tag:newamericamedia.org,2009-04-06://19 2013-05-14T20:53:58Z New America Media is a nationwide association of over 3000 ethnic media organizations representing the development of a more inclusive journalism. Founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service, New America Media promotes ethnic media by strengthening the editorial and economic viability of this increasingly influential segment of America's communications industry. tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11417 2013-05-14T08:15:00Z 2013-05-14T20:53:58Z

Stewart Kwoh ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 On March 5, 2013, in a historic election, Chin Ho Liao was elected to serve on the San Gabriel City Council, but the city council refused to let him take his seat. This was unheard of and something no city had ever done before. The council took this unprecedented action because of a single complaint filed by a city resident with close ties to one of the losing incumbents, who contested Liao’s eligibility to run.

But this is more than a story of local politics gone awry. There are lessons here that increasingly diversifying communities across the country should heed as we embark together on the important task of fortifying the rights of every American to take part in our proud democracy.

On May 7, after two intense months of legal battles and community outrage, Liao was finally permitted to take his oath of office and join the council as its newest member. What happened during these two months tells a story of Liao’s courage, one that began a quarter-century ago. It also highlights how demographic shifts like one that has been taking place in San Gabriel can set off dynamics that present challenges – and opportunities – for communities with rapidly changing populations.

The city of San Gabriel, one of California’s oldest settlements, is nestled in the San Gabriel Valley, in the eastern part of Los Angeles County. San Gabriel has a population of less than 40,000, and is celebrating its centennial year. In recent decades, the city and the region as a whole have undergone massive demographic changes resulting in a diverse population of Asian Americans and other immigrants. In San Gabriel itself, over 60 percent of the population is Asian American, over three quarters of whom are immigrants.

Among those who now call the San Gabriel Valley their home is Chin Ho Liao, an immigrant from Taiwan who came to the U.S. to seek out higher education and who then settled in San Gabriel. Since his retirement, he has engaged in one of the most longstanding of American traditions – volunteerism. For the past 24 years, he’s served the community of San Gabriel through his involvement with nonprofit and civic organizations. Then he sought office so he could serve the community as a public servant.

Prior to the March 5 election, San Gabriel’s five-member city council had no Asian American members, and only two Asian Americans had previously served on the council. The five candidates in the city council race included three incumbents and two Asian American challengers, including Liao. In a result that surprised many, Liao and the other Asian American candidate were the top two vote-getters and won seats on the council. Only one of the three incumbents won re-election.

Three weeks after the election, when it came time to install the winners of the election, the city council told Liao that he could not take his seat. At that point the council still included the two incumbents who lost. Despite the conflict of interest, and despite the appearance of undermining a historic moment for Asian Americans, the council ignored the plain and clear requirements of state law to seat Liao.

The council justified its action by pointing to the complaint contesting Liao’s eligibility to serve. However, the proper procedure was to let Liao assume his seat first and then to consider the complaint.

Compounding its error, the council announced that it would conduct its own review of the complaint, rather than refer the matter to a neutral third party such as a court or an administrative hearing officer. The council that was to conduct the review included three of Liao’s political opponents: two incumbents who were not up for re-election in March but who supported the re-elected incumbent and the two losing incumbents, plus the re-elected incumbent who similarly supported the two losing incumbents. These circumstances cast doubt on the integrity of the council’s decision to conduct its own hearing.

The Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) took on Liao’s case because we are a civil rights organization and we believed this to be a civil rights case. It was clear that Liao’s fundamental right to hold office, a right recognized by the courts, had been violated. It was equally clear that the fundamental right to vote of the San Gabriel electorate had been infringed.

This is because the two rights are inextricably linked – the confidence that voters have in democracy depends on their belief that elections fairly won will not be unjustly taken away from the candidate they supported. And nowhere is this more critical than with newcomers to the American electoral process, including Asian Americans whose burgeoning but fragile political participation was threatened by the council’s ill-founded actions.

In the end, the council defied expectations and ruled in favor of Liao – an issue that was never in doubt in the hearts and minds of the San Gabriel community. Certainly the efforts of our legal team played a part in this outcome, but even more important was the inspiring courage demonstrated by Liao in fighting for his right to represent the people of San Gabriel. Also inspiring was the activism of San Gabriel community members, who formed a multi-racial coalition to voice concerns about the threat posed by the council’s actions to San Gabriel’s democracy.

As San Gabriel looks ahead to its next 100 years, those who serve the community would do well to embrace the future and welcome the participation of all Americans, including the newcomers who have come to pursue their aspirations. In our rapidly diversifying society we must all be prepared, like the residents of San Gabriel were, to demand that all Americans are afforded their right to take part in the political process.
 

Stewart Kwoh is the founding President and Executive Director of Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC). Kwoh is a nationally recognized leader and expert in race relations, Asian American studies, nonprofit organizations and philanthropies, civil rights, and legal services. He was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 1998, becoming the first Asian American attorney and human rights activist to receive this highly prestigious recognition, often referred to as the “genius grant.”
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.11335 2013-04-29T17:17:24Z 2013-04-29T17:23:59Z

Brookings Institution scholars are reporting that African Americans turned out to vote at a higher rate than white voters last November. Brookings demographer William H. Frey analyzed 2012 census election data, along with Pew Research Center numbers, and found that...

Colorlines ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 higher rate than white voters last November. Brookings demographer William H. Frey analyzed 2012 census election data, along with Pew Research Center numbers, and found that black voters turned out at a higher rate than any other race, which was consistent with similar findings by Pew in December. Back then it was also estimated that black voters turned out at a higher rate than white voters, but Frey’s analysis finally confirms that conclusion.


The Associated Press, for whom the analysis was commissioned, reports that the finding reflects “a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home.”

One key downer from the report is that overall turnout rates have steadily decreased: 58 percent voter turnout in 2012 compared with 62 percent in 2008 and 60 percent in 2004.

