Tag Archives: 2020 Election

Building Upon AAPI Organizing During the 2020 Election

Reflecting on the community mobilization and organizing they engaged in during the 2020 election, our network partners are committed to continuing to defend and protect the right to vote, increase AAPI voter turnout and representation, and organize to make sure policies and elected officials reflect our community concerns and conditions. Read some of the statements and campaigns our network partners have released after the 2020 election, showcasing how they plan to continue the fight for democracy, the strategies they utilized and learned, and how you can get involved in future elections and their civic engagement efforts.

After the election, DRUM – Desis Rising Up and Moving announced the tasks they had of defending the right to vote, defending the integrity of election results, and getting organized to continue building independent working-class power. As community members are facing, “imminent evictions, facing unemployment, still grieving their loved ones lost to the pandemic, being brutalized by the police, or waiting in long food pantry lines,” DRUM recognizes that our interests and needs are not being reflected, thus reinforcing the need for us to continue to build community power. Read more about their campaign and how you can learn here: http://bit.ly/PowerSafetySolidarity 

Hmong Innovating Politics noted that, “despite millions of dollars stacked against them, our young people, volunteers, and outreach specialists did an outstanding job in mobilizing residents in Fresno and Sacramento. They spent countless hours on the phone, engaged thousands of first time voters, helped contact 35,000 AAPI voters throughout the Central Valley, and were part of a multi-racial, multi-generational coalition that drove the largest AAPI voter turnout in the history of California.” HIP is committed to continuing to train leaders, build with their allies to ensure immigrant communities are represented in politics and decisions, and connect with community members who are still disconnected and are not civically and politically engaged. Read HIP’s entire post-election reflection here.

Reflecting on the 2020 election and beyond, Freedom Inc stated: “We won because we engaged over 13,000 Black and Southeast Asian folx in Dane County and raised consciousness around the multiple oppressions we are living through. We won because we have learned how this current system works and we know we are better equipped to govern ourselves. We won because we mobilized roughly over 3,000 people to the streets, to show that WE, THE PEOPLE, hold COLLECTIVE POWER, and when WE MOVE, our oppressors shake. We organized our communities to envision liberation; that vision mobilized our communities to demand change and deliver this win.” Freedom Inc. will continue to fight to hold systems accountable to community demands through mutual aid efforts and grassroots community-led campaigns. Read their entire statement here and sign up to volunteer with Freedom Inc. to help build power at bit.ly/CPBvolunteer.

Action Alert: Save Your NOLA Library Campaign

Help protect public libraries in New Orleans from a 40% budget cut by voting in Louisiana’s runoff election on December 5, 2020! 

VAYLA New Orleans has joined the Save Your NOLA Library coalition and a growing number of diverse organizations, library workers, and citizens in supporting libraries by voting NO on Proposition #2 on the December ballot. Proposition #2 would dramatically reduce library funding for services and resources, disproportionately impacting low income communities of color. Stand with VAYLA to vote NO on #2 and save NOLA libraries.

“We live in a world where children’s success means access to a library. The fifteen libraries in New Orleans serve over a million individuals and families every year–for communities of color, New Orleans public libraries are an extension of home, a means of access, and sacred space of possibilities.” – says Jacqueline Thanh, Executive Director

Read VAYLA’s press release here http://www.vayla-no.org/blog/save-our-nola-libraries and learn more about the Save Your NOLA Library campaign at https://www.saveyournolalibrary.com/

 

Challenging the Primary Ballot Initiative in Florida

A proposed constitutional amendment on Florida’s Nov. 3 ballot would create an open-primaries system of voting. Amendment 3 would change Florida’s primary elections for state legislators, the governor and lieutenant governor, and elected cabinet members from a closed election to a top-two open primary. This system would create a disadvantage for certain communities of the electorate. 

