Tribute to a True American, Part 1: Apple Pie

He was as American as apple pie.  A volunteer at the American 
Center in Geneva, Switzerland, he also provided free computer 
consulting to the American Consulate there.  He was well liked by 
all those who knew him.  But, he could not keep his promise to me.  
"Dad"’ he said, "the Consulate ran out of voter registration forms, 
but I will get them for everyone in time for the elections."  He 
believed strongly, as I’d taught him well, that all Americans have 
the right and the duty to vote.  But, he will not be able to keep 
this promise himself.

You see, it’s not his fault that he could not keep his promise.  He 
was killed on a home visit this Monday in an auto accident - he 
even died the American way.  I will have to keep his promise for 
him.  As soon as we are able to return to Switzerland I will go to 
the Consulate and get the voter registration forms.  I will make 
sure that we all register and vote.  He would have wanted it that 
way.

He also would have wanted me to finish what I had started.  You 
see, I taught him well about that too.  Although a part of me died 
on Interstate 5 on Monday with him but the rest of me must go on.  
All the tears and all the grieving will not bring him back to me.  
I started out to help the 80-20 Initiative not for any altruistic 
reasons but for purely selfish reasons.  I wished to make America 
into a land where he and his brothers will stand an even chance as 
with any other American to get any job he would have wanted and to 
be promoted in the career he would have chosen.  Equal opportunity 
is not available to my sons now neither is it available to any 
other child born to an Asian-Pacific-American parent.  I know.  
I’ve been there and I’ve seen how the system operates. 

‘Yes, every member of the interview committee recommends hiring 
her.  However, her last name sounds foreign.  I want you to call 
her colleagues to verify that she has no communications problems," 
said the executive.

"Robin is my best performer, but his writings show his foreign 
background.  Therefore, I will not rank him in the top category," 
said the mid-level manager in a forced ranking session.

If these kinds of statements were made in my presence about other 
Asian-Pacific-Americans, what kind of discrimination is going on 
elsewhere?  I am unmistakably an Asian-Pacific-American.  My last 
name and my facial features are Asian to the bone.  They had known 
me for years and yet they did not even realize that they were 
discriminating against me, my children and all Asian-Pacific-
Americans!

"My sons were born and raised as Americans.  I don’t believe they 
should have to go through another layer of screening as you are 
proposing to do in this case," I responded in the first instance.

"Poor grammar and diction may be grounds for a lowered performance 
assessment, but Robin could no more change his background as you 
could yours," was my response to the other.

Will someone be there to speak up for my sons when their turns come 
to look for a job or to be evaluated for promotion?  I vowed that I 
would do whatever I could to make sure that they are treated 
equally when the time comes.  Of course I could steer them toward 
careers that depend less on the opinions of others and more on 
individual achievements.  But, they may wish to choose other paths 
than to become doctors, independent businessmen, etc.  They may 
wish to go into academia, join a large corporation, or enter 
government service.  If that would be the case, they should be able 
to play on an even playground. 

If you are an Asian-Pacific-Americans and even if you are not, 
please go register.  When the time comes, please vote for the party 
that you truly believe has done the most – and will do more - to 
make job and career opportunities available equally for Asian-
Pacific-Americans as for other fellow Americans.  As for me, I will 
vote for the party endorsed by the 80-20 Initiative.  I believe 
from the bottom of my heart to the tips of my toe and the ends of 
my hair that in order for my vote to be effective, I need to join 
with others that share my selfish reasons.

This is my tribute to Jamie, my eldest son.  Born on 29.10.1976 in 
Long Beach, California.  Died on 28.08.2000 somewhere near Modesto, 
California.

David L. Chu, 31.08.2000
From Modesto, California

Tribute to a True American, Part 2: What Matters Most Is...

Each moment is infinitesimal and yet infinitely painful that seems 
everlasting.  The Modesto Doctor's Medical Center SICU staff is 
wonderful but they have their jobs to do preparing the patients for 
the next shift.  As I sit here alone in the empty cafeteria, life 
is returning.  The cash machines are being rolled out.  The smell 
of coffee starts to tempt me.  As I wait, each moment brings back 
some scenes of my precious moments with Jamie.  Just now, I could 
almost see his little face in the voting booth with me.

I would take him to vote as soon as he was born.  I would later be 
able to explain to him the reason as he grew older and we could 
hold a decent conversation as father and son.  At first, before he 
reached that age of comprehension, he would love to simply flip 
that little red levers for me as I held him in my arms.  And it 
eventually became a family ritual with his younger brothers, 
Lawrence and Andrew.  And as he and they grew older we would 
discuss it on the nice walk to and from the polling place.

Summit, New Jersey is a wonderful town.  We were fortunate that it 
is also a fairly old, historic town going back to the American 
Revolution days.  Franklin School is a beautiful place, made 
wonderfully dignified as the polling place by its age and 
architecture.  We loved to walk along the huge trees covering the 
sidewalk and to wave at our friends as we congregate for that most 
sacred political process - the vote.