Still, the milestone for African American voters is particularly significant given that they overcame many threats to the ballot franchise — namely voter ID laws and the attacks on early voting — in order to reach this peak in turnout. Read more here. ]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.10922 2013-01-29T20:29:19Z 2013-01-29T20:32:25Z

The Root ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
Also on Meet the Press, onetime vice presidential candidate, and current member of the House, Paul Ryan offered this theory regarding the current economic battles facing our country: "Look, if we had a [Hillary] Clinton presidency, if we had Erskine Bowles as chief of staff of the White House or president of the United States, I think we would have fixed this fiscal mess by now," Ryan said. "[But] that's not the kind of presidency we're dealing with right now."

Both pronouncements raise questions that have been pondered by some political watchers since the conclusion of the 2008 presidential election: Would African Americans have fared better under a Hillary Clinton presidency than under Obama (and will they if she runs and wins in 2016)? Read more here.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.10876 2013-01-20T09:00:00Z 2013-01-18T23:34:46Z

Hazel Trice Edney ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 President Barack Obama is set to use the Bibles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abraham Lincoln for his second swearing in January 21, no doubt symbolizing his pride as the nation’s first Black president.

The symbolic move also aligns his principles with the principles of the two most transformational leaders in American history as it relates to African-American people. Despite the noble symbolism, the country is abuzz about exactly what President Obama will do as African-Americans continue to suffer disparately.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s actual birthday was celebrated on January 15 and will be observed on the national holiday on Monday, January 21, which is also Inauguration Day. As more than a million people are expected to attend inaugural celebrations in D.C. and millions more will watch around the world, neither the President nor leading Democrats have publicly mentioned his most faithful constituents, whose votes for him surpassed 95 percent in both elections.

Marc Morial, who convened a summit of African-American leaders in November and released an African-American agenda, has not spoken publicly about the agenda since then. Neither has Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World - 21st Century, who convened the State of the Black World Conference in November to discuss the state of the African-American community going into Obama’s second term.

Meanwhile, President Obama’s cabinet picks are appearing to lack diversity.

So far, the President has confirmed appointment of four of 15 new cabinet members for the next four years. None are African-American.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), who replaced Congressman Emanuel Cleaver at the end of his chairmanship early this month, appears to be a lone voice as she has written a letter to the president actually recommending CBC members for the cabinet.

“As you consider candidates for your cabinet, it is with great privilege that I recommend Congressman Melvin Watt of North Carolina for the position of Secretary of Commerce and Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California for the position of Secretary of Labor,” Fudge wrote in a January 10 letter. “Congressman Watt and Congresswoman Lee are exceptionally well-qualified, proven candidates. It is without reservation that I urge you to consider strongly this recommendation. I am available at your convenience should you desire further information.”

Earlier this month Obama announced his nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as secretary of Defense; White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew as Treasury secretary; Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as secretary of state, which is third in line to the presidency.

Eric Holder will remain attorney general and Kathleen Sebelius will remain secretary of Health and Human Services. Other cabinet secretaries could be replaced.

Cabinet appointments are just one way a president can demonstrate diversity. The other way is influencing or establishing public policies that disparately affect various minority groups. President Obama has done so in the cases of women; GLBTs (gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgendered Americans); Latinos and veterans.

Dr. King said at the August 28, 1963 March on Washington that his dream was that his “four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” While no one questions the president's principles in that regard, many hope his using the King Bible stacked on top of the Lincoln Bible for the swearing in might mean double sensitivity to activity on behalf of African-Americans.

The official swearing in on the January 20 date required by the Constitution, will take place in a private ceremony on Sunday. On that day, Obama will use the family Bible of First Lady Michelle Obama.

The black leather Bible he will lay his hand upon in the second swearing in next Monday was carried by Dr. King as a “traveling Bible” as he spoke from state to state on civil and voting rights for African-American people. Obama used the Lincoln Bible in 2009. It had not been used since Lincoln’s 1861 swearing in, just before the start of the Civil War.

Monday’s ceremonial swearing in will kick off a week of festivities, including balls, forums and panels to discuss the issues ahead. At the post-election black leadership conference called by Morial, he laid out the situation on behalf of dozens of black organizational heads who stood alongside him.

“Millions of African-Americans are still reeling in the wake of the great recession and trying to regain their footing after overwhelming losses in wealth, income and security,” Morial read.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, also at the conference, promised that the group would hold the president accountable. Now that Inauguration Day is here, the jury is out whether black organizational heads will hold the president accountable with sincerity and fervor despite their promises to do so.

“We believe that it is the responsibility of those that offer leadership to push the envelope forward. We cannot sit and ask the president to write an agenda to himself from us. It ought to come from us to him or the Congress from us to [them],” said Sharpton. “It is in that spirit a half century later we come to say that we’ll work together, we’ll come together and try to set an agenda that will alleviate the economic, electoral, as well as criminal justice disparities that yet plague our community a half century later. We have made a lot of progress in 50 years, but we’re nowhere where we need to be. We are closer, but we have not arrived.”

Conscious that African Americans have yet to arrive, the King family is hoping the ceremonial swearing in on the Bible of their father will help the president remain focused on the goal of racial equality.

“We hope it can be a source of strength for the president as he begins his second term,” the King family said in a written statement. “We join Americans across the country in embracing this opportunity to celebrate how far we have come, honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., through service, and rededicate ourselves to the work ahead.”
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.10865 2013-01-19T08:30:00Z 2013-01-18T01:12:46Z

Angie Chuang ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Photo: Richard Blanco at 2012 poetry reading in Madrid, Spain.

Editor’s Note: The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced that poet Richard Blanco will be one of five people selected to read an original poem at a President Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration. Blanco, 44, will be the first Latino, first openly gay man, and youngest person to serve the role. Blanco, the son of Cuban exiles, joins the ranks of American inaugural poets, which includes legends such as Maya Angelou and Robert Frost.

I did not know it when I walked into the linoleum-lined classroom in 2000. I did not know who Richard Blanco was. I only knew that I was a newspaper reporter in a small post-industrial Connecticut city asked to show up at a poetry reading at the local university to write an aptly named “brief” for the next day’s paper.

