<Begin Segment 15>

TI: Well, as you were going through law school, did your career start taking shape in terms of what you wanted to do after you graduated?

DM: Actually, no. I had... when I graduated USC I had no skills. Well, actually, when I graduated high school I had no skills. So I went into political science. I mean, I was, I was a winner of the math/science award in high school, but I was a total fraud. It, I was a grind and that's the reason I can get through and understand chemistry. Physics I liked, but chemistry was really hard. And advanced math, the only reason I got an "A" in there was I talked my way into an "A," which should have been a sign right then and there. But I knew I was a fraud and for math, science so that's why I went into political science. I had no skills.

TI: Well, you said you were the winner of the math/science --

DM: Yeah.

TI: -- contest?

DM: The Bank of America Math Science Award for the school. So... which is really crazy when I look back on that now, because I wasn't, I really wasn't that good at it. I just worked really hard or in one situation was able to talk my way into a good grade. And then so, when I graduated from SC I had no skills. So of course that's why, one of the reasons I went to law school. So I didn't have any set of skills that I could apply, a set of interests that commanded my attention as far as what area of law to get into. So, so it wasn't until about the third year. I remember the third year I was kind of, just kind of cruising around, didn't know what I was gonna do. I applied for jobs in Portland and Washington and Colorado where I thought I was more of a hippie at that time. And one of my friends... a new group had come into the school, the first affirmative action class, two years after me. There were five Asians in my class, six in the class before -- I mean after, and then twenty-three Asians came in. And one of the members of the middle class, I was third-year, the two, the second-year came up to me and said, "Hey, do you wanna help these guys, do you want to tutor some of these folks? They could use some help." And I kinda cracked up, 'cause I thought oh, boy, I don't know anything, except I could write. So I was, I could help them with writing. And so I became part of the Asian American student organization there that was formed by this middle group. I didn't know hardly any of these folks at the time but I... that's when I started getting involved in Asian American issues, really through this group in law school when I started working with the students and I got on the admissions committee, and started promoting the affirmative action idea with the law school.

MC: It's interesting because there's sort of a myth that's perpetuated even now that Asian Americans don't need affirmative action, but back then, it clearly made a difference in the numbers.

DM: Oh, there was no question. Affirmative action made a major difference. If you could look, you could look on the judges that are out there, a lot of them are beneficiaries of the affirmative action program. Leaders everywhere you'll see. And so I think you're totally right that there was a myth that we didn't need it. But if you still look at the figures, Asian Americans still don't represent parity in the legal profession. But I think that's gonna change because Asian Americans are getting in at a higher rate nowadays. Well, it depends on what Asian American group you're talking about. 'Cause we don't, still don't have a hell of a lot of Cambodian, Mien, Hmong attorneys which is, we're gonna need that, and Vietnamese attorneys for that matter.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.