Cross-posted at Asian Americans for Obama. Props to Jenn and the Web Team for putting this together!
Asian Americans for Obama is a grassroots organization of concerned Asian Americans from all over the country who are working to help elect Senator Barack Obama as the next president of the United States . Though our coalition includes members of diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic, class and gender backgrounds, we are united in the belief that Senator Barack Obama is the best candidate to bring this country together and enact change for all Americans.
Part of our mission has been to communicate the support for Senator Barack Obama within the Asian American community, particularly through new media/blog outlets. You have received this press release because we believe you are a powerful voice on the blogosphere and we hope you will find in this release writings, news stories, and link of interest to your readership.
We hope that you will post on your blog some or all of the links included in this release.
Asian American Narratives on Obama
The following are blog posts written by Asian Americans discussing their support for Senator Barack Obama.
Asian-American for Obama
Recently, I’ve had to ask myself the question on what Barack Obama can do for Asian-Americans, as opposed to John McCain. The first thing that comes to mind is that, at the very least, Obama doesn’t use the word "gook." McCain uses that term, to describe his captors and subsequent torturers of himself and his brothers in arms while he was a POW during the Vietnam conflict. I’m not going to question McCain’s disdain for his former captors, there is no ground to. How can any man still not harbor ill will in his situation? However, the use of the invective is an affront to all Asians, despite the Arizona Senator’s specificity in usage.
That incident alone highlights the main reason on why Sentaor Obama is a better choice for Asian-Americans than and Senator McCain. That reason is "progress."
Vin Pan op-ed on three principles in Obama's speech can move America forward
"The Obama speech was compelling in its courage. It suggested the need to redouble efforts to empathize with one another, to transcend race by being conscious of it, and to work together on common societal challenges. It was a good start, but now the real work begins with each of us."
Obama, AAPIs and the Economy
The Asian American/ Pacific Islander (AA/PI) communities mirror the widening socioeconomic divide in the country. Out of all racial groups, AA/PIs have the largest gap between rich and poor. In Los Angeles , disaggregating AA/PIs by ethnicity, the US Census Bureau reported poverty levels of Thais (31%), Koreans (36%), Vietnamese (44%), Samoans (51%), and Cambodians (68%) to be higher than Latina/os (20.4%) and African Americans (21.1%). These are the unheard voices of our communities but whose stories resonate with majority of the nation feeling the pinch of the current economic crisis. Historically, AA/PI migration patterns coincided with shifts in the economy from the influx of Chinese immigrant workers in the 1800s as the nation industrialized to the current twin migration of highly skilled professionals and a lower-skilled workforce from Asian countries to fill positions in the growing service, information and underground economy. Race and class converge in the "model minority" image which conceals those who languish in poverty and inserts a wedge within our own and between other communities.
However, disunity and economic disparity only touch upon the surface. If you place Obama’s narrative on the economy within the larger ideas informing his campaign strategy, you will hear the old cry of the immigrant women strikers of the 1912 Lawrence textile mills---"We want bread but we want roses too."
Media
Asian Americans for Obama have worked to incorporate Asian language subtitles to several existing video clips. We did this to help ensure that Obama’s message can reach a multicultural audience. (Note: The DVD to Pennsylvania was just shipped in 6 languages.)
Captioned Media for Obama (YouTube)
Other Links
The following are other posts written by Asian American supporters of Obama:
A Real Obama Girl
UCLA Law Professor Jerry Kang on Obama, Ozawa, and Thind
Cali Obama Supporters on Chinese Language Radio
If you have any questions about the content of this release, please contact jenn@reappropriate.com.
Thanks for reading,
Jenn
http://www.reappropriate.com
Web Team Coordinator for Asian Americans for Obama and lead blogger for Asian Pacific Americans for Progress