Focusing on the future

Not even a week ago, I ran into San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee at a holiday party. Little did I know then that it would be our last conversation together.

I was awakened this morning by a 4 a.m. text from my daughter in Boston. “OMG. Mayor Lee has passed away.”

I read it with shock and disbelief. Quickly scanned news reports confirmed that the news was true. We had lost our first Chinese American mayor to a heart attack.

My nonprofit organization, the Chinese American Voters Education Committee, had been planning to honor the mayor at our annual Chinese New Year event in February. I was telling him about our plans to invite Sen. Dianne Feinstein to keynote the evening when he playfully interrupted me: “David, honors and recognitions are fine, but what are

you really doing to make a difference?”

He continued his thought by pointing to the declining Chinese American representation in recent years in key elected bodies such as the Board of Supervisors, the school board, the community college board and others.

I began to realize what he was trying to tell me: He was talking about complacency over hard-fought political gains, generational leadership change and the dearth of new and emerging political leadership within the Chinese American community. He was talking about being unprepared for the passing of the torch from his generation to the next.

Now that he is gone, I have been reflecting on his words.

Historically marginalized by racism and bigotry, San Francisco’s Chinese American community has been fighting for generations for a seat at the table. Mayor Lee showed us all what is possible. It is up to us to keep the fire burning.