Does Obama have an Asian problem? We're still debating

There is probably a deeper reason for the fact that registered APIAs are most likely vote, but from my own experience, it may have to do the relative "newness" of our citizenships.

I was born in the U.S. and have been a citizen my whole life, but even to this day, my citizenship feels new to me. I'm the first person in my family to be an American and as such, the stories, the history lessons resonate a lot with me.

My parents came here from China and have been in the country for over 25 years now, but never in that whole time have they considered themselves Americans. In their mind, they are Chinese and will always be Chinese. As for myself, i was born here, raised in American schools, have American friends, etc. I have no choice but to be American. I don't have my parents' luxury of going back to China and becoming a Chinese person. The way i speak (or rather how badly i speak in chinese), the way I dress, the way I think, would be a dead giveaway to the simple fact that while I look Chinese, the inside is very much American. I can't be anything else other than American.

Being an American is never something I have taken for granted. Knowing where my parents are from (and being affected by the media bias here), I can't imagine not having the freedoms that I do. (This is also why I've been so incensed as of late. As Americans we seem very content to trade more and more rights for security, not realizing that the more rights we trade, the less secure we will be as a society. The rights we enjoy today were purchased dearly by all the American citizens before me.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: maybe we APIAs take our citizenships and civic duties a bit more seriously. We don't have a trace-back-to-the-Mayflower family tree to fall back upon and there is no sense of entitlement to our rights. If anything, our citizenships feel new, even if we've been born here. To not exercise our rights as Americans seems asinine considering the political climate that our Parents left. I'm very proud to be ethnically Chinese, but first and foremost, I'm an American and being an American means the ability to vote for one's leaders.

I am an American-born Chinese. My parents were born in China and migrated here later in life. However, they consider themselves to be full American, even if their first language of choice is not English. My mother has not been back to China since she moved here and my father has only been back once to visit his ailing mother.

My husband's parents are both Chinese and born in Asia. He was born here in the States. They speak to each other in English and only English. My husband does not know very much Chinese and is as "banana" as they come.

We both plan to vote in the upcoming election. I do not feel like my citizenship is new despite the fact that we are the first generation in both of our families to be born here. I feel I have every entitlement to vote as any other person here in the US.

However, while both our families are registered Republicans, I have a strong urge to vote for Obama. He embodies what I feel the future needs - eagerness to bring the US into a new age... I have yet to make my final decision and need to do more research but if Obama has an Asian problem, it is not with me.

cleoj,
Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but I find your remark that "both our families are registered Republicans" to be curious. It seems to imply a level of collective political decision-making that Lisa alluded to in earlier posts about Asian-Americans. By contrast, while almost every adult member of my immediate family, to my knowledge, is a registered Democrat (I have one brother-in-law who is an Independent), I would never say that I have a "Democrat family," since each member has made up his or her mind individually and freely, with no coercion from others.

I was one of those put off by the title of the article and personally hate when the media tries to reduce the election to demographics. Doing so only creates division. Asian Americans are too diverse a big to say that they are for one candidate or the other. Plus, I think that Obama's so called "asian problem" has a lot to do with familiarity. Also, Obama won Hawaii the only state with an Asian majority in a landslide.

This article shocked me. I'm black have lived with Asian-American roommates and never knew this was a problem. My parents are from Los Angeles, and we all know about some of the tensions between African-Americans and Asian-Americans there, but other than that I had no idea.

I like Obama but if every other minority group is going to refuse to vote for him I'm starting to think he might be screwed. With the caveat that it's dangerous to generalize apparently Latin-Americans won't vote for him because he's black, ditto Asian-Americans and women feel (understandably) that the press has become anti-woman and are seemingly drawn more and more to Hillary. His only hope really is young people. I see why he went straight to this group. Hopefully this is just another example of the media making too much of demographics.

My question to the person who is "tempted" to vote for Obama is why not do so? Why the hesitation? Would there be the same hesitation to vote for Hillary or McCain?

pmk,
"Also, Obama won Hawaii the only state with an Asian majority in a landslide."

I would think that should've put this issue to rest.

I am also one of those who was offended by the title of the original post, and I am neither black nor Asian. I was never particularly aware of overt race issues between blacks and Asians, but I do agree that the press in recent months has made me much more aware. To me, the fact that Obama won Hawaii in "a landslide" is moot, since he has such strong ties to that state - he was born there, has family still living there, etc. I think there was a level of pride in Hawaiians, he's a "native son". And as the press continues to remind us, many people, esp blacks themselves, do not see Obama as black (he's not black enough). As long as the press continues to make this an issue, it will remain an issue. As anyone who watched the last Democratic debate could see, the differences between Hillary's and Obama's policies are minimal. If you're a Democrat, it comes down to this: which candidate has a better chance of beating McCain?

