Today in Foster City, California former Democratic California State Senate Jackie Speier announced her candidacy for the 12th U.S. Congressional district of California, in a bid to replace retiring Representative Tom Lantos for election November 2008. Why am I writing about this - because of my major pet peeve that there are very few Asian Americans interested, active and involved in politics as part of our democracy in the United States.
The 12th Congressional district composes of parts of San Francisco and San Mateo County - where Asian Americans account for, according to the census, 32% and 23% respectively, of the population. I saw only a *handful* of Asian Americans in attendance at Leo Ryan Park on a beautiful Sunday, and hardly the 23% to 32% of Asian Americans that make the 12th Congressional district. Shame on you my fellow Asian Americans! Get out and get involved in your government - it’s your country too! You can see parts 1 & part 2 of the video clips I took of Speier’s announcement on YouTube.
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8Asians.com » Yul Kwon - ‘Survivor’ alum considers run for Lantos’ seat: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog wrote:
[...] As I previously wrote, former State Senator Jackie Speier has incredible name recognition and backin…, so a run by Kwon will be quite a challenge. But with so few Asian-Americans involved in politics in America, let alone in California (of all places!), I hope Kwon considers running despite the formidable odds. Kwon could be the new face of politics for Asian-Americans, and down the road, our next Barack Obama - helping to break down racial barriers (of course, Obama did start off in the Illinois state legislature before going to Washington, D.C.)… [...]
Posted on 16-Jan-08 at 11:04 am | Permalink