I had been working in the suburbs of Hartford for nearly three years, and often spent days in the field seeing no other Asian Americans. New Britain, Connecticut, was the former ball-bearing capital of the United States, the headquarters of Stanley Hardware, where workers turned hard eyes upon me when I was sent to cover a protest against jobs being sent to China.

On some days, white-haired men told me I reminded them of “a lady I met in Dub-ya Dub-ya II.” Or Korea. I answered the question, “Where are you from?” and then, “No, where are you really from?” So many times I gave in and stopped saying, “California” to the first question. Three years removed from my multicultural cocoon of the San Francisco Bay Area, I felt lonely and barraged.

Blanco’s Words Changed Everything

What Blanco said – or rather, read – changed everything.

And that is why the choice of the first Latino and the first gay inaugural poet matters to Asian Americans. To all Americans.

I spoke English; my parents didn’t.
We didn’t live in a two-story house
with a maid or a wood-panel station wagon
nor vacation camping in Colorado.
None of the girls had hair of gold;

When I walked into that classroom at Central Connecticut State University, I was an alien, Other. As Blanco read his poem “América” to a class of mostly white students, I became an “I” again. Sure, Blanco called his grandmother his abuelita and I called mine a pou pou. But the small revelation of recognizing myself in a poet and professor’s words transcended semantics. Blanco wrote:

Patty Duke’s family wasn’t like us either –
they didn’t have pork on Thanksgiving,
they ate turkey with cranberry sauce;
they didn’t have yuca, they had yams.

The poem is about so many things, but the apparent narrative describes an awkward family Thanksgiving that the young Blanco insists on, to the horror of his older Cuban relatives contemplating the turkey (“‘DRY,’ Tío Berto complained”), marshmallow-studded yams and cranberry sauce (“mierda roja,” the same skeptical tío proclaims).

I had done the same in grade school, but my mom only agreed to prepare a single turkey drumstick (in her battered stewpot, not the oven, of course).

“Why would anyone eat a bird so big and so dry?” my parents scoffed as I feigned enthusiasm, feeling more like Wilma Flintstone than a pilgrim. We were descended from those who perfected the art of baking fatty duck to a crisp.

It’s a seemingly small thing, to get sent on a routine reporting assignment and hear a recounting of immigrant Thanksgiving that uncannily resembles one’s own experience. I wrote nothing of the turkey, of the poem, of Blanco’s immigrant roots. I wrote exactly three sentences highlighting an upcoming appearance, the last of which was, “The event is free and open to the public.”

But on that day, I felt a small glimmer of belonging, of resonance, in Connecticut. I reclaimed my first personhood.

Waiting for ‘Post-Racial’ America

So much has changed since then. I was standing among the cheering, freezing masses on the Mall when the first black president was inaugurated in 2008. I waited for the post-racial era to herald in newfound equality.

Instead, we got the birther debate, and gay teenagers driven to suicide by bullying, “self-deportation,” the suicide of Pvt. Danny Chen, a South Asian immigrant pushed off a subway platform by a woman who “hated Hindus and Muslims.” And a socioeconomically and racially divided election that brought Obama back to the White House.

Which brings me back to Blanco. Some have said he’s a savvy political choice, a nod to Latino and gay voters’ overwhelming support of Obama in 2012.

I would argue that come this Monday, Jan. 21, all Americans, not just immigrant Americans, will have been much as I was on that spring day in 2000, entering the classroom in Connecticut: desperate.

We are desperate for the America that Blanco represents, in his poetry, and simply by being who he is.
Where “I” and “we” are inclusive. Where Otherness is layered, complex. Where Otherness is American. Where Americanness is layered and, in Blanco’s words, “love is thicker than any country.”

Angie Chuang is an assistant professor of journalism at American University School of Communication. A second-generation Chinese American, she researches constructions of American identity and Otherness in news media, and writes literary nonfiction about the immigrant experience.



]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.10870 2013-01-17T23:47:05Z 2013-01-17T23:55:52Z

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) on Thursday released detailed findings from its multilingual exit poll of 9,096 Asian-American voters in the November 2012 presidential elections, the largest survey of its kind in the nation.While three-quarters (77%)...

New America Media ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) on Thursday released detailed findings from its multilingual exit poll of 9,096 Asian-American voters in the November 2012 presidential elections, the largest survey of its kind in the nation.

While three-quarters (77%) of Asian Americans polled voted for Barack Obama for president, as many as 96% of Bangladeshi Americans voted for Obama, compared to 44% of Vietnamese Americans. Support for policies including immigration reform also varied by ethnic group.

In addition, while Asian Americans in the Northeast voted for Obama at high levels (89% in Pennsylvania and 86% in New York), as few as 16% of Asian Americans polled in Louisiana voted for Obama.

Read more

]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2013://19.10801 2013-01-07T20:53:10Z 2013-01-07T20:56:56Z

Between now and the inauguration on Jan. 21, The Root will be taking a daily look at the president's record on a number of policy issues, including his first-term accomplishments and what many Americans hope to see him accomplish in...

The Root ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 Between now and the inauguration on Jan. 21, The Root will be taking a daily look at the president's record on a number of policy issues, including his first-term accomplishments and what many Americans hope to see him accomplish in a second term. Today: student loans. See previous postings in this series here.

Background: American student-loan debt now stands at nearly $1 trillion, surpassing America's total credit card debt. Even more troubling, 2012 represents the first year in which the number of student-loan borrowers more than 90 days behind on payments has surpassed those comparably behind on credit card payments. Reports (pdf) have found that students of color are graduating with more student debt than their white counterparts. During the 2008 campaign President Obama said, "I went to college having to take out student loans, went to law school having to take out student loans. Michelle took out student loans. When we got married, I think together our total loan payments every month was more than our mortgage when we bought a house, and that lasted for about 10 years."

