8Questions With Jay Chen, California Congressional District 39

By Tina | Friday, June 8, 2012 | 19 Comments

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chen 8Questions With Jay Chen, California Congressional District 39 Jay Chen is a small business owner who grew up in my hometown of Hacienda Heights, graduating from my rival high school across town and going on to study at Harvard. He won a seat on the local Hacienda la Puente School District Board, a public school district that he is a proud product of. Aside from being on the cast of the Vincent Who? documentary of Asian American Empowerment, Chen is most known for his appearance on John Stewart’s Daily Show in the special segment “Socialism Studies” highlighting the controversy in Chen’s district over the Chinese funded Confucius Classroom. I went to a number of district board meetings and witnessed first-hand as Chen and the other school board members, majority Asian Pacific Islander Americans, who had to fight off vitriolic racist attacks in the form of verbal abuse, attacks on their moral character and reputation, and groundless accusations of mismanagement of funds.

Now with the newly drawn 39th Congressional District that encompasses heavily Asian American communities such as Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights, Walnut, and Fullerton, Chen’s name is on the primaries ticket for June 5th running for a seat in the House of Representatives. I’m a big supporter of Chen, mainly because I have witnessed first hand that he truly does have the interest of the American people at heart, but since not everyone can personally see Chen in action, I thought 8Questions with him might help, after the jump.

What made you decide to become a civic leader?

Just seeing the lack of representation that we had in this field motivated me to want to do something about it. We’ve got plenty of doctors, lawyers, and businessmen. What our community needs more of are people on the front lines shaping discourse. We can achieve that through two fields we are really underrepresented in, politics and entertainment.

Who is your greatest inspiration?

I owe my parents everything. They’ve taken risks, worked hard, and built a life for themselves and a foundation for me that I am lucky to have. I owe it to them to do something meaningful with my opportunities and to give back where I can.

What will be your number one priority as a representative of the 39th Congressional District?

Job creation is top of mind, but to create jobs, you need to increase educational opportunities. The two are closely intertwined. Education is the R&D of our country, and if we stop investment in R&D we will lose our competitive edge. We will no longer have the innovators and entrepreneurs who end up creating products and jobs for everyone else. We’ve got to make college more accessible and bring down the cost of student loans, otherwise we are crippling future innovation and job creation in this country.

What has been the greatest challenge of being on the School District Board?

Trying to provide an excellent educational experience while the state continues to cut into our budget, has been the greatest challenge of my school board career. I entered school board right after our economy cratered and it has been nonstop budget cuts ever since. Nevertheless, our district has been fiscally responsible and we’ve not only avoided any layoffs or furloughs, we’ve increased test scores each year. Our district is lucky to have very talented teachers and staff.

Another challenge has been dealing with some xenophobic mindsets that are still prevalent in our community. Tea Party members still come to our board meetings, angry about our Chinese language program, and tell board members to go back to China. What they don’t realize is that only validates my decision to be in public office.

Where do you see the Asian Pacific Islander American community in 10 years?

We’re making great strides and I see several more Congressmembers and maybe a Senator or two in office in 10 years time. I expect we’ll see more APIAs in regular movie roles since we are now getting so many talented APIAs behind the camera with a community conscience, such as Justin Lin. The internet has also allowed incredibly talented APIAs to break out on their own, and that is very exciting to see!

What advice would you give the next generation of Americans?

First, pursue your dreams! It worked out quite well for Jeremy Lin didn’t it? He got to call Harvard a safety school as a result and is now making waves in the NBA.

Second, make it a habit to vote. APIAs have poor voter registration rates and very poor turnout rates. It only takes a minute to register to vote, and the act of voting does not take much time either. And if you’re worried about jury duty, they’re going to get your info from the DMV anyway so might as well register to vote. It’s your civic duty!

Third, give back to your community. None of us have succeeded on our own; we’ve all benefited from the blood, sweat, and tears of previous generations. Give a helping hand to others as you are on your way up.

What is the greatest challenge that America faces today?

The amount of partisanship and divisiveness in our country has never been worse, and there is a lack of political will to get the big things done. The Supreme Court has allowed limitless sums of money to drive the political process. Those with the means are taking advantage of this new playing field, while the rest of us are relegated to the sidelines. It’s not a pretty picture, but standing by and not getting involved will only make things worse. That’s why I decided to run for Congress.

