The wrong way to court ethnics.

• Author: Massey, Thomas

THE WRONG WAY TO COURT

This was a tense winter for Mayor Diane Feinstein of San Francisco and leaders of her city's Asian-American community. Since Feinstein took office in 1979, many Asian-American leaders have criticized her for not instituting a strong affirmative action program in hiring and city contracting. (San Francisco is pledged to set aside 10 percent of its contracts for minorities; roughly a quarter of the city is of Asian ancestry.) The conflict heated up on January 7, when Feinstein announced a "clean sweep' of the police department, naming a new police chief and replacing three of the civilian police commission's five members, including the panel's sole Asian-American, Thomas Hsieh. Although Hsieh was preparing to vacate the commission to run for city supervisor (with Feinstein's likely endorsement), his departure renewed animosities between Asian-American leaders and the mayor. What irked them, said one Asian-American Democratic leader, was her "failure to replace Hsieh with another Asian in such an important commission.'

In a public letter, leaders of the Chinese-American Democratic Club, the San Francisco Taipei Sister City Committee, and other groups chastised Feinstein, charging that "Chinese-Americans and their needs do not rank very high on your priority list.' At the same time, the staff members of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) rushed to complete and publicize a report criticizing the mayor's poor record of appointing Asian-Americans to executive office. Henry Der, CAA's executive director, publicly berated the mayor. "She has slighted the Chinese community,' he said.

Feinstein appointed ten Asians to important posts over the next four weeks. Deputy Mayor Hadley Roff met with CAA officials to discuss their complaints. After the meeting, Der seemed optimistic, saying he was "satisfied that the administration now understands our concerns.' He added that both sides would meet regularly to discuss "specific steps to achieve the goal of Asian-American promotion.'

The political muscle of Asian-Americans in San Francisco is great but hardly unique. Nationally, Asian-Americans are becoming a major political force. Although they are a small minority--only 4.1 million Asian-Americans versus 16.9 hispanics and 24 million blacks--they are the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group. Their concentration in key electoral states like New York, California, Illinois, and Texas gives them additional clout. What's more, Asian-Americans are on average better educated and wealthier than the population at large, making them a significant source of campaign contributions. As a result, Democratic and Republican politicians now find themselves bidding for Asian-American support.

The birth of what might be called an Asian-American lobby offers an opportunity to raise some important questions about special interest politics in general. When we appeal to groups rather than individuals, do ideals suffer? How can we recognize differences in need among subgroups and among individuals? The rise of Asian-American politics also provides an interesting lesson in how an ethnic group's clout tends to grow in inverse proportion to the hardships it endures. Asian-Americans, like many other groups, had little power in history when they were suffering most from discrimination and poverty. Where were the politicians when the Japanese were being interned during World War II? Now that Asian-Americans are an ethnic success story, presidential candidates cater to them. Is there a better way to approach members of an interest group--one that ensures benefits will go to those who need them most?

The bad earth

Until very recently, the Asian-American vote was practically an oxymoron. A variety of historical factors conspired to keep Asian-Americans out of politics--most notably a legacy of discrimination worse than that endured by any other group that came to this country voluntarily.

Drawn by the California Gold Rush in the late 1840s, the first Asian-Americans were Chinese who emigrated to send money home to their families in the small coastal province of Toshian. When they arrived, employment discrimination confined...