That is why I enjoy reading columns by conservative Republican authors like David Broder, who are telling the story of the transformation of the Republican party from the inside out.
Videos
My blog More entries >
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Awfully Disappointed with Bobby Jindal
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 11:06AM / Members only
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Changes in Repubican Party = Changes for America
Monday, Dec 29, 2008 4:04AM / Members only
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The Moment We Knew: Barack Obama Wins Virginia & The White House
Friday, Nov 7, 2008 4:28PM / Members only
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Latinos, Asian Americans, African Americans Carrying Obama to Victory
Saturday, Nov 1, 2008 1:58AM / Members only
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hljtL80klMAfter reading this article in today's Washington Post, I've been thinking about how the collapse of the Republican Party directly corresponds to its abandonment of any pretension of reaching out to communities of color. But which came first?
The article in the Washington Post focuses on Colorado, where one of the nation's most notorious anti-immigrant politicians is a Congressman (former Republican Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo). In my research on the immigration battle in 2007 (on which my upcoming film is based), I found that it was electoral dread and desperation that led Republicans all over the nation to experiment with the politics of fear and resentment that fuel the anti-immigrant movement issue. We also saw it on Republican news programs and Republican talk radio. I think it's safe to say it backfired.CNN reported yesterday that 70 percent of people of color in Florida are voting for Obama/Biden. Nationally, African American support is in the 90 percent range, and among Hispanics it is 66 to 70 percent. Asian American polls depend on the region, but I'm proud to say that in areas of the country where Asian Americans are empowered and informed, Obama/Biden is the preferred ticket by a 2 to 1 margin similar to Latinos (only with more undecideds).
My analysis of this is that Sarah Palin's hateful speeches and the hateful reactions from her followers have reminded people of color across the nation how ugly and how dangerous racism can be. I think a similar repulsion is reflected in the movement of moderates and independents toward Obama/Biden in recent weeks.
In contrast, you have Barack Obama, who's mixed ancestry and immigrant father say to all people of color that, if you look at America as a whole (as opposed to the factions of the Republican party) there is no longer a privilege or an advantage to being Caucasian, no, not necessarily. Obama doesn't have to say that in his speeches. We know this to be true because he is winning.
So that's my introduction to this video demonstrating a strong collaboration between Latino and Asian American artists, including myself. It's a brand new English Language version of "Si Se Puede Cambiar" (With Obama, We Can Change).
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Asian Pacific Americans Volunteering for Obama/Biden (in droves!)
Friday, Oct 31, 2008 2:23AM / Members only
The videos and writing below are my best pitch to get Americans, especially Asian Pacific Americans, to volunteer for Obama/Biden this weekend. Click here to volunteer through your local campaign office (or just look up the address and show up!). Click here to learn about a canvassing effort in Las Vegas with groups driving in from Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FX7bKHjC04Annabel and I have been volunteering three or four days a week for the Obama/Biden campaign in Northern Virginia, and will do the same down south in Charlottesville (home of Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia) this weekend. With only a few days left before election day, duties as a volunteer are as rewarding as they are fun. Barack Obama's vaunted get-out-the-vote effort has already narrowed the field down to people who are probably supporting Barack Obama, so as you go door to door, you'll be unlikely to be confronted with hateful idiots who still think Obama is "an Arab" (not that there is anything wrong with being an Arab of course). Your job as a volunteer is to make it more likely that people who already support Obama/Biden will make time to go out and vote.
Last weekend, Annabel and I visited the home of a 78-year-old woman who had immigrated to the U.S. from Afghanistan. She said she very much wanted to vote but was too old to leave the house. We helped her fill out a vote-by-mail application and explained to her that she will be able to vote after all. She was very happy about this, and it made us happy to know we'd given her the opportunity to participate in a historic election, and made a small contribution to the expansion of the American electorate.
Yesterday,
I knocked doors in a forest neighborhood in Annandale, VA, where I met
8 very enthusiastic Obama supporters and only one guy who said "I'm the
complete opposite of what you're looking for." In particular I'm happy
about talking to a 22-year-old man named Jason who intended to take
advantage of early voting, but had planned to go on a day when early
voting is not available in Virginia (Monday, the day before the
election). Thanks to my visit, he'll be making plans to go today,
Saturday, or on election day.Over the past two years, I have seen the American electorate expand by leaps and bounds to include immigrants and minorities and many others who had previously been left out of the process. Early on in this journey, Barack Obama has come to symbolize this national transformation, but it really is, as he will tell you, much bigger than just one person, even the future President of the United States. This entire movement was made possible by our great democracy and the idea of government for the people, by the people. Various measures have been taken to keep minorities from having a say in how this government should function, and the result has been disastrous, an electorate homogeneous enough to be blinded by fears and prejudices that cause them to repeatedly vote against their own interest, and against the interest of the nation. Asian Pacific Americans can and are playing a pivotal role in a seed change, where the American electorate is becoming too diverse to allow a fear or hate-based political strategy to turn large blocks of voters against any particular minority (gays, Latinos, Blacks, Muslims, Asians, the poor, etc.). With a diverse electorate, the only movements that can unite the country are based on values that we share across ethnic and religious barriers, across sexual orientation and cultural barriers -- in short, we will build a national consensus based on hope instead of fear. Different groups fear different things, but we all hope for the same things: equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is the direction we can take America if all of us participate.
So go vote, of course, go vote. But voting is only one of the many ways that you can participate in your democracy. By volunteering, you can help others who are intimidated or discouraged from voting, you can show fellow Americans how to become part of the process, and help them gain a sense of ownership and responsiblity for our government and how it is practiced. Each person we bring into the process during this election will be an invaluable contributor to our democracy in the future (I'll expand on this in my first post after the election), all the more so because they forever remember that they participated in the historic election of 2008 -- and you will have made that possible. So go do it!
PS: I like the video above because it shows a great diversity of Asian Pacific Americans volunteering for Obama/Biden (I shot most of the footage but did not participate in editing). We are about to release a new English language version of the video below, which now has 363,686 views on our United For Obama channel alone. It still chokes me up, right when we see Ken Leung's cameo at the end:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U