He added, "As I said, what we are looking at potentially is being able to consolidate some of the loans, and if they are part of a broader pool, we may be able to lower interest rates on the debt that they already owe. But the key is going to be going forward, making sure that young people in the future are able to afford to go to college."

Read the rest here: The Root

]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.10755 2012-12-27T10:40:00Z 2012-12-26T22:45:21Z

LOS ANGELES--President Obama took much heat a year ago when he floated a series of proposed budget cuts that would have slashed programs for the poor. The cuts would have reduced funding or eliminated outright community-service block grants that fund...

Earl Ofari Hutchinson ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 LOS ANGELES--President Obama took much heat a year ago when he floated a series of proposed budget cuts that would have slashed programs for the poor.

The cuts would have reduced funding or eliminated outright community-service block grants that fund an array of local education, health and social service programs in low-income, underserved, largely inner-city neighborhoods. And they would have slashed funds for programs in science, technology and youth mentoring programs, as well as employment and training assistance.

The proposed cuts were just that--proposed. There was little chance any of them would go into effect. The proposals were mostly made to counter the forced concession that Obama had to make with the GOP on the Bush tax cuts, namely allowing them to stay in place for the wealthy. The presidnent also used the proposals to wring more spending concessions out of congressional Republicans on unemployment benefits and health services.

Post-Election Radically Different

Obama’s decisive election victory in November radically changed that. So far he has stood firm on his demand that the wealthy pay more, and has proposed an array of other tax hikes that would also squeeze more revenue out of the rich.

The only major proposed spending cut at this point that has raised eyebrows among Democratic supporters has been the $340 billion from health care programs. But the cuts would not directly hit elders and the needy. The cuts are mostly to health providers, and do not impact benefits.

In addition, much of the public bought into the GOP's bogus line that Obama's alleged reckless spending was hopelessly drowning the government in a sea of red ink. Nervous foreign investors as well as a slew of financial experts and economists endlessly claimed that the budget deficit -- projected to soar to nearly $1.6 trillion in the last fiscal year -- would saddle the nation, with higher taxes; deeper cuts in education, health and social services; staggering permanent debt; and possibly even bankruptcy.

That doomsday scenario was part political hyperbole, part financial panic. Even then many economists noted that the claim of financial Armageddon was way overblown.

But Obama is not out of the woods on spending cuts, and neither are the poor. Although his proposals would protect programs that directly benefit lower-income people, Medicaid, unemployment insurance and food stamps, the GOP’s counter proposals don’t.

As the deadline for reaching a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff creeps closer, the pressure could build for the White House to eye programs for potential cuts that it has firmly and repeatedly taken off the table.

The two proposals put forth by both sides outline deficit reduction efforts in broad budget categories and are not entirely clear about whether cuts will hurt poor people or not. A small army of the nation’s leading business leaders have screamed loudly that a plunge over the fiscal cliff would be a disaster for business, wreck the nation’s credit rating and shove the United States back into deep recession. That must be avoided at all cost, they warn.

Obama’s consistent answer is that a deal can be cut by approving the tax hikes and revenue raising measures he’s proposed, as well as the major check that he wants to put on endless runaway military spending. This would bring the deficit under $1 trillion and would spare cutting programs that would devastate the poor and working class.

The political and social and economic consequences of the fiscal cliff debate on the poor are enormous. Surveys show that the ranks of the poor are still huge and that the wealth and income gap between the rich and poor is wider than in recent years.

Government Programs Bolster Economy

There's also the greater public recognition that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, unemployment insurance and other government programs play a huge part in bolstering the economy, and American's living standards.

The GOP’s favorite whipping program, food stamps, is a perfect example of that. It helped lift nearly 4 million people--almost 2 million of them children--out of poverty. Then there’s the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is a refundable federal credit for low- to moderate-income working Americans. The estimate is that this lifted nearly 6 million people, half of them children, out of poverty.

These programs provide income for the poor that goes directly into spending on goods and services. This in turn creates jobs, spurs business expansion, and sharply boosts tax revenues for local, state and the federal governments.

Lower-income Americans, far from being a drag on the economy, fuel it with their spending. Obama’s budget does not hammer the poor. The GOP’s counter to it would. Obama’s proposals, as they now stand, would be the only ones to keep the poor from barreling over the fiscal cliff.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge, is a weekly co-host of the “Al Sharpton Show” on American Urban Radio Network. An associate editor of New America Media. He hosts the weekly “Hutchinson Report Newsmaker Hour” on the Hutchinson Newsmaker Network.


]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.10686 2012-12-13T18:32:45Z 2012-12-11T18:43:03Z

Sunita Sohrabji ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 A prominent Indian American technology entrepreneur slammed the Obama administration for its opposition to a House jobs bill that would allocate 55,000 immigrant visas to foreign students who have obtained an advanced degree in science or technology in the U.S.

The House Nov. 30 passed the STEM Jobs Act – HR 6429 – on a vote of 245-139, with Republicans overwhelmingly supporting the measure sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill would also re-open the “V” visa category, which is allocated to families of permanent U.S. residents, and shorten the wait time for V visa applications in a currently-backlogged system.

“STEM” is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math.But the bill also eliminates the “Diversity Visa” program, a lottery system that allocates 50,000 visas annually to citizens of underrepresented countries. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy established the Diversity Visa program in 1986 in an effort to allocate more U.S. visas for Irish citizens. The program is currently used primarily by citizens of African nations; citizens of India, Mexico and China are not eligible to apply.

The Obama administration announced its opposition to the measure shortly after the bill passed the House.

“As a part of immigration reform, the administration strongly supports legislation to attract and retain foreign students who graduate with advanced STEM degrees, to establish a start-up visa for foreign-born entrepreneurs to start businesses and create jobs, and to reform the employment-based immigration system to better meet the needs of the U.S. economy,” said the White House in a press statement.

“However, the administration does not support narrowly tailored proposals that do not meet the president's long-term objectives with respect to comprehensive immigration reform,” the statement went on, calling for a bill which would, in part, establish a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents.

