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) )
