Kudos to departing Transportation Sec. Norm Mineta for resisting racial profiling
06.23.06 - Posted by AsiansVote
The AP reported today that Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the only Democrat in President Bush's cabinet, is resigning. Articles about Mineta have mentioned his childhood in the World War II Japanese internment camps, his work as a congressman to pass the law mandating reparations to Japanese Americans imprisoned in the camps, and his status as the first Asian American cabinet member, appointed to the Commerce Department by Bill Clinton and then tapped as Transportation Secretary by George W. Bush.
But let's not forget to salute Mineta for speaking openly against racial profiling in the wake of 9/11. From the Washington Times via Multiracial.com in July 2002:
“It is very tempting to take false comfort in the belief that we can spot the bad guy based on appearance alone,” Mr. Mineta told an Arab-American group in Detroit recently. “Some are yielding to that temptation in their arguments for racial profiling, but false comfort is a luxury we cannot afford.”
And from
AsianWeek in December 2001:
Enter Norm with a resounding dissent. “You can’t say that a person, just because he is an Arab American and a Muslim, that he should be a suspect and be considered a terrorist,” he told Steve Kroft.
Thumbs up, Secretary Mineta. We look forward to your tell-all memoir.
06.23.06 |
Candidates & Leaders
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Civil Rights & Liberties
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Issues
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Norman Mineta
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Race & Racism