Technology entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, who has extensively written about the STEM Jobs Act, criticized Obama for his opposition to the bill. “Our priority now needs to be fixing the economy. We need job creators,” Wadhwa told India-West.

“I don’t like the idea of taking away visas from anyone, but we can worry about bringing in 100 Africans at some future point,” the Indian American entrepreneur said, responding to a question about eliminating the Diversity Visa.

The STEM Jobs Act will drown in a bipartisan sinkhole, predicted Wadhwa, who is vice president of academics and innovation at Singularity University and an adjunct professor in the school of engineering at Duke University. He compared the atmosphere surrounding the STEM Jobs Act as akin to the response on the Affordable Care Act, claiming that the latter was finally made so complex that it pleased no one.

Wadhwa predicted a similar stand-off on immigration reform, stating that the Obama administration has an “all or nothing” mindset on the issue.

“The president has made a lot of promises to the tech community and to the Indian community. Sadly, he isn’t keeping any of them,” said Wadhwa.

Sanjay Puri, chairman of the U.S. India Political Action Committee, also predicted that the Stem Jobs Act would sink into a partisan hole.

USINPAC – which has long advocated for innovation and family-based visas – is taking a “wait and see” approach to Smith’s bill, neither stating its support or opposition, according to Puri.

“America is facing an innovation and skill challenge crisis,” Puri told India-West, noting that smaller states throughout the nation have thousands of unfilled positions for math and science teachers. Community colleges are also challenged by this shortfall, he said, adding that an amended “skill innovation” bill would have a huge chance of passing through Congress.

“We would like to see comprehensive immigration reform, but there are so many issues it is loaded with,” stated Puri, advocating for a piecemeal approach which would separate issues such as border security from visa allotment issues. “This cannot be a ‘zero-sum’ game,” he said.

Any jobs-based visa bill must include provisions for families. “Let’s make sure that the spouse is not waiting 10 years in Chennai,” Puri added.

Nick Maduros, a spokesman for Immigration Voice, told India-West that his organization had not taken a stand on the STEM Jobs Act, but would continue to focus its efforts on HR 3012, also known as the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which would eliminate the current per-country cap on employment-based visa allocations.

Priya Murthy, strategic policy advisor for South Asian Americans Leading Together, told India-West that while SAALT has always supported employment-based visa allocation, the organization was nevertheless opposed to the Smith bill. Particularly damning was the elimination of the Diversity Visa, which has been used by Nepalis and early immigrants from Bangladesh to gain residency in the U.S.

The act does not go far enough to address the backlog in family reunification, said Murthy, noting also that spouses would be allowed to enter the U.S., but not allowed to work. SAALT does support Rep. Mike Honda’s Reuniting Families Act – HR 1796 – which would re-direct thousands of unused visas from previous years to close family members of U.S. citizens and legal residents and reclassify spouses and children of legal residents as immediate family.

Comprehensive immigration reform must provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents, asserted Murthy. Such legislation must also address visa application backlogs, provide a humane and enforceable detention system and ensure due process for immigrants, she added.

“The elections were a wake-up call. Both parties must look at the changing demographics of our country,” Murthy said.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.10701 2012-12-13T17:41:37Z 2012-12-13T17:44:12Z

Bolsavik.com ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
The political newbie was elected with 18.2% of the vote, ahead of an incumbent by almost 3000 votes. He was sworn in yesterday in a ceremony attended by at least a hundred Viet voters, happy to see a new face on the council.

After taking the oath of office, Phan sprung a surpise. He walked over to his girlfriend Cindy Pham in the audience, went down on one knee, produced a ring and asked her to marry him.

The crowd erupted in thunderous applause, and Pham, a doctor of physical therapy, said yes.

“I decided it last Thursday,” Chris Phan told the Bolsavik afterwards. Read more here.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.10683 2012-12-12T10:05:00Z 2012-12-11T18:07:21Z

Earl Ofari Hutchinson ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103 The resignation of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint from the Senate followed close on the heels of the desertion from the Tea Party of Freedom Works head Dick Armey took some by surprise. DeMint and Armey were the two biggest and most identifiable fish in the Tea Party affiliated pond.

DeMint could be relied on to broker his name ID and prodigious fund raising prowess to every Tea Party backed Senatorial candidate—and loser. Armey was a tireless advocate at big, stagey Tea Party rallies and confabs for the Tea Party’s anti-big government hard line message.

Now both are out. If that wasn’t bad news enough for the Tea Party, GOP conservative House leaders turned on it and ousted Representatives Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan, two of the loudest Tea Party position advocates from the House Budget Committee. They were kicked to the curb almost certainly because GOP House leaders know they have to make a deal with President Obama on the budget or risk being further dragged through the public and media mud as being the cause for shoving the nation over the fiscal cliff.

The Tea Party’s brand of patented loose cannon obstructionism is too threatening to a GOP still reeling from the election flop. The ouster of the Tea Party hardliners and desertions by GOP bigwigs from the movement was hardly the first rumbling that the lights are dimming for the Tea Party.

A year earlier, polls showed that far more Americans had an unfavorable view of the Tea Party than when it roared on the scene a couple of years earlier. The disaffection cut across all lines and that included many conservatives. The reason for the plunge in Tea Party backing in Red State districts support wasn’t hard to find. When Tea Party affiliated candidates scored big victories and even upsets of GOP incumbents in some races in 2010 they had one mantra and that was to shrink government, and shrink it fast. Millions of Americans cheered their war call, and voted for the candidates that yelped it the loudest. But it’s one thing to scream about big government, bloated federal spending, and whopping federal debts, and it’s quite another to actually hold Congress, and by extension, the nation hostage in an uncompromising, shrill battle to chop down government.

