Over the past few months, a number of United States congressmen have been subjects of controversy as they made insensitive remarks about certain ethnic groups including African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Jewish-Americans.

Trent Lott, a republican from Mississippi stepped down from his position as senate majority leader as he implied that the problems of current day America would not be evident had the nation supported Strom Thurmond’s presidential bid in 1948 – a campaign that ran on opposition to integration.

Recently, Representative Jim Moran of Virginia also resigned from his leadership post for comments he made regarding the Jewish and their influence on the war on Iraq saying, “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq we would not be doing this. ... The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going and I think they should.”

Republican representative from North Carolina Howard Coble, has also made ill remarks on a radio show justifying the internment of Japanese-Americans from World War II as he was quoted saying it “wasn't safe for them [Japanese-Americans] to be on the street" at the time. In addition, he even went to on say that "some probably were intent on doing harm to us, just as some of these Arab Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us."

While these comments are all inappropriate and offensive, there is a clear distinction that both Lott and Moran were forced to resign or step down amidst the political pressure, while Coble has not. Despite all the protests and petitions to remove Coble, he still retains his positions in office, which begs the question of – why?

There seems to be an implicit contradiction when it comes to acknowledging the plight of Asian-Americans. While Coble did ultimately apologize, the fact that his comments are being belittled is something that suggests a sense of apathy when it comes to Asian-Americans issues. Countless efforts were made by the JACL; online petitions were started, and even Congressmen Honda, Matsui, and Wu wrote letters to this man. Yet, all of the passionate energy seems to have gone unfulfilled so far. The swiftness of resignation of Rep. Moran was amazing as he was pressed to step down from fellow leaders. Do congressmen Honda, Matsui and Wu not hold the same weight as those that wanted the Moran to secede? It seems to imply that the voices of our issues do not seem to stretch far enough to bring notable national attention.

Most notably, the media attention of the Coble controversy was marginal in comparison to the amount Trent Lott received. While the remarks of the two were not exactly the same, both were unsuitable, especially for persons in such a high position of authority. It is equally important to bring both of these events to light, for they raise issues about race relations. Lott went to great extents to try and explain himself by appearing on numerous mediums of communication. The controversy was the topic and discussion on all of the major news channels for quite a while. Social commentators littered the television discussing the situation. Alternatively, Coble was nowhere to be found on the news. A small mention on the side at best, sufficient coverage was not given to the issue. Nevertheless, it cannot be an excuse for apathy for social conciousness.

The most important thing to come out of these controversies was a sense of enlightenment. Many people are now informed about Trent Lott’s political background, and he most certainly learned from his mistakes, just as Rep. Moran and Rep. Coble have. The effort to raise the flag in objectionable situations is something that Asian-Americans have grown quite used to, and unfortunately we will probably have to do it again. Even so, perhaps this situation would motivate the lethargic to become more aware of the long journey for adequate representation of we as a people into the mainstream.

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