Moving Beyond the 1960’s Civil Rights Paradigm
By Ronald W. Wong 

The 1960’s were obviously a defining moment in American history.

Overseas, the country suffered turmoil over a war it could not win.  At home, the country served as the battleground for another intense war, one for civil rights, inclusion, and equality for people of color, for women, and for the other segments of the American population that had been denied equal access and equal rights.

      America before the Sixties was a segregated society that reserved the promise of the American Dream for white Americans. Back then, the struggle sought a basic goal -- equal treatment under the law.

      Consequently, the tactics to obtain these basic civil rights primarily targeted the courts and America’s sentiment for justice and fair play. The tactics of the day employed sit-ins, protests, marches, and legal battles. As Congress attempted to legislate remedies and pass anti-discrimination laws, politics also played a large role in the civil rights fight.

      Many of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community’s political and community leaders cut their teeth in the civil rights battles of the 1960’s. Today’s most powerful APA elected officials, as well as most of the heads of influential APA nonprofit and legal organizations, trace their involvement, community activism, and public service to the civil rights movement.

      Undoubtedly, these prominent individuals have made substantial contributions to the APA community and beyond.  Furthermore, in addition to the APA leaders frequently quoted by the media, thousands of other less well-known but important APA political, civic and community leaders found inspiration in the civil rights movement.

    The civil rights movement’s profound effect in developing community leaders, public servant and activists defies adequate quantification. 

      However, the outspoken civil rights movement that distinctly originated in the Sixties passed more than 30 years ago. As an APA community we must ask ourselves whether the tactics and strategies employed during that period remain appropriate for 2006 and the next generation.

      Furthermore, because the courts favor remedies for injustices, the advocates for civil rights seeking change through the justice system often portrayed themselves as victims. How many of us in the APA community perceive ourselves as victims? 

      If we act like victims then we’ll get what victims get — little more than charity, handouts and superficial solutions to the vexing social and economic ills of today’s America.

      No one denies that APAs and other people of color face daily injustices in America that require scrutiny. In fact, the problems we face today are much more insidious and harder to weed out than those of yesteryear. Discrimination, prejudice and lack of opportunity exist — the question focuses on the tactics and strategies we should employee to address them.

      Should we march in the streets when APAs hit the glass ceiling at work or face exclusion from key positions of influence throughout American life? How do we truly economically empower our community? Should we organize sit- ins because virtually no APA sits on the corporate boards of the Fortune 500?

      I have often heard it said, “Where is the Jessie Jackson of out community”? We need a national APA figure who can galvanize and advocate for our community.

      I would argue that our community needs a Vernon Jordan--someone as comfortable in a boardroom as organizing a boycott.  Both Vernon Jordan and Jessie Jackson are national figures who were at the center of the civil rights movement.  In fact, they are both among the most important leaders of the civil rights movement and among the most influential figures of today.

      But whereas Jessie Jackson continues the struggle through boycotts, demonstrations, protests and threat of legal action, Vernon Jordon operates quietly behind the scene in the corridors of power in Washington, DC and in the corporate boardrooms of American.

      In today’s America which one of these gentlemen had more influence in the exponential rise in the number of African American CEOs of major U.S. companies’ in the last few years?

Is it a coincidence that Vernon Jordon is on the board of directors of

American Express and Kenneth I. Chenault, an African American, is the CEO of American Express?

      No doubt Mr. Chenault is well qualified and deserving to be CEO of a major U.S. company. I only point out  that the APA community does not have advocates for qualified APA candidates in the boardrooms and corridors of power in Washington, DC.

   Our advocacy must come from an economic position of strength. No one willfully gives up power, wealth and prestige, and as a community it behooves us to develop and employ new tactics and strategies to fight for those privileges.