Former 'silent minority' increasingly Americanized, engaged and visible
LINK | Associated Press | Oct. 26, 2008
LORTON, Va. - For a long time, says Loc Pfeiffer, his fellow Asian-Americans were passive participants in American politics. But things are changing.
"Asians don't like confrontation or being adversarial, but that's politics," says Pfeiffer, a 41-year-old lawyer who was 6 when his parents brought him to America from Vietnam.
"The more we're raised and bred here, the less likely we are to be passive. So much of our culture, it's a very, very obedient culture. ... You don't argue with the government. You don't argue with Big Brother. There's the assumption that you give up all your individual rights for the whole. Which is astounding to me, because I'm American now."
An assertive Asian America matters, especially in places like Virginia and Nevada, swing states where Asians have been growing in numbers and influence.
With a booming population of highly educated, increasingly Americanized voters, this former "silent minority" is entering the most engaged and visible era of its political history.
Why Asian Americans Should Vote for Barack Obama.By RAJEN ANAND
After 8 years of Republican rule, during which we saw a preemptive invasion of Iraq justified on wrong pretexts claiming the life of over four thousand young Americans and thousands of innocent Iraqi people, crumbling economy and plummeting stocks in the country with a frightful rate of foreclosures, rising prices of gas and groceries, increasing cost of healthcare with 47 million Americans without any health insurance, and the highest budget deficit in the history, Americans are yearning for a change in the Country. On November 4, 2008, we will have the opportunity to help bring that change in the country. By casting our ballot for the right candidate, we can become part of the change. I strongly urge my fellow Asian Americans to vote for the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, for the reasons described here.
Most of us are first generation immigrants who landed on these shores for higher education and economic prosperity. We can all identify with the life of Barack Obama, whose father also came from Kenya to this country as a student for higher studies. Just as many of us were subjected to face many hardships, his father too struggled as a student. Our kids born here, just as Obama was, can be inspired from his life story. Only in this great country a son of a White woman and African American immigrant father can aspire to reach such heights as Obama has done.
This election will be an historic moment when we will elect for the first time a man of color as President of the United States and we can be part of that history.Being an off spring of a biracial couple, Obama has got the best of both parents and best of the two cultures. He is intelligent, charismatic, visionary, great communicator and full of ideas. He will make an impressive and effective president.
We should vote for Barack Obama, for he will bring the much needed change in this country and will take her to path of peace and prosperity. He was against the war in Iraq from the very beginning, the war that was waged on wrong pretexts. There were no weapons of mass destruction found, as the reason given for the invasion, and there was no direct threat from that country. This was a unilateral preemptive war against a sovereign country. Although ruled by a ruthless dictator, the people were getting all amenities of life. By invading Iraq, we have disrupted their peace. Barack Obama has said that he would immediately start the withdrawal of troops from Iraq in a responsible fashion, so as not to put the American troops at risk.
The Republican nominee is going around the country singing the song of success of the surge in Iraq and accusing Barack Obama for not supporting it. One should ask him that if the person who forcefully throws a group of people into a deep river and leaves them to die should get credit if now he starts to look for the rope or should he be punished for sending the crowd in harm way in the first place. Fighting the war in Iraq was not worth losing a single life of our brave soldiers. The surge has slowed down the loss of life. It has not ended it. We have no reason to occupy that land.
Obama has said in a speech, “I am running for President of the United States to lead this country in a new direction. Instead of pushing the entire burden of our foreign policy on the brave men and women of our military, I want to use all elements of American power to keep us safe, and prosperous, and free. Instead of alienating ourselves from the world, I want America, once again, to lead.” Obama will restore the badly tarnished image of America.
Asian Americans have the highest level of education than any other group. Our kids have achieved great academic landmarks. Obama will bring great reform in education. He is committed to strengthening our public schools to maximize our country's greatest natural resource - the American people. Obama believes that we must equip poor and struggling districts, both rural and urban, with the support and resources they need to provide disadvantaged students with an opportunity to reach their full potential. He would provide in-state-college tuition to students who grew up in the United States, irrespective of their immigration status.
