The fight over I-1000 is a classic clash between equality and equity. Equality means everyone plays by the same rules. Equity requires the rules to be different because people are different. But while the fight is familiar, the players aren’t. The campaign against I-1000 has been led by Linda Yang, head of Washington Asians for Equality, who emigrated from China in 1995 with $200 in her pocket. This is her first political campaign.
Ms. Yang told state lawmakers at a hearing earlier this year that she has frequently experienced discrimination. “When one of my managers wanted to promote a less qualified male Caucasian candidate over me, I walked into his office and gave him a list why I was more qualified,” she said. “I did not say I was a woman. I did not say that I was a minority. I said I was more qualified. . . . I refuse to play the identity-politics card.”
Asians for Equality stunned seasoned political observers over the past six months by collecting more than 650 donations from Microsoft employees, even as the Redmond-based company itself endorsed I-1000. As of mid-October not a single Microsoft worker had made a donation to support I-1000. The campaign against I-1000 has collected 272 donations from Amazon employees since May. Employees at Google, Facebook and eBay have also donated, suggesting that even notoriously liberal tech workers have grown weary of identity politics. Perhaps they believe that discriminating against Asians, whites and men is as wrong as discriminating against blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics and women.
The fight over I-1000 is a classic clash between equality and equity. Equality means everyone plays by the same rules. Equity requires the rules to be different because people are different. But while the fight is familiar, the players aren’t. The campaign against I-1000 has been led by Linda Yang, head of Washington Asians for Equality, who emigrated from China in 1995 with $200 in her pocket. This is her first political campaign.
Ms. Yang told state lawmakers at a hearing earlier this year that she has frequently experienced discrimination. “When one of my managers wanted to promote a less qualified male Caucasian candidate over me, I walked into his office and gave him a list why I was more qualified,” she said. “I did not say I was a woman. I did not say that I was a minority. I said I was more qualified. . . . I refuse to play the identity-politics card.”
Asians for Equality stunned seasoned political observers over the past six months by collecting more than 650 donations from Microsoft employees, even as the Redmond-based company itself endorsed I-1000. As of mid-October not a single Microsoft worker had made a donation to support I-1000. The campaign against I-1000 has collected 272 donations from Amazon employees since May. Employees at Google, Facebook and eBay have also donated, suggesting that even notoriously liberal tech workers have grown weary of identity politics. Perhaps they believe that discriminating against Asians, whites and men is as wrong as discriminating against blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics and women.
There is growing dread that the progressives will lose the referendum battle this November. And this could mean the coalescing of an operation emboldened by victory and already wrapped in the tentacles of a more national movement. Qiu says that his organization is receiving meaningful support from other parts of the country; he also says that this fight will endure well past November. What we’re seeing here in Washington state could be just the beginning of a political storm that huffs and puffs into 2020.
Back in the dark recesses of the Asian American progressive memory banks is a late and unwelcomed surprise appearance: a considerable “Chinese for Trump” movement that materialized in Los Angeles, just in time for the 2016 elections.
“This is bigger than one campaign,” Henry said of the cultural and political clash between Asian Americans over affirmative action in Washington state. “We’re on this. We’re well aware this is happening.”
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