What is your favorite Asian comfort food?

I am a huge, HUGE fan of Hainanese Chicken Rice. I also love Stone Bowl Bi Bim Bap.

Chen has just succeeded in advancing past the primaries in the June 5th vote. He’s got a long way to go with opponent 20-year incumbent Republican Ed Royce still in the lead, but his strategy was to start with core supporters first and then reach out to independent and Republican voters next. Hopefully this newly drawn district will agree with me in deciding that it’s about time we have a representative that understands the diversity of our community from the inside out. Fluent in Chinese and Spanish, Chen is qualified to do this even from a simple linguistic perspective, as language encompasses the essence of the cultural life and heritage of people. Not to mention that as a country we are in dire need of more APIA representation!

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LTE2

Video aside, it is troubling an American school would take aid from a country that brutalizes it’s own people on a routine basis. Maybe the language course should discuss the cruelty of the one child policy, the crushing of dissent and the way small property owners are stepped on like bugs. At least this way the kids would get practical use of their Chinese language course.
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If this was the 1930′s, I bet Mr Chen would love aid from the Nazi regime to teach German language courses.
Seaward223

LTE2, fair assessment. Why don’t you apply it to UCLA, Stanford, San Francisco State, and all of the other institutions that have partnered with China to teach Chinese through the same program? Do you have the same knee jerk reaction towards every student who has taken AP Chinese, which was developed with assistance from the same scary Communists? When the USA sends out its teachers via the Bureau of Culture and Education, do you also expect our teachers to discuss in length slavery, the chinese exclusion act, and the japanese american internment?
LTE2

My reaction is not a knee jerk. China has a programmatic system of terrorizing many citizens and using big name universities to run cover for the courses doesn’t make distributing the language programs any more right.
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Refusing this material is a symbolic step and would show China we are watching what goes on. China is not above such actions with groups it feels are displeasing to it and there is no reason we can not do the same.
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We have more than enough Chinese speakers here so the United States would have no problem developing replacement studies for the China provided materials.
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Slavery, internment camps and the exclusion acts are in the past. A man that has his home stolen from him by the local government is in the here and now. A woman having to know her baby is going to be killed because she already has one child is in the here and now and she has few people she can turn to for help. For people like these they have every reason to see the Communists as “scary”.
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I think Mr Chen should take this into consideration when he goes after people who objected to courses. Maybe Mr. Chen should ponder this while he sits secure in his own home.
Seaward223

I don’t really recall where Mr. Chen went after anyone. Based on the video it appears folks like you went after him because he was an easy ethnic target, rather than go after big-name universities. That’s very heroic of you.

And yes, anyone who can speak Chinese can teach a class on Chinese. Just like anyone who can speak English can teach a class on English. Obviously!

As for teaching on the present, I guess you are upset that our US government sponsored teachers abroad are not talking about the invasion of Iraq, Koran burnings, racial profiling, and current efforts at voter suppression of minorities.
http://www.facebook.com/tinabot Tina Tsai

I think your claiming that Mr. Chen would team with Nazis is really just a conspiracy daydream.

Of course I understand why you would vehemently disagree with the choice to cooperate with China. Like me, I think Mr. Chen also understands what it means to have those near and dear to us terrorized by China. He and I are both of Taiwanese heritage, and China always has their missiles pointed at the heritage land that plenty of our friends and family still live on. I can tell you it was not pleasant when those test missiles China fired at Taiwan in the late 90s exploded near the island while 99% of my family lived there. Despite personal vendettas and grudges against China, however, we cannot deny the sovereignty of the current government of China, and though we disapprove and detest some of their governing decisions, we must keep in mind the bigger picture of world peace and use of diplomacy to open up communications between the U.S. and China. If we really hate the way China is today and wish it was more like the U.S., the best way to change it is to open the doors between the two countries through programs like Confucius Classroom. I don’t like accepting money from any country for U.S. Education, but for the sake of diplomacy and forging of a world society, it’s a small discomfort to pay for a greater good.And if you’re worried that American kids will be easily “brainwashed” by teachers from Communist China (let’s keep in mind the HLPUSD Confucius Classroom teacher is AMERICAN), don’t worry. I’ve worked with kids from this district for almost two decades and, like Jay Chen, am a product/graduate of the same district myself. In a Communist Chinese Teacher vs. American School Kid battle of the ideologies, I assure you 150% that it will not be our American youth that will be running screaming from the classroom ^O~ You can count on an American win in that battle any day.
http://www.facebook.com/andrewyip Andrew Fung Yip

