Excited
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may already be familiar with Japanese-American Norman Mineta, especially if you fly out of the San Jose Airport, (which was officially renamed in November 2001 as the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport). Mineta was born-and-raised in San Jose. National Public Radio has a 17 minute interview with Mineta this week, “Norm Mineta on Pioneering Career, America’s Future“:
“In 2001, Norm Mineta made history as the first Asian-American to serve in a presidential cabinet, and bears the distinction of being the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of Transportation. The trailblazing public servant talks about his road to White House leadership, leading the nation through acts of terror on Sept. 11, and his plans for the future.”
Mineta was the first Asian American mayor of a major U.S. city – San Jose, served 10 terms in Congress (20 years!), became the first Asian American cabinent member – Secretary of Commerce under the Clinton administration and only Democrat in George W. Bush’s cabinent, Secretary of Transportation (until he retired in 2006). As Secretary of Transportation, he is most known for his decision on 9/11 to ground all civilian aircraft traffic for the first time in U.S. history. In the interview, Mineta mentions how President Bush was concerned about racial profiling post-9/11 and referenced to others that Mineta had been a Japanese internee during World War II (Mineta was interned at the Heart Mountain internment camp near Cody, Wyoming.)
To be honest, I didn’t realize how ground breaking Mineta’s career has been until writing this post. Mineta has certainly paved the way for many Asian American politicians, including current Representative Mike Honda’s (current vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee)
How does this post make you feel?
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
NOTE: 8Asians.com is a community, and we thank you for being a part of it. While we welcome and appreciate differences in opinion, if you're rude or you're promoting spam, we have a right to edit or delete your comment. Read our comment policy for more information.
If you see a comment that violates the 8Asians.com comment policy, you may flag the comment by mousing over the comment and clicking "FLAG."
Good news: you get an airport named after you.
Bad news: it's the disaster of an airport in San Jose!
Mr. Mineta has certainly has had a groundbreaking career, but he also may have violated our nation's signature ethics law. If the authorities would investigate the very real possibility that he violated the Ethics in Government Act for failing to disclose the details of his income of up to $1 million in stock options while Commerce Secretary, he could actually be found guilty of a felony. See:
Former Transportation Secretary Mineta and the Ethics in Government Act
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?15bba1...
I encourage your readers to carefully review his Public Financial Disclosure Reports and the four white papers that contain numerous facts related to this matter, and then come to their own conclusions.
Sometimes there's more to the story than just what's on the surface. This has nothing to do with him being Asian American, but everything to do with ethics and honesty in our federal government.
Good news: you get an airport named after you.
Bad news: it's the disaster of an airport in San Jose!
Mr. Mineta has certainly has had a groundbreaking career, but he also may have violated our nation's signature ethics law. If the authorities would investigate the very real possibility that he violated the Ethics in Government Act for failing to disclose the details of his income of up to $1 million in stock options while Commerce Secretary, he could actually be found guilty of a felony. See:
Former Transportation Secretary Mineta and the Ethics in Government Act
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?15bba1...
I encourage your readers to carefully review his Public Financial Disclosure Reports and the four white papers that contain numerous facts related to this matter, and then come to their own conclusions.
Sometimes there's more to the story than just what's on the surface. This has nothing to do with him being Asian American, but everything to do with ethics and honesty in our federal government.
Custom Search
Recent Posts
- Chinese New Year Lanterns
- Is Kim Jong Un Dead? Assassination Rumors Hit the Internet
- Help Fight Stereoptypes With Asian Crew Clothing
- Deftones’ Chi Cheng Wakes Up From His 3-Year Coma
- SXSW 2012 Has a Nice Handful of Asian Movies
- Woman In China Gives Birth To 15 Lb Baby
- Naruto & Dragonball Now Available On Barnes & Noble Nook
Recent Comments
- : Funny, because in Russia European women prefer nice (Han )Chinese men over their abusive white men. Stereotypes are regional, and people tend to look more... – Why Do People Hate Asian Male/White Female Relationships?
- : Durex always has such dubious studies. – Study: "South Korean Men Are Second Most Unfaithful In World"
- : I'm gay and I'm asian myself. It's not that I think white are trash or ugly. But I never wanted a a white guy... I... – Blatant Anti-Asian Racism on Gay Websites Still Exists
- : Where is the Love? What if you were to accept what Biffer has to say as a minority talking to the Establisment of Black and... – What if Jeremy Lin Weren't Asian?
- : My reply is actually to "Where is the love?" – What if Jeremy Lin Weren't Asian?
APA Events
Feb 16: Adam WarRock and Kirby Krackle: West Cost Tour Dates!!!
Feb 16: (New York, NY) Amar Chitra Katha: Monica Ferrell, Chitra Ganesh, Keshni Kashyap, and Himanshu “Heems” Suri of Das Racist
Feb 17: (Los Angeles, CA) All My Sons
Feb 18: (Stanford, CA) Stanford’s 16th Listen to the Silence Conference- Feb 18: (San Francisco, CA) NAAAP-SF Lunar New Year Gala 2012
Feb 25: (Los Angeles, CA) Past Present I Future Imperatives: Queer Space Time
Mar 3: (New York, NY) Vong Pak’s ‘Electric Shaman’ Concert
Apr 30: (Sacramento, CA) California Asian Pacific Islander Policy Summit 2012: iAdvocate
Staff and Contributors
- Editors
- Ernie Hsiung - Founder, Editor-in-Chief
- Moye Ishimoto - Co-Editor, Editorial
- Joz Wang - Co-Editor, PR & APA Outreach
