Obama, Potentially the First Asian American President?

Harry Mok
July 30, 2008

Yang, in his Asian Pop column, makes the case the Obama's upbringing in Hawaii, a state with a large Asian and Pacific Islander population, gives him an affinity for the Asian American experience.

"A lot of aspects of the
senator's story will be recognizable to many Asian Americans," Chris Lu,
Obama's legislative director, says in the column.

It's an intriguing premise.

Categories: 
News and Politics
Race
Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

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Comments

Comments

Sutraquio wrote on Fri, 10/24/2008 - 1:34pm
I love America.I was born here.I grew up in many transitional times.Racism was prevalent during my youthful days and it continues to raise its ugly head now.The 2008 Presidential Election has made it quite clear that the words that are spoken in our Constitution become less and less meaningful as this nation "progresses".Wherever hate is,it surfaces in times of stress.Our citizens are continuously competing for the wrong reasons.Times such as what we live in are not for our division,for through division we open our country to be easily attacked from outsiders.I pray to our God that we will realize this before it is too late.Otherwise this great nation is headed for destruction.I see this.
Slanty wrote on Wed, 07/30/2008 - 5:49pm
I read that column and the one in the Washington Post and couldn't help but post on it myself -- which I'll just repost:I was reading this article in the Washington Post and as much as I want Obama to win the his bid to become the President - I can't help but kind of go "but..." when I read the part that went like this:Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) introduced Obama at the fundraiser, held in a ballroom of Washington's posh Mayflower Hotel, noting that Obama's family includes Asian Americans and that he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia."The son of an immigrant, raised among AAPI's in Hawaii, Barack Obama understands the struggles of immigrants searching for an identity in America," he said.The candidate's entrance was greeted by an extended ovation. His 20-minute speech dwelled heavily on immigration and Asian-American issues, as well as his own background. Born in Hawaii, raised for a time in Indonesia, Obama said his first college roommates were Pakistani and Indian. "Most importantly," he said, "I have a sister who is half Indonesian, who is married to a Chinese Canadian. I don't know what that makes my niece.""Being here is especially meaningful to me because I consider myself to be an honorary AAPI member, and I think I've got some pretty good credentials," he said.I guess to me it falls short because you're not Asian American or even an honorary AAPI member (because in that context nothing like that even exists) just because you have some Asian American family members and you understand the immigrant experience. It might help you in understanding aspects of certain Asian American communities, but it doesn't really make you a part of the group because to be Asian American, you have to be Asian American.I'm not saying it's wrong to look to those parts of his life that will help him connect with the AAPI community or talking about it for an article - because it's good fodder to chew on.But when all is said and done - if Obama wins - I'll still be here hoping for a day when I see an Asian American in the same place that he is now.