During WWI, a lot of Germans in America anglicized their names, disbanded German schools and began to stop teaching their children German because of the immense pressure from the government. What a sad turn of events. Same with the Japanese when they were in the internment camps. Is that what you’re calling for?
LTE2

Mr Chen’s ethnic background is of little concern to me, I was doing diversity long before it became the hip thing with the UCLA/NYU set.
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My issue is Mr Chen should stop and realize he’s supporting a program produced by a gulag regime which defeats what ever moral superiority he may have had by virtue of the actions by those flaming racists.
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I think I have put in simple language my concern about the program supplied to the US by China.
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As an aside, when so moved I learn Mandarin on my own, I am fluent enough to leave any native speaker totally baffled.
LTE2

A thoughtful response.
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We have been doing “constructive engagement” with China since Mao suggested to Nixon that we should do a little ping pong together.
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After 40 years of “constructive engagement” it is safe to come to the conclusion China (if you’ll pardon my blunt language) has been dicking us around.
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My use of the term programmatic terrorism was carefully chosen because China changed it’s economic system, but stopped any social progression back in the late 1980′s and now China is going backwards.
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My suggestion to stop using the program is not a concern that the US will be producing crazed China commie wannabe’s, but based on comments from people in China fighting the good fight to enjoy the few legal protections their government says that already have. These protesters are not asking Americans to send in the Army, to send in the Navy, to send in the Air Force they’re willing to do their own heavy lifting, getting beaten up by goons or being served jail sentences. What they request of Americans is moral support, someone that says they’ll stand by them morally.
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I am sure Americans can produce language materials, we do not need Beijing’s help. I would not want the US government to take any action on this issue, I would rather the school systems that have these materials return them back to China on their own explaining they feel they can not be accepted in good conscious in light of how Chinese citizens can not enjoy even the most basic protections promised to them by their own government. I think it would be quite a moral statement and the Chinese government would understand this technique as they use it themselves. Even more powerful would be Americans that look like them returning these materials. Such an action is to make a statement, I have no illusions China will turn into a Jeffersonian democracy because of it.
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If you think about it, could a school system in the US accept from Bashar Assad Syrian culture materials at this time? I think not and effectively, there is little difference between the government in China and the government in Syria.
m_wei

by leaving “any native speaker totally baffled” I assume you’re saying you speak it better than the “native speakers” and not because you’re completely unintelligible…

this needs proof: will 8Asians be doing a language series taught by LTE2?

you should consider going to China to give DaShan (Mark Roswell?) a run for his money.
m_wei

you should run for congress and see if your fellow Americans stand behind your belief system too.
http://www.facebook.com/tinabot Tina Tsai

I understand your position and respect your request, but if you go around accusing responsible, patriotic, and hard working American citizens like Jay Chen of communist conspiracies and Nazi preferences, you must understand that it’s hard for our local community to find your motives pure and credible. You’ll understand why we will not stand by and idly watch as one of our of elected community leaders is bullied and abused. America is anti-bullying in school and in the public arena.

Your continual comparison of China’s government with Nazis and Syrian oppression seems to be more for shock value and attention. I cannot think of a single sovereign country today or in the past that has a pristine track record, past or present, U.S. included. Clearly, some are worse than others, and I’d like to think the U.S. is heading in the right direction and progressing despite all the challenges. As for standing by the Chinese people with moral support, I’m sure I speak for most Americans when I say we of course want to hold out our hands in friendship for the mutual peace and prosperity of both our societies.

In the case of the Confucian Classroom, our HLPUSD community has made a decision that we feel is in the best interest of our children, both in terms of their education and in terms of their socio-political future. The school where the Confucian Classroom is located has the full support of its parents, students, teachers, administrators, and the neighborhood communities at large. I speak as a former public school teacher of that school with many friends who still work there. I speak as a member of the neighborhood community and an educator of the children here.

If you wish to ask us to rescind our decision to collaborate with the Confucius Classroom program for the sake of making a political statement against the government of China, then you need to come in with the understanding of what our existing stance is on the issue and respectfully, logically, and rationally argue your position with the full understanding that we are in our rights to politely decline if we so choose.

