. Matsui said.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Mr. Matsui said, should be a time to celebrate not only the past but also "to see if we can do better. Americans always look to the future. Ultimately we want to make sure our grandchildren have a situation where race and background are not an impediment to success."
Mark Hall is a cataloger in the Copyright Office Cataloging Division.