It seems like the new Super Bowl tradition of late is airing commercials which are racist, offensive, or at least racially insensitive toward Asians. In 2008, it was a set of offensive SalesGenie.com ads (written by an Asian, no less). 2010 gave us the Doritos Samurai Guy (who didn’t know the ways of the Samurai). Last year, Timothy Hutton using the plight of Tibet as a punchline for Groupon’s deals on fish curry, not even a dish that Tibetans are known for.

So what fun anti-Asian ads aired during the 2012 Super Bowl? Seeing as it’s an election year, a political ad is making waves: Michigan Republican Pete Hoekstra aired an ad accusing the policies of incumbent Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow (or Debbie “SpendItNow” as seen in the ad) as being helpful to China, to the detriment of the United States.

From 8Asians reader Peter L:

If you haven’t seen it already, this advertisement went up during the super bowl in place of a local ad spot. It accuses a political opponent of giving political power to Asian countries in a way that marginalizes Asians as a whole… I’m sort of wondering what that chick was thinking when she signed-up to be in this ad. Her way of speaking sounds like she’s a fluent American English speaker, but mid-way through her schtick it looks like she remembers she’s supposed to sound like a stereotypical fob with missing prepositions. Maybe she liked the size of the cheque.

Luckily, this spot did not air nationwide. But thanks to the power of social media, it is being widely shared and condemned– including by a coalition of black ministers, civil rights folks, and even GOP advisers.

Hoekstra’s campaign says that the ad is “satirical,” but I’d argue that there needs to be a bit of wit behind it if you call it satire.

Hacienda-La Puente, California School Board Member Jay Chen this week announced his run for California’s 39th Congressional District. His announcement is posted on his campaign site and blog as well as his background:

Jay Chen, a Democrat, was raised and educated in Hacienda Heights. A first-generation American, Jay’s parents came to the United States from Taiwan to seek a better future and taught him the value of hard work, the importance of a good education and the responsibility to serve the community. A product of the public school system, Jay earned a scholarship to Harvard University.

After graduating with honors he worked in the business world as a strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies. Today, Jay is a successful small businessman and serves our country as an intelligence officer in the United States Naval Reserve.  He was elected to the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District Board of Education in 2007 and after four years of academic success and innovation in the district, he was re-elected with the top vote in 2011.

If his name sounds familiar, it’s because I covered Chen when he interviewed for The Daily Show regarding the “controversy” of his school district’s ““Confucius Classroom” – Chinese language programs partially funded by Chinese government. Chen’s background sounds pretty solid, if not a little too perfect – almost like California State Senator Ted Lieu.

Chen will be going up against an incumbent Republican Congressman, Representative Ed Royce, who has been in Washington for over twenty years and already has $3 million for his re-election campaign. Another challenge that Chen faces is that his Congressional district is about 40 percent Republican and 32 percent Democrat. The district is close to 30% Asian, so Chen may pique the interest of some who may not have considered a Democrat. But no doubt about it, Chen has a huge challenge ahead of him.

[Photo courtesy of Jay Chen for Congress website]

There has been a long concerted effort to slowly chip away the rights of women’s reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade. Recently, Congress passed the “Let Women Die Bill” 251:170 HR358 where 250 members of Congress thought it okay to let a woman die in the ER rather than perform an abortion, tried to redefine rape as NOT rape if a woman was drunk, drugged or underage, and  passed a law that would basically result in no private insurance coverage of abortion even if women paid for the insurance with their own funds (currently 85% of private
insurance covers abortion). Click here to join the virtual march Dr. Yen is organizing or click here to learn more about this effort.

A fellow 8Asians blogger passed along this article from an Australian newspaper which fascinated me and describes and mirrors some of the challenges that I have seen for Asian Americans and our role in American civic duty, representation, politics, and more broadly, in society:

Ideas emerging from the council challenge the stereotype of a politically passive community. They insist Australia confronts its history of anti-Chinese racism and educate its children about it. They question why Asian faces are absent from our TV screens. They challenge political parties – and the Chinese community itself – to deal with the lack of ethnic Chinese Members of Parliament (MPs). And while they say it’s time the Chinese had a voice, they admit the diversity of the community prevents any one group from claiming to represent it.

In a 2006 census, more than 700,000 Australians (almost 4 per cent of the population) – traced a Chinese ancestor – and I am sure, a slightly broader and larger group of Asian Australians. Chinese is the second most spoken language in Australia outside of English! From the article, Asian Australian immigration patterns and struggles also seem to have also mirrored the United States:

“‘We are seen as very good as surgeons, accountants, doctors, but there seems to be a sort of gatekeeping at a cultural level, so the Chinese are not able to have a voice.” Jen Tsen Kwok, who is writing a PhD on Chinese Australian engagement in politics, cautions against any assumption of a homogenous Chinese community. Instead, there are diverse communities made of different strands: descendants of 19th century migrants who survived the White Australia policy; students from Malaysia and Singapore who came in the late 1950s and 1960s; refugees from Indochina in the late 1970s; and the surge of migrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China from the late 1980s.

I only spent a week in Australia – in Melbourne and Sydney – and loved my visit and vacation there. I can’t say that I interacted with a lot of locals, let alone any Asian Australians. But I guess that it’s not too difficult to imagine that many Asian immigrants to predominately white majority countries have experienced similar challenges. I think those of you interested to read about such challenges in a different context – in Australlia – you should read the whole article.

To be honest, I don’t think Americans (including myself) knew much about Australia in general except for our preconceived notions from popular culture – from Crocodile Dundee, Men at Work, the 2000 Sydney Olympics and through actors and actresses (all white) such as Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman.

“One nominee, Phillip H. Kwon, a Korean immigrant who lives in Bergen County, worked under Mr. Christie when Mr. Christie was the United States attorney for New Jersey, and now works in his administration as first assistant attorney general.“

Kwon will be the first ever immigrant and first ever Asian American to be nominated, and if confirmed, serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court. New Jersey’s Asian American population represents about 8% of the state’s population, so not a total shocker that Kwon was nominated.

However, kind of surprising that Kwon will be the first ever immigrant to have been nominated. I mean, when I think of immigrants in New Jersey, rightfully or wrongfully I think of Italian Americans because of The Sopranos and Jersey Shore. Congratulations to Kwon and best of luck to him on getting confirmed!

The most recent Asian American I recall being nominated and confirmed to a state Supreme Court is Goodwin Liu in California.

[H/T Asianspushingazns]