DNC: Day 2 of a Diary of a Clinton volunteer - A message to Sanders supporters

Actress Constance Wu of 'Fresh Off The Boat' spoke to the AAPI people at the Democratic National Convention.

By Nick Lee
Reprinted from AsAm News

AS A VOLUNTEER, I knew we would hit the ground running the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), but I was not entirely prepared for exactly how fast. We started work at 9 am and after a short meeting we headed straight downstairs to the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Caucus, essentially a rally for the AAPI Democrats in attendance at convention. Armed with an iPhone and the Periscope app, my job was to get as close as possible to the stage and livestream the event without my arm giving up on me. This gave me a front row view to the speakers and their messages to the AAPI community.

The best way to describe the atmosphere at the AAPI Caucus was one of excitement, excitement at the prospect of a new day for AAPI visibility in this election. For many of the local delegates and volunteers from around the country, seeing so many AAPIs in one room that are equally passionate about politics must have been an uncommon occurrence. Congresswoman Judy Chu’s favorite line that “we are going from being marginalized, to becoming the margin of victory,” was received with cheers and applause from the collection of delegates and supporters who gathered around.

RELATED: Diary of a Clinton Volunteer - Day 1

Congressman Mike Honda also delivered powerful remarks that celebrated how far the party and our community had come by speaking directly to AAPI historical experiences. He proclaimed, “If we had a [Democratic] party like we have today, I would have never been sent to [the internment] camp. If we had this Democratic Party back in the 1880s we would not have had the Chinese Exclusion Act. If we had parties like this, with our sentiment, Native Americans would have a better break, Native Hawaiians would have a better break.”

Nick Lee

Constance Wu also spoke out about the growing power of AAPI choice from her perspective as an actress on the hit sitcom Fresh Off The Boat . She attributed the rise of new shows prominently featuring Asian Americans as a product of increasing Asian American power. “This shows that Asian American voting and attention matter,” she explained. “They would have never picked up those other shows if our show hadn’t garnered a large audience that was really hungry for that content.”

Being in that room, surrounded by dozens of other AAPIs who were equally excited about a Democratic victory in 2016 helped lend credence to the theme of the Caucus: “Our Time Is Now”. There is a hunger in the AAPI political community to be legitimized in the eyes of the media, government, and larger political sphere. In the words of Congressman Ami Bera, “We’re a rising electorate. This is a coming of age election for the AAPI community. Let’s make 2016 our year.”

Later on that night, I received credentials to see some of the brightest superstars of the Democratic Party speak. Even though I have called DC home for two years and hardly blink when I see a Congressman, I was left mesmerized by the power that they brought to the arena. Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Michelle Obama all laid out powerful progressive visions of an inclusive society formed on tolerance, justice, and fairness; a vision that appealed to my liberal instincts and did not shy or back away from issues.

RELATED: AAPI delegates, guests & elected meet at the DNC

However, what spoke to me most powerfully from the evening was seeing a crying Bernie supporter on the Jumbotron, as her candidate spoke fervently about the need to support Hillary in November. In that moment, I saw myself in her eyes and realized how hard all of the Sanders supporters present must have worked to try and get their candidate the nomination, and also how incredibly disappointing it must be to never reach your highest ambition. I thought back to those late nights spent making phone calls to strangers and striving to get Hillary the nomination, and remembered that they must have done much of the same.

Even though I still strongly believe Hillary would be the best president, I sympathized with the Bernie camp and their struggle to try and enact their vision of progressive change in America. Today reinforced the notion that the goals and ambitions of a Clinton presidency are far more similar than they are different from Bernie’s. Bernie’s campaign slogan “A Future to Believe In” spoke to me, because I felt that last night was an important step in healing the differences of the past and uniting in a common goal. I am looking forward to working with Bernie supporters going into November, where we need their passion and hard work to ensure that there is a future that we can all believe in.(Nick Lee of Chinese Americans for Hillary will be sharing his thoughts all week with AsAmNews readers.)

