Dear Friends,

As Election Day approaches, check out our video on two Asian American women suffragists and trailblazers in “Voting is Your Privilege: Unsung Heroes.” And we take you through a musical journey through 138 years of Asian American voting in “Voting is Your Right: A Right Worth Fighting For!” See details in our Spotlight section below.

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AAPI Data research finds that the majority of Asian American registered voters support affirmative action in university admissions.

What future can we create by voting together and standing together?

By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

“I’m going to put your name down as a write-in candidate for the library board,” my son, who we all call Little Brother, joked as we filled in our ballots together Sunday at the kitchen table. 

When my children were small, I made a point to take them with me to the polls. They squirmed into the voting booth with me, watched as I fed my finished ballot into the machine, and proudly wore their “I voted” stickers on their foreheads. 

Now that my youngest has turned 18, we are still voting together as a family. We research and discuss each candidate and issue as we work our way down our ballots, and then make our own decisions. Even my kids who live in other states proudly report in when they have turned in their ballots. 

My daughter HH was excited to discover an “I voted” sticker inside her absentee ballot envelope, “That’s the best part.”

As we tried to figure out the judges running for various district courts and the state supreme court, I thought about how our votes at the local level connect us to the national. The U.S. Supreme Court  began looking at affirmative action and the consideration of race as one factor in college admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina this week. 

“Race-conscious admissions policies have played a significant role in the increased number of Chinese American students in American colleges over recent decades,” said the Committee of 100 in a statement. “We must not allow the current litigation before the Court to drive apart the Chinese American or broader minority communities. We must stand with each other as we have on issues such as anti-Asian hate and violence.”

According to AAPIData, 69% of Asian American registered voters support affirmative action. Despite how Asian Americans are portrayed as being harmed in these two cases, only 19 percent of Asian Americans oppose affirmative action (11 percent don’t know). The full history of Asian America shows how affirmative action has helped and continues to help Asian Americans. The plaintiff in these cases, Students for Fair Admissions, founded by a white conservative affirmative action opponent, is exploiting Asian American stereotypes like the model minority myth.

“The opposition does not speak for Asian Americans, and we reject these false narratives rooted in white supremacy to pit communities of color against one another,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC. “The majority of Asian Americans have consistently supported affirmative action, which allows all students to share their whole story that is inclusive of their identities, histories, and lived experiences. We stand with our Black, Latino, Pacific Islander, and indigenous allies to protect race-conscious admissions so we can continue to break down systemic and racial barriers that have denied too many access to a quality education.”

Rallies outside the Supreme Court and on college campuses nationwide showed solidarity and support for ensuring access to higher educational opportunities for all.

Remember to vote on or before November 8.

Two Asian American suffragists and trailblazers show us we cannot take our right to vote for granted. Learn how Mabel Lee and Tye Leung Schulze made history in our video called “Voting is Your Privilege: Unsung Heroes.”

Curated News

New Look at One of America’s Oldest Communities Affected by Climate Change | Matter of Fact TV  As climate change intensifies, vulnerable towns along the Mississippi Delta are moving to higher ground, including America’s first Asian American community. 

The Soul of Filipino Food Thrives Across Metro Detroit | Eater  From homestyle to fusion, the local Filipino food scene pays homage to childhood memories and cultivates belonging across generations.

Giant Robot: Asian Pop Culture and Beyond | PBS  Giant Robot was a magazine that created an appetite for Asian and Asian American pop culture, exploring Sawtelle Boulevard as a Japanese American enclave.

Anna May Wong will be 1st Asian American featured on U.S. currency | NBC News  The first Chinese American woman Hollywood film star is the fifth woman to be individually featured on a quarter in 2022.

In California, two Asian Americans fight for a seat in the House — and with each other | NBC News  Democrat Jay Chen is challenging Republican incumbent Michelle Steel in a district where more than a third of voters are Asian Americans. Some of the accusations being hurled, specifically around China and communism, have frustrated voters.

What the Hell Just Happened to Hu Jintao? | Foreign Policy  Xi Jinping’s predecessor was forcibly led away from the Party Congress.

Pro-China social media campaign sought to influence U.S. voters, researchers say | NBC News  Two companies that study large-scale online influence operations published research this week showing that the same pro-China campaign was active and targeting the U.S. midterm elections.

Scientists prove existence of tiny people — once enigmatic characters from legend — who inhabited Taiwan long before indigenous population | South China Morning Post  Familiar characters in Taiwanese indigenous legends, but no previous hard evidence had ever proven they existed.

Bidens host largest White House Diwali celebration ever | NBC News  "Diwali is a reminder that each of us has the power to dispel darkness," Biden said as he, the first lady, and the vice president celebrated.

Diwali will be a holiday for NYC public schools starting next year | NBC News  “It is long overdue to say to our Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist students and communities that we see you, we acknowledge you.”

Is affirmative action discriminatory? As SCOTUS weighs that, NJ Asians are divided | NorthJersey.com  In North Jersey, there is a definitive divide on support for affirmative action in college admissions.

Behind the vocal Asian American minority railing against affirmative action | NBC News  Though 69% of Asian Americans support affirmative action, factors like pressurized school systems in Asia, the immigrant condition, and a lack of firsthand knowledge of U.S.’s racial history fuel the opposition, experts said. 

Dr. Jennifer Lee: Asian American Students Face Bias, but It’s Not What You Might Think | New York Times  Asian Americans may experience positive bias before they apply to college. Abandoning race as a consideration in admissions would further obscure this bias.

COP27: What you need to know about this year’s big UN Climate Conference | UN News  This year’s UN Climate Conference takes place against a backdrop of extreme weather events worldwide, an energy crisis propelled by the war in Ukraine, and scientific data reiterating that the world is not doing enough.

Take a trip with us through the history of Asian American voting rights in “Voting is Your Right: A Right Worth Fighting For!”

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