Attacking our elected officials, who are also members of our community, is definitely not the way win our support. Nor does it provide a good example of democracy for the children here.

The Chinese government has done many horrible acts, and your attempt to make people aware of those atrocities is commendable. History must be taught so that we can avoid repeating humanity’s great sins. However, using the children of the HLPUSD community as political fodder to draw attention to the wrongs of the Chinese government is simply unacceptable.
LTE2

My mastery of Mandarin is held in doubt by all who hear me.
LTE2

My point all along has been, taking gifts from known oppressors.
LTE2

“but if you go around accusing
responsible, patriotic, and hard working American citizens like Jay Chen of communist conspiracies”

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Mr Chen was promoting a program
supplied by a totalitarian regime and it appears that wasn’t given much thought by him in the video. Mr. Chen has burnished his patriotic bona fides in other articles and I am well aware of his military service.

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“Your continual comparison of
China’s government with Nazis and Syrian oppression seems to be more for shock value and attention.”

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China’s approach to it’s population (at least since 1949) is historical, it is current and from all indications, it’s future. It is the reality that has the shock value, not my relaying of the information.

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“I’m sure I speak for most Americans when I say we of course want to hold out our hands in friendship for the mutual peace and prosperity of both our societies.”

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The government of The People’s Republic of China wants the warm handshake, the people of The People’s Republic’s of China want a little bit more, they want what
you have and enjoy.

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“You’ll understand why we will not stand by and idly watch as one of our of elected community leaders is
bullied and abused.”

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If Mr Chen is stepping into the public arena, he is subject to public comment. My comments are child’s play* and if Mr Chen’s feelings get hurt, public office may not be the best career path for him. Please realize he is running for a national office which does affect me and Mr. Chen will not only be answering to you.
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*- I was involved in politics years ago, it’s not a pursuit for the timid.

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“Attacking our elected officials, who are also members of our community, is definitely not the way win our support.”

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I haven’t attacked but I certainly have questioned. As for the community, the issue is not whether I am loveable or detestable, the issue is can you you accept the trade off
between a free learning tool created by a government that won’t even support the rights it’s citizens supposedly already have?

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“However, using the children of the HLPUSD community as political fodder to draw attention to the wrongs of the Chinese government is simply unacceptable.”

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I have said in a previous posting this would be a private action not done in concert with the federal government. Children would not be a pawn in a political action, but
the moral statement would be American values put into action. My suggestion was the American people would be “talking” to the government of China directly.

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Once again, it is up to the school systems that use these materials to debate the trade offs. Our school system does not offer this program but if they do in the future, I’d suggest they consider a nice little domestic made language course over the fancy imported stuff.
http://christophervalin.com/ Christopher Valin

Both of my children were in this program, and I assure you there was zero communist propaganda. They benefited from learning a second language that will undoubtedly be very important to know in the future, and that was the extent of it.

The fact that the program may have originated in China did not impact the students at all. As soon as Americans are willing to step up and teach classes and fund programs, I’d be perfectly willing to put my children in those programs instead. The fact is, Americans are becoming more and more willing to attack public education at the moment, as well as perfectly content to watch their elected officials cut the budgets for public education and attack teachers.
LTE2

“I assure you there was zero communist propaganda”
“The fact that the program may have originated in China did not impact the students at all”
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My issue has been clearly stated in my previous posts.
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For the record, the United States was producing a number of extreme left wingers, socialists & anarchists long before ole Mao ever said, Hey, I have a great idea for China.
Pingback: Jay Chen for Congress | 8Asians Interview: 8Questions With Jay Chen, California Congressional District 39
Seaward223

Your mastery of logic is also held in doubt by all who read you.
http://www.facebook.com/adeetech Alex Chen

As a Taiwanese American that was not brainwashed by the KMT in Taiwan. I would have to agree with LTE2 for his conclusion.
I would also like to suggest to Tina Tsai to do some homework of her own on the real history of Taiwan and Ed Royce. Ed Royce has had a long history of protecting human rights and is a firm advocate for Taiwan.
Jay Chen is just using the fact that he was born in Taiwan to get Asian votes from the Chinese.
No way I’m voting for a pro-commie!

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