The Tea Party, in effect, wildly overreached and many conservatives didn’t like it. Congressional members backed by the Tea Party stalled every piece of legislation that might have put people back to work, demanded draconian slashes in Medicare and Social Security, gummed up the works on debt reduction talks between Obama and GOP House leaders, and wasted congressional time and energy passing bills and amendments to kill health care reform as well as education, health, social service and law enforcement programs locally and nationally. The result was that Congress was at a virtual stall for two years and public approval of Congress dropped to lows that made used car salespersons look like public champions.

The open backlash against the Tea Party wasn’t lost on GOP mainstream leaders, who even in the best of Tea Party days were anxious, if not downright terrified, that their shock battalions might get to unruly, and go too far overboard, and alienate the moderate and conservative independents that they got back in the GOP fold in 2010. They desperately needed them to have any chance of beating Obama in 2012.

Obviously, that didn’t happen. Now with the 2014 mid-term elections shaping up to be a titanic battle for the GOP to hold onto the House and not lose any more ground in the Senate, open advocacy of Tea Party positions becomes even more of a risk. The GOP with the Tea Party drag on it would have absolutely no chance to make any headway on immigration reform. That would kill the slender chance it had to soften opposition from Hispanic voters to the GOP. It would also turn off thousands more conservative voters who want to see government get back on track and get results.

The Tea Party is far from dead. There are many Americans that still think the idea of smaller government, caps on spending, and debt reduction are noble and necessary goals worth fighting for. Millions of them voted for failed GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney solely because they bought into his promise to shrink government. Though a majority of Americans now back Obamacare, a significant minority still don’t. And they will continue to make noise.

But having the Tea Party label attached to the GOP is a huge liability that GOP leaders can no longer afford.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a frequent political commentator on MSNBC and a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network.
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Colorlines ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has announced that it will hear a challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 next year. That’s in addition to Arizona v InterTribal Council of Arizona, which stems from a rule that demands voters demonstrate proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The two cases, which hinge on the court’s interpretation of federal legislation that bars discrimination and its interpretation of what’s known as the Motor Voter Act, could make sweeping changes to the ways voting rights are—or are not—protected. Those stakes aren’t lost on community groups around the nation that hope to continue their voting rights work, even without the spotlight of a presidential election.

Last Friday morning, a coalition of community, faith-based, and civic leaders gathered together at a local North Philly pizza joint that doubles as a breakfast diner. The group has been meeting together since early this year, when it became clear that lawmakers wanted to push through a controversial voter ID measure.

Read more here.
That law was temporarily halted before the general election, but the coalition is preparing to hold a major news conference this week, when it will announce how it’s going to fight to have a permanent injunction set against voter ID. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday to decide the dates for arguments.
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.10649 2012-12-05T21:12:47Z 2012-12-07T23:04:12Z

Elena Shore ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=7
Traducción al español

Image: Terrenz Vong and Tran Le march in the 2012 Golden Dragon Chinese Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown, Los Angeles.

When Tran Le and Terrenz Vong marched in the Golden Dragon Chinese Lunar New Year Parade earlier this year in Los Angeles, their photo appeared on the second page of the Sing Tao Daily. The couple said their appearance in the city’s largest Chinese-language newspaper sent a clear message to their families and their communities.

“One of the biggest misconceptions [in Asian Pacific Islander communities] is that they don’t see other couples like us in the media,” said Le, a 21-year-old Vietnamese American. Vong, her partner, is a 24-year-old Chinese American. “When we marched in the parade, people who looked like my grandmother and my aunt stopped us to take a picture.”

Appearing in Asian-American media outlets, Le said, “creates a sense of normalcy in society.”

Le and Vong, who spoke Tuesday on a telebriefing organized by New America Media and the California-based Breakthrough Coalition, are among tens of thousands of same-sex couples in California anxiously awaiting news this week of whether they will have the right to marry.

Two Key Cases Before the Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce on Friday, Dec. 7 whether it will review two major cases related to marriage equality.

One is a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal statute that denies same-sex couples the same federal benefits and protections that heterosexual married couples receive. Married same-sex couples, for example, can’t file joint taxes, access surviving spouse benefits under Social Security, or apply for a green card through a U.S.-citizen partner.

The second case the Supreme Court could decide to review is a challenge to the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision on California’s Prop 8. The Ninth Circuit Court ruled earlier this year that Prop 8, the 2008 voter-approved initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the state, was unconstitutional.

If the Supreme Court decides not to review the Prop 8 case, the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision will stand, and same-sex couples in California will soon be able to marry again.

If the Supreme Court decides to review one or both cases, their decision is not expected until next June. (They could also decide to review DOMA now, and delay their decision on whether to take up Prop 8.) The court has already delayed announcing its decision several times.

“We’ve been up waiting for the results of the decision every Friday and Monday,” said Renata Moreira, the director of policy and communication at Our Family Coalition in San Francisco. She and her partner Lori Bilella are planning to get married in New York on their fifth anniversary next September. But they will marry sooner in California if they can.

Christopher Stoll, senior staff attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said the “worst-case scenario” for same-sex couples like Moreira and her partner would be if the Supreme Court “upholds DOMA and Prop 8 and says same-sex couples don’t have a constitutional right to marry.”

He doesn’t think that’s a likely scenario, but if it happens, Stoll said, “That would leave us in a situation where we have to spend many years getting back into the courts to get it overturned.”

A ‘Sea Change’ in Support For Same-Sex Marriage

A lot has changed since California voters approved Prop 8 four years ago.

This year, voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington state approved same-sex marriage, marking the first time marriage rights have been extended to same-sex couples by popular vote.

“Across the board, a majority of voters now support same-sex marriage,” said Amy Simon, a pollster and communications strategist at Goodwin Simon Strategic Research. Simon describes the shift as a “sea change over time,” a “relatively rapid” and “steady” increase of support for marriage equality.

In 2003, only 37 percent of U.S. adults supported same-sex marriage. By 2009 and 2010, polls showed roughly equal numbers for and against. Since then, a majority of the U.S. population has come around in support of same-sex marriage.

Fifty-one percent of adults now support marriage equality, compared to 47 percent who oppose it, according a national ABC News/Washington Post poll released in November 2012.

