By Madhavi Kasbekar
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Brown Town blogger Madhavi covering the 2012 DNC! |
Julian Castro made history yesterday evening. As the first Latino to ever serve as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), he did not have a small task ahead of him. In 2004, the then unknown Barack Obama plunged into the public spotlight when he made his keynote address at the DNC. Expectations and watchful eyes fell upon him, but Mayor Castro took it all in stride and delivered a beautiful speech that hopefully pumped up the millions of viewers watching as much as it did those of us who were able to be there to witness it happen.
As a former resident of Texas, I knew that Mayor Castro and the Texas Democratic Party was making a great push to involve Latinos into the political dialogue. Over the last few days, I have discovered that Mayor Castro’s ability to excite the Latino community is not only limited to his constituents in San Antonio, but also extends statewide and to many different communities. The recently elected Texas Democratic Party Chairman, Gilberto Hinojosa, has big plans to extend outreach to not only the Latino community in Texas, but also to Asian Americans in Texas. A recent poll suggests that Asian American voters are almost completely ignored in the campaign process. http://www.apiavote.org/newsroom/press-releases/2012/new-poll-finds-major-political-parties-i. A specific voter registration and community outreach to Asian Americans is long overdue.
Texas ranks third in terms of population of Asian Americans. Other states like California and New York are the only other states to beat Texas in its Asian American population. The population of different Asian American communities comprises almost a million people in Texas alone. As communities of immigrants continue to grow, they are becoming more politically active, especially second generation Asian Americans. Many, however, are not registered and often fear that political involvement means they are causing trouble or “rocking the boat”.
Asian American faces in politics are growing, but we haven’t done as much as we can to unite, educate and register voters. Celebrities and Activists like Kal Penn, who also spoke at the DNC yesterday evening, are bringing greater awareness to Asian American politics. I hope that we continue to grow as a politically active community and let our collective voices be heard!
Stay tuned for more interviews from last night coming up!
