The moment seemed intensely surreal when the Secretary of
Transportation strolled into the aviation museum. It felt like a
Hollywood movie. Several minutes before, as I strolled leisurely on
Wednesday afternoon through the San Francisco International
Airport, the cell phone in my shirt pocket had rung.
The moment seemed intensely surreal when the Secretary of Transportation strolled into the aviation museum. It felt like a Hollywood movie. Several minutes before, as I strolled leisurely on Wednesday afternoon through the San Francisco International Airport, the cell phone in my shirt pocket had rung. The male caller’s serious voice asked, “Are you near the interview site?”
The caller informed me Norman Mineta would arrive shortly – 20 minutes ahead of schedule. SFO’s Turpin Aviation Museum was the location I’d interview the Secretary of Transportation for a profile.
I tailed backed to the airport’s museum, and arrived a bit out of breath a minute later. Soon, a couple of Mineta’s staff introduced themselves. Every moment of the Secretary’s busy schedule was carefully planned by his team, I observed. And I’d be taking an hour of that time.
When Mineta entered, he was the calm center in a buzz of activity. Serious-minded assistants and well-tailored security agents (Secret Service-like men ready for action) took their strategic positions.
I felt my insides agitating. Before that moment, I’d felt hardly any trepidation about meeting a member of President Bush’s Cabinet. Now, my jaw started locking up.
Mineta’s assistant made the introduction. I shook hands with the Secretary, thanking him for the interview. He smiled, a cordial smile. Heading for the museum’s elevator, we broke the ice by chatting about his travel itinerary.
In a second-floor alcove surrounded by aviation history books, we sat down on comfortable chairs. As I started my tape recorder, I mentioned to Mineta we had a mutual acquaintance – Jimi Yamaichi of San Jose. Mineta smiled broadly. Yamaichi had helped in Mineta’s early political career.
I’d met Yamaichi on a “pilgrimage” last July to the site of the Tule Lake Internment Camp near the California-Oregon border. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, thousands of Japanese-American citizens were rounded up and imprisoned in concentration camps throughout the home of the brave and the land of the free.
“My dad, Raymond Cheek, taught music to children interned at Tule Lake,” I explained to Mineta.
Talking about American history helped ease my nervousness some. Mineta described how his family had been forced by the U.S. government to leave their San Jose home and relocate to the wilderness of Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
As we chatted, I started seeing Mineta not as some political title – a symbol of Washington power. He seemed down-to-earth – human. I started calling him “Norm.”
I won’t go into specific detail here on Mineta’s comments. You can read them in the San Jose Magazine article scheduled for June. But you must know that Mineta helped pioneer significant changes in the politics of our nation.
As mayor of San Jose from 1971 to 1974, he became the first Asian-American to head a major U.S. city. During his two decades in the U.S. House of Representatives, he represented the Silicon Valley area.
He told me his proudest political moment was the Congressional passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. That piece of legislation required the U.S. government to apologize officially for and financially redress the injustices done to Japanese Americans during World War II.
Among other career achievements, he became the first Asian-American Cabinet member during President Clinton’s administration (serving as Secretary of Commerce).
And under George W. Bush’s presidency, he moved into the Secretary of Transportation chair and became the first Cabinet member to switch directly from a Democratic to a Republican administration.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – an event with historic parallels to the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor – Mineta recalled his own personal internment experiences caused by the racial prejudices of government leaders.
He advocated that President Bush show prudence in preventing human emotions from leading the nation to commit similar racial profiling against Muslims.
After the interview, I drove back south toward South Valley. Passing along San Jose’s Guadalupe Parkway, I noticed a sign giving directions to the Norman Mineta International Airport.
The airport had been named in honor of the man I’d chatted with less than an hour before. Again, a surreal feeling went through me as I drove by the airport.
I’ve seen the sign many times. But just having met Mineta, I had a face connected to it. I knew Mineta’s personal history now. That made him more human – flesh and blood.
We need to remember that in a democracy, leaders are not merely monuments and titles and a name over a civic building.
They are flesh-and-blood people. When we honor them, let it not be for the power they wield. Let’s recognize them for the service they give to their community, state, nation and world.
That’s an American history lesson I was reminded of from my Wednesday afternoon chat with Norm.
Now, continuing with the theme of cultural diversity and civil liberties, I’d like to suggest a weekend pastime for this newspaper’s readers – particularly those with young children.
Our greatest strength as a nation comes from the freedoms we cherish. Those precious freedoms, as history taught us during World War II, can easily be disposed of by government leaders filled with prejudice and racial hatred.
A good way to protect and preserve our liberties is to develop an appreciation for all cultures that have become a part of the American society.
We must honor the rights of people of all ethnic heritage backgrounds. A most enjoyable way to accomplish this is by attending the many cultural festivals put on throughout the year in the South Valley.
This Sunday starting at 10:30am, the Morgan Hill Buddhist Community hosts its 45th annual “Haru Matsuri” – a Japanese festival celebrating the arrival of spring.
Traditional Japanese food, arts and crafts and entertainment including Taiko drums will guarantee a fun time for families. And it’ll certainly help youngsters appreciate the diverse colors of the cultural rainbow we call America.
Admission and parking is free. The location is 16450 Murphy Ave. in Morgan Hill. Info: (408) 779-9009.
