THE HONORABLE
NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF
TRANSPORTATION
APAICS EIGHTH
ANNUAL GALA DINNER
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
MAY 2,
2002
7:30 PM
Good evening and thank you, Daphne, for that wonderful introduction. It’s an honor to be here with all of you tonight, and to bring you President Bush and Vice President Cheney’s best wishes for a successful conference.
I want to take a moment to recognize some special guests, or rather take a few moments given the number of people who have flown in from around the country to be here today.
It’s good to see Joie Chen has taken time out to be our emcee tonight. Joie, thank you so much for the support you give to the community.
With all of the Members of Congress here tonight, I hope there aren’t any votes, or we’re going to lose a big chunk of our crowd!
We’re joined by several Members from the leadership of the Asian Pacific American Caucus in the Congress. The Caucus Chairman, Congressman David Wu of Oregon. The Vice Chairman, Congressman Mike Honda of California.
And a founding Member of the Caucus’ Executive Committee, and the new Democratic Whip in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California.
Thank you Senator John Ensign of Nevada for coming tonight, as well as Congresswoman Shelly Berkley from Nevada, and Congressman Lane Evans from Ohio.
And I am proud to be here with a number of my fellow Asian Pacific American appointees in the Bush Administration.
Unfortunately,
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao couldn’t be here tonight, but the Department of
Labor is well-represented by Shinae
Chun, Director of the Women’s Bureau, and Sam Mok, Chief Financial Officer for
the Department.
Viet
Dinh, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy is here tonight.
From the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, we have John Tsu, the Chairman, and John Duong, the Executive Director.
Joseph
Jen, the Under Secretary of Agriculture is here tonight, as is Edward Kubo, the
U.S. Attorney from Hawaii, and Michael Liu, Assistant Secretary for
Public and Indian Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
And
I am very pleased that Ambassador Sichan Siv, Representative of the United
States to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, could be here
tonight.
Sichan
is an outstanding leader for our community, and all of us owe him a debt of
gratitude — both for his work
in the White House during the last Bush Administration and for his unwavering
commitment to building a voice for Asian Pacific Americans in the life of this
Nation.
I would like to thank Daphne Kwok and the APAICS Board Members who turned out in full force tonight. A lot of you flew all the way from the West Coast, and even from Hawaii. I’m sure the conference will be worth the trip, and it is wonderful to see you.
More than anything else tonight, I am proud to see that the bipartisan leadership of our community is represented. That has always been the goal of APAICS since its founding, and it is just as important today as it was when the organization was started.
As a community, we are Democrats, Republicans and Independents — and across the board we are increasing our involvement in politics, and in public policy. As individuals, each of us has an American voice that needs to be heard in the public debates of this Nation — a voice that increasingly is heard loud and clear.
Fostering the growth of that voice is the core of APAICS’ mission — helping to encourage involvement, and to give the future leadership of our community the tools they need to join the leadership of the country.
Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent, your leadership and your participation matters.
As a community, Asian Pacific Americans are probably more diverse than any other in the Nation. We, or our ancestors, came from dozens of countries, we speak a multitude of languages, and each of our communities has a unique culture and a unique history. And we are equally diverse politically.
That diversity of history and opinion is the greatest strength we have in addressing the challenges over which we can agree.
This organization is about fostering opportunities for that kind of bi-partisan cooperation — it is about bringing together the diverse leadership of our community to empower every voice, and to serve as a forum to bring those voices together.
As leaders of the Asian Pacific American community, we must lay the groundwork for the next generation.
The task we face today is to advocate the policies in which we believe, to defend our convictions, to create avenues of communication, and to open doorways for political involvement between our community and all levels of government.
We do not seek simply to empower our community alone. We seek to build a better Nation for all our fellow Americans, while ensuring that Asian Pacific Americans fully participate in that future.
As many of you know, my personal inspiration to be involved in public service came after World War II from one of my community leaders, I.K. Ishimatsu.
When my family was released from the internment camps, Japanese Americans were not exactly trusted and welcomed back into American society. I.K. realized that our community had no political voice, and he wanted to ensure that nothing like the internment camps ever happened again.
Even though he knew most of us had lost everything, he went around to the families in the area, picking up a dollar here and two dollars there, to buy a few tickets to the local Republican and Democratic political party dinners.
He asked a few young people to represent the Japanese American community at those dinners, and that is how I first got involved in politics.
Japanese Americans across the country followed a similar path. And it was that involvement that led to the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.
It took almost 50 years, but, in the end, we won an official apology from the United States Government for the injustice of the internment — along with a commitment that no such mass violation of civil liberties will ever happen again in this country.
The Greeks had a saying that reminds me of Mr. Ishimatsu and his philosophy:
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
Mr. Ishimatsu planted those seeds, not knowing if he would live to sit in the shade of their trees. Thankfully, he did. When he passed away at the age of 100 in the year 2000, he had lived to see a very different world, and a very different America, from the one he knew in the 1940’s. A better world, and one he helped to create.
Sometimes in the day-to-day of political life, it is all too easy to forget the principles under which true democracy functions: freedom, liberty, representation, and participation.
These are the components of a diverse, well-educated, and active political community. They can only be guaranteed by continued public involvement.
Your participation in APAICS signifies more than access to a network of friends. It is a message to the government that Asian Pacific Americans cherish the right of political participation, that we welcome positive change, and that we will take every opportunity we are given to influence the direction of that change.
Furthermore, it is a reminder that while we embrace our heritage as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, we also value the diversity that can be found only in America.
In short, APAICS is a promise to our ancestors that we will not forget the past, and a promise to our children that we will not neglect the future.
Our Nation faces tremendous challenges today in the fight against terrorism — perhaps one of the greatest challenges it has faced in its history. The commitment of all Americans will be needed to win that war.
On September 11th and the days following that horrific terrorist attack, President Bush’s diverse team of men and women were his greatest asset.
The President did a great service to the American people when he appointed a group of advisors with such wide-ranging backgrounds, each of whom offered a unique perspective on what could, and should, be done in the wake of such devastation.
The President’s cabinet and other advisors, together with the Congress, pulled together in the Nation’s time of need, and showed the world what America is all about. It’s about celebrating differences while pulling together for the common good.
As Asian Pacific Americans, that is a lesson we understand very well — and one that is demonstrated in this room tonight.
I.K. Ishimatsu planted trees for the children of the internment camps knowing his work would produce shade for future generations, and now we have inherited that obligation.
I believe that obligation is a privilege, and your presence here tonight shows you understand that, too.
I think I.K. would be proud. I know that I am.
Thank you very much.
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