September 27, 2007

AsianWeek
809 Sacramento St
San Francisco, CA 94108

Re: “We Must Persevere in American Politics” editorial – 09-10

To the Editors of AsianWeek:

Thank you very much for your encouraging and insightful article, “We Must Persevere in American Politics,” published on September 10th. We at the 80-20 Initiative agree that the recent Hsu scandal has a chilling effect on APA involvement in American politics.

However, we at 80-20 believe the Asian American community must take a more basic step: to attract political candidates toward winning the Asian vote. Despite our minority status in the U.S., Asian Americans will gain political ground ONLY if we vote together on a united front. We should not divide nor compromise our support to candidates who, in the past, have voted against Asian American initiatives, or have made no specific promises to further our rights in the future.

We should learn from the milestones which Hispanic and African American voters have previously set. Even though they constitute only a small portion of the overall population, their respective communities vote in solidarity. Their combined percentages become significant and, at times, decisive. Therefore, their votes command respect from major political candidates. We should organize as a community and not disperse as individuals, if we are to command candidates to cater to an Asian platform. Furthermore, a united Asian vote will always be more substantial and significant in yielding benefits such as equality and justice for our community than financial contributions from individuals.

We at the 80-20 Initiative encourage AsianWeek to draft and publish an editorial urging the Asian Pacific community to vote as a united front, in order to motivate candidates to seek our electoral support, not merely our financial contributions.

Sincerely,

Kathleen To
President, The 80-20 Initiative
www.80-20initiative.net
kto@tstar.net
cc: 80-20 board of directors