First of all, let me say Kung Hay Fat Choy to all of our readers. Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Dog. The Washington Post has what I thought to be a very illustrative article on what holidays like the Chinese New Year mean to politicians who want the Asian American vote:
Most Maryland voters probably didn’t realize that Asian Americans were celebrating New Year’s yesterday, but Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan marks the date on his calendar every year.
Duncan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, crisscrossed Montgomery yesterday, attending two Lunar New Year celebrations and a gathering to commemorate the anniversary of India becoming a republic, on Jan. 26, 1950.For Duncan and other elected officials, showing up at these events is part of a strategy to reach out to immigrants whose political influence remains relatively untested statewide even though their numbers are growing rapidly…
Pollsters and political consultants say it will probably be a few years before foreign-born residents are major factors in statewide elections. But candidates this year aren’t taking any chances. [Link]
So the picture remains the same. If you want the vote of immigrants from Asia (including South Asia), and the support of even some of their American-raised children, you don’t have to answer for any of your general policies, many of which might actually affect them pretty significantly. All you have to do is make a show of the fact that you respect their former nation and some of their traditions. It is a total waste of political power in my opinion, given the increased importance of our votes.
“These are people you simply cannot ignore,” said former Montgomery County Council member Isiah Leggett, the former chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party and a candidate for county executive. “Not only are they voting, they are giving money and volunteering, so I think candidates who ignore them do so at their own peril…”
Although foreign-born residents account for 10 percent of Maryland’s population, they make up 27 percent of Montgomery’s, according to the 2000 Census. In Prince George’s, they account for 14 percent.
“As a percentage of the statewide likely vote, these immigrant populations will still be in the modest single digits, but when you look within the greater Washington marketplace, particularly Montgomery County, these new immigrants can tip the balance,” said Keith Haller, a Maryland independent pollster. [Link]
Maryland’s Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich has been listening to Asian Americans who are flexing their muscles in pursuit of something that they think is REALLY important to their lives here:
Asians in Maryland and elsewhere are pushing for measures they hope will result in a federal holiday marking the Lunar New Year, allowing public schools to close and employees to stay home from work.
Activists from the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese communities have collected more than 6,000 signatures in Maryland for a petition to recognize the Lunar New Year…Many Asians say they feel unable to properly celebrate what they consider the most important holiday of the year because they are unable to miss work or take their children out of school….
On Friday, members of the Maryland Coalition for Recognition of the Asian Lunar New Year met with Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich and other elected officials to celebrate the holiday and fight for their cause.
A bill was introduced last week that would make the Lunar New Year a “commemorative day,” a quasi-holiday distinction given to only three others in Maryland: Lay Day (May 1), Poetry Day (Oct. 15) and the birthday of John Hanson (April 13), an 18th-century lawmaker. [Link]
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) was scheduled to attend an Indian Republic Day event in Greenbelt last night at the same time Duncan was at one in Gaithersburg. [Link]
See how it works? The story my eyes see emerge is that if you are a politician it is easy to get the Asian vote once you throw them a bone, like a “quasi-holiday” right up there with Poetry Day (but only after they think they have really struggled to win it). I don’t blame the politicians at all. I blame us. Our potential political power is wasted in pursuit of ceremonial scraps while we ignore getting involved in substantive issues. Why don’t we care that as Asian immigrants the phonecalls we might make to relatives abroad may be tapped? I wish Asian and South Asian American groups would start spending their time writing amicus briefs in support of important cases and building coalitions with other mainstream groups. We will never have real political power until we use our influence to affect policies important to the general public and not ONLY policies that appeal to our cultural vanity. What’s more is that every victory like a “special” holiday just serves to further isolate the importance of our constituency from the mainstream, and makes it easy to politically pigeonhole us. It is entirely possible that I am just on a soap-box right now, but I hate what articles like this reveal about our community’s impotence under the false guise that our power is actually growing. By all means fight for the right to have your holiday, but don’t stay home when it comes time to fight the real fight.
