Jeff Adachi se souvient que des membres de sa famille ont été détenus dans des camps de travail pendant la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale et qu'ils ont tout perdu. Le voici maintenant au plus fort de la lutte pour la mairie de San Francisco. Le maire actuel est d'origine asiatique, mais il a été nommé en janvier pour compléter le mandat de Gavin Newsom. D'autres candidats d'origine sont dans la course et il pourrait s'agir d'une "tendance lourde". L'élection se déroulera le 8 janvier. Une victoire d'Adachi pourrait revêtir un cachet particulier puisque les asiatiques furent victimes de racisme pendant une bonne période de l'histoire de San Francisco. L'Article mentionne d'ailleurs le Chinese excluision act de 1882. Outre la photo d'ASdachi, je vous laisse également une caricature qui reflète assez bien les sentiments de certains américains face aux asiatiques à la fin du 19e siècle.
He’s one of six Asian-Americans candidates who are drawing on their life stories of immigration, discrimination and empowerment as they try to become the first Asian-American elected mayor in the city’s history.
San Francisco already has an Asian-American mayor in Ed Lee, who was appointed in January. But the Nov. 8 election is being seen as an historic moment in a city that has the largest percentage of Asian-Americans in the continental United States and boasts the nation’s oldest Chinatown.
While the candidates are from diverse Asian backgrounds and differ on policy, all agree that the community’s time has come.
And it’s not just in San Francisco. The race “is just a glimmer of what’s to come for Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities across the country,” said Gloria Chan, president of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies in Washington.
If an Asian-American candidate wins, San Francisco will be the largest U.S. city with an elected Asian-American mayor. There are 35 Asian-American mayors nationwide, including Lee, according to APAICS.
Having one elected in San Francisco would have special meaning.
“There has been a long history of anti-Asian sentiment in California, even in San Francisco,” said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, a Chinese-American who is among the mayoral candidates and was endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Chinese, for example, came during the Gold Rush then stayed to help build railroads and bridges. When gold became scarce and wages began to fall after the Civil War, many Chinese were forced to take up low-income jobs.
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the nation’s first law limiting immigration based on race or nationality.""
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67143.html
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