» Asian Americans Getting Out The Vote » Ningin

James Yee, the former US Army Guantanamo Chaplain and 2008 National Delegate for Barack Obama was out doing some grassroots campaigning in Ohio from October 23-26 for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He made stops in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

During the four days, Capt Yee made several Get Out The Vote presentations at major Islamic centers in Columbus and Cincinnati, also focusing on Muslim Participation in the Political Process The American Muslim vote will make a serious impact this year in several key battleground, swing states which have significant Muslim constituencies - Ohio being one of them.

Ed Stanek, Gov Locke, Ron Katsuyama, Munsup Seoh

Chaplain Yee also attended Town Hall Meetings in Dayton and Columbus in which former Washington State Governor Gary Locke headlined the events. Christine Chen, the former executive director of OCA National and APIA Vote spearheaded the planning for these programs along with Wright State University’s College Democrats in Dayton and the Ohio Democratic Party Campaign for Change in Columbus.

Gov Locke and Christine Chen

Governor Locke stressed the fact that America is built on the family sacrifice and hard work of Asians here and abroad and emphasized that Senator Obama recognizes the struggles that the AAPI’s and their ancestors have gone through. He pointed out that Barack Obama’s first Chief of Staff was Asian, and that one of his Legislative Directors was Chinese who would then be later promoted to Chief of Staff as well.

Prominent members of the APIA community were in attendance at the Dayton Town Hall meeting included the VP of JACL National Public Affairs - Professor Ron Katsuyama, the President of Asian American Council - Professor Munsup Seoh, and Ed Stanek - the Government Relations Director for the National Federation of Filipino American Associations. In Columbus, Ohio State Representative Jay Goyal and CP Chen - the founder of the Ohio State Asian American Democratic Caucus, among others were at the event.

Campaign Literature about Barack Obama was available in several languages: Vietnamese, Hindi, Tagalog, Chinese, Urdu, Japanese and Korean.

It’s positive to see the APIA community stepping up in this year’s historical election season to make a difference.

APIAVote

Christine Chen, mother, and Gov Locke

Neil Patel,Nirmal Sinha,Gov Gary Locke,Jay Goyal,Shekar Jayaraman

Wright State CollegeDems-Charlie BeallVP-Gov Locke-Ian Feruson-Treasurer

Tags: american, APIA, asian, asian american, chinese, Christine Chen, Cincinnati, college democrats, columbus, dayton, delegate, democrat, election, Filipino, Gov Gary Locke, jacl, james yee, muslim, national, obama, ohio, Politics, vote

11 Comments »

Comments merged with the forum topic: Asian Americans Getting Out The Vote

Sakura said 11/03/08 12:18 pm

I can’t believe the elections are tomorrow!

khmeresmily said 11/03/08 12:30 pm

I’m so glad that Obama is good for the AA community.

ledridge said 11/03/08 12:43 pm

I think we all know who Mai is voting for. haha

SeniorForever said 11/03/08 12:54 pm

Go Obama!

snowdropz said 11/03/08 1:04 pm

Has James Yee ever met Obama?

MaimounahMasudi said 11/03/08 1:55 pm

Thank you for the responses guys! James Yee has not met Obama, but he did have the pleasure of meeting Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother.

Don said 11/03/08 4:04 pm

Good work Maimounah!
I don’t see James Yee in any of the pics.
It’s been a long and rough campaign. Even McCain has shown me some character and respect at his age, but Obama’s vision of change is my vote. I hope the line won’t be long in PA, but I will wait as long as possible to vote for Obama-Biden. I hope you all will do the same Nov 4.

MaimounahMasudi said 11/03/08 8:26 pm

Thank you Don James Yee took all of the pictures. He has several pictures with Gov. Gary Locke, but he decided this time not to add them in addition to this blog of mine.

Oh btw I early voted back in October

Don said 11/07/08 1:03 am

Thanks Maimounah for your articles on Asian-American support for Obama and it has paid off with his election win being the first Black minority US President. He has a big challenge with his new job and with his campaign promises for jobs and the economy here. I still feel as a minority in this country, you still have to work twice as hard to acheive you goals, but with his election, every person of good character can see his rise as an example of hard work to rise above institutional barriers and obstacles. Good luck to President Obama and America.

MaimounahMasudi said 11/07/08 10:54 pm

I really hope that the win of President Obama will open many more doors that have remained closed to ALL minorities for decades in the United States.

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