Many of us are first generation immigrants and are greatly concerned with immigration policies of the country. We believe that no one has a choice to pick his/her parents or the country in which he/she is born. No one should be faulted for attributes on which one no control. We believe America is a country of immigrants who have enriched its social, economic and cultural heritage. We want the immigration policies of the United States to be fair, legal and welcoming people from all over the globe. Obama has been a leading voice to comprehensively reform our immigration system by providing a path to citizenship for undocumented residents, securing our borders, and fixing the broken immigration bureaucracy, keeping the family reunification provisions, and improving the H1-B visa program.
We are also interested in the healthcare system of the country. Currently there are 47 million Americans, including 2.4 million Asian Americans, without any health insurance. They burdened our healthcare system putting all of us at risk. Obama is committed to signing legislation by the end of his first term in office to ensure that all Americans have affordable quality and portable healthcare coverage. Obama’s plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by modernizing the U.S. healthcare system and promoting disease prevention and strengthening public health. Smoking and obesity are the two major preventable causes of disease in the United States and Obama will fight to reduce both of them.
Our people have been subjected to racial profiling and have faced racial discrimination. Many of our Sikh brothers, mistaken as Middle Eastern, have been beaten up by bigots. Obama has been fighting to end all forms of discrimination. He will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.
With the gas prices going out of roof, we are deeply concerned about the energy situation. Senator Obama has been a leader in the Senate in pushing for a comprehensive national energy policy and has introduced a number of bills to get us closer to the goal of energy independence. Obama will invest in many alternative forms of energy that will be environmentally friendly and create new jobs.
We will be voting for Barack Obama because we believe he is the right candidate for president at this time. He is right on his plan to end the war in Iraq by safely bringing troops home. He is right on the immigration policies of the country to keep immigration open, legal and fair for all.
Above all, we are voting for Obama, for he is breath of fresh air in this poisonous political environment and he will bring the much needed change in the country. Please join us on November 4 to vote for Obama-Biden ticket.
Rajen Anand, the former Executive Director, USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (1995-2001) currently serves as Chair of the National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA).
Senator Hillary Clinton ran a superb campaign. Many of us who were ardent supporters of Hillary Clinton can take a great pride in the way she conducted her camaign. We are very grateful to her for her loyalty and inspiration she offered to us.
But now the primaries are over and we have Barack Obama as our nominee for the President. We are deeply impressed by his message of hope to bring a significant change in America. He is charismatic, visionary and an excellent communicator who has the superb abillity to convey his ideas to us. As loyal Democrats, we are very proud of his policies to get us out of Iraq, bring economic prosperity at home, and restore the old glory of America that we all enjoyed before President Bush occupied the White House. As President, Barack Obama will listen to us and will do everything for the welfre of common men and women. He is the bright light shining on the America's darkest hours at present. The price of a gallon of gas has risen to more than $4, homes are increasingly being foreclosed and people left without shelters, the inflation is rising and earnings are going down, and consumer confidence has decreased to lowest level. After four years of miserable conditions under the Republican Administration, I cannot imagine any one even thinking about voting for John McCain who has clearly indicated that he would follow the same path as was followed by the current President.
I sincerely urge each and every supporter of Hillary Clinton to seriously look at the policies proposed by Barack Obama and consider the consequences of four more years of Republican Administration. Barack Obama is our nominee, we are proud of him and we must not leave any stone unturned in our efforts to get him elected the president of the United States of America.
So please come home to Obama Camp. You are needed here. Work as hard as you did for Hillary Clinton. I assure you, you will be welcomed by Obama Campaign with open arms, with love and affection.
Please come and join the Barack Obama campaign.
Rajen Anand
I know there are still some Hillary suporters who have not yet fully recovered from the defeat of their candidate. I would like to strongly urge each one of them to seriously consider the consequences of four more years of a republican occupying the White House. Please look at Senator Barack Obama, his vision for America, his message of hope, his efforts to bring people together, his promise to use diplomacy to solve conflicts in the world and his commitment to restore the good image of America abroad. He will prove to be the first President to create a color blind society that we all want. He will emphasize the respect for others point of view even when we disagree with them.
PLEASE COME HOME HILLARY SUPPORTERS AND JOIN THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN. YOU ARE NEEDED AND YOU WILL BE WELCOMED WITH OPEN ARMS, WITH LOVE AND AFFECTION.
