Asian Americans Outraged by CNN Election Report
New America Media, News Report, Jun Wang, Posted: Feb 14, 2008
Editor's Note: A CNN report that blames Asians' support of Clinton on their hesitancy to vote for a black president is insulting and inaccurate, argue Asian Americans.
Asian Americans are outraged over a recent CNN report that attributes their support for Hillary Clinton to their hesitancy to vote for a black president.
The three-minute video piece, “Asian Americans to Vote for Hillary Clinton Across the Nation,” aired on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees on Feb. 8.
People with different Asian accents unanimously spoke out one name -- “(Hillary) Clinton” -- when asked for whom they planned to vote. The report identified two major causes for Asian Americans’ support of Clinton, according to viewers: that they were “fearful of a black presidential candidate and/or fearful of change.”
Samson Fu, 27, a health care project manager with no former political experience, started circulating a petition among the Asian community on Feb. 10. The petition gained sponsorship from the “80-20 Initiative,” an Asian American political action committee headquartered in New York.
The petition called CNN’s coverage “a misleading portrayal behind why 75 percent of Asian Americans voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Gary Tuchman (the reporter) seems to insinuate those Asian American votes as racially motivated and/or fearful of change.”
On the contrary, the petition points out that Asian Americans, especially first generation immigrants, “by their choice to come to a new land, are by and large the least fearful of changes.”
It urges CNN to take the video off of their Web site and run another segment with balanced reporting and include the rise of political cohesiveness within the Asian American community.
The petition collected more than 2,000 signatures and about 900 comments in two days. A copy of the petition letter, with more than 800 pages of signatures and comments, has been sent to CNN.
Samson Fu and S.B. Woo, the former lieutenant governor of Delaware and founder of the “80-20 Initiative,” have been in conversation with CNN’s top executives. John Liu, New York City councilman, plans to hold a press conference late this week if CNN doesn’t respond to the petition.
The CNN video is “biased, more of an opinion piece than investigative reporting,” Fu told New America Media. “CNN should be held responsible for making Asians appear racist, which is not true. Fu added that many of his friends were equally insulted by the report. “I initiated the petition to capture their feelings.”
Asian American viewers were also critical of CNN’s choice to interview only Asian Americans with heavy accents. One comment on the petition asks, “What is up with white people choosing only the non-fluent Asian population for the interviews… making Asian people look like dumb-asses, who don’t know English? I’m thinking prejudice and racism… What do you think?”
Another comment on the petition agrees, saying, “Many Asian Americans are educated and speak English very well. Perhaps you should represent our community more accurately.”
From Filipinos to Asian Indians, Asian Americans are a diverse group, says Samson Fu. They come from dozens of countries and cultural backgrounds. In cities like Seattle, Fu adds, it isn’t hard to interview a larger variety of Asians – instead of just talking to people in a Japanese teahouse.
Born in Hong Kong, Fu came to the United States at the age of five and spent 19 years in South Carolina before moving to Los Angeles three years ago. He says he didn’t know any other Asians in South Carolina.
“South Carolina’s population is black and white,” he says, “but I experienced no racial tension there at all. My black friends invited me home and cooked for me. They treated me like everyone else.”
As an Asian American growing up with black friends in South Carolina, Fu says he appreciates the idea of having a black president of the United States. “If you’ve ever traveled outside this country, you know that when people talk about America, they think of Caucasians, white people,” says Fu. “A black president will let people know we’re a multiracial country.”
Asian Americans have supported Clinton in large numbers for a variety of reasons, Fu argues in his petition. “One important factor in Asian Americans’ preference of Sen. Clinton over Sen. Obama may be the endorsement of Sen. Clinton by the 80-20 Initiative, because she signed an iron-clad promise to bring equal opportunity in workplaces for all Asian Americans a month and a half before Obama did.”
The election is “not about race and skin color,” Fu adds. “We African Americans, Asian Americans and other racial groups are one America.”
S. B. Woo, who was born in Shanghai and moved to the United States in 1956 at the age of 18, shares Fu’s perspective of the unity of Americans and is hoping for a “win-win” resolution with CNN.
But with the American civil rights movement deeply rooted in his heart, Woo is more interested in uniting all Asians. His wish, reflected in the name “80-20 Initiative,” is to direct 80 percent of Asian Americans’ votes in one direction for the equal opportunity of all Asian Americans and the benefit of the nation.
