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Madison Nguyen

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Madison Phuong Nguyen (born 1975 in Vietnam) is an American politician from California.[1][2] She has served on the San Jose, California City Council since September 2005, representing District 7; she was the first Vietnamese American elected to the council.[3]

Early life

Born in Vietnam to fisherman father Nho and his wife Dang, Nguyen and her family fled Vietnam by boat when she was only four; they were initially resettled in a refugee camp in the Philippines until a Lutheran family in Scottsdale, Arizona sponsored them to migrate there in the 1980s. Her father worked as a janitor, receiving only a wage of $10/hour to support his wife and nine children. Eventually, he moved his family to Modesto, California in search of higher wages picking fruit in the Central Valley; Madison worked in the fields alongside her father as a teenager.[1] Her Asian American peers often derisively referred to her as a "banana", yellow on the outside but white on the inside, due to her outspoken nature.[2]

Nguyen naturalized as a U.S. citizen around age 18, choosing the name "Madison", after former president James Madison, because it reflected her desire to be a sophisticated person.[2] She went on to receive her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz; and her Masters Degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago.[1] She returned to California in 2000 to pursue a Ph.D in sociology at U.C. Santa Cruz.[2]

Political career

School board

Nguyen began to become more involved in politics in 2001, while working as a sociology instructor at Evergreen Valley Community College; inspired by MTV's "Rock the Vote" campaign, she and a colleague organised a voter drive in which 5,500 Vietnamese Americans registered to vote for the first time.[1][4] She followed that up with a run for a position on the Franklin-McKinley School District Board of Education, hoping that her election would help to reduce the suspicion that the Vietnamese American community often demonstrated towards politics.[5] Her win made her one of the first two school board officials of Vietnamese descent in the entire United States; the other, elected around the same time, was Lan Nguyen of Garden Grove, a city in southern California's Orange County.[6] However, it was Nguyen's organisation of protests in support of Bich Cau Thi Tran, a Vietnamese woman shot to death by San Jose police, which brought her to the forefront of people's minds in the Vietnamese American community. Nguyen, who felt the incident was being ignored by the public and the media, organised a rally to which 250 people showed up. At the time, she denied having any larger political aspirations, instead emphasizing that she eventually aimed to become a professor at an area university.[2]

City Council

Nguyen would eventually turn the recognition she recieved from the Tran shooting into further political success in September 2005, when she received 62% of the votes cast in a special election to replace Terry Gregory as Councilperson for District 7, beating out co-ethnic Linda Nguyen to become the first Vietnamese American to serve on the San Jose City Council.[3] Vietnamese Americans, who formed less than 10% of San Jose's population at the time turned out in record numbers during the primary election in June to support Madison Nguyen and Linda Nguyen, pushing them ahead of seven other candidates.[7] Madison Nguyen won 44% of the primary vote, while Linda Nguyen, a real estate attorney, received 27%.[8]

Nguyen's support from the Vietnamese American community suffered a sharp reversal in early January 2008, in a controversy over whether a San Jose neighborhood with a preponderance of Vietnamese-owned businesses should be renamed as "Little Saigon" or "Saigon Business District". Supporters of the Little Saigon name denounced Nguyen as a traitor to the community, and also attacked a lone counter-protester outside of City Hall that night, who was holding a sign asking them to "Please stop offending our Vietnamese tradition, culture and ethics" and accused them of singling out Nguyen unfairly for her lack of support. Mayor Chuck Reed stated that supporters of the Little Saigon name "are the most vocal, but may not be the majority"; fellow council member Judy Chirco went farther in her criticisms, complaining after the January 8 meeting and vote on the issue that "I have heard more disrespect tonight than I ever thought I would hear from the Vietnamese community". Both refused to retract their statements when pressed.[9]

Backlash against Nguyen continued to grow throughout January; she was disinvited from the city's annual Tết parade, organised by political opponent Linda Nguyen.[10] One man even started a hunger strike out of anger at the "Saigon Business District" name.[11] However, support for the "Little Saigon" name was far from unanimous; on February 12, 350 local Vietnamese American residents, prominent businesspeople and anti-communists among them, also issued a statement emphasising that the "Little Saigon" supporters did not represent them. That same day, Nguyen and Reed proposed putting the issue to a public referendum, in an effort to mollify critics; however, this proposal was withdrawn ten days later due to the estimated cost of $2.7 million and the fear that the vote would prove even more divisive to the community. The city council was scheduled to reconsider the matter on March 4.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Molina, Joshua (2008-01-14), "The rise, troubles of San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen", San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e Gottlieb, Allie (2003-08-28), "Madison Nguyen: The Visible Woman", Metro Active, Silicon Valley, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b Fulbright, Leslie (2005-09-15), "Council win is first for a Viet American", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Alicia Gaura, Maria (2003-09-30), "The Vietnamese Recall reveals newfound independence", The San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Kang, Cecilia (2002-11-01), "Asians promote political power", San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Yi, Daniel (2002-11-29), "Beating the Odds in Garden Grove Race", San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Nguyen Vs. Nguyen; Race to become San Jose's first Vietnamese-American councilmember ends", The Sacramento Union, 2005-09-14, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Madison Nguyen Wins San Jose City Council Seat", KTVU News, 2005-09-13, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Molina, Joshua (2008-01-09), "An ultimatum for Madison Nguyen; Quit or be forced out, big Vietnamese crowd warns councilwoman", San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Molina, Joshua (2008-02-05), "'Little Saigon' controversy: Politics in, Tet parade out", San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ May, Patrick (2008-02-20), "'Little Saigon' hunger striker: 'I'll continue until I die'", San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Woolfolk, John (2008-02-22), "Plans to put 'Little Saigon' to citywide vote in San Jose appear dead", San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2008-02-28 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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