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Kamala Edwards, an Indian American and Democratic activist from Silver Spring, says she’s supporting O’Malley — mainly because he asked first.“Mayor O’Malley approached the community, and he has come out to have meet-and-greets,” she said. [Link]
I wonder if he ate a samosa with some green chutney at the meet-and-greet. Then he would have had my vote.
“our” vote?
“our” vote only means anything if there was a “we.”
if you broke desis down you’d get kuttar-hindu, chill hindu, self-hate hindu (same categories for sikhs) not to mention hardcore muslim, chill muslim, secular muslim. each one of them with varying agendas that suggests they are not likely to consider themselves a “we.”
the muslim bloc vote attempt of 2000 comes to mind. a total failure. they all thought they were going to vote democrat. last second the leaders switched to republican. most ended up voting for nader cuz he is lebanese-american.
if its this bad within desis, how can you expect it to be any better among “asians.”
I think what I am advocating is something different, and its outcome definitely has nothing to do with religious differences in a group. For example, not all the people that visit this website believe in the same issues and yet I feel like there is a bit of an “us” developing. Some are liberal and some are conservative. Yet beyond that I still think (I hope) that most of us are interested in important issues that move past just superficial and narrow niche causes. Maybe I am hoping for a new “we” made up of South Asian Americans that can shed themselves of old world distractions long enough to take a greater interest in some main stream issues where there might be a lot of consensus after all. Maybe I am an idealist 🙂
Abhi
This is very interesting to me. What sorts of rights should Asian-Americans (including South Asian-Americans) fight for (other than the wiretap issue, of course)?
Also, I wonder if it is right to characterise the Lunar New Year (or Diwali or anything else) as something exclusively belonging to the ‘former’ nation. After all, traditions are sometimes community-based and transcend national boundaries. Also, eventually, they may become part of the American festival scene too. Or maybe I’m wrong about this.
Maybe I am an idealist
an american 🙂
I would re-phrase your question to read “What sorts of issues should Asian Americans be more involved in?” Just off the top of my head I would say: -Education (including the Evolution debate and the tech drain in grad schools) -Border issues -National identity cards -“The War on Terror” -Healthcare
It just bothers me that the Asian American vote is largely seen as a block that can be bought off by placating vanity issues. Maybe, as has been pointed out, we can’t maintain any cohesive voice if you take away the superficial issues. I’m not ready yet to believe that yet. I think you could get up to 70% of Asians to come to a consensus on some of the issues above if a concerted effort was made to educate people on the facts. I believe that there is a unity of shared experience there that we always get distracted from seeing.
It isn’t something that belongs exclusively to the former nation. It is something that is important, but not the only thing that is important as it so often seems to me.
hate to sound like a naysayer, but you have to keep in mind that you and i are, the american raised south asian community, are not the political clout holders as of yet within the desi community. our parents’ generation — half of which is fabulously wealthy and half of which is fabulously apathetic — tend to vote (if at all), on the basis of 1) money, 2) foreign policy, 3) public morality (modesty, sharmo o haya)
rich desis want their money protected, read: republican party; poorer desis, on the other hand, don’t know enough about money issues.
rich desis want money pumped into their home countries; younger desies want money pumped into domestic sphere.
conservative older desis are terribly afraid of american “wahiyat” business; younger desis engage in it — we talk about horny rhinos for god sakes.
there’s a big gulf there which makes a ‘we’ very unlikely.
finally, you have to keep in mind that we are not likely to be united on the war on terror issue either because a lot of rich desi money in america is in the hands of conservative indians, who tend to think of a large number of muslims in the third world as a threat.
eteraz,
you analysis is shocking superficial. even though i don’t buy the “90% of browns voted for kerry” i would be skeptical of most browns voting republican. anyway, i’m too tired to look up data.
good night.
Thank you, Abhi.
i didn’t say ‘most’ voted republican. too lazy to scroll and check. i did suggest that rich brown vote republican. they do.
Abhi,
You know Lunar Day celebrations/ Diwali celebrations @ White House are very superficial attempt to connect. However, they are the only “collective” bait. Often, a Korean-American Deli-owner has nothing in common with an Indian-American NASA scientist. Maybe, some “Asianness” that is too hazy to put finger on. Maybe, both like fair brunettes, who knows?
