In Lexington, people in power should look more like people they represent

As we acknowledge this year’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I can’t help but reflect on the past couple of years and its effects on the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in this country. It’s been just over a year since the horrific murders in the Atlanta-area spas that took the lives of eight people, six of them Asian American women. We’ve seen some measure of justice with the murderer sentenced to life without parole on four of the murders (and awaiting trial on the others), but the hate and violence against the AAPI community continues unabated. 2021 saw over 6,200 hate incidents against Asian Americans.

For me personally it has been a time of deep introspection — of what it means to be a person of Asian descent in America, particularly here in the south, what challenges we face, and what can be done. Most of all, the last year has been one of action. I took the Immigrants and Refugees Belong project, started in 2019, to its next phase by hanging banners of this welcoming message on four iconic downtown Lexington locations. With the help of Louisville Public Media and three strong Asian American women, we created the Where Y’all Really From podcast to tell the stories of AAPI Kentuckians. Working with UK faculty and the Louie B. Nunn Center, we began an AAPI Oral History project. I began helping with Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility efforts on a few of the boards I serve on.

This DEIA work has reminded me that representation without power is just tokenism. It is not enough to simply be at the table; members of underrepresented and marginalized communities must also have a voice at these tables. It is not enough that we are seen, but we must also be heard. This is part of why I’m running for LFUCG Council at-Large this year. For too long the people in power have not looked like the people they represent. This too is slowly changing. This past year has seen the elections of multiple Asian Americans to public office, including Taiwanese American Michelle Wu as Mayor of Boston, Indian American Aftab Pureval as Mayor of Cincinnati, along with Asian American and other people of color elected to city councils for the first time from New York City to Duluth. Here in Lexington, with the exception of African American Harry Sykes in the ‘60s and Arab American Teresa Ann Isaac in the ‘80s through the ‘00s, we’ve not had a non-white Mayor, Vice Mayor, or Councilmember at-Large.

The elections of Michelle Wu in Boston and Aftab Pureval in Cincinnati, cities without large Asian populations, gives me hope that voters everywhere are ready for a change. Our demographics as a nation, a state, and city are rapidly evolving & becoming more and more diverse. Our leadership — in government, in private businesses, on corporate, nonprofit, & school boards and every place where decisions are made, must reflect these changes if we are to move forward toward prosperity, peace, and equity.

Dan Wu is a local business owner and candidate for City Council at Large.

This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 3:15 PM.