Judy Chu was a school board member when 1980s Monterey Park became a battleground over English-only resolutions. The city council considered bans on non-English signs, bans on non-English books in the library, even bans on speaking other languages aloud. Chu became a major force behind the Coalition for Harmony in Monterey Park — a group dedicated to “harmony days” and bridging different races and cultures. Harmony carried the day, and the multiethnic coalition that formed around the issue supported Chu when she ran for city council, for mayor, for California state assembly and, ultimately, for the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2009, Judy Chu became the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress.