Yet Chang, 69, sees Asian Americans as \u201cboth going forward and backward\u201d in getting a seat at the civic table.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must always challenge ourselves to do better,\u201d he told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n
Asked about an increase in Asian American political participation in the South Bay in recent years, Chang counters by pulling out APALI\u2019s 2026 report<\/a> and pointing to sobering statistics.<\/p>\n A survey last year found 54% of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders experience at least one form of discrimination per month, compared to 50% for African Americans, 44% for Hispanics and 16% for whites.<\/p>\n Only 9% of California state lawmakers and just 3% of supervisors in the state\u2019s 58 counties are of Asian heritage.<\/p>\n Chang is constantly working to push up those numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s very nurturing, especially of young people,\u201d Supervisor Abe-Koga told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cHis commitment, his perseverance, is impressive. He\u2019s inspired a lot of Asian Americans to get involved in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Chang, born in Hong Kong, is proud of choosing to become American, arriving in 1977 to study at San Francisco State University. Adapting to a new culture sparked a lifelong interest in Asian studies and the history of Asian Americans.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up in a colony, which means that I learned a lot more in school about England than China,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, of course I had to come to the U.S. to learn Buddhism from a Jewish professor.\u201d<\/p>\n A formative early experience, shortly after college Chang worked as an accountant at Chevron, where he observed talented Chinese American colleagues getting fewer key assignments than a white co-worker.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something interesting in how people are sorted in different ways,\u201d Chang said. \u201cHow people are tracked, which school, which neighborhood, which opportunity. And even more so, which communities get the opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Leadership, Chang realized, is crucial for any group wanting to break free of roles set by others.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s leadership? It\u2019s taking initiative and it\u2019s your mindset,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you have a mindset that, \u2018I deserve this as much as other people,\u2019 then we should share power. It\u2019s not an easy sell. You need knowledge. You need the mindset. You need skills. You need understanding. You need support. You need the power. You need to be impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n After Chevron, Chang switched to studying education, earning a doctorate at Stanford University and becoming a professor of Asian American studies at De Anza College<\/a>. He retired in 2019 after 30 years on the job.<\/p>\n Long before he set\u00a0teaching aside, he broke through a local barrier.<\/p>\n In 1995 he became the first person of color to win a seat on the Cupertino City Council. Then in 1997, Chang became the first person of color to serve as its mayor. It was also the year he launched APALI as a program within De Anza College. APALI became an independent nonprofit in 2017.<\/p>\n Mayra Cruz, an APALI director and former De Anza College professor, described Chang as a quiet but forceful advocate with \u201ca warrior spirit\u201d focused on public participation.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the years, I have seen him evolving into a courageous leader. A leader who does work to create the allyship and the unity that is necessary, with strength and courage and calling things as they are,\u201d Cruz told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cHe\u2019s a very special human being.\u201d<\/p>\n Wendy Ho started her career in public service with the APALI civic leadership program in 2010. She later served as chief of staff to County Supervisor Lee from 2020 to 2025.\u00a0 She is now a board support officer for Valley Water.<\/p>\n \u201cAPALI gave me a network and a vocabulary to understand our local civic engagement ecosystem,\u201d Ho, an APALI director, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Dr. C. for opening up a lot of these doors that would not have been available to me otherwise because of the vast network that we have with APALI.\u201d<\/p>\n Political and community action, in Chang\u2019s view, are crucial in pushing back on post-COVID hate crimes against Asian Americans<\/a> and anti-immigrant efforts<\/a> such as the fight over birthright citizenship<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of times, people can live in a bubble. People have many survival instincts, \u2018Stay down, stay quiet, don\u2019t say anything, practice being invisible, don\u2019t stick your neck out,’\u201d Chang, who also served as president of the Santa Clara County Board of Education in 2017, said. \u201cThose are not the best versions of ourselves. As a citizen and as somebody who has a stake in this, it\u2019s not what I came to America for.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Michael-Chang-3-1024x768.jpg\")
Michael Chang, founder of the Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute, has trained hundreds of teens and adults who\u2019ve moved into elected office, civil service, nonprofits and more. Photo by Mike Langberg.<\/p>\n
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