Then there's Tuesday's mayoral election -- between two white men who
are both longtime members of the city council.
What's going on in the Bay Area's fourth-largest city? Political
experts and community activists say it could be many years before
Fremont's elected officials begin to mirror the ethnic diversity of the
people they represent. A significant number of the city's 210,000
residents are recent immigrants, and it'll take time for them to gain a
political foothold, they say.
But it's also clear from a recent series of controversial events that
an influential and vocal contingent of Fremont residents are uncomfortable
with the city's image as a multicultural community. Some seem to resent
its transformation from a mostly white, blue-collar farming town -- so
much so that diversity has now become a dirty word in one of the region's
most diverse places.
"I think there's a feeling out there that diversity is being forced
upon people," said Steve Cho, the city's vice mayor and lone Asian
American on the city council. "I think some people who have been in
Fremont for generations are saying, 'Diversity is not something that I
wanted.'"
Cho is no radical activist. He's a Republican running for reelection,
and clearly understands some of the political dynamics in Fremont. He
makes sure, for example, that voters know that he was born in the United
States, displaying that fact prominently in his bio on the city's Web
site.
He also has firsthand experience with his city's diversity backlash. In
June, Cho proposed that flags from around the world fly alongside the
Stars and Stripes during Fremont's Fourth of July Parade. He said he was
trying to generate enthusiasm for an event that was lagging in popularity.
Response to his proposal was swift. Critics said his idea smacked of
political correctness and demanded that it be scrapped. Others said it was
time for the city's immigrants to begin assimilating. The Boy Scouts
pulled out of the parade altogether, citing fears of being enveloped in a
political maelstrom. Eventually, volunteers stepped in to carry the flags
in a parade entry whose name was changed from "Nation of Flags" to
"Birthday Wishes from Other Nations."
A couple of months later, controversy erupted again, this time in
Centerville, a 150-year-old section of the city that is one of Fremont's
five founding neighborhoods. Some local residents and business owners got
angry when Afghan community leaders floated the idea of erecting a small
sign welcoming visitors to "Little Kabul," an Afghan-dominated, two-block
business district in Centerville.
Fremont is home to the largest concentration of Afghans in the United
States. For that reason, Little Kabul, as it was apparently first dubbed
by a writer for the San Jose Mercury News, gained worldwide
attention after 9/11 and the US invasion of Afghanistan. But some business
leaders and residents of Centerville resent the moniker and wanted nothing
to do with the sign. Afghan community leaders shelved the proposal
indefinitely.
"The lack of understanding in our community, it was really harsh," said
Rona Popal, executive director of the Afghan Coalition. "They really
criticized our point of view."
Antidiversity sentiment is so strong that a daily newspaper endorsement
citing the need for diversity on the all-white school board may actually
have hampered the campaign of a Chinese-American candidate. At least,
that's the concern being raised by political colleagues of candidate Ivy
Wu after The Argus endorsed Wu late last month, while nonetheless
calling her opponent, Rose Vargas, "better informed."
"In a city where almost 40 percent of the population is Asian ... we
think it's crucial that at least one qualified Asian American sits on the
board," the September 24 endorsement said.
Letters of outrage immediately began pouring into the Argus. One
writer said she was "dismayed," and another said she was "appalled."
Another called the endorsement "one of the most misguided pieces I've ever
read." Another simply said: "Shame on you."
"It certainly hurt her campaign," observed Albert Wang of Citizens for
a Better Community, the most influential Chinese-American group in
Fremont. "Now Ivy has to defend her qualifications instead of talking
about the issues."
Wu is doing her best to put a positive spin on the endorsement gone
awry. "I don't want to respond to what's being said," she said. "I feel
it's petty. People will find out who I am by how I act. Others are just
going to believe what they're going to believe, no matter what."
It also says something about the racial politics in a city when
community activists shy away from -- or even denounce -- the technique
commonly employed by other cities to increase minority participation in
politics. The technique? District elections. Fremont is the largest city
in the Bay Area to still use at-large elections, which means that even
city council candidates face the formidable task of attracting support
from the entire city. By contrast, San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland
all employ district elections, which enable candidates to win a seat based
solely on support from the smaller geographic areas they hope to
represent.
Not surprisingly, all three have city councils more representative of
the multicultural Bay Area. Oakland's council, for instance, features
representation from all of the city's main ethnic groups: three Asian
Americans, two African Americans, two whites, and one Latino.
"District elections can definitely help groups that are concentrated in
certain areas but are diluted citywide," San Jose State University
political science Professor Larry Gerston said. District elections also
can inspire more minorities to register to vote and to run for office
because it's easier to win a large neighborhood than an entire city, he
said.
Over the years, several minority candidates have run for office in
Fremont, but few have won. If Wu were running in the heavily Asian
district of Fremont known as Mission San Jose, her supporters believe she
would win in a landslide. Nevertheless, many of Fremont's mainstream
ethnic activists treat the idea of district elections as if they were the
electric third rail of politics. Citizens for a Better Community, for
example, doesn't support district elections.
Jeevan Zutshi, who is prominent in Fremont's large Indo-American
community, is blunt about it. District elections, he said, could result in
"ethnic ghettos."
"You must have a candidate who can represent everyone," he said.
Zutshi and others believe potential minority candidates need to work
their way up in Fremont's political system by first serving on lower-level
commissions before jumping to elective office. "The truth is, we don't
have an Indian who is ready," he said when asked why no Indian has won
elective office in Fremont's history. "First, you have to become part of
the mainstream."
Some Fremont community activists say it's unfair to compare Fremont
with cities such as Oakland. Incorporated in 1956, Fremont is a much
younger city, and the influx of immigrants there is a relatively recent
phenomenon -- spurred greatly by the 1990s high-tech boom. By contrast,
Oakland has been diverse for decades. As a result, it will take time, they
said -- possibly another generation -- for Fremont's political system to
catch up to its diverse population.
But some activists from newer or less politically active ethnic groups
disagree with their more established colleagues. They said they would
embrace district elections, and noted there is no work-your-way-up test
for whites in Fremont. "The more diverse we are politically, the better
off we would be," said Gil Singh, a trustee of the Sikh American Cultural
Heritage Awareness Association. "I would like to get representation. I
think it would be better for everybody."
The closest Fremont has come to an attempt at attracting more
minorities to politics was a 1998 City Charter initiative that would have
increased the number of councilmembers from five to seven. The thinking
was that adding two seats would increase the odds of a minority getting
elected. It lost by eight hundred votes.
Councilman Bill Pease, who is running for mayor, supported that measure
but said he opposes district elections. As mayor, he said, he would not
use ethnicity as a criterion when making appointments to boards and
commissions. "Background and qualifications are more important," he said.
But his opponent, former Police Chief Bob Wasserman, believes the lack
of minorities in elective office is a problem for Fremont, and thinks
district elections will be in the city's future, maybe in eight to ten
years. He also said he plans to seek out minority candidates for mayoral
appointments. "When I was in the police department, I used to say that
police officers should mirror the community," he said. "And I will use the
same philosophy as mayor."
