Saturday, July 10, 2004
My attempt to bring down 80-20, the Asian American PAC
As long as we are talking about politics (and racism), let me try my two cents at stopping this misguided grab for power.
I have no problem with an Asian American group that tries to:
Vigorously prosecute all cases of racial discrimination,
Lift glass ceilings on the professional advancement of Asian Americans
Appoint qualified Asian Americans to policy-making positions in the Judicial and Executive branches of the federal government.
These are semi-important things to do, because if there is a certain percentage of Asians in the US, then we should have a similar percentage in the government. Of course then this is ignoring my whole "allying yourself with members of your own race is racist", but sometimes people are sheep. And of course fighting racial discrimination is important, and other races probably aren't going to do it for you.
Anyway... 80-20's goal and namesake is for 80% of Asian-Americans to vote for the winning candidates in national elections, thus making them a force that has to be pandered to. Right now, it's much closer to 50-50. So, in the e-mails that I get from this group (unwillingly, I might add), they actually say things like "we have not chosen a candidate yet, but when we do, we expect all of you to vote for him." And I'm sure lots of these people will.
Does anybody not see a problem with this? First of all, if Asian-Americans are voting 50-50, then doesn't it mean our interests are already being served to a good degree? Doesn't this mean we are on par with white people? Isn't this a good thing?
And why would you vote for a candidate just because some person decided on Bush or Kerry by flipping a coin? If it isn't already abundantly clear which candidate is more "Asian-friendly", then obviously 80-20 is basing their opinion simply on who is going to win. Yeah, that makes sense. Let's make an organization that always votes for the winner, and so the candidates always have to massage our overblown egos everytime they campaign, even though we have nothing to complain about. Wait, we already have something like that. It's called Missouri.
Anyway, It's a matter of prioritizing issues, as David has so kindly pointed out, and I can't imagine that anyone thinking that this is more important than the myriad other issues out there.
Lastly, some of their initiatives are downright insane. Every Independence Day, they try to get Asian-American neighborhoods to drown their communities in a "Sea of Flags"... ostensibly so that they can prove to everyone else that they are Americans. Yes, let's soothe the jingoist, xenophobic fears of bigots so that they can see we are just like them! Don't even get me started on this.
So please. If you are thinking of supporting this group, don't. Unsubscribe to their list and go read the Onion.
I have no problem with an Asian American group that tries to:
Vigorously prosecute all cases of racial discrimination,
Lift glass ceilings on the professional advancement of Asian Americans
Appoint qualified Asian Americans to policy-making positions in the Judicial and Executive branches of the federal government.
These are semi-important things to do, because if there is a certain percentage of Asians in the US, then we should have a similar percentage in the government. Of course then this is ignoring my whole "allying yourself with members of your own race is racist", but sometimes people are sheep. And of course fighting racial discrimination is important, and other races probably aren't going to do it for you.
Anyway... 80-20's goal and namesake is for 80% of Asian-Americans to vote for the winning candidates in national elections, thus making them a force that has to be pandered to. Right now, it's much closer to 50-50. So, in the e-mails that I get from this group (unwillingly, I might add), they actually say things like "we have not chosen a candidate yet, but when we do, we expect all of you to vote for him." And I'm sure lots of these people will.
Does anybody not see a problem with this? First of all, if Asian-Americans are voting 50-50, then doesn't it mean our interests are already being served to a good degree? Doesn't this mean we are on par with white people? Isn't this a good thing?
And why would you vote for a candidate just because some person decided on Bush or Kerry by flipping a coin? If it isn't already abundantly clear which candidate is more "Asian-friendly", then obviously 80-20 is basing their opinion simply on who is going to win. Yeah, that makes sense. Let's make an organization that always votes for the winner, and so the candidates always have to massage our overblown egos everytime they campaign, even though we have nothing to complain about. Wait, we already have something like that. It's called Missouri.
Anyway, It's a matter of prioritizing issues, as David has so kindly pointed out, and I can't imagine that anyone thinking that this is more important than the myriad other issues out there.
Lastly, some of their initiatives are downright insane. Every Independence Day, they try to get Asian-American neighborhoods to drown their communities in a "Sea of Flags"... ostensibly so that they can prove to everyone else that they are Americans. Yes, let's soothe the jingoist, xenophobic fears of bigots so that they can see we are just like them! Don't even get me started on this.
So please. If you are thinking of supporting this group, don't. Unsubscribe to their list and go read the Onion.
# posted by Stuart @ 12:24 PM 
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First of all, if Asian-Americans are voting at roughly 50-50, and yet are not being offered equal opportunities in the workplace, working together for change - including voting together - is a viable step towards achieving the organizations goal of equality.
Secondly, I looked at their website, and nowhere does it say they will pick the candidate they think will win. Their mission statement says specifically, "To be effective, we shall form a block-vote in favor of the presidential candidate of that political party that will have helped Asian Americans the most in achieving equal opportunity, during each Presidential term." They asked candidates to respond to a simple questionaire, asking if they would look at the data they have showing discrimination in hiring practices, then, if the data was shown to be accurate if they would direct the Labor Department to enforce Executive Order 11246 - signed by President Johnson - which forbids any organization from receiving federal money if they practice discrimination, and finally, if they would meet with Asian American leaders 2 years after issuing such a directive to discuss the progress in extending equal opportunity to Asian Americans. The Democratic candidates (except for Sharpton, who didn't respond) responed yes to the three questions, while President Bush has not yet responded. They haven't yet made a decision on whom to support because their bylaws direct them to hold an endorsement convention after the candidates from the major parties are nominated.
When I first read your post, I agreed that this was a stupid and misguided organization. But after looking through their website, I think you have misrepresented their mission and methods.
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Secondly, I looked at their website, and nowhere does it say they will pick the candidate they think will win. Their mission statement says specifically, "To be effective, we shall form a block-vote in favor of the presidential candidate of that political party that will have helped Asian Americans the most in achieving equal opportunity, during each Presidential term." They asked candidates to respond to a simple questionaire, asking if they would look at the data they have showing discrimination in hiring practices, then, if the data was shown to be accurate if they would direct the Labor Department to enforce Executive Order 11246 - signed by President Johnson - which forbids any organization from receiving federal money if they practice discrimination, and finally, if they would meet with Asian American leaders 2 years after issuing such a directive to discuss the progress in extending equal opportunity to Asian Americans. The Democratic candidates (except for Sharpton, who didn't respond) responed yes to the three questions, while President Bush has not yet responded. They haven't yet made a decision on whom to support because their bylaws direct them to hold an endorsement convention after the candidates from the major parties are nominated.
When I first read your post, I agreed that this was a stupid and misguided organization. But after looking through their website, I think you have misrepresented their mission and methods.
# posted by 
: 11:15 AM
: 11:15 AM << Home
