Senator Barack Obama has tried his best to keep this presidential campaign about change, hope and the promise of a more unified America. Unfortunately there are elements in this country that seem more intent on attack and division, forcing supporters like me to try set the record straight.
The political action committee called 80-20 has launched a vicious 'swiftboating' campaign against Sen. Obama because his campaign and that organization could not agree to a questionnaire about very narrow issues related to AAPIs.
80-20's claims that Obama does not support the Asian American Pacific Islander community is absurd, as one can see from the tremendous backing from AAPIs throughout the country (see below).
For whatever good work 80-20 does, it cannot claim to represent the breadth and diversity of the AAPI community. I reject the notion that they do.
By trying to represent us and swiftboating Obama, they in fact do an injustice to our communities and betray their own vision of progress through unity.
Senator Obama comes down on the right side of all the major issues impacting AAPIs, including staunch support for the DREAM Act, comprehensive immigration reform that includes an emphasis on family unification and improvements to the H-1B visa program, greater investment in minority-owned small businesses, and an end to racial profiling and discrimination.
Obama has the support of respected leaders such as Calif. Assemblyman Ted Lieu (chair of the API Legislative Caucus), former Calif. Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, attorney and civil rights activist Angela Oh, as well as endorsements by a new generation of AAPI officials, including Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon, and San Francisco school board members Kim, Mar and Mendoza. Other prominent supporters include actor Kal Penn, Center for Asian American Media executive director Eddie Wong, Joy Luck Club film producer Janet Yang and Los Angeles County Hospital and Healthcare Delivery Commission chairman Stanley Toy, who is also co-chair of Obama's AAPI National Leadership Council.
Supporters in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles are throwing an event in each area to show the AAPI support for Sen. Obama.
Actor Kelly Hu will headline a party for presidential candidate Barack Obama's Asian American Pacific Islander supporters in the Bay Area on Tuesday, January 29, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Roe Restaurant, 651 Howard St., San Francisco. The event is free.
Hu joins San Francisco school board members Jane Kim, Eric Mar and Hydra Mendoza, filmmaker and Giant Robot's Catherine Park and organizers Keith Kamisugi, Brian Wang, Angelica Jongco, Stella Ngai, Jenn Pae, Colbert Tse and others as co-hosts of gathering.
Like Hu, Senator Obama was born in Hawai'i, a state where Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up a significant portion of the population. As a child of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic family that included Asian Americans, Obama lived in Indonesia, sharing some of the same personal experiences that many Asian immigrants in the United States have also experienced before arriving on these shores.
A video featuring Hu speaking about her support for Obama can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/UnitedForObama, a YouTube channel with videos produced by filmmakers Eric Byler and Annabel Park.
"I am proud of the strong personal ties I have had with the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders communities that go back to my birth, and I am humbled to have the widespread support from these communities in my campaign," said Barack Obama. "Like most Americans, the AAPI community knows that with the great challenges facing our nation today, we need leadership that can unite us to bring change we can believe in."
For more information on the SF event and to RSVP, visit http://kellyhu.apaforobama.com.
Senator Obama has an AAPI website at http://aapi.barackobama.com.
And AAPIs interested in supporting Obama can visit http://asianamericansforobama.com to learn how to get involved.
Aloha,
Keith Kamisugi
Below is the text from the letter sent to 80-20 from the Obama AAPI Leadership Council:Letter to 80-20's S.B. Woo from Co-Chairs of Obama Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Leadership Council
Dear S.B. Woo,
In response to your "Open Letter from the Asian Am Community" to Senator Barack Obama, we are sending this letter to address some apparent misunderstandings and misconceptions.
