(Los Angeles, CA) November 4, 2008 was a monumental day in American history. For many, faith in the possibility of uplifting the lives of all Americans was rekindled with the election of Barack Obama — not just because he is the first African American and son of an immigrant but because of his extensive background in grassroots community organizing and public service.
Well, it’s been two days since America elected the first African American president by electing Barack Obama to the White House and I’m sure a lot of us are still digesting what this means for American and the world.
There’s not much more that I can say that others have not said already regarding the significance of Barack Obama’s election as our next President: historic, monumental, amazing, inspiring, emotional, and quite simple, awesome. As a sociologist and demographer, I’d like to offer a few statistics on his election to be our next President:
James Yee, the former US Army Guantanamo Chaplain and 2008 National Delegate for Barack Obama was out doing some grassroots campaigning in Ohio from October 23-26 for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He made stops in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.
Asian American families have the highest personal savings, the highest home and business ownership, and achieve the highest post-secondary education on average. So why do so many of us consider ourselves Democrats when the values that produced these fundamentals are so contrary to those of the Democratic Party?
What a weekend! Just 24 hours ago, I was outside the Harbor Palace Restaurant in Las Vegas Chinatown waving a “Vote for Obama” sign alongside Kelly Hu. Now I’m back at work, responding to emails.
At the DNC, it was clear that Asian-Americans were taking a far larger role in this election than in previous ones. There were more candidates running for office, targeted voter outreach programs, and entire unit of Obama’s campaign solely devoted to the AAPI vote.
The McCain and Obama campaigns should.
More than a third of Asian American likely voters were undecided about their choice for the U.S. President as recently as two weeks ago, according to new data from the 2008 National Asian American Survey. A national sample of 4,394 found 41 percent support Barack Obama while 24 percent say they will vote for John McCain.
Just got back from VA where I was shooting footage for a five minute documentary on the Asian vote.