Just look at the example of Ireland, and Irish-American politics. Patrick Day celebrations in USA become rallying cause for issues here, and even for the ancestoral country. A simple act of Senator Edward Kennedy rebuffing Gerry Adams of Sinn Fenn had tremors felt here and even back in Ireland. You know those sister of guy who was killed by IRA when came to US, the impact it had. Symbolism, Symbolism – that is the only mass means of communication. That is why Gandhi did Dandi March. That is why General MacArthur showed respect to Emperor Hirohito even when Japan was humilated.
Yes, but do we want to be known as a community that always bites?
But often they do. Two of my roomates in college were Korean American, and I can compliment a part of the female anatomy in the Korean language 🙂 I may not have much in common with a Korean-American Deli owner but me and his son are down.
But it is also an opiate for the masses.
But often they do.
Abhi,
I know. I know. But I do not want to come to Sepia Mutiny, and just say, “Abhi, You are so smart.” Let’s leave this to thousands of debutantes visiting this site every day. I wanted to highlight the power of symbolism – that is almost universal.
I think I would have never finished my PhD but for strong, and timely mentorship by an Asian-American (Hong Kong origin) Professor. She was not related to my speciality, thesis topic, etc. (only same Department) but understood somebody like me (my Asianness) quite well. There is lot in common, I agree. My sister-in-law is also Asian-American.
Any media is good media, right?
Wrong- it may have been sloppy in 2000, but the effects of 9/11 really forced the Muslim vote to get together. In 2004, the Muslim vote was totally united effort, with groups like Council of American Islamic Relations and Muslim American Foundation working in coaltion for a single campaign.
There are plenty of groups out there working on this, http://www.apiavote.org, http://www.napalc.org, http://www.apalc.org, http://www.aaldef.org, http://www.saalt.org, http://www.ccp.org, http://www.project-impact.org, and, of course, http://www.saavy.org...
Though there have been no national surveys formally examining the sort of issues that South Asian American are into, our survey of the south asian community 18-29 show the top 5 issues as hate crimes, racial profiling, cost of education, affirmative action, globalization- whereas our survey during the 2004 election of the SAA community showed that people anwered “Why I’ll vote” with a War in Iraq, Healthcare and Economy. Using this data of what is important in the community is how we figure out how to unite the voice, the vote.
Totally agree. The holidays, the stamps, the parades…with the cultural unity comes the political unity. At the same time, you don’t want people to throw bones, right, thinking they can placate us and win our vote by marking their calender without even caring about how to push for the issues in that community. In my perfect world, there would democratics and republicans in a dirty mud wrestling match trying to win the South Asian vote, not with cultural tokens, but with deep seeded issues affecting our community. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Finally, I think there is TOTALLY a “we.” I have seen a dramatic difference in the electoral movement in the past 8 years of being involved in it and how the South Asian vote, and larger Asian American vote is perceived by the politicians. It is seeing this new “we” and the positive potential to further unite the “we” that keeps me going in this work…
ok, I’ll jump off the soap-box now…
Taz http://www.saavy.org
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The women who visit this site are not here to fangirl Abhi, or for that matter, any of the other male bloggers. So there’s no need to “leave” us to be complacent and blindly appreciative in the comments.
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging someone for a post, or agreeing with them, if you do happen to agree. If not, then take issue. Which, in fact, we often do. Your comment seems to be addressing a large number of women on this site, given that there are apparently “thousands of debutantes” hanging around. I don’t know what makes you think that the women here are unable to intelligently respond to and challenge posts as they see fit. For your information, we are not wide-eyed innocents seeing the world for the first time through the eyes of the all-knowing Sepia Mutiny. Give me a break.
That was a pretty thoughtless and insulting thing to say. In the future, have a little respect for the women here who are just as capable of being mutinous as any man.
^^ where did Kush ever say it was WOMEN who were sucking up to mutineers? I read it as ‘yes, Abhi’s last statement rings true– but I say I agree from the following personal experience…’
Maybe the word choice wasn’t quite right [debutantes], but Kush is probably one of the last guys around these parts who would make gender-slamming misogynistic statements.