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Can Hillary Clinton win over Millennial Asian/American Bernie Sanders supporters

 

Hillary Clinton won the support of most Asian/American voters.

By Aswin Mannepalli
Reprinted from AsAm News

NATHAN LOWE is the son of first-generation Chinese/Americans who deeply identified with their Evangelical faith and the Republican Party.  His turn leftward began after his exposure to Asian/American and ethnic studies courses.  “I got involved in a local community organization that was formed to fight Walmart’s incursion into LA Chinatown,” he remembered.

He supports Senator Bernie Sanders for president and volunteers for his campaign. Nathan is part of a trend that sees young Asian/Americans lean further to the left than prior generations.

Professor Karthick Ramakrishnan analyzes AAPI politics and he finds that AAPIs younger than 35, just as the general electorate in their age group,  strongly support the Vermont senator.  An Asian/American voter survey commissioned by Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and AAPI Data found that while Clinton leads overall among Asian Americans with 33% support to Sanders’s 26%, Bernie has decisively captured the 18–34 share with 61% support.  Clinton has held leads among older age-groups.

“Young Asian/American voters’ strong support for Sanders is in line with their ideology—they are more likely than older Asian/Americans to call themselves liberal, and they are even more progressive than the general Asian American population when it comes to issues like raising the minimum wage and making college more affordable,” Professor Ramakrishnan of the University of California, Irvine and AAPI Data said summarizing the study.

Some of those Asian/Americans who support Clinton point to her pragmatism as the deciding factor in their vote.

“Hillary supports things like raising the minimum wage, protecting our environment, criminal justice reform, and campaign finance reform, but she is also pragmatic about the ways in which she wants to enact these goals,” said Sahil Mehrotra. A rising senior at the College of William and Mary, he co-founded a pro-Hillary student group on campus.

He acknowledges, however, that Hillary’s message is not immediately resonating with Sahil’s generation.  “In general,” he conceded, “I think my generation might be considered pro-Bernie.”

Professor Larry Shinagawa, former Director of University of Maryland ‎Asian American Studies Program said “many older Asian/Americans have long standing established relationships with the former Clinton and Obama administrations and this familiarity is the key driver of support for the Hillary campaign,”

Younger Asian/Americans, on the other hand, exist politically and economically outside of this structure and are more vulnerable and consequently attuned to changes that are reshaping American life.  “They are experiencing the fundamental transformation of America and feel that the challenges this post-modern society faces can best be addressed by Senator Sanders,” Shinagawa added.

Perhaps the complicated calculus that underpins the voting decisions of Asian Americans can best be seen in the case of 80-20 Initiative’s decision to endorse Hillary Clinton for the Democratic primary.  The organization was founded by the 21st Lieutenant Governor of Delaware, Dr. S.B. Woo, and advocates for Asian/American causes.

“In my heart I liked Bernie’s candidacy more,” Woo,79, said. “But I worked very hard to get Asian Americans to vote for Hilary in the California primary, because 80-20 as a group decided that Hillary had the better likelihood to fulfill her promises to AAPIs than Bernie.”

“Hillary Clinton is the most qualified person to run for president in recent memory, and with her, we will be stronger together,”  said Mehrotra, the student at William and Mary College who started the pro-Hillary campus group.  That said, Sahil believes that Clinton will draw more support as the general election nears.  “I think that the level of excitement for Hillary from my generation is understated in general, and I’m excited to see it revealed in the coming weeks and months,” he predicted.

Interestingly, the popular Feel the Bern campaign slogan was popularized by an Asian American, Winnie Wong, who co-founded People for Bernie. Wong’s work is credited with bringing many new voters into mainstream politics. But will they stay?

Ramakrishnan isn’t so sure. He believes the implications for the Democratic Party and Asian America are still unclear.   “It remains to be seen whether many of these first-timers will continue to be involved, either with the Clinton campaign or in trying to push for progressive politics in the months and years ahead.”

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