From: underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe)
Subject: Re: Political Power (Re: New Topics)
Organization: Miners for a Heart of Gold
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 11:25:39 GMT

In article <1gcfuoINN9hn@morrow.stanford.edu> puerta@camis.Stanford.EDU
(Angel Puerta) writes:
>In article <1992Dec12.081551.23739@leland.Stanford.EDU>
>underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>>Please note that the Japanese-Americans should _ask_, not _demand_, that
>>President-elect Clinton _consider_ selecting a Japanese-American [for
>> National Science Advisor] 
>> The extreme over-representation of Oriental-Americans in the sciences and
>>engineering justifies the appropriateness of this request. 
>There is no "over-representation" of Oriental-Americans in the sciences.

Huh?  We must not be in the same United States of America.

>If anything, it is amazing that out of the great (relatively) numbers
>of Oriental-Americans in US Colleges at the undergraduate level so few
>(relatively) reach scientific posts after College.

Where, in the above article, do I even make reference to graduate school?
I am referring to the net pool of all engineering & scientific talent
(including those with no graduate training).

>>I am sure that there are a number of qualified Japanese-Americans who
>>could serve well as National Science Advisor.  President-elect Clinton
>>is now in the process of constructing his new cabinet and is probably
>>collecting names for the  "short" list of potential nominees.
>You may know a lot about -cu and -ge 20th century philosophy but you
>need a course in politics. A face from a competing economic power

Course in politics?  I did extremely in all my social science courses,
including political science.

>in a National Science Advisory position? It'll be a cold day in

No ma'am.

What Oriental-Americans don't need is jerks making comments like "face from
a competing economic power".  What Oriental-Americans don't need is
jerks encouraging them to shy away from accomplishment because of someone
else's stupid hangups.

By the way, when _I_ see Japanese-Americans, I see Americans--Americans
who are entitled and who should pursue their dreams to the fullest extent
of their capacity regardless of the ignorance of others.

>hell before that happens or Clinton has no perspective on symbolism,
>which I very much doubt.

Ms. Puerta is, of course, free to encourage her own ethnic group (or
to continue to encourage Japanese-Americans or any other ethnic group) to shy
away from their dreams because the larger society supposedly has latent
hostility.  (I am, of course, free to verbally object to her position.)

However, I would encourage Japanese-Americans to pursue their dreams
in spite of discrimination.  They should ask President-elect Clinton
for consideration of a Japanese-American as National Science Advisor.

** Again, I wish to re-iterate the word "ask".  This is not the same
as NOW demanding that the VP be a woman or with certain other minority
groups demanding that a quota be targetted.  Japanese-Americans have
largely succeeded on their own wits and, from a political point of view,
it's better to keep a certain distance from the "demand" style used by
certain other groups.

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Jinsei no imi wa nan desu ka.                Sister, can you      |   \|  |`
Shitte itara oshiete kuremasen ka.           spare a coin?        |    | -+-
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Copyright 1992.  Disclaimer:  1 + 1 = 3                           |
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Xref: sparky soc.culture.asian.american:10749 soc.culture.african.american:12862 alt.politics.clinton:18557