When he moved here in the 1950s, Asians represented less than one percent of the American population. They were almost invisible. In half a century, Asian Americans have increased to more than four percent of the U.S. population, but their voices have still largely gone unheard.
One comment posted by Jo Ann from North Royalton, Ohio on CNN’s website touches on the invisibility of Asians, a race that she says “hasn’t been considered.” “It does seem that whenever we talk about race we seem to forget about the Asian-American population,” she writes. “I often wonder why it is that they never seem to complain about being left out. Shame on us for not considering them without being prompted!”
Woo says he has learned a lesson from “older Asian Americans” who he says surrendered too easily in the face of challenges. When he immigrated to the United States, African Americans were suffering greatly from discrimination. But they fought back and gained from the civil rights movement. Asian Americans, he says, also need to stand up.
“We Asians benefit from blacks. But we should not take it for granted,” he says, stressing the need for Asian Americans to take action to realize their own dreams.
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User Comments
asian american female on Mar 11, 2008 at 16:07:28 said:
wow , wow, wow. Anderson Cooper -- a man who went to Yale but obviously doesn't act or sound like it. A man who needs to stop being racist on national tv .
that coverage you made of Asian American voters is simply sad and biased. I mean, even a small local station could prob do better coverage of a story like that. asian americans can actually speak english not like those 3 or 4 people your reporter interviewed. it's possibly why so many of us go to MIT, princeton, and harvard??? yeah that's what i thought.
As an ASIAN AMERICAN AND FEMALE, I PROUDLY support Barack Obama to be our next president of the United States. Not that pathetic liar Hillary Clinton. I\'m not voting for her because she\'s not qualified and she is artificial and fake.
Anderson Cooper, get your facts straight, you idiot journalist. There are plenty of Asian Americans who voted for Obama. Did you ever think of possibly, just possibly, Hawaii??? now how many asians are there in Hawaii ? and who won Hawaii?? thanks ! Anderson, you should apologize for reinforcing stereotypes.
Lawrence-Groce, Rosalind on Mar 04, 2008 at 15:44:44 said:
Mestizo said, "Just an after thought but aren't 90% of blacks voting for Obama. I wonder if issues are being given consideration!" Blacks did not just automatically as whole give their support to Obama. I do believe that it was President Clinton helped change the situation by appearing to minimalize Obama's campaign and the comments he made in South Carolina.
ch on Feb 29, 2008 at 10:31:12 said:
Please find an effective way to alert asian americans dat voting for Obama would be a very bad thing for all asian americans because black people often dislike asians and so when there are more black people in authorities then asians will have a harder time facing them everywhere we go. Young asians often don't know about that fact because either they don't go out to work yet or haven't been in places where black people are in authorities for instance; they don't have much experience and often naively believe that a black president will help asians as much as black people while in fact asians face more discriminations from black people than from white.
LH on Feb 24, 2008 at 06:05:13 said:
America's enemies could do no worse than to let CNN divide our country. Sorry CNN, but we see right through your communist plot to subvert our individual constitutional right to vote for the MOST Qualified we think should be President!
EC on Feb 23, 2008 at 15:48:14 said:
Why is CNN reporting this kind of biased "news" story against asian americans that propagate racial tensions instead of focusing on the candidates "legitimate" qualifications for the Office of President? This kind of news reporting only serves to divide America by creating hateful feelings towards each other. CNN obviously has no sense of ETHICS!
Mestizo on Feb 22, 2008 at 11:45:59 said:
Welcome to the club! We (Latinos) have been getting beat up for the same reason you are. What's amazing about the media created controversy over who we vote for is insane. First they complain because we don't vote. We go out and vote in record numbers and now they are complaining about who we vote for. I have spoken with many Latinos about the primary election and only one person told me that he would not vote for a black. I have spoken with a number of Asians (Filipino & Chinese) that are members of the same catholic church that I am. Of course our discusion occured after mass. Of the Asians seven or so that my wife and I spoke with not one said that they did not vote for Obama because he was black.
I wonder if it has ever occured to CNN that maybe just maybe we simply think she is better qualified. Is there anything wrong with that.
Just an after thought but aren't 90% of blacks voting for Obama. I wonder if issues are being given consideration!
