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Asian USA 2018: Asian American Pacific Islander Leadership Summit Dialogues & Greetings

There’s an African proverb that goes “If you want to go fast, fly alone. If you want to go far, fly together.” CLUSA founder and chair Sandy Chau referenced this quote during his opening speech at this year’s Asian USA 2018: Asian American & Pacific Islander Leadership Summit, jointly hosted by Civic Leadership USA and Asian Pacific Islander American Vote in Washington D.C. With 6% of America being Asians, Mr. Chau emphasized the importance of being able to unite the Asian communities around the US in order to create a bigger impact. If one Asian community is one bird, then many birds flying far would be the equivalent of multiple Asian communities uniting for a common purpose. “Asians have a lot of contributions to this country but haven’t gotten recognition. Many Asian people work so hard but haven’t gotten equal opportunities. That’s why we should work together and make some changes.”

 

Dialogs:

      

      

      

       

 

Greetings:

      

 

Opening Speech: Sandy Chau – Founder and Chair of CLUSA

CLUSA founder and chair Sandy Chau started off this year’s Asian USA 2018: Asian American & Pacific Islander Leadership Summit with his opening speech. This event was jointly hosted by Civic Leadership USA and Asian Pacific Islander American Vote in Washington D.C. “Asians have a lot of contributions to this country but haven’t gotten recognition. Many Asian people work so hard but haven’t gotten equal opportunities. That’s why we should work together and make some changes.” By gathering multiple organizations in room who have a similar goal of pushing for change through civic engagement, Mr. Chau hopes that these organizations can collaborate to create a greater impact.

 

Opening Speech: Sue Van – CEO of Wallace H. Coulter Foundation

Sue Van, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation’s CEO spoke at the 2018 Asian American & Pacific Islander Leadership Summit in Washington D.C., jointly hosted by CLUSA and APIAVote. She also emphasized the importance of representation, especially in office. Sue Van said that “we’ve always had a voice, and we do have influence.” Within the last few elections, there has been an increase in the number of Asian-Americans in the House of Representatives and the Senate. By increasing the level of civic engagement within communities, more Asian Americans will be inclined to run for office and not only maintain that representation when the current members step down, but increase the percentage of Asian Americans in office.

 

Panel Discussion: Best Practices Being Done in 2018 for Voter Registration, GOTV, and Preparing for National Voter Registration Day

Representatives from multiple organizations around the United States gathered at this year’s Asian USA 2018: Asian American & Pacific Islander Leadership Summit to discuss currently successful practices as well to brainstorm new practices for increasing voter registration. Examples for increasing voter registration include bringing in students in high school and college to contribute to the process, as well as being able to physically go to an office to vote. This method is efficient for college students because they usually aren’t living at their home of record. With elections coming up in November, it’s important that every vote counts so that the public’s opinion is best represented through the nation’s lawmakers.

Moderator: Eric Salcedo, National Field Director, APIAVote
Panelists:
• Victoria Huynh, Vice President, Center for Pan Asian Community Services, Atlanta, GA
• Vida Lin, Executive Director, Asian Community Development Council, Las Vegas, NV
• Karuna Ramachandran, Deputy Director, Asian American Advancing Justice – Atlanta, GA
• Kabzuag Vaj, Co-Executive Director, Freedom Inc., Madison, WI
• Robin Ye, Lead Political Organizer, Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Portland, OR
Panel Discussion: What’s At Stake in 2018 Elections: Presentations from Members of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans
Members of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans gathered for a panel discussion at the 2018 Asian American Pacific Islander Leadership Summit at Washington D.C., hosted by CLUSA and APIAVote. Topics brought up included safety, the core values of the United States, federal recognition of native Hawaiians, and the current refugee crisis. The reason why it’s important to vote, especially in the upcoming election in November, is that all 435 seats of the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested. In order to create change on a Congressional level, it’s necessary to put the right people in office, which is why the 2018 elections are critical.
Moderator: Gregg Orton, National Director, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans
Panelists:
• John C. Yang, President and Executive Director, Asian American Advancing Justice – AAJC
• Suman Raghunathan, Executive Director, South Asian Americans Leading Together
• Alvina Yeh, Executive Director, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
• Quyen Dinh, Executive Director, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
• Kuhio Lewis, CEO, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement
Panel Discussion:

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