"Your Yehyeh and Nainai (Grandpa Chieh and Grandma Kwen) made a lot 
of sacrifices so that we are able to vote," I would say to him and 
later to the other boys.  Yehyeh came to the States for education 
when the Chinese were again allowed to come to the US in reasonable 
numbers after WW II.  Going to the university during wartime China 
was a difficult process.  Yet he and Nainai were able to finish 
their university work despite the bombings and the moves during 
which they would have to walk for miles and through mountains - 
sometimes in shoes they would fabricate themselves out of straws 
and old cloth.  They met and married at that time ... but I 
digress.

At the first opportunity to pursue his academic interests and with 
a dream for the betterment for his family, Yehyeh took and passed 
the difficult exam that were held which allowed a handful of 
Chinese students to come to America and study at its universities.  
He had to leave his young wife and three little kids back in Taiwan 
as he studied in America.  When President Kennedy worked with 
Congress to relax immigration for non-Europeans, he was able to 
bring us over.

Therefore, as I explained to him, the vote was a hard-earned 
privilege not to be wasted.  "It does not matter whether you vote 
Republican or Democrat," I would say.  You see, even though I am a 
lifelong Democrat, our friends in Summit, a staunchly conservative 
town, were mostly Republican.  In fact, our best friends, the 
Bennetts, were Young Republicans once upon a time (Jim's dad was 
even the Republican mayor.) and their son, Stephen, was Jamie's 
best friend.  "Republicans are some of the finest people like 
Stephen's parents, so you should simply vote for those who would 
best represent what you believe in."

Last year I stumbled onto the 80-20 Initiative and shared my 
excitement with him.  I discussed with him my experiences, 
observations, and frustrations over the years in corporate America.  
I told him that for the first time since I reached voting age I 
felt the country was ready to open the door a bit wider for Asian-
Pacific-Americans.  Yehyeh and Nainai, who are lifelong 
Republicans, were visiting us in Switzerland as well and were 
eventually brought into the discussions.  They later voted in a 
Democratic primary for the first time.

Jamie and I also discussed my discomfort that the forces of racial 
intolerance seemed again active and my fears that those forces 
would be closing in on the Asian-Pacific-Americans yet another 
time.  I had already written "La Vita É Bella" after watching the 
movie with the family and had shared it with my friends in L. A., 
California.  One passage was written as "Because of the frog.  And, 
... of my children.  Your children.  Our children."  After he read 
it, Jamie suggested, with his wonderful smile, "Dad, I think if you 
would switch the sequence it would be even better."  

Here is the version with Jamie's changes. 

"You have a beautiful family.  You have a wonderful job.  You are 
comfortable financially and content with who you are and where you 
are.  In fact, you are more than comfortable and Life Is Beautiful!  
Well, you’re young and affluent, I don’t need to tell you how the 
movie goes ....

I am sitting here at the edge of Lake Geneva.  Across the lake, 
over the beautiful Mont Blanc, is Italy where the movie was set.  
Life is certainly beautiful here. I could lean back and enjoy my 
wines and skiing.  I could live the good life.  Yet, why do I feel 
this sense of unease?  This need to do something for folks I don’t 
know - for people thousands of miles away?  For a place, L. A., 
that I had left more than twenty years ago?

Because of my children.  Your children.  Our children.  And, ... of 
the frog.

I don’t know where I heard it first, but I have certainly heard of 
it more than once.  It goes like this: If you pour hot water on a 
frog, it will react quickly and jump away from danger.  But, put 
the frog in a pot of cool water and slowly turn up the heat.  It 
will be so comfortable that it will not be able to react when the 
water gets too hot.

With water, the surface is held in a fine equilibrium between the 
forces of unity and the forces of disruption.  The tension created 
by these two forces always exists but is invisible to the naked eye 
except when the water is starting to boil.  So is the tension in 
our everyday lives invisible until the political bubbles start to 
burst.

Look around you.  Can’t you see them?  The bubbles?

- A scientist was arrested and charged even though only 
suspicions existed.  The ex-CIA director was caught red-
handed with hard evidence.  Were all CIA agents with the same 
racial profile as the ex-director targeted for extra 
treatment?  I hope not!  But, the fact is indisputable that 
racial profiling was used in the first case to single out the 
scientist..

- Some people donated campaign money illegally to seek 
benefits for themselves or to further their pet causes.  How 
many illegal donations were made during that same campaign?  
Were all the donors with the same racial profile as all the 
suspects subjected to additional scrutiny?  Again, I hope 
not. Yet, donors that fit certain racial profile were 
subjected to exactly that kind of discrimination.

Are you someone who fits that racial profile?   Are you 
comfortable?  I do and I am not.  Are or will your children be 
subjected to such racial profiling?  Are you comfortable for them?  
Mine are and I am not.

Help us.  Help yourselves.  Help my children.  Help yours.  Help 
all of us and help all our children.  

