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Asian American, Pacific Islander community looks for public office wins after year of racism, hate crimes

An activist holds a sign after he marched to Chinatown from a “DC Rally for Collective Safety - Protect Asian/AAPI Communities,” hosted by OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, at McPherson Square March 21, 2021, in Washington, DC. Activists took part in the rally in response to the Atlanta, Georgia spa shootings that left eight people dead, including six Asian women, and the rising number of attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

In mid-March last year, as the coronavirus pandemic was on the rise and as the nation was seeing an uptick in documented racist incidents and hate crimes against members of the Asian American community, then-president Donald Trump repeatedly called the pandemic a "Chinese virus" from the White House podium.

Trump and members of his administration defended the use of the term even though advocates and experts warned it would lead to stigmatization against Asian Americans. One administration member reportedly referred to the virus as the “Kung flu” to an Asian American reporter, Weijia Jiang.

Come November, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increased their voter turnout by 46% from the 2016 election, a larger increase than any other group in the U.S., said Varun Nikore, president of AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

The record engagement from Asian Americans in 2020 can be attributed in part to the anti-Asian rhetoric of Trump’s White House and other actions his administration took on immigration and other policies, Nikore told USA TODAY.

Now, organizations focused on electoral engagement for that community want to harness that momentum and see more Asian Americans run for office at the local, state and federal level.

They argue that having political representation at every level of public office will open the possibility of more Vice President Kamala Harrises and Sen. Tammy Duckworths – Asian Americans in national office, with the power to shape laws and governance.

"This work is based around making sure we have representation at staff, communications, advocacy levels, those running for elected office, commissions, appointments … across all walks of life when it comes to public service," said Madalene Mielke, president of the nonpartisan Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., promote the passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act at the U.S. Capitol on April 22.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., promote the passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act at the U.S. Capitol on April 22.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Unity Summit from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Unity Summit from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, May 19, 2021.

Nikore said more engagement of Asian Americans, including through diversifying those in office, is needed to cement "a permanent shift and change within the AAPI community that will last awhile going forward."

“Unless continued investment happens in the AAPI community, we can see a flattening of the turnout in future elections for AAPIs. We have to continue engaging them,” Nikore said.

Harris, the daughter of immigrant parents from India and Jamaica, is both the first woman and first person of Asian descent to hold her office. She delivered the keynote address at the first AAPI Victory Alliance Unity Summit last month, lauding the engagement of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the electoral process.

‘An attempt to suppress the right to vote’

She slammed Republicans in states across the country for efforts to enact legislation that voter rights advocates warn would suppress the vote for people of color.

“Since the start of 2021, more than 360 bills to restrict the right to vote have been introduced, in nearly every state,” she said. “Many of these bills specifically target vote by mail. And let’s be clear about this, (they) specifically target vote by mail while 64% of Asian Americans vote by mail.

"We must see these efforts for what they are. Let’s be clear eyed. They are an attempt to suppress the right to vote," Harris said.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were the group with the highest rate of using vote-by-mail, implemented for safety reasons during the pandemic, according to data analyzed by TargetSmart, a Democratic data firm.

It’s important to have a seat at the table to address the specific issues faced by members of her community in Georgia, said Democratic Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen, who is running to replace Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger.

If elected, Nguyen would be the first Asian American to hold statewide political office in Georgia.

Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen speaks to a group of demonstrators gathered in Atlanta to show support for Asian and Pacific Islander communities on March 20, 2021.
Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen speaks to a group of demonstrators gathered in Atlanta to show support for Asian and Pacific Islander communities on March 20, 2021.

Raffensperger drew ire from Trump and his political allies for his refusal to go along with the claim that widespread voter fraud caused President Joe Biden’s win in the state. And while Nguyen is grateful that he put his foot down in the face of the pressure campaign to lie about the election results, she said Raffensperger’s support for the state’s new voting law makes him unqualified to oversee elections.

The new law, Senate Bill 202, adds restrictions on voting by mail and drop boxes. That’s an issue given that 70% of Georgia’s Asian American voting population voted by mail or through early voting, Nguyen said.

"Part of that reason is because of language access, and voting at home oftentimes provides a more comfortable environment, especially for people who are voting for the first time around," Nguyen said.

