OCA Greater Seattle’s Connie So and Frank Irigon reflect on Bruce Harrell as first Asian American mayor

The International Examiner interviewed OCA-Greater Seattle board members Connie So and Frank Irigon about the significance of Bruce Harrell being elected Seattle’s first Asian American elected mayor, and the city’s second African American mayor.

Here are some excerpts:

While Harrell’s election is a first, Seattle has no lack of groundbreaking Asian American politicians, So said. Even Ed Lee, the first Asian American mayor of San Francisco, was born and raised in Seattle. “We’ve had a lot of representation, we just haven’t had a mayor,” she said.

Trailblazing politician Wing Luke, who served as acting mayor for one week in 1964, was elected as the first person of color on the Seattle City Council as the first Asian American to hold office in the state. So believes that if he had not died in an airplane crash in 1965, Luke could easily have been Seattle’s first Asian American mayor. He was popular, a unifier, and successfully fended off racism and Red Scare tactics while embracing his heritage, she said.

…

Frank Irigon, a longtime civil rights activist, believes Harrell will understand the importance of representing Asian Americans in city government, and offer Asian Americans significant roles “actually at the table as the head of departments.”

“We don’t have an Asian chief of police,” Irigon said. “If we get to have one, it sends a signal to our community.

To read the entire article, click here.