“It’s not just that young people who are more supportive … are a larger part of the population,” Simon said. Support for marriage equality has grown among all groups, she explained – youth, adults, senior citizens, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, whites – in all regions of the country.

Currently, 51 percent of Anglos, 43 percent of African Americans and 53 percent of Latinos support marriage equality, according to the ABC News/Washington Post poll. Although the sample of Asian American-Pacific Islanders wasn’t large enough to be statistically significant, other polls show that the numbers of API voters who support marriage equality is roughly the same as Latinos.

As more Latinos and Asian Americans support marriage equality, Simon added, they could become a key swing vote on the issue.

And while African Americans in general have lower levels of acceptance of same-sex marriage than other groups, much of this is related to religiosity, according to Simon. Support for same-sex marriage among those African Americans who attend church less regularly or not at all is higher, she says.

Rev. Roland Stringfellow, director of Ministerial Outreach at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and the Ministry at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., said he personally knows “many pastors and rabbis” willing to marry and recognize same sex couples.

He added that Obama’s announcement that he supports same-sex marriage swayed many African Americans.

“As President Obama stated, he did not want to be on the wrong side of history,” said Stringfellow, and many people may feel the same way.

The Power of Messaging

One of the factors driving this shift in public opinion could be that marriage equality supporters have found “much more powerful and effective” ways to communicate their message, Simon said.

Proponents of marriage equality are using a variety of messaging strategies to make their case.

They are appealing to people’s sense of shared humanity by focusing on the idea that “we are all God’s children” and using families to tell stories of same-sex couples.

They are using “unexpected messengers” such as clergy, Republicans, older heterosexual couples, Catholics, African-American ministers, Latino and API leaders. “That catches people’s attention,” Simon explained, “because they think, ‘If that person is for it, and I’m uncomfortable with it, maybe I should think about that.’”

They are encouraging people who have changed their minds on the issue to act as spokespeople, telling the story of their journey through personal conflict as they went from being uncomfortable with the idea of same-sex marriage to becoming comfortable with it.

Finally, supporters of same-sex marriage are emphasizing protections for religious freedoms, making it clear that issuing marriage certificates is a government issue -- and that churches can still decide who they do and don’t want to marry in their church.

“That distinction was important for the African-American vote in Maryland,” Simon noted, when voters approved same-sex marriage in November.

In one ad, for example, African-American Reverend Donté Hickman of the Southern Baptist Church said he was in favor of Question 6, the Maryland same-sex marriage measure, because it protected religious freedom. “I support this law,” he said, “because it doesn’t force any church to perform a same-sex marriage if it’s against their beliefs.”

For Le, the child of refugees from Vietnam, marriage rights are the next logical step in gaining access to the American dream.

“Our families came to America in pursuit of the American dream, like many other immigrant minorities,” said Le. “Part of that is having the opportunity to achieve greater things, and having equal rights.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that an image appearing the the Sing Tao Daily of Tran Le and Terrenz Vong was taken during LA's Gay pride Parade. It was in fact the Golden Dragon Chinese Lunar New Year Parade.
]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.10599 2012-11-28T10:10:00Z 2012-11-27T19:14:35Z

Danielle Kim ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=103
Traditionally, politics has been oriented to the audiences that have already been included in the system: the families with strong political networks, the communities that have a larger influence in political decisions, and the children who have been born with a political spoon in their mouth. For as long as I can remember, elections have been dominated by the “majority” both locally and nationally, and that “majority” has always taken control of the direction of our country.

However, on November 6, 2012, Americans experienced something less familiar: the youth vote, as well as voters in underrepresented communities, particularly in Asian Pacific Islander communities, represented a larger portion of the voter turnout than four years ago.

But what is the reason behind the fact that increasingly more youth and communities of color are turning out to vote? What is changing in our politics that is inspiring us to engage in a different way? Last year, I chose to begin my political career at the Washington Bus with these exact questions in mind. As a young person, political access isn’t the easiest to shuffle through. As a woman of color, I sought to open the box, and challenge the boundaries that currently define our political discussions.

The very core of the Washington Bus believes in critically and comprehensively investing in people with the vision of authentically engaging with communities that shape and define our society. The Bus brings the integrity back in the heart of politics, beginning with us: the young folks.

We saw on November 6 the power of our generation. For example, a year ago, the Bus was proud to announce our partnership with the Human Rights Campaign and Washington United for Marriage to bring marriage equality to our state. Marriage is not only an issue of extending fundamental rights to all people, but a generational one as well.

This past year, the Bus registered 14, 357 young people to vote. Our volunteers knocked on over 20,000 doors state-wide for progressive causes, and called over 95,000 people to inform them on Referendum 74. We put on the largest costumed get out the vote canvass for marriage equality in the state, called Trick or Vote, where 350 people gathered to go knock on over 8,000 doors in Seattle. We observed that inviting young people into the political process delivered results. R74 was approved and now marriage equality for all is a reality in Washington state.

This year proved that it isn’t an enthusiasm gap that divides young people and politics. It’s a question of access. Inviting young people into the political process is the reason why they show up, and turn out to vote.

The API [Asian Pacific Islander] community is another group that is beginning to gain more attention in local and national media. In every state in the country, the Asian American population has increased by at least 30 percent in the last decade — 50 percent overall between 2000 and 2010. There are more Asian Americans seeking higher political office than ever before. Young people and API communities are consistently proving to be an enormous force in our electoral politics. The makeup of our country is changing and our politics need to begin to reflect that.

The Washington Bus sees this exact need, and works tirelessly to unite a powerful group of voices, beginning with youth development. The Bus Fellowship is a highly sought-after political leadership program in our state because of its ability to capture and reflect the issues that affect our communities and effectively work with youth so that they can gain skills to build tangible political leadership throughout our state. It is an opportunity to learn about the civic patterns and structure of Washington state politics and designed for those who are ready to commit themselves to public service. Our fellowship chronicles the movements that are making history today.

