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My eldest grandson is helping to run the congressional campaign of his cousin Pearl Kim for the US congress this coming November.  I invited him to write an account of his experience from the inside. Below is his unedited article

Recently, I asked my grandfather on his opinion about the Harvard Admissions Lawsuit. For those who are not aware, the Justice Department recently lent its support to a group of Asian American students who are suing Harvard. They claim that Harvard discriminates against Asian American applicants. Here is part of his response.

“The only successful way to change the situation is for CAs to learn the lesson of the Jewish Americans: becoming mainstream and politically powerful. Unfortunately, Group political power is not in the Chinese culture and will take a long time for the CA immigrants here to learn. 80-20 have been doing this lonely struggle since 1998. Salute to SB.”

The SB of course refers to Professor Woo of the 80-20 Initiative which is aimed at helping Asian Americans attain political influence in the United States. Asian Americans make up around 6% of the population. Yet when compared to Jewish Americans, a significantly smaller group that is about only 2% of the population, there is a noticeable gap of political power and influence. Why is this?

I have recently had the opportunity to take part in my cousin’s campaign for Congress. My cousin Pearl Kim is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 5^th Congressional District. While this is my first foray into politics, it is also hers. The two of us are on a learning experience with little precedent because, as stated before, there are not many Asian American politicians. My grandfather has asked me to share my experiences on the campaign trail and perhaps shed some light on why there is such a discrepancy between the size of the Asian population in America and its representation. In this article, I will detail three observations I have made.

The first, and possibly the most important thing that I have noticed is language. The United States of America does not have an official language. However, our books, newspapers and magazines are written in English, our movies and television shows are in English, our politicians and celebrities speak English, all of our official documents are in English, and English is spoken by the majority of our population. The Asian communities are often very insular and relatively new, being composed of immigrants and their children. Some of these immigrants have been in the US for decades, yet still only speak a few words of English. Being in communities with others like them, they have had little need to learn another language. Asian is also a very broad term, in Pennsylvania's 5^th district alone, you have Chinese, Korean, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, and many others. In order to communicate effectively with them, you would need someone who knows the language as well as English. This language barrier prevents many Asian communities from becoming involved in politics. Many are not even registered to vote. Many of the reasons later stated undoubtedly stem in part from this communication barrier.

The second is somewhat circular. Because there have not been many Asian Americans in politics there are not many organizations dedicated to helping Asian Americans in politics. Because there are not many organizations dedicated to helping Asian Americans in politics, it is harder for Asian Americans to get involved. Campaigns are long, messy, and very complicated. There are many rules and regulations surrounding a political campaign, and having experienced advisors is a must. For instance, you can leave a flier at the door of a voter, but it is illegal to leave it in their mailbox. Regarding campaign finance and donations, there are all sorts of forms that must be filled out and filed to the FEC. You cannot take money from certain sources. You cannot take money from overseas. You can only take a certain amount of money from one person. Failure to comply with these or any other numerous laws will result in an investigation by the FBI. And the excuse of ignorance will not help when you are under federal investigation. Clearly you need someone who is well versed in these matters to assist you. The lack of Asian American organizations hurts this.

This brings me to my third observation. There are many organizations and individuals who are well placed to help new candidates. But they may not be Asian American specifically. As I stated before, many of the Asian communities are very insular, meaning they only talk with or work with themselves. When I go to Asian events or Asian neighborhoods to hand out information about Pearl, people have no problem taking them from me. But if one of our other volunteers who is white goes as well, I have noticed that they are less likely to take literature from him especially if they are of the older generations. This is definitely not unique to Asians, indeed you can find it in many immigrant populations. Given the choice most people would prefer to interact with someone who shares more in common with them especially if they are not confident in their grasp of the English language. However, as a minority in America, it would be a shame if this reluctance prevented Asian communities from fully engaging with Asian candidates because their staff or volunteers were not Asian. America is often described as a melting pot. There are people of many backgrounds and forging alliances with those may not share your background is the only way to fully get the most out of America.

I would like to finish this article with an unabashed plug for my cousin. Before she retired to focus on running for office full time, Pearl Kim was a Special Victims Prosecutor and head of the Human Trafficking Unit in the Delaware County District Attorney’s office. She secured the first human trafficking conviction in the state of Pennsylvania by working across the aisle to rewrite legislation. She worked on the investigation on a series of home invasions in Pennsylvania targeting Asian American small business owners. She was appointed by both Democratic and Republican Governors to the Advisory Commission on Asian American Affairs. While working as a Senior Deputy Attorney General, she battled cancer and decided to run for Congress to effectuate even greater change, because, according to her “life is short”. If elected she would be the first Asian American woman elected to Congress for Pennsylvania as well as the first Korean American Congresswoman in the history of the United States. She was chosen as the one Republican candidate across the nation to speak at the New York Times New Rules Summit, with the likes of Melinda Gates, Katie Couric and America Ferrera. She also appeared on the Van Jones Show on CNN.  I will link her TV ad here as well as a link to her page here where you can see some of the interviews she has done with BBC and Washington Post. Even if you are a Democrat or do not live in Pennsylvania, I recommend taking a look. I myself am an Independent who has always voted Democrat, but Pearl is family and her views are not so objectionable like some extreme conservatives. This election is probably one of the most important in history, something agreed on by both sides. I feel we would all do better with people like Pearl in office.