8 Asians

As blogged earlier in September, Asian American candidates in the New York City primaries did well.  CNN just did an excellent profile of Margaret Chin, who is on the verge of being elected to the city council and being the first Chinese American ever to represent New York City’s Chinatown:

“For Chin, a 56-year-old Hong Kong immigrant, the long road to political victory has not been easy. As she closes in on a probable November victory, though, she’s confident the lessons learned along the way will serve her — and her constituents — well. Chin’s American story began almost a half century ago, during the Kennedy administration. Her father, seeking new opportunities, left China for Colombia. A few months later, he became an undocumented U.S. worker, scratching out a living as a waiter in the Bronx section of New York. When the family’s immigration papers came through in 1963, he borrowed money to bring them to America. Margaret, the third of five children, remembers her dad’s exhaustion and pain after spending long days on his feet.”

Maybe I’m ignorant, but I think these kind of stories can only be made in America: Chin has run for city council three times before, but lost in the Democratic primaries. Because of greater Chinese-American involvement and through experience, Chin was able to win in her primary. Since New York City is predominantly Democratic, the chances of her losing to her Republican candidate is slim (must be frustrating to be the token opposition). Best of luck to Chin – I look forward to reading about her victory!

I cried. Like a little girl. It was like the moon landing for us — finally, a president is directly speaking out to me and my people — a president celebrates Diwali in The White House!

This weekend I made the trek back to The Bay Area where I grew up, to celebrate the Hindu New Year, Diwali. Diwali is a celebration of lights, and marks the triumph of good over evil, and is celebrated with great fanfare by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists, around the world.

All through the weekend I received phone calls and texts from inspired friends and families wishing me Diwali wishes, and gushing over the news that Obama was the first president ever to celebrate Diwali in The White House. (It started in the Bush era, in 2003, but President Bush never personally took part in the celebration, nor was it celebrated within the main White House walls.) The President lead a small ceremony which included an invocation by a Hindu priest, and a ceremonial lighting of the Diya (lamp, symbolizing the brightness of truth and knowledge over darkness and ignorance), and had this to say:

”This coming Saturday, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, here in America and around the world, will celebrate this holiday by lighting Diyas, or lamps, which symbolize the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. And while this is a time of rejoicing, it’s also a time for reflection, when we remember those who are less fortunate and renew our commitment to reach out to those in need.”

He later went on to address the people of the fore mentioned faiths, in a special video message, and continued to wish everyone a ‘Sal Mubaraq’ which is Hindi for Happy New Year.

This, of course, is a part of the trend which President Obama has started, by being involved personally with holidays and festivals that are shared amongst the many faiths and cultures that makes up the great diversity in America; this includes his recent messages and galas for both the people of the Jewish faiths for Rosh Hashanah, and of the Muslim faith during Ramadan and Eid.

In addition, this great ceremony culminated with the joyous event of the President re-establishing the President’s advisory committee and White House initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (which was created under Clinton, but later died under Bush.)

In the end, I will never forget the faces of my family as we stood around the computer screen, and watched The President speak to us… to acknowledge us, and to let the world know that we too are just as American as any! I know I will tell my children, and hopefully children’s children, of the day when Diwali was celebrated in all of America. Thanks again Mister President, and Happy Diwali.

Tonight, after I get off work, I will be casting my vote for New York City comptroller in the runoff election between city councilmen John C. Liu and David Yassky. As previously blogged about here on 8Asians, Liu received the most votes in the primary election two weeks ago, but not enough to reach the 40% needed to avoid a runoff.

Those of you living in the New York have probably seen the negative ad campaign waged by David Yassky (who, by the way, has the endorsement of The New York Times). In that ad, he brands Liu a liar:

“That’s the problem with comptroller candidate John Liu. He says he returned contributions from people who got city contracts. Not true. Liu’s commercial claims he found fraud in the MTA. Also not true. And get this: He claims he worked in a sweatshop, but it never happened. His father was actually a top bank manager.”

As several 8Asians pointed out in the internal listserv, it is entirely possible that Liu did work at a sweatshop, but his mother may have denied it in front of the media to “save face.” After all, many immigrant parents come to America to provide a better life for their children. How would it look then, if their own children worked in a sweatshop?

Yassky’s spokesman said Liu is not playing fair either. Yesterday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews. Yassky, who is Jewish, took the day off from campaigning to observe the holiday. But Liu, who is not Jewish, went out campaigning. In his defense, Liu’s spokeswoman said they had already consulted with Jews about campaign etiquette, and that out of respect for the day, Liu’s team did not knock on doors in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods.

I don’t know about other New Yorkers, but at this point, I’m just ready for this election to be over. No matter the outcome, I’ll be glad to not hear any more negative campaigning for a while.