Dear Lisa Takeuchi Cullen,

I teach a course at Harvard University called Afro-Asian Encounters in the Modern World. For obvious reasons, your article caught the interest of my students, some of whom are Asian Americans working on Obama's campaign. It's a very important topic, and so let me first thank you for initiating the public dialogue. In my view, your article begins by posing the following question: When does an overwhelming preference for Clinton translate into anti-black racism? A fair question, as I believe that anti-black sentiments among Asian Americans is undeniable. But isn't your article is really gesturing at something much more specific: that registered Asian American Democrats refuse to vote for a black candidate? This, in my view, is an entirely different assertion. If it's true--and I'm not convinced that it is--then we've got a serious problem on our hands; not the least of which is the possibility that Asian American Dems would sooner vote for McCain in a general election than for Obama because he is black. I just don't see it.

But how do we find some answer to the question, moving beyond speculation and conjecture? Here, we might benefit from researching the following:

1. Have Asian Americans ever voted so overwhelmingly for one candidate in a Democratic presidential primary in the past? What were the numbers? Or is the dramatic swing towards Hilary unprecedented?

2. How have Asian American Democrats voted for African American candidates in major elections elsewhere: e.g., mayoral elections in places like New Orleans, Detroit, San Fran, New York -- major cities that have seen African American mayors running against (and beating) white candidates in the past twenty years? How have they voted when African Americans have run for Congressional seats in tight Democratic races?

I'm not sure if exit polls were taken for these races. If so, perhaps groups such as APIAVote have been keeping track? I think you'd agree that such data would be invaluable right about now.

Eric Tang,
Visiting Professor, Harvard University

As a 2nd-generation Asian-American and Harvard/Radcliffe grad, I object to Eric Tang's statement that "anti-black sentiments among Asian Americans is undeniable"--he does not speak for me or my family or friends. Yes, many of the older generations, particularly those who grew up in monoracial cultures, or those who live in essentially monoracial enclaves, may have racist views--How is this different from my Caucasian in-laws in the midwest (essentially a white enclave!), who have hardly ever interacted with African Americans, and also have quite racist views?

Second- and later-generation Asian Americans, especially those who have had personal relationships with African Americans--like younger Caucasians--are obviously much less likely to be racist than their first-generation parents. It is not being Asian (or Caucasian, or black, etc.) per se that results in racism, but rather a lack of positive exposure to people of other races. Eric's statement is misleading because it leads one to conclude incorrectly that Asians in general have a greater tendency to racism than other groups.

It would be more precise and responsible for Eric to have instead commented that "anti-black sentiments among *people who have rarely interacted with African Americans* is undeniable".

And for the record, I'll vote for Senator Clinton because of her experience, not her race or gender. But if Senator Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I'll vote for him over Senator McCain. It's about the candidates' experiences and policies--not about their race!

Incidentally, the readers of this blog may or may not be aware that prior to the California primary, the Asian-American PAC 80-20 had been trying for months to get the various candidates to agree to look into, if elected, the severe underrepresentation of Asian Americans among Federal judges; and the Obama campaign, unlike the Clinton campaign, steadfastly refused (I think they very recently agreed too though). Thus for weeks leading into the primaries, the AsAm PAC asked members to get the word out to vote Clinton, not Obama.

Although racism certainly exists in the Asian-American community (as it does in all others!), I hope that people can see that the overwhelming support of AsAms for Clinton in the California primary might have actually been in part because of the candidates' differing stances on this substantive issue.

I have a very non scientific observation of 3 generations of Asian Americans. I am a white guy.. married to a 1st generation Chinese American woman. We have two daughters (16 and 12) and my mother in law who is 96 lives with us. (Yes, I am in a serious minority: a white male living with a bunch of Asian woman). I see the issue as more of a generational and exposure issue rather than an ethnic or racial issue.

My mother in law who grew up in China before coming here and, as pointed out above by 2ndgenasam, this was a mono racial culture. She and her friends seem more comfortable with McCain or Clinton than Obama. I think there is more exposure and familiarity with white men and white woman. My wife leans Obama, brother in law who is a Republican likes McCain and my kids like Obama (I am not sure they really know his politics but they like him more in speeches and debates. To them, Mc Cain is the old guy; Clinton is the grouchy woman, Obama they just like more. His race in not an issue to them). I see this not as a racial issue but age, experience and familiarity.

The Obama Campaign actually had some inquiries about the 80-20 Initiative questionnaire that needed to be addressed before Obama could agree to the conditions that the questionnaire was forth. The Obama campaign and the 80-20 Initiative eventually reached an agreement on the terms of the questionnaire and Obama fully supports and reaches out to the APIA Community.

However, I for one feel that the concept behind the 80-20 Initiative (to encourage 80% of the APIA community to support the candidate that 80-20 endorses) is counterproductive to the notion that ALL American citizens, including the APIA community, should research the facts on the candidates and make their decisions accordingly (rather than relying on endorsements of a single group). The 80-20 Initiative claims on its website to have approximately 700,000 members, which is a small fraction of the 15.4 million APIA's (nearly 7 million of which are eligible to vote) in the nation. Furthermore, the majority of its membership appears to be of Chinese descent, and therefore does not equally represent the APIA Community at large.

While I'm sure that the 80-20 Initiative has done some positive work in the community, I do not feel that its attempt to swing the presidential campaign through the endorsement of a single candidate based on who a small section of the APIA population favors is one of them.