WU on Feb 20, 2008 at 04:16:15 said:
We are for Hillary in overwhelming numbers because: We all look alike.....Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Fillipinos, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. Therefore, we must all think alike!
GET IT?!
Jason on Feb 20, 2008 at 01:45:56 said:
Over 75% of Asian Americans support Clinton because Hillary is the right candidate. She has stood up for us. For CNN to cover this story in such a negative, discriminatory light is deeply insulting and offensive to all Asian Americans, regardless of who they are voting for. CNN is so blatantly biased that it doesn't even qualify as a reputable news media outlet. CNN should apologize and redo the story!! APA's support Hillary!
LaJuana Caldwell on Feb 19, 2008 at 11:35:05 said:
When anyone makes a generalization about any group of people, they add to the problem and it is irresponsible. The fact that CNN broadcast this peice just goes to show you that we still have a long way to go in terms of racial/ethnic harmony. As has been said in many of the comments, blood was shed for civil rights in America. But I hope we can remember, that many races of people, Blacks, Whites, Jews, Hispanics and Asians marched together in the name of social justice. And while the focus was on African Americans, all Americans and women benefited from that historic Act and positive momment in our history. Do you think we can remember this and stop trying to characterize a whole group because of the opinions of a few--that would be progress. Do you think we can remember to go to the polls with a vote for the candidate that will best meet the challenge ahead for America and stop falling into the race-gender pit of controversy--its just a distraction. Focus people! Our future depends on a thoughtful decision.
MARCO MORENO on Feb 19, 2008 at 04:31:25 said:
Now CNN gave the Asian-American community a taste that regularly give to Hispanics with Lou Dobbs. Maybe Anderson Cooper would become the whip of asians.
CNN is a white racist network...
Lindsay on Feb 18, 2008 at 20:58:46 said:
As a young white American female dating a young Chinese American male, I saw this report and was astonished that CNN would promote such falsehoods. If anything, Hillary has a value system in tune with what Asian Americans believe. I know both my boyfriend and I have both researched the candidates and have made our choses on their proposals. If I fit the allegations of the media, I would be the young person supporting Obama. If my boyfriend fit CNN\'s report, he would have voted for Hillary out of racist motives. I think his best friend, who is African American, would love to hear this! How sad that our media has to try to portray our thoughts, when they appear to be the exact opposite of reality!
howstrange on Feb 16, 2008 at 21:54:09 said:
cscott is another victim of the media's demonization of Asians in America. To claim that this shoddy piece of CNN reporting is a "truth that hurts" is plain ridiculous. Stop being another racist against Asians and at least consider the thought that we are not what the anti-asian media represents us to be.
Marc on Feb 16, 2008 at 00:30:52 said:
C Scott\'s comments are asinine- to suggest that Asian Americans are trying to cover for their hidden prejudices is to play into the racial conflict mainstream America is just waiting to see, with buttered popcorn in hand.
As an Asian American, I have not seen Asian Americans so motivated to vote for a candidate ever before, and everyone I know is excited about Barack Obama. Admittedly, many are weary about his chances due to our own encounters with racism (although packaged and delivered differently), but support him anyway. Now that his campaign is beginning to steamroll Hillary, the fervor for Obama has only skyrocketed.
And I\'m sorry, but I took look forward to the day we can say aloud, \"Madame President\"... But I\'ll be DAMNED if it\'s Hillary.
Christine on Feb 15, 2008 at 15:16:41 said:
If you haven't done so already, please sign any circulating petitions around this and email CNN your own comments.
The fact of the matter is, mainstream networks like CNN could no longer avoid addressing the Asian American demographic as a voting bloc, much as they talk about the "black vote" and the "women's vote." When it finally came time for the elections in California and Washington, CNN had to at least mention Asian American voters and this is what they gave us.
Very, very poor journalism. Just look at the 2-minute segment yourself. There are only "street" interviews with random people, regardless of their eligibility to vote, and no key experts or leaders from the Asian American community. Heck, they don't even seem to be aware that both Clinton and Obama have Asian American staffers on their campaigns, some of whom are actually working on outreach to this community on behalf of their candidate.
GO OBAMA! (Couldn't help myself)
citizen on Feb 15, 2008 at 13:49:33 said:
I support Clinton, although Obama's ethnicity would be more alluring if he was more than 1.5 generation Black. So, I already like Clinton like most Asians, but am not above racial motivation especially if Obama was more Black than one drop.
