Madison Nguyen

Madison Phuong Nguyen (born 1971 in Vietnam) is an American politician from California.citation|title=The rise, troubles of San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen|periodical=San Jose Mercury News|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7966081|date=2008-01-14|accessdate=2008-02-28|last=Molina|first=Joshua] citation|url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.28.03/nguyen-0335.html|last=Gottlieb|first=Allie|title=Madison Nguyen: The Visible Woman|periodical=Metro Active|publication-place=Silicon Valley|date=2003-08-28|accessdate=2008-02-28] 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.citation|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/15/BAGBBENMG01.DTL|periodical=San Francisco Chronicle|title=Council win is first for a Viet American|date=2005-09-15|accessdate=2008-02-28|last=Fulbright|first=Leslie]

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. 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.

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. 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. She returned to California in 2000 to pursue a Ph.D in sociology at U.C. Santa Cruz.

Political career

chool 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 organized a voter drive in which 5,500 Vietnamese Americans registered to vote for the first time. [citation|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/09/30/MN294289.DTL&type=printable|title=The Vietnamese Recall reveals newfound independence|last=Alicia Gaura|first=Maria|date=2003-09-30|accessdate=2008-02-28|periodical=The San Francisco Chronicle] 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. [citation|last=Kang|first=Cecilia|periodical=San Jose Mercury News|date=2002-11-01|accessdate=2008-02-28|title=Asians promote political power|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F70E7E5CF720774&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM] 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. [citation|last=Yi|first=Daniel|title=Beating the Odds in Garden Grove Race|date=2002-11-29|accessdate=2008-02-28|url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/247634641.html?dids=247634641:247634641&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+29%2C+2002&author=Daniel+Yi&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=The+Region%3B+Beating+the+Odds+in+Garden+Grove+Race%3B+Lan+Nguyen+is+among+new+generation+of+politically+active+Vietnamese+Americans.&pqatl=google|periodical=San Jose Mercury News] However, it was Nguyen's organization 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, organized 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.

City Council

Nguyen would eventually turn the recognition she received from the Tran shooting into further political success in September 2005, when she ran in the election for the San Jose City Council in a special election to replace Terry Gregory as Councilperson for District 7. 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 co-ethnic Linda Nguyen, pushing them ahead of seven other candidates. [citation|periodical=The Sacramento Union|url=http://sacunion.com/pages/california/articles/6170|title=Nguyen Vs. Nguyen; Race to become San Jose's first Vietnamese-American councilmember ends|date=2005-09-14|accessdate=2008-02-28] Madison Nguyen won 44% of the primary vote, while Linda Nguyen, a real estate attorney, received 27%. [citation|url=http://www.ktvu.com/news/4970378/detail.html|periodical=KTVU News|date=2005-09-13|accessdate=2008-02-28|title=Madison Nguyen Wins San Jose City Council Seat] In the end, Nguyen received 62% of the votes cast, beating out Linda Nguyen to become the first Vietnamese American to serve on the San Jose City Council.

District naming controversy

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. [citation|title=An ultimatum for Madison Nguyen; Quit or be forced out, big Vietnamese crowd warns councilwoman|periodical=San Jose Mercury News|last=Molina|first=Joshua|date=2008-01-09|accessdate=2008-02-28|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7920008?nclick_check=1]

Backlash against Nguyen continued to grow throughout January; she was disinvited from the city's annual Tết parade, organized by political opponent Linda Nguyen. [citation|url=http://origin.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8172210|title='Little Saigon' controversy: Politics in, Tet parade out|periodical=San Jose Mercury News|date=2008-02-05|accessdate=2008-02-28|last=Molina|first=Joshua] One man even started a hunger strike out of anger at the "Saigon Business District" name. [citation|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8311926|last=May|first=Patrick|date=2008-02-20|accessdate=2008-02-28|title='Little Saigon' hunger striker: 'I'll continue until I die'|periodical=San Jose Mercury News] However, support for the "Little Saigon" name was not unanimous; on February 12, 350 local Vietnamese American residents, prominent businesspeople and anti-communists among them, also issued a statement emphasizing 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. [citation|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8336345?source=most_viewed|periodical=San Jose Mercury News|date=2008-02-22|accessdate=2008-02-28|title=Plans to put 'Little Saigon' to citywide vote in San Jose appear dead|last=Woolfolk|first=John] A March 2 protest against the "Saigon Business District" name drew 2,500 people; they accused Nguyen of having conspired with real estate developer Lap Tang to fight the name "Little Saigon" and instead use a name proposed by Tang, "Vietnam Town Business District." [citation|url=http://origin.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_8429927|title='Little Saigon' protest draws 2,500 in advance of Tuesday's vote|periodical=San Jose Mercury-News|last=Molina|first=Joshua|date=2008-03-02|accessdate=2008-03-08]

On March 4, the city council voted to rescind the "Saigon Business District" name, but stopped short of renaming it "Little Saigon"; instead, they proposed setting up a process by which business owners could choose district names. [citation|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/us/06brfs-NO8216SAIGON_BRF.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin|periodical=The New York Times|title=California: No ‘Saigon Business District’|date=2008-03-06|accessdate=2008-03-08] However, anger against Nguyen remained; on April 22, the issue was reopened with the submission of recall papers against Nguyen by the Recall Madison Nguyen committee. [citation|url=http://www.mercurynews.com//ci_9028327?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com|last=Molina|first=Joshua|date=2008-04-23|accessdate=2008-04-30|periodical=San Jose Mercury News|title=Activists begin attempt to recall San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen] On August 29, 2008, the Recall Madison Nguyen Committee submitted petition signatures for a special recall election in 2009. On October 9, the petition qualified for the March 3, 2009 ballot, having garnered more than 150% of the needed valid signatures. [cite news|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_10681011|title=Recall of San Jose Councilwoman Nguyen qualifies for ballot|author=Joshua Molina|publisher=San Jose Mercury News|date=2008-10-09|accessdate=2008-10-10]

References

External links

* [http://www.madisonnguyen.com/ Campaign homepage]
* [http://www.sanjoseca.gov/district7/ District 7] on the San Jose city government website
* [http://www.viet-nam.org/newsDec03.htm What's Happening in San Jose Vietnamese Community] from the Vietnamese American Council; contains several news stories on Madison Nguyen
* [http://www.recallmadison.net Recall Madison Nguyen Committee homepage] , as featured in the "San Jose Mercury News" on April 23, 2008