Last night, per the efforts of Congressman Mike Honda, the San Jose city council endorsed the bid to rename San Jose’s main post office on Lundy Avenue after Chinese-American community leader Gordon N. Chan (House Resolution H. R. 6558), as reported in “San Jose council endorses post office honor for Chinese-American leader“:
“Chan, who died in December 2001 at age 65, ran his family’s plant nursery in San Jose for 30 years and became an influential leader in the area’s Asian-American community. The organizations he was involved with included the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Association, Asian Americans for Community Involvement, the Santa Clara Farm Bureau, the Santa Clara County Planning Commission, the Open Space Commission and the Santa Clara County Fair board. He also was an active member of the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.”
Now you may argue that naming a post office after a Chinese-American is not a big deal. On the surface, I would probably agree. But for every post office, public school, street or building named after an Asian American is a small, but significant effort in raising the consciousness that Asian Americans are Americans that are to be honored and are no less Americans that have served the public good in some significant way. I would be honored if almost any building was named in my honor. I say almost any, because I don’t think President George W. Bush will be happy if San Francisco’s Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant gets renamed George W. Bush Sewage Plant this November (Measure R: Renaming the Oceanside Water Treatment Plant (PDF) )
What next?
Other posts you may be interested in:
- Obama San Jose Office Opening – Where Are You Asian Americans?
- San Jose City Council approves ‘Little Saigon’ banners
- The San Jose Little Saigon controversy and its impact on Vietnamese American politics
- Howard Dean & the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community in San Jose
- Otto Lee Honored by SF’s Cathay Post of the American Legion
Recent Comments
- KFC vs. KGC: WTF???
- alienation: This is a great thread! I grew up eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. My family would make an effort to get it in East L.A., over by the King Cole Pizza. It was way better than the Kentucky Fried over in MPK and up in SG. I...
- Proof that Russell of Disney/Pixar’s Up is Asian: The Color Scripts
- Daul Kim: One Sassy ‘n Smart Bitch
- Najib: I wonder what is going on with this girl. She has been fooled into this simulacrum, and what she thought was real is not real at all.
- Mending Broken Glass: Khmer Rouge History Now to be Taught in Cambodia
- kbok: it may seem shocking to other people that kids don’t believe their elders when hearing about khmer rouge atrocities, but if your mother told you that soldiers shot at her, pushing her off a mountain and into landmine paths...
- Chinese Adoptees: Stolen or Abandoned?
- Dan: CSLI, I think my previous comment stated that I “hope” not “should”. It was not meant to belittle anyone and yes I can imagine just like most people, adopted or not. Though the effect will not be the same as...
- Obama Bows to Emperor Akihito
- JC: @ Eric: Not only that, he’s half brother lives in China and is married to a Chinese woman. There’s a lot of Asian in his family
- Yahoo! Games Writer Freaks Out Over Nintendo DS Dating Simulations
- JC: This guy knows next to nothing about Otaku culture and dare to write about Japanese games. It’s just another ignorant white person making self-righteous judgment calls against another part of Asian culture. He’s just...
Recent Events
- [Nov 3] NORTHERN CA: Intro to Movietelling (Neo-Benshi) with Dennis Somera
- [Nov 14] SOUTHERN CA: Grace Kim & the Spiders From Mars
- [Nov 20] NORTHERN CA: CATS 9th Annual Asian Comedy Night starring 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors
- [Nov 21] SOUTHERN CA: BANANA: Where Infamous Asian-American Bloggers Unite to Chop It Up
- [Nov 22] TORONTO: S.M. Global Audition
2 Comments to “San Jose council endorses post office honor for Chinese-American leader”
Jeff wrote:
Actually, John, I don’t think that folks in that area will notice much or think that it is a big deal. I live very close to there, and it is a very heavily Asian American neighborhood with street names nearby such as Oyama Drive, Tanaka Drive, Loo Lane, Chihong Drive, Tainan Drive, Nobu Drive, and Shanghai Circle. It is a very large post office processing center, though.
Posted on 17-Sep-08 at 4:44 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
That is a good point. Now if this was named in Western Massachusetts where I grew up, one would definitely notice.
Posted on 17-Sep-08 at 11:12 pm | Permalink
Post a Comment