Asian Americans and their Involvement in Politics
Even in the early 1800s
Asian American started to become involved in politics. Their used their
resources to lobby for equal rights and equal access to economic and
occupational opportunities.
It is important to note that this happened over ten years ago, and since
then there has not been any wrong doing in the arena of politics. Since then
Asian Americans have been able to partake harmoniously in the Political
spectrum of the American way of life. Just as grave injustices have been
committed in the past, there have been strides to make sure something like this
will never happen again.
From the early 1800s to
the 1920s, over one thousand lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts by
Asian Americans seeking to receive proper legal rights.
During the same period
Asian Americans tried to further their political presence. The circulated
petitions, conducted letter-writing campaign, published their own newspapers
and magazines promoting their political cause.
They also tried to gain
political gain by pairing up with non-Asian organizations. All of these cases
go to show that Asian Americans are not always quiet and complacent. The Asian
American community has a very clear sense of political justice, and they have
demonstrated their knowledge for quite some time. And their constant fight for
justice has made the American political system realize that they are very aware
of the justice system, and they will stop at nothing to get that.
But the political system
is not an easy one to figure out, in fact during the 1996 presidential election
President Clinton was accused of accepting money from foreigners. The media
quickly changed foreigners into Asians, and accused them of trying to influence
United States policy to benefit their Asian countries.
Bill Clinton and his
campaign were forced to return all the money they obtained. Any donor who was of
Asian descent or who was any way connected with any Asian country had their
contributions returned. As a result several Asian Americans entered plea
bargains after they had been accused of channeling foreign contributions to the
Democratic Party.
Bear in mind that it is
100% legal for permanent residents who are not yet citizens to donate money to
political campaigns. It is also legal for foreign corporations to donate money
so long as they donate money that is donated within the United States. And it
most certainly is acceptable for Political parties to accept monetary
donations. So then why did the money have to be returned to the Asian American
citizens who donated to the Democratic Party led by Bill Clinton.
The worst
part about the money that was donated to the Democratic campaign in 1999, was
that the Asian American community was publicly slandered for the monetary
contribution, especially since it was only a small section of Asian Americans
that partook. Political slander went so far to say that Asians were trying to
"buy the White House".
All Asian
Americans are affected by the generalized slander that is accused of one or
more Asian Americans. Racial profiling will continue to be part of the
political every day Asian American way of life.