A family suicide drives lawmaker

Map of District 18 - Courtesy of democrats.assembly.ca.gov

One of Assemblywoman Mary C. Hayashi’s favorite memories is ice skating with her older sister, Bo Yoon, on the Guekrak River in her birthplace in Kwangju, Korea.

But on Jan. 9, 1980, her sister committed suicide due to depression. Hayashi, then 12 years old, felt helpless.

Not anymore, Hayashi vows.

Since then Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, said she is dedicating her life to promote and speak out on health and inequality in the Asian American community by using her own experiences as a Korean immigrant.

“I had followed the old ways and kept quiet then,” she said. “This time, I would not choose to be passive.”

Her first political debut began in 2006 when she was elected into the assembly as a democrat against republican Jill Buck, to represent the 18th Assembly District in the Bay Area. The district is 54.54 percent registered democrats and 20.46 percent registered republicans, according to the Secretary of State Jan. statistics this year.

In Hayashi’s autobiography book, Far From Home published in 2003, she said her sister’s suicide, in addition to women’s studies courses she took at California State University of Long Beach, were the reasons she felt the need to push for advocacy about health-related issues experienced by the Asian American community.

Hayashi said she is a strong supporter of education, the environment and high-quality health care services. It was no surprise then when she founded the National Asian Women's Health Organization in 1993 to help Asian American men and women become health advocates in public policy.

“I think the organization – or at least the need for it – found me,” she said.

NAWHO has come to be recognized nationally and has developed some of the first researches to be done on the Asian community, including the first national study of reproductive and sexual health of Asian American men.

Descartes Li, a board member of NAWHO, said although it has been many years since Hayashi has founded the organization, she still lends her support and is very connected with the leaders she has chosen. He said Hayashi has a homey quality about her.

"When we go to these board meetings, she wants to makes sure we're having a good time. We're enjoying ourselves," Li said.

At one time, Li said Hayashi even suggested all the board members take a stroll to the store when only one person needed something.

Hayashi is also the founder and president the Iris Alliance Fund, created in 2001, targeting children and families who suffer from mental health issues.

Another issue that caught Hayashi’s attention was breast and cervical cancer among Asian American women. In her book, Hayashi said in Asian communities, women are subservient, adhere to tradition and puts everyone else before them. For example, when a Chinese American woman in Chicago had breast cancer, she tried to kill herself by drinking bleach so she wouldn’t be a burden to her family.

This story motivated Hayashi to try to get Asian Americans to speak out, understand their health problems and understand it was OK to break cultural traditions. Through NAWHO, again, she helped spearhead the message for prevention and intervention for women who get cervical and breast cancer.

Hayashi is also a commissioner of the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission that was created after the passage of Proposition 63 or the Mental Health Services Act. The commission’s charge is to ensure Californians understand the importance of a mental health, hold public systems accountable, provide oversight for eliminating disparities, and ensure positive outcomes for individuals living with serious mental illness and their families.

State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, helped write the MHSA and worked with Hayashi along the way, according to Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz.

“He needs a good partner in the assembly on this issue and has found one in Mary,” Liard said.

She has recently gone back to work closely with the Department of Mental Health. Hayashi is a pioneer of the Office of Suicide Prevention. Dr. Stephen Mayberg, the Director of the department, said the office will be established soon by executive order in a Sacramento Bee article last September.

Mayberg said the Office will be funded through money from Proposition 63.

"My hope is that the office will bring more revenue into California and give the public a sense of what really is happening," Hayashi said in the Bee article.

Updates on the office have yet to be released and Hayashi was unable to comment after repeated attempts to contact her office.

Those who oppose Hayashi's views said the OSP is a taxpayer’s nightmare.

Steve Frank, a republican political consultant and creator of an online newsletter, California Political News and Views, said Hayashi is obviously an economic illiterate because the OSP would cost the state $14 billion dollars in the next four years. He also said this is a way to cover the state debt and that she does not understand that.

“She smiles well, but takes money out of your pocket,” Frank said.

Frank also said Proposition 92, that Hayashi supported, was a recent failed attempt at the polls during Super Tuesday because she was voting for what her leaders told her to vote for. The proposition called for money to be allocated to community colleges, but would increase state spending on education for two school years, averaging about $300 million per year.

Frank said Hayashi was not thinking and even upset members of the California Teacher’s Association who joined the website organization, No On 92.

Hayashi’s other bills supported, such as her physical therapy bill, contributed to almost all of her donations by individuals in the election cycle 2007 through 2008 and her biggest contribution is $5,200 from the California Medical Association.

Physical therapist Caroljo Tichenor, said she specifically donated to Hayashi’s campaign because she heard of the health-related bill Hayashi was trying to pass.

“I wanted her to understand the role of physical therapy,” Tichenor said. “Contributing to her campaign is a way to get her attention.”

Hayashi supporters believe she has a bright future ahead of her.

“I hope she becomes the president of the United States,” Li said.

Hayashi said in her book that her work continues. She said she believes she is speaking for her sister now, who was taught not to talk about her depression in the Korean culture.

“If we don’t like our lives, we don’t have to give up. We can change, we can grow,” Hayashi said in her book.

Reporters

Gaogia Vang

Aaron Villegas

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Donna Lu

Gaogia Vang

Aaron Villegas

Writing

Gaogia Vang

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Donna Lu

Aaron Villegas

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Aaron Villegas