The other day, I had lunch in the ID with a couple of political gurus. “We have only 0.5 Asians on the Seattle City Council,” complained one of them.
She was referring to Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, who is half Japanese and half African American. This can also be applied to the Black community — now there are only 0.5 Blacks on the council (Seattle City Councilmember Richard McIver retired last December).
Forget our glorious year in 1997 when we had three Asian Americans on the city council, Charlie Chong, Martha Choe, and Cheryl Chow. I doubt it will happen again. Forget about the era when we had Dolores Sibonga and Cheryl Chow together at the City Council. Also, David Della was at the council for one term.
We talked about potential candidates who could rise to the challenge. None comes to mind so far. For those of you pondering a career in politics, dig deep into your soul. You might be the one! ♦