Reminds me of why I get so pissed off when I see folks wasting their time and whatever minimal political capital the community may have accumulated on things like alternate side of the parking recognition for Diwali. The first generation uncle/auntie generation I can understand. But our generation? I wonder what the true motives are. There are many wolves in sheeps’ clothing among us…
I agree with Abhi. I think we all share some part of the blame. None of us are above these vanity issues including SM itself. Here are two posts from SM on whether Bush attended, hosted or missed a Diwali event at the White House 😉
Scandal looms at the White House (ignoring Diwali) http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/002410.html
White House celebrates Diwali http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/000676.html
“It just bothers me that the Asian American vote is largely seen as a block that can be bought off by placating vanity issues.“
I think this is an inherent flaw in democracy and applies to all groups. Politicians inevitably spend more time placating various communities rather than dealing with substantive issues. Wasn’t it Winston Churchill who aptly said “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others.” That said, I find it hard to imagine the brown voice as one vote. Why should it be? All the points listed by Abhi apply to all people and not just the browns. Personally, from now on I’ve decided to vote based on the administration’s stance towards India. Many second genners will not consider this a priority. Moreover, I have a suspicion that a united brown vote means a vote for the Democrats. Although I’m a registered dem, I don’t know if I’ll ever vote for them again (unless I do it out of sheer pity). I’m all for lobbys or blocs or whatever to make the brown voice heard otherwise.
Yes but that was purely satire 🙂
I still think it is okay to pursue vanity issues, but not at the expense of the larger ones.
Desi Dancer,
Thanks for helping me out. Thanks!! I was making joke to Abhi, and someone comes and twists it out of context. Debutantes = A young woman making a formal debut into society [www.answers.com]. Therefore, also means someone who is new to such discussions. I am glad you stepped up.
Now let me please talk to A More Original Name:
Let me please quote “Pulp Diction”
Brett: He’s bald… Jules: Does he look like a b** Brett: What? [Jules shoots Brett in shoulder] Jules: DOES HE LOOK LIKE A B? Brett: No! Jules: Then why you try to f* him like a b, Brett? Brett: I didn’t. Jules: Yes you did. Yes you did, Brett. You tried to f** him. And Marcellus Wallace don’t like to be fucked by anybody, except Mrs. Wallace. Moral of the story: Everything has not to be taken literally, and I am Marcellus Wallace. TatTa. Are you going to complain about “Pulp Fiction” too.
Correction: Let me please quote “Pulp Fiction”
Pandering to special-interest or religious/cultural communities is a cheap, dirty trick and one that happens in every democracy. Look at India and the fallout from Indira Gandhi’s tactics on that issue and the more recent BJP defeat – we’re still not sure if the party was too soft on catering to the minority votes, too hard in not taking into consideration the needs of the rural underclass or just too fascist in general. The onus is not on the politicians and the public servants to be less smarmy – it goes with the territory; it’s the responsibility of the voter to respond or not to respond to these all-too-obvious overtures.
As for the “brown vote”. I don’t know what that means. I would probably vote alongside my brown friends who are all New Democrats (Canada, yo). I wouldn’t necessarily vote with my family who are all suburban-Ontarian and who strategically will switch between the Liberal and the Conservative vote depending on issues of taxes and finance. And I would certainly not vote with any of thier friends who spew some of the most racist, ignorant, homophobic crap I’ve ever heard outside of redneck yahoos in the movies.
We may feel the weight of our home/diasporic culture in every thing we do and say but we have to also see ourselves as responsible citizens of our host country – or for many of us – our country of birth. We have to vote with the issues that speak to each of us and ignore whatever some greasy politician is trying to bribe the whole of “us” with. Which also brings up the point that they don’t ever seem to get – “Hindu” is not a category really. I’m Bengali – Diwali frankly means very little to me or my family. It might as well be Chinese New Year or Christmas – a lot of fun to participate in, but still kind of foreign. So there goes that silly tactic.