As key supporters of the Obama campaign, we can assure you that the campaign is committed to reaching out to the Asian American community. The Senator has created an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) National Leadership Council comprised of key AAPI leaders and activists from throughout the country to advise the campaign on identifying AAPI issues of concern and outreach. The campaign has provided an official statement of support and commitment to the Asian American Action Fund (AAA Fund). In fact, the AAA Fund of Greater Chicago has formally endorsed Senator Obama's candidacy. The campaign has sent top surrogates to address the AAPI community's concerns and their needs at candidate forums sponsored by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) and the AAA Fund. The Senator, himself, emphasized his support of Asian Americans with his message of diversity through unity during his participation in the Iowa Heartland Presidential Forum. The campaign has outlined a comprehensive plan to reclaim the American Dream for Asian American and Pacific Islander families. Barack Obama is the only candidate to have a campaign-sponsored Asian American outreach webpage linked off of its main website.
In an effort to further reach out to the AAPI community, the Obama campaign attempted to establish a dialogue with you regarding the 80-20 Educational Foundation's questionnaire in December 2007. On Friday, December 14, 2007, Obama campaign staff had engaged in a phone conversation with you to discuss concerns regarding the wording of the questionnaire. The staff members had requested you to consider changes to questions 4 and 5, both of which relate to appointing AAPI judges, because of concerns that the questions implied a de facto quota. As you are aware, Senator Obama is a strong supporter of affirmative action and enhancing opportunities for Asian Americans, but he is a staunch opponent of the quota systems. The staff members requested that you consider modifying the wording of those questions to resemble the wording of question 6, which addresses considering qualified AAPIs for the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, you refused to consider modifications of the questions, and refused our request to explore other alternatives that would allow the Obama campaign to submit the completed questionnaire to the members of 80-20. In response to the 80-20 questionnaire as written, the Obama campaign did send you a letter confirming Senator Obama's commitment to the enhancement of representation of Asian Americans in the federal judiciary system and ensuring equal opportunity in the workplace for not only Asian Americans, but for all Americans. Apparently, that was not acceptable to you.
Since that conversation, we have been greatly disturbed by emails that were circulated from you to your membership, which included false statements regarding your communications or lack of communications with the Obama staff. 80-20's emails have made untrue allegations as to the reasons why the Obama campaign has not submitted "Yes" or "No" answers to the questionnaire. 80-20's emails have also unfairly targeted and ridiculed Senator Obama and his motivations for his run to the Presidency. The emails have reflected untrue claims regarding the roles of the Senator's family members and supporters and their participation in the campaign. The allegations through your ongoing emails to your membership continue to be false and misleading. We ask that you to refrain from circulating untrue and unsubstantiated statements about the Senator, his family members, campaign supporters, and the Obama campaign staff.
We encourage you, in the spirit of cooperation, to consider the changes the campaign requested in December or work with the campaign to find acceptable alternatives. We hope that 80-20 will rescind its Defeat Obama campaign. We do not understand why 80-20 has targeted Senator Obama and his candidacy even after the Obama campaign had attempted in good faith to establish a dialogue with 80-20. Other Democratic candidates at the time, including Governor Richardson and Congressman Kucinich, had not responded to the questionnaire, nor had any of the Republican candidates and yet none of them were targeted with a specific and deliberate campaign to defeat their candidacies.
The Obama campaign pledges to continue to reach out to the Asian American community and recognizes the importance of contributions made by the members of the AAPI community to the growth and success of our country. We look forward to further strengthening our dialogue and position with the AAPI community in addressing their issues of concern and needs throughout this campaign. We are proud of the diverse coalition that has been built to support Barack Obama's campaign for President, and we certainly encourage organizations like 80-20 to stand with us in our mission to affect positive change for our country.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Nancy Chen, IL., Former APA Outreach Director for the Office of Presidential Personnel (1996-1997) and Former Chicago Director for Senator Paul Simon (D–IL) (1991-1996); Co-chair, Obama AAPI National Leadership Council
Ann Lata Kalayil, IL., Former DNC At-Large Member and APIA Caucus; Co-Chair, Obama AAPI National Leadership Council
Stanley M. Toy, Jr. M.D., CA., Chairman, Los Angeles County Hospital and Healthcare Delivery Commission and President and CEO TEAM Healthcare; Former Deputy National Finance Chair for Kerry-Edwards 2004, DNC Delegate-at-Large 2004, Member, Kerry National Leadership Council; Co-Chair, Obama AAPI National Leadership Council