I also find it interesting that the Africans in America I know dislike Blacks, but stand behind Obama who is more difficult to stereotype.
truth on Feb 15, 2008 at 12:35:32 said:
Enough blaming older Asian Americans already, Woo! It just makes you sound like an ungrateful punk with no values or respect for your family or your elders -- you know, like middle and upper class white kids. Most of these older Asians suffered great indignities in small numbers and without the education and resources available today, and they tried to give their generally ungrateful children real values about education, family, and discipline. And stop kissing the butts of the civil rights establishment. Plenty of Asians have been involved throughout U.S. history. Put some time into recognizing them rather than just repeating what we already know.
Berenice Mabrey-Ojo on Feb 15, 2008 at 09:45:49 said:
I am Berenice Mabrey-Ojo, CEO of The Diversity Race to Improve Race Relations(TM), www.thediversityrace.com, a global diversity awareness campaign to improve race relations and ease cultural tensions in America and around the globe. The campaign features The Diversity Race(TM)marathon and a global tea room tour. My belief is that there is serious racial tension, divide and stereo-typing between Asians and African Americans and it hurts me deeply. Of course, anyone who has lived in America for 5 or 10 years is fortunate enough to have gained friends or associations from other ethnic groups, Hispanic, African American, Indian etc., however that doesn't diminish the import of facing the truth that the media has taught us to have trepidations, mist-trust and sometimes even outright hatred toward each other. The truth hurts but regardless of how well we are able to co-exist in the same country because we have to, we need to seriously begin to step back and re-evaluate how and why we view each other the way that we do today. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit the facts that I have learned from my own experience and what I've surveyed these races to divulge "blacks feel exploited by Asians", "Hispanics do not trust African-Americans" and "Asians do not respect African-Americans". Of course this is not true across the board and there are many, many exceptions, but we all get the true vibe of these statements. America's history and the media has bred these sad and unpleasant feelings but please realize the progress that we have made in the past 20 years and know that we are all capable of bridging these gaps if we make it our mission to restore the innocence in how we view one another. We are all capable of making serious strides and valuable contributions to each other and our quality of life. At the end of the day, we all want love, respect, good health and prosperity. We can attain it easier together. Every race has a few bad apples but racism against African-Americans as a whole is abysmal. The good news is that because of The Civil Rights Movement and the 15th amendment, every race can vote for whomever they please.
Berenice Mabrey-Ojo
The Diversity Race to Improve Race Relations(TM)
One world, one peace, one love
www.thediversityrace.com
615-300-3762
bernie@thediversityrace.com
C Scott on Feb 14, 2008 at 22:23:33 said:
I think the truth hurts in the instance. The Asian community is vast & varies. Having said that, the reality is that you do have mass prejudice within all the various communities.
You can try to justify the reasoning behind it, but we know that its no different than any other racism that comes from other groups.
I believe it bothers other groups of people when they see African American accomplishment, because it doesn't go with what is taught to you behind closed doors or at the dinner table. So far, in American History, African Americans have challenged the racist ways of this country. Some Asians have had some courage and done some things, but as a whole, African Americans have shed blood behind their efforts for change. So when you do see some major strides happening that you don't feel apart of, its because of one major character issue that many within these particular communities lack, & that is courage. When speaking to your concerns about the CNN piece, be honest about why its bothersome. Yes, maybe its because of who they choose to talk to, but maybe its just the exposure of long held beliefs that have existed for many years coming to light, for all to see, that is so bothersome. For cultures where looking one in the eye is problematic, showing ones true thoughts must be even more problematic.
Anna on Feb 14, 2008 at 16:24:32 said:
Those numbers seem too high. I voted for Obama, as did many others I know. I'm 32, family and friends about half and half like the rest of the country.
The racial stuff CNN has done with Aisians, Blacks and Latinos bothered and hurt me at first? No it's just dumb. The are not news at all. They are tabloid.
Jun Sanchez on Feb 14, 2008 at 15:12:44 said:
That CNN report was so racist with the bad accents and giggling geishas. Just another long-line of people to be insulted by CNN\'s pathetic \"reporting\".
The reason we support Hillary Clinton is due to her record of accomplishments.
Angela on Feb 14, 2008 at 11:06:05 said:
Good for you! I applaud your support of Senator Clinton and look forward to the day all of us can say aloud, "Madame President."
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