A big correction: Now let me please talk to You must be joking:
Sorry, A more original name
Abhi,
I agree with your point that we should be looking for more substantial issues, but I also think it’s nice that these festivals etc are recognized.
Let me put another example out there to explain my point. Last year the Asian American Hotel Owners Association made a big stink about bringing Modi to the U.S. to speak. When he was denied by the State Department some AAHOA members made a stink. But why haven’t I seen any mention of the AAHOA weighing in on the Guest Worker Program debate? Surely this is an issue that affects their businesses. Many of those hotel owners hire illegal immigrants and they would see a definite financial hit if some of the more conservative members of Congress got their way. This is an issue that you might find a lot of unity on within the South Asian community and yet IÂ’ve heard nothing from this potentially influential group.
Kush I like the way you censor out all the swear words with unpredictable numbers of asterisks but leave in “Marcellus Wallace don’t like to be fucked by anybody” unchanged! 😉
As I have nothing to contribute to a discussion about American voting, allow me to say Gong Hai Fat Choi as well and happy new year of the main course.
As I’ve said before…One should vote based on what’s important for their individual selves, and not for any collective cause. We should make our own judgement as to what issue is important to us personally, and not necessarily towards claims that others make that it’s good for the country.
I vote for politicians who promise lower taxes, free-trade, intolerant of illegal immigration, increasing legal immigration (especially from India), lesser government in non-security matters, extremely hawkish about security (even with sacrifice of privacy outside the confines one’s home), racial tolerance, non-nanny-State philosiphy.
I don’t care for politicians who promise Social Security, Medicare, more-Government, Moral Equivalents, Affirmative Action, Racial and Religious Quotas, etc etc.
On things like Abortion I have no position. People who want to abort should be free to do so, at their own expense. If Conservatives overturn RoeVsWade, it may not effect me much because I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford to go to Canada or India should the need arise.
On things like stem-cell research, I am with the Liberals – primarily because other countries will steal a march on America if it’s banned.
In a nutshell – a Libertarian like myself ends up choosing the lesser of two evils at that particular election. In the next elections, my vote may reverse completely based on the issues I’m concerned about at that point in time. And no samosa eating politician can change that.
M. Nam
yes, it is important that these are recognized. my father, who is involved in politics locally, would say this is an indication of progress compared to what he saw when he came here in the early 70’s. at the same time, the next step(s) need to be taken. however, to imply these steps are not being taken is wrong (from what i have seen locally,) especially using these articles as context.
it’s also natural for someone to report these types of appearances at this time. this would be similar to reporting on a politician’s appearance in the puerto rican day parade (a big deal in chicago.) even la raza would report on that appearance.
in any case, it should come to no one’s surprise that it may take some time for us to get “better. the history of asian-americans is still very short, and it will lag those of other minority groups. and while south asians themselves (let alone all asians) are a diverse group (like the hispanics,) there are many common issues that were mentioned above.
one that i didn’t see was immigration policy (i apologize if someone had mentioned it.) however, there are examples of south asians coming together on that issue. a congressional district in the northwest suburubs of chicago was recently won by a democrat (melissa bean) who had help from south asians. she beat a republican who was their for over 30 years, but had ignored the south asians. well, she recently supported a bill that would curb immigration, including those from asia. many indians (both in an organized and unorganized fashion) have written to her. this is an example of how we don’t always “ignore getting involved in substantive issues.”
this also shows how important it is to be active on local levels. it is being involvied in these local issues that will lead to things on a greater, national level. i think many overachieving asian american want “us” to jump in the limelight, often ignoring the fact they could do more by participating at the local level. and this, at least in chicago, is improving. i could go on, but that’s already too long for my taste…
On the flip side, symbolic actions like recognizing Diwali (not the silliness about parking) indicate respect and parity. That I like.
MoorNam, experts do unbundle, I agree with that. But your pro-police state vs. anti-nanny state stance is a huge contradiction, not only internally but with the label libertarian.
Say no to Indicorps! It is a Gujurati organization that is non-secular and supports Hindutva (Vishwa Hindu Parishad). My friend got rejected by Indicorps because he didn’t graduate from an Ivy League