People were comfortable in Italy in the earlier part of the movie, 
weren’t they?  How comfortable were they later?  You think it could 
not happen in this day and age?  Think again.  People were 
comfortable in Europe just a few years ago but take a look at 
Bosnia to see what could happen when the political waters boil.  

Let us work together to set the political thermostat so that it 
turns the heat down before the bubbles start to form.  Let us make 
sure that life stays beautiful for all!"

Life will stay beautiful forever for my baby, my Jamie.  But, will 
life be beautiful for his younger brothers and your children?

I have no illusions nor desires to be a leader in the Asian-
American community.  However, I am also no blind follower to 
others.  But, I have two children and many nephews and nieces to 
protect from racial discrimination.  I plan to make my vote count 
in this regard by joining forces in the forthcoming elections with 
other Asian-Pacific-American parents who are also desperately 
fighting for their children.

Over the years I would always ask Jamie whether he had voted and he 
had - even when we had to move to Switzerland and he had stayed 
behind for college.  We never discussed whom he had voted for.  It 
was not necessary.  Because he knew that what mattered was that he 
voted for what he truly believed in.  We would discuss the issues 
that mattered to him.  We may not have always agreed on everything 
but we agreed that what mattered most of all was that he voted.  
This year he will not be able to vote but I know what he truly 
believed in and we are in perfect agreement.  I will vote for the 
both of us. 

This is my tribute to Jamie, my eldest son.  Born on 29.10.1976 in 
Long Beach, California.  Died on 28.08.2000 somewhere near Modesto, 
California.  Nainai suggested that the title be changed from "A 
True American" with the addition of "Tribute to".

David L. Chu, 02.09.2000
From Modesto, California

Tribute to a True American, Conclusion: Never Again

“Dad,” Jamie came running home from a school playground in Summit, 
New Jersey, where his younger brothers were born, “some kids called 
Lawrence and Andrew Chinks and foreigners and won’t let them play.”  
Jamie was visibly upset not only because he had always loved and 
protected his brothers but because he would always speak up and 
stand up whenever there was injustice.  I explained to him that it 
was not those kids’ fault.  So, we set out to educate their parents 
who were both doctors.

“Is Jamie there?”  The phone call would always start out this way.  
Jamie was going to Summit High at the time with many friends who 
could be calling.  But when he picked it up, he would get very 
upset.  One could hear a boy repeatedly shout at the other end of 
the line, “Tojo!  Tojo!”  After repeated harassment we asked the 
police to trace the call.  At the hearing, we asked the judge not 
to prosecute but to instruct the boy’s father, a Wall Street 
executive, to teach his son about prejudice.  He instructed that 
Jamie was just as American as they were and that Asian-Pacific-
American was no more a despicable war-criminal than they were.

“The percentage of Asian-Pacific-American applicants is too high.  
Chances are he will not be able to get in.”  I was told when I, an 
UCLA graduate and letterman, inquired about enrolling Jamie to my 
alma mater.  My sister, Helen, went there and went on to become a 
radiologist.  After she died at a young age, my parents even set up 
a memorial scholarship there.  Dad, Chieh, taught there.  UCLA was 
therefore very special to me and to my family.  I was astounded.  
Jamie was a medallist at the Louisiana State Science Fair.  He was 
on the Summit High Track Team.  He was a violinist in the New 
Jersey Youth Orchestra.  He had co-founded with his younger 
brothers a successful consulting enterprise called Eight Bits One 
Byte to tutor and advise corporate executives, doctors, lawyers, 
and even a professional computer trainer on home computing.  But he 
would not stand a chance to apply for UCLA because of a quota that 
limited Asian-Pacific-American admissions?  Needless to say, we 
stopped donating to the alumni fund.  Jamie would eventually be 
accepted to Carnegie-Mellon but would choose Pomona College.

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for 
you - ask what you can do for your country," JFK spoke in his 1961 
inaugural address.  Will my sons and the children of other Asian-
Pacific-American parents always be looked upon as second-class 
citizens?  Or, will they be treated as “fellow Americans” so that 
they would be allowed to do what they could do for their country?  

We could do something to help them by joining forces and by 
exercising our voting power together instead of countermanding each 
other’s vote.  Only then will we Asian-Pacific-American parents be 
able to see to it that  never again will our sons and daughters be 
treated as foreigners in their own country.

This concludes my three part public tribute to Jamie, my eldest 
son.  Born on 29.10.1976 in Long Beach, California.  Died on 
28.08.2000 somewhere near Modesto, California.  It was written with 
the hope that somewhere an American who had never voted would be 
encouraged to go to the voting booth this Fall.  And, hopefully 
somewhere an American would vote for the party that they truly 
believe would do the most to reduce discrimination against and 
therefore bring about equal opportunity for Asian-Pacific-American.  
As for me, I will vote for those endorsed by the 80-20 Initiative – 
the Democratic candidates.

David L. Chu, 04.09.2000
From Modesto, California