We are 30 days before Election Day, and with each day, there seems to be one more new piece of propaganda to buy. We had our own set of Sepia Mutiny political t-shirts on the site last month. Now DesiWear is in the desi political t-shirt business. From the DesiWear blog:

In a few weeks, probably one of the most important and historic elections will be held in the United States. …we have two candidates that are worthy of the presidency; John McCain is a living hero, and a very admirable politician. Barrack [sic] Obama, in his own right, is a visionary who understands that the United States needs to step out of the shadow of dark and start rebuilding its rep with positive and logical change…We at Desi Wear don’t usually get involved in politics, however, after living in North America over the past eight years, it’s absolutely clear that in order for the United States to get back on track on the world stage and lead our world with the TRUE American dream we must come together and join Barrack [sic] Obama and his message for change for a more prosperous and progressive United States. Now is the time! Let’s unite together and vote Barrack [sic] Obama for the next President of the United States. Show you care, rock our new “Desis for Obama” original T. [DesiWear]

Cute. you get a t-shirt and motivation all for one low price of $25. So close to Election Day though, I’m a little skeptical that orders made will arrive in the mail before Nov. 4th. These shirts are unaffiliated with the official South Asians for Obama campaign (SAFO does not have shirts but does have SAFO buttons for sale).

What I love about these shirts is that they are created by a desi owned business unaffiliated with the Obama campaign. But this business wanted to do something. So they did what they do best, designed t-shirts. In fact, there are many people in the Asian American community who have designed ethnically targeted logos/t-shirts for Obama, completely unconnected to the official campaign. It’s all rather…grassroots, you know?

Are you a desi not for Obama and looking for a shirt? Well, I couldn’t find a desis for McCain t-shirt. I couldn’t find non-partisan “Desi Vote” gear either, though this desi shirt at BlackLava comes pretty close. Check out the thousands of political designs up at Cafe Press – I’m sure one of them will suit you, and your political leanings too. Or, be grassroots and design and print one of your own! Continue reading →

It’s not that I’m against Sunny Leone (NSFW). I am totally pro desi woman in any non-mainstream industry. I even blogged about her on Sepia Mutiny previously as a ‘cool desi woman under 30.’ I like her, you know, for a porn star.

But at work today, I was researching voting public service announcement (PSA) targeted toward the Asian American community. There was the bikini-clad Korean one, the kung fu epic one, the Kelly Hu bowing to George Takai one. There are even several PSAs put out by the non-profit APIA Vote that have a stream of famous Asian American actors talking about voting. But of course, none of the PSAs had a desi face.

SAJA Forum‘s Sree Sreenivasan had brought this issue up earlier this year…

…I am writing today to bring attention to the fact that to some (just some) Asian Americans, South Asians still don’t count as Asian Americans…How else to interpret these two political public service ads, created by and starring Asian Americans and aimed at Asian Americans? Take a look at each and see neither bothers to put in any South Asian faces. John Cho, one half of the “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” team is featured in both ads, but you won’t find his at-least-as-equally-famous partner, Kal Penn, in either ad… I am glad there are such efforts out there to get Asian Americans to vote. But I am struck by how ridiculous it is not to have even a token brown face in these ads. [SAJAForum]

Sree, I found the token brown face amongst the sea of voting PSAs!!! I found the one! The youth vote organization Declare Yourself has a stream of quirky/sexual PSAs targeted directly to the youth demographics (at least “quirky/sexual” is what comes to mind when I watch McLovin teaching me how to pull the lever.) Declare Yourself partnered with Vivid Entertainment to create the following PSA, starring our gal, the sole desi starring in a voting PSA, Sunny Leone.

“As an immigrant who is thrilled to exercise her right to vote in a presidential election for the first time, I wanted to do what I could to get other young people to participate,” said Leone who only recently became an American citizen. “There’s no excuse not to register -DeclareYourself.com makes it so easy.” [LVTSG]

I could go on and on about the innovation behind a voting non-profit partnering with an adult entertainment company… but I’m sure you just want to get to the video already, don’t you?

Did Sunny get you excited…to vote?

Go to Rock the Vote and register to vote online today. We have less then 45 days till Election Day on November 4th. You’ll need to re-register if you moved, changed names, or changed political parties. In most states the last day to register to vote is 30 days before Election Day.

So here’s my personal request. Though it’s great Sunny is the first desi face in a voting PSA, I think there should be more. And since the boys have Sunny, how about we gals get some brown sugar like Sendhil Ramamurthy, Naveen Andrews or Kal Penn to make a voting PSA? That would definitely rock my vote. 😉 Continue reading →

Dear Bridget,

Amar chotho apu. My sister from another mother (because all of us Bangladeshis essentially are, nah?). Is Bridget your bhalou nam or dak nam? Neither? Ok. Well, yay! Finally, a Bangladeshi-American makes it to the stage of a big political party convention. Rumor has it that your outfit was pretty fly. How did it feel being up there on stage? Did you feel like you were breaking boundaries? Because as the first Bangladeshi-American on stage at the Republican National Convention, you definitely were. And your mother, Cindy McCain, made sure to let everyone know in her RNC speech how she “discovered” you too.

For me, the great moment of clarity was when I became a mother. Something changed in me. I would never see my obligations the same way again. It was after that I was walking through the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, surrounded by terrible poverty and the devastation of a cyclone. All around me were the children and the desperate faces of their mothers. The pain was overwhelming, and I felt helpless. But then I visited an orphanage begun by Mother Teresa, and two very sick little girls captured my heart. There was something I could do. I could take them home, and so I did. Today, both of those little girls are healthy and happy. And one of them you just met tonight: our beautiful daughter, Bridget. [Fox News]

Ahh, but who is this other little Bangladeshi girl you were adopted with?

John and Cindy McCain adopted one of them, Wes Gullett [McCain’s former aide] and his wife Deborah adopted the other… The McCains adopted the baby with the cleft palate, Bridget, and the Gulletts adopted the other one, Nicki. Both children required a lot of medical attention, but the Gulletts never saw a hospital bill.[ABCNews]

Continue reading →