Fighting hate

Asian Americans in Georgia are also still reeling from the shooting that killed eight people in the Atlanta area earlier this year, six of whom were Asian American women. And in a time when documented hate crimes and racist incidents are at a record high amid the coronavirus pandemic, Asian Americans in Georgia and across the country are on edge.

There was a more than 164% increase in anti-Asian hate crime reports to police in the first quarter of 2021 in 16 major cities and jurisdictions compared with last year, according to a report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

"I believe we have an opportunity now to turn that pain into action. To turn that pain — that righteous anger because of the injustice of it — we have an opportunity to turn that into power," Harris said in her keynote to the AAPI Victory Alliance Unity Summit.

Nguyen, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, said if elected as Georgia secretary of state, she would focus on some of the biggest barriers Asian Americans face when voting, including language. She wants to add translations to the portal to request an absentee ballot, which is now only offered in English.

It’s important for Asian Americans to be part of government so their concerns are heard, Nguyen said. For example, toward the beginning of the pandemic, she said the state health department was not offering coronavirus information in languages other than English, and it took prompting for officials to realize that was important to many Georgians.

“The other thing is, as a kid growing up, I never saw anybody who looked like me in a political space. And being able to see that is important, to know that Asian Americans can hold leadership positions, and illustrate why that is important and empowering for the community,” she said.

Representation matters

The Biden administration faced pressure from Asian American leaders early in his time in office to have representation at the Cabinet level, with Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Duckworth, D-Ill., threatening not to vote to confirm any more positions until the administration committed to a more diverse Cabinet.

They backed off that threat after talks with the administration and after White House press secretary Jen Psaki said they would appoint a senior-level Asian American Pacific Islander liaison.

Biden later appointed Katherine Tai as the U.S. trade representative, the first Asian American to hold that position. And Vivek Murthy was confirmed as surgeon general, a sub-Cabinet level position.

President Joe Biden hands over a pen to Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii,  after signing the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 20, 2021.
President Joe Biden hands over a pen to Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, after signing the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 20, 2021.

Still, Asian Americans hold government office at disproportionately low rates compared with their prevalence in the U.S. population.

Nikore of the AAPI Victory Fund said the community has “reached a new height” of numbers running for office.

“In spite of the fact that we’ve seen records run for office, we’re still underrepresented,” he said.

A study by the Reflective Democracy Campaign, which compiles reports on representation in government, found that in mid-2020, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders made up just 0.9% of elected officials across all levels of government despite making up over 6% of the U.S. population.

Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke is the president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.
Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke is the president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.

Despite growth in political engagement and activism in the past year to combat anti-Asian hate and other social justice issues in the country, barriers to running for and being elected to office still exist on a systemic level for Asian Americans, said Mielke with the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.

The organization aims to increase representation for Asian Americans throughout the political process and runs educational programs for high school and college students to learn more, as well as leadership training to teach people how to run for office. Alums include U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and currently hold office at various levels of government, Mielke said.

“The activism that has been invigorated through all the social justice issues, the pandemic itself and anti-Asian hate has created a lot of momentum for Asian American participation, but we’re still addressing the bigger issues,” she said.

While in some areas such as New York and California Asian Americans hold several elected positions, states such as Texas, Georgia and parts of the Midwest have an opportunity for growth in terms of the community's representation in politics, Mielke said.

‘It doesn’t matter where you come from if you work hard’

One systemic barrier to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community is a lack of established connections to political parties and groups. For example, Mielke noted that Republicans have improved on the challenge of finding women and people of color to run for office in the latest Congress.

“But it takes a lot of time and outreach to open the doors, and say, ‘Yes, we welcome you in, we want to support you,’” Mielke said. “A lot of time communities of color don’t have access or don’t know the people to be able to establish those relationships.”

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Asian Americans are also up against the barrier of negative stereotypes, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, Abhi Rahman added. Rahman is the vice president for communications at the firm Fireside Campaigns and a Texas Democratic strategist. He plans to run for the Texas statehouse or Congress in an upcoming election cycle, a decision he said was reinforced in the past year by racist rhetoric and politics.

“Somebody has to stand up for our communities and show that those values and what they say is not representative of the state of Texas or our people as a whole,” Rahman said.

“My dad came to this country with nothing,” Rahman said. ''I feel like I owe it to him, owe it to myself to show it doesn't matter where you come from if you work hard, if you truly want to help your community.".

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Asian American communities seek public office wins after year of hate