Having drawn opposition from both Democrats and Republicans, the Florida Legislative Black Caucus and a non-profit group drew attention to how the amendment would diminish the impact of Black voters and minority representation in the Florida House and Senate as it, “would give a disproportionate amount of power to primary voters and special interests while diminishing the ability of political parties to put forward candidates.” On October 13, 2020, the amendment faced a legal challenge with a petition filed with the Florida Supreme Court urging the Florida Secretary of State to not to certify the votes on Amendment 3.

Read more about the proposed constitutional amendment and why it’s being challenged in court here

 

 

 

Expand Opportunity and Equity with Prop 16 in California

In California, voters have an opportunity this November to remove the state ban on affirmative action which has contributed to employment and education discrimination.

Proposition 16 would permit government policies to consider race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, education, and contracting decisions in order to address diversity and systemic racism. If passed, this proposition would expand opportunity for all by repealing California’s Proposition 209 which banned affirmative action initiatives in 1996 and led to disproportionately harmful outcomes for black people and people of color.

Click here to view NCAPA’s infographics and fact checks on affirmative action. Affirmative action helps to ensure that our universities, especially highly selective elite universities, remain accessible to students of all backgrounds. Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Southeast Asian American students have the most to gain directly from these policies.

By voting YES on Proposition 16, you can help create and open more educational, career and employment opportunities for women and people of color. Read more about Proposition 16 and the AAPI community, the history of affirmative action, and the impacts of an affirmative action ban on education, employment, and contracting from resources shared by our network partners down below!

Read more about Prop 16 on the Vote Yes On Prop 16 website

 

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Protecting Democracy | 2020 Election

Ranging from local to national efforts to increase civic engagement within and representation for AANHPI communities across the country, many of our network partners have initiated their own campaigns and mobilization efforts to provide information and resources to our community members and empower them to engage in political participation through voting in the November elections. Together, we can speak up, inform others, and exercise our democratic rights to get represented and address issues and policies.

  • North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT) is committed to raising the visibility and voice of the AANHPI population in North Carolina through building up and motivating an electorate throughout the state. More work needs to be done to bridge the gap between registered voters and the voting-eligible population in AANHPI communities. One key way they achieve this goal is through voter registration drives conducted in communities with high AANHPI populations with the help of volunteers, particularly individuals from the local AANHPI communities. Read more about how NCAAT actively engages with communities to amplify their voices and join their effort to increase AANHPI representation and voice in North Carolina!
  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta’s Election Protection Program is looking for poll monitors and interpreters  to provide vital election protection and in-language help to our communities for the upcoming election. Their Election Protection Program seeks to ensure that all voters can exercise their right to vote through poll monitoring, a multi-language voting hotline, and interpretation services for voters.
  • In California, Hmong Innovating Politics is building people power and seeking volunteers to be part of mobilizing our community members to address important issues and policies that impact them, ensuring they continue to stay informed and ready to vote on November 3.
  • With National Voter Registration day on September 22, 2020, SEARAC launched their 2020 Presidential Election Voter Guide to help get out the vote. Helping to breaking down cultural barriers that stand in the way of civic engagement, this guide is currently available with written and audio translations in: Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Mien, and Vietnamese.
  • As America is facing a record shortage of poll workers this year due to COVID-19, our democracy depends on ordinary people who make sure elections run smoothly and everyone’s vote is counted. You can make sure we have a safe, fair, efficient election for all by partnering with Power the Polls to help recruit poll workers from your community. 
  • Along with phone banking and providing in-language resources, NCAAT in Action’s Get out the Vote outreach campaign help voters in their communities become more engaged by making a pledge to vote and creating a voting plan. Visit the NCAAT in Action website to read more about how can get involved in educating and mobilizing AAPI voices and votes in North Carolina. 
  • To help protect voters and defend our election on November 3rd, VietLead in Philadelphia  is looking for poll watchers and poll site supervisors. Help voters speak up and exercise their rights by signing up to help VietLead Protect the Polls 
  • According to the Ballot Initiative strategy Center, racial justice and criminal legal reform are across the ballot in five states this November. Addressing policing and police brutality, various communities across the country are turning to local ballot initiatives to reform the police.

 

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