Jean Quan Repeats False Claim
to Identity-Politics Milestone

Speaking to the Oakland Tribune about the surging movement to recall her, Oakland mayor Jean Quan repeated a claim she has made for a year since winning election, "It's so unfair. I'm the first Asian-American mayor of a major American city." (Oakland Tribune, Dec. 3, 2011)

Quan's statement is inflammatory – and not true.

Japanese-American Eunice Sato became the mayor of Long Beach, California in 1980 – thirty years before Oakland woke up to find itself with a mayor Quan. The population of Long Beach is greater than that of Oakland.

During World War Two the U.S. government rounded up Japanese-Americans, interning them in camps for the duration of the war. Sato's mother evaded the internment, fleeing with her children to Colorado mountains where relatives lived. The family moved to Long Beach in 1956. After years of service in community organizations, Eunice Sato achieved the office of mayor.

Was there a woman Asian-American mayor of a large U.S. city even before Ms. Sato in 1980? We do not know. Sato, it seems, concentrates on her achievements, not on ethnic identity.

Mayor's official website still makes false claim for identity politics.

In addition, Norman Yoshio Mineta ran for mayor of San Jose and won the office in 1971, "the first Asian American mayor of a major U.S. city" according to Wikipedia. The population of San Jose then was 445,000, compared with 361,000 in Oakland. Unlike Jean Quan, Mineta won every precinct and took 60 percent of the votes. In 2010 the first, second, and third place votes for Quan under ranked choice voting were less than 45 percent of those voting.

The facts are clear. Jean Quan makes a false claim to a historical "first," saying it is "unfair" to hold her to the standards of the office of mayor. She refuses to let us consider whether things are getting better or worse for all Oakland residents, made up as we are of different identity groups. Mayor Quan turns identity politics into an ego trip. In its best form, identity politics is a struggle for the political, social, and economic equality of all of us regardless of our ethnic background. Quan substitutes herself in place of Chinese-Americans, Asian-Americans, and everyone else.

When mayor Quan refuses to give first priority to public safety in Oakland, we are all the victims, including Yu Tian Sheng, beaten to death on Telegraph Ave. in broad daylight. How about turning around the relentless decline in Oakland's police staffing, mayor Quan, instead of hiding behind a false ethnic identity claim?

When mayor Quan let the Occupy Oakland tent city in Ogawa Plaza decay from a political protest into a rat-infested drug market and sanctuary for criminals, downtown merchants saw business drop off a cliff. Asian-Americans operated some of the small shops. Mayor Quan held back her police chief and city administrator, finally agreed to let the tents be removed on Oct. 25, then let them creep back again. How about elementary attention to health and safety right in front of City Hall, mayor Quan, instead of hiding behind a false ethnic identity claim?

Mayor Quan has seen her approval rating drop below 20 percent as she drove out popular police chief Batts and the city attorney, "balanced" the budget last Spring with an accounting trick, demanded yet another parcel tax on residents' homes in Measure I, and capped it off with the worst incident at Occupy camps of any city in the United States.

Please, mayor Quan, do not usurp the historical record of Eunice Sato in Long Beach. The voters of Oakland want to recall you because our city cannot stand three more years of disasters. As mayor, Jean Quan takes the policies that she pushed for years on the school board and the city council to an extreme. Her disdain for public safety, her bait-and-switch game with one parcel tax after another, and her endless shrinkage of basic services are not Asian-American policies. They are Jean Quan's failed policies.