As a young woman of color, it takes familiarity with the system and its people to feel connected and motivated to engage myself and others in the democratic process. I want to see my representatives holding the values and priorities I hold, as well as understanding the communities and experiences that I come from. Only then will you know that they will be the best champion for you, fighting to break down the barriers they once had, and ensuring the highest level of honesty in their work.

Change begins with ordinary people working in their communities to inspire collective action. When we are given a voice, our spirits are lifted. When we receive information, we feel empowered. We feel connected, informed, and invigorated to walk the line of politics and continue to engage ourselves and our peers year round. Democracy has a responsibility to include all voices in the discourse.]]> tag:newamericamedia.org,2012://19.10597 2012-11-26T09:40:00Z 2012-12-01T05:06:53Z

Khalil Abdullah ]]> http://publisher.namx.org/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=19&id=69 The failure of state election officials to ensure a level playing field for all voters was amplified on November 6 when Korean Americans at one voting precinct site in Virginia were ordered by poll workers to form a separate line so as not to slow down the process for other voters.

The lines were re-integrated only after vocal protests from other voters who started shouting, “That’s wrong!” said Glenn Magpantay, Democracy Program Director with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).

The incident occurred in Fairfax County, where a group of mostly elderly Korean Americans turned up at a polling station. Poll workers grew frustrated when the seniors – many of who have only limited English proficiency -- struggled to give their names and addresses in English.

“At one point the workers said, ‘All the Koreans move over here,’ and they started processing white voters,’” Magpantay continued, because the poll workers decided, “[voting] would go faster.” Magpantay acknowledged the workers were overwhelmed because of long lines, but said their actions reflected a lack of proper training, adding the site failed to provide adequate language assistance.

Tram Nguyen is Associate Director with Virginia New Majority, which works to engage minority groups in the state in the political process. VNM deployed 186 poll watchers in Northern Virginia, Richmond and the Tidewater area on Election Day, said Nguyen, adding it was a call from one of these that tipped her off to what was happening.

“When the elderly Korean-American voters showed up at that polling location and were unable to communicate, the poll workers were unsure what to do,” said Nguyen, “and, because of the long lines, I think they were feeling a lot of pressure, and so what they ended up doing – incorrectly — was setting [the Korean-Americans] aside.”

Nguyen said under Virginia and federal law, voters are “allowed to bring in anybody they want” to assist with language issues but that many poll workers seemed unaware of that and other rules designed to help voters.

She said the lack of personnel fluent in Asian languages was a key factor for voter confusion, particularly when coupled with long waiting lines like those in Virginia. Last week, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors decided to establish a commission to investigate the reasons for the delays and disruptions.

For Magpantay, the incident with the Korean Americans recalled a similar event in Boston in 2004, when Chinese American and Vietnamese American voters were placed into separate lines. Unlike in Virginia, he said, the lines in Boston remained segregated “all day.”

Magpantay, who litigates voting rights cases, flew to Boston after that election to meet with the official in charge of the site. “She said, ‘I’m so sorry, it will never happen again.’ I said, ‘You’re right it will never happen again. We filed a lawsuit against you.’”

Under the Voting Rights Act, language minorities can have ballots printed in a language other than English if they meet certain numerical thresholds calculated on Census data. In Boston, the Chinese-American community at the time was too small to trigger a Chinese language ballot under those provisions.

There are, however, other avenues that can force the issuance of a non-English ballot. “We were able to get there through a remedial action, to say, well, if you’re going to discriminate against minority voters, stop discriminating and translate the ballot,” Magpantay explained.

Though ballots were printed in Spanish in Fairfax County due to the surging Latino population, neither Korean nor Vietnamese Americans in Virginia have reached a critical mass through the Census to require counties to print ballots in their respective languages. Until those communities grow large enough, Ngyuen said more effective outreach and education of voters before Election Day are critical to alleviating bottlenecks at the polls.

She said VNM was among a number of organizations distributing information in Asian languages other than English. The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium targeted Virginia as one of 11 states to receive bilingual voting guides prior to the election, worked through Korean churches to promote voter education and, in collaboration with the AALDEF, also provided Election Day monitoring in Centreville, another community in Fairfax County where Korean Americans account for a fourth of its over 70,000 residents.

Part of the confusion on Election Day in Virginia was also driven by the state’s newly enacted voter non-photo ID law, Nguyen contended. She said the nuances of the new law compounded the challenges for even veteran voters who needed language assistance. She said the state’s election officials made “no concerted effort to educate language minority populations in terms of these new laws,” describing their inaction as bad public policy that affects voters regardless of political persuasion.

Houston is an example of where the success of Asian language outreach has contributed to greater voter participation. Ballots in Vietnamese have been printed in the city’s Harris County since 2002, though it took a court order under the Voting Rights Act to initiate the action. The community also benefits from an independent ethnic media presence.

"The election went fine for the Vietnamese because we had a lot of talk shows and promotion to inform our audience in details about every step of how to vote and get help if they needed,” said Thuy Tranh Vu, co-founder of Radio Saigon Houston.

Vietnamese Americans in other cities were less fortunate. In Philadelphia, home to more than 14,000 Vietnamese Americans, AALDEF reported that before Election Day, “Philadelphia officials said they had only trained four Asian language interpreters for the entire city.”

Similarly, an AALDEF statement noted, “At three poll sites in New Orleans, limited English-proficient Vietnamese American voters, many of whom were senior citizens, were told that interpreters could not assist them or otherwise translate the ballot for them, in violation of Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. AALDEF attempted to appeal to local elections officials, yet the hotline number to report problems only led to a voicemail box.”

Along with Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the organization cited incidents in Georgia, Michigan, and New York as particularly egregious, though for different reasons.

Editor's notes: AALDEF joined the U.S. Department of Justice in the lawsuit against the City of Boston. VA's  voting law was changed to require ID, but enlarged the pool of acceptable types of  identification, including a state-issued photo ID.
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