Asian community to flex some muscle at 'summit'

Nien Liu studies business at the University of Washington, speaks a mangled version of Mandarin and edits a semi-satirical Web site on Asian American issues.

He can delineate the difference between a self-described "banana" (an Asian American who "acts white"), an "FOB" (someone "fresh off the boat") and a "boater" (someone confident of his or her Asian identity, a play on FOB).


		Dan DeLong / P-I
	Nien Liu, co-director of the UW's Asian American Student Union, is planning to attend the summit for Asian/Pacific Islanders on Saturday.

Liu, 20, co-director of the Asian American Student Union at the UW, wants to become even more politically savvy but grows bored at grass-roots workshops that have little follow-through.

Then the Bellevue resident heard about a massive gathering of Asian/Pacific Islanders planned for Saturday in the Tacoma Dome, a single-day demonstration of ethnic political training and influence billed as the first of its kind in the nation.

"A summit, at the Tacoma Dome, with 10,000-plus people -- that's crazy," Liu said. (Translation: He's really excited about it.) "Also, the fact that no one's ever done this had some serious appeal for me. It sounded like someone was daring us to do it."

The Asian Pacific American Community Summit is a complex undertaking of logistics and linguistics, with diverse participants -- immigrants, refugees, American-born, youth, parents, grandparents -- coming together for eight hours of voter education.

Participants will learn how to gain citizenship, register to vote, start a political action committee, run for office and talk to lawmakers. They will hear pitches from gubernatorial candidates and take part in a non-governmental census conducted in 12 languages.

Whether 10,000 attendees is too ambitious a goal remains to be seen. But organizers say the time has come to increase and show off the political clout of their community, which ranges from fourth-generation Chinese, Japanese and Filipino Americans to more recent immigrants from Southeast Asia.

"Asian/Pacific Islanders cannot be ignored any longer. We are the fastest-growing community in the United States since 1990, and we will continue to grow," said Faaluaina "Lua" Pritchard, a summit organizer.

She believed that holding a summit would generate more excitement than the single day of organized lobbying in Olympia by Asian/Pacific Islanders during each legislative session, especially during a critical election year.

If only a single family better understands how government operates and takes pride in Asian/ Pacific Islanders coming together to benefit their entire community, "our goal for the summit will then be met," said Pritchard, executive director of the Korean Woman's Association and chairwoman of the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of Pierce County.

Her coalition and seven others, each representing a different region of Washington, have taken the lead in producing the summit. In addition, more than 100 organizations -- ranging from non-profits with million-dollar budgets to volunteer groups with fewer than 50 members -- have offered support and/or endorsements.

That alone enabled organizers to meet a goal of "strengthening our unity across the state," said Diane Narasaki, chairwoman of the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of King County and co-chairwoman of the summit steering committee.

More than 320,000 Asian Americans live in Washington, with Pacific Islanders totaling 24,000, according to the 2000 Census. Together, they account for nearly 6 percent of the state's population.

When counting those who identify their ancestry as at least partly Asian or Pacific Islander, the total grows to nearly 440,000 Washington residents, or 7.4 percent.

Asian/Pacific Islanders make up more than 10 percent of the population in King County.

Across the United States, 83 percent of registered voters in that racial group voted in the 2000 presidential election, noted the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, a coalition of national and regional groups, several of which have Seattle chapters.

The council said that Asian/Pacific Islander party allegiances have shifted back and forth between Democrats and Republicans throughout the 1990s.

"I think you see the profile of a politically active community, one that has the potential to be a very significant voting bloc. In a close election, the rate of participation can make a great difference," said Narasaki, executive director of Asian Counseling and Referral Service in Seattle.

Asian/Pacific Islanders in Washington "should be especially proud of their efforts to empower our communities and raise our visibility as a political force," said Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. He will give a national perspective at the summit.

Nationally, Asian/Pacific Islanders total 12.8 million people, making up about 4.5 percent of the population. Their numbers are expected to triple by 2050, according to recent Census projections.

But more than numbers is needed to make a difference in the political landscape.

"It has been my observation that significant (Asian/Pacific Islander) members are successful in their professional careers," said Vang Xiong Toyed, co-founder of the Spokane Hmong Association. "But we have yet to mature our unity in American society."

Summit organizers believe that process will get a boost through Saturday's event, which some are already calling a success simply because so many groups have joined forces.

"Getting those organizations to agree to a common agenda is an onerous task," said Jasmit Singh, a computer engineer in Olympia and education director for the Sikh Coalition. "We've gotten past that critical stage."

Among the issues relevant to all the groups are health care, education and "the whole aspect of national security affecting people of color," Singh said.

Liu, the UW student, said college-age Asian/Pacific Islanders have concerns similar to other students: the rising cost of higher education, the availability of jobs, the young lives changed by serving in the armed forces.

"Perhaps something closer to home is affirmative action. Where do (Asian/Pacific Islanders) fit in? Do we need it? Asian Americans are always caught in the middle of the debate," he said.

Raising Our Asian Pacific American Representation, a local organization that goes by the acronym ROAR, will explore those and other issues by conducting a survey during the summit, said Nadine Shiroma, founder of Eastside Asian Pacific Islanders.

Rahul Gupta, communications coordinator for International Community Health Services in Seattle, is already looking forward to building on Saturday's summit.

The next element of success, he said, will be "to work with people who have not felt empowered to participate in the past, and (who) will then have the courage to speak up, even if only a little."

WANT TO GO?

The Asian Pacific American Community Summit will be Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome. Workshops start at 12:30 p.m., with a gubernatorial candidates' forum at 2 p.m. and cultural entertainment throughout the day. For more information, go online to www.apasummit.org.

P-I reporter John Iwasaki can be reached at 206-448-8096 or johniwasaki@seattlepi.com

Add P-I Local headlines to