On the morning of Wednesday, July 10, 2024, U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, who is currently the only Asian-American serving in President Joe Biden’s cabinet, came to The Breakfast Den on Philadelphia’s South Street to announce the launch of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders for Biden-Harris, “a national effort to engage Asian Americans across the country”, in the words of the organizers.
Other speakers included Nina Ahmad, the only active AAPI Philadelphia City Councilmember, Nikki Lu, President Biden’s Pennsylvania campaign manager, and Neil Makhija, the Montgomery County Commissioner.
从左到右:妮娜·艾哈迈德、尼基·卢、The Breakfast Den餐厅老板丁泰玄、苏维思和尼尔·马希贾From left to right: Nina Ahmad, Nikki Lu, The Breakfast Den owner Huyen Thai Dinh, Julie Su, and Neil MakhijaPhoto credit: Elsie Shin – Reporter, Korean Phila Times
President Biden, at 81 years old, faces increasing pressure from both outsiders and his own party to reconsider his candidacy, with 86% of Americans believing that he is too old for another four years at America’s most powerful position, according to a February ABC News/Ipsos poll. On the other hand, 59% of Americans believe that both Trump and Biden are too old to serve another term. On American voters’ core issues, Biden is more popular on healthcare, climate change, abortion, and democracy, while voters trust Trump over Biden on crime, the economy, and immigration, according to the same survey. 然而,无论你站在哪一方,大多数人都同意这次选举对美国未来的发展至关重要。苏维思强调了投票的重要性,说道:“我们是决定选举胜负的关键。宾夕法尼亚州是这次选举的关键所在,大家也看过了民意调查,知道这次选举有多么的激烈,选举胜利的关键将由我们亚太裔美国人社区决定。亚太裔美国人是否投票,以及我们如何动员我们的家人、朋友和邻居参与投票这十分重要。”However, no matter what side of the political aisle you find yourself on, most agree that this election will be consequential for America’s path forward. Julie Su emphasized the importance of voting in such an important election, saying “I really have three words for you: margin of victory. You all, right here in Pennsylvania, are the margin of victory in this election. You all see every poll… and how close this election is going to be… The margin of victory… is going to be [decided by] our community – how AAPIs vote, whether AAPIs vote, and how we communicate to your family members, our friends, and our neighbors that they need to get out there to vote.”市议员妮娜·艾哈迈德再次强调了亚太裔选民政治力量的重要性,说:“我们的选票非常重要,因为亚太裔美国人希望有代表,我们希望被看见,而有了代表就会有资源。”Councilmember Nina Ahmad again stressed the importance of the AAPI voting bloc’s political power, saying that “when you come vote, it’s really important because that segment of the population is making a statement that we want representation and that we want to be seen, and with representation comes resources.”关于为什么亚裔美国人应该在11月投票支持拜登-哈里斯团队,苏列举了拜登的成就,其中第一项是创造良好的就业机会。她说:“我之所以能站在这里,是因为我妈妈在洛杉矶县得到了一个在工会工作的机会,那份工作改变了我们的生活,给了我们健康福利,给了她退休金,也给了她稳定的工作时间,让我们能够在一起好好生活。”On why Asian-Americans should vote for the Biden-Harris ticket in November, Su cited Biden’s accomplishments, with the first on the laundry list being good jobs, remarking that “I’m only here because… my mom got a union job working for the county of Los Angeles and that job changed our lives. It got us health benefits. It got her retirement. It got her predictable hours. It let us be together.”
The 3.4% US unemployment rate seen under the Biden administration is the lowest seen since October 1953 – “Good jobs is fundamental to this president’s agenda”, claimed Su.
苏维思在The Breakfast Den餐厅发表讲话Julie Su speaks at The Breakfast DenPhoto credit: Elsie Shin – Reporter, Korean Phila Times
Second on Biden’s agenda, according to Su, is small business. The Labor Secretary stated that “we have had more small business investment, more capital for small businesses, [and] more access to that capital for more businesses in this administration than any in history.”
Su also highlighted Biden’s efforts to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare, “both for consumers of healthcare, but also for people who work in healthcare.” She specifically pointed to Biden’s insulin price cap of $35 a month for those on Medicare, which she says has “affected more than 2 million AAPI elders across this country.”
苏维思和海华都市报记者Keano对话Julie Su speaks with Our Reporter KeanoPhoto credit: Elsie Shin – Reporter, Korean Phila Times
Another pressing issue to the AAPI community, Su claimed, is the lack of adequate Asian language access to AAPIs who do not speak English, declaring that “this president has made more languages available across all of our [public] services than any time in the history of this country, and that matters because you are seen, you are heard, and you are represented.”最后,拜登在基础设施方面的行动对所有美国公众都有好处。苏说道:“在我们的社区中,我们需要好的道路和桥梁;我们需要每个水龙头流出的水是干净的饮用水;我们需要有高速可靠的互联网接入;这些需求正在实现,因为这位总统在基础设施、制造业、清洁能源和气候危机方面做出了最大的投资。”Lastly, Biden’s actions on infrastructure benefit all of the American public, said Su. “We need, in all of our communities, good roads and bridges. We need to know that there’s clean drinking water that flows out of every faucet. We need to know that there is access to high-speed, reliable internet. And those things are being delivered because this president has made [the most] investments in infrastructure, in manufacturing, in clean energy, in our climate crisis…”
Su also reminded us of a dark time in Asian-American history, when anti-Asian hate crimes increased 339% during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many AAPIs, including Su’s own family, afraid to leave the house out of concern for safety. 苏指责前总统特朗普对此暴力行为负有责任,指出“在COVID期间,特朗普利用危机,将其变成针对亚太裔美国人的武器…一个总统决定将全球流行病称为‘功夫流感’、‘中国病毒’,认为国家领导人说出这样的话是合适的,并且对此产生的后果漠不关心,这对我来说是十分愤慨的。”Su blames former President Trump for this violence, stating that “during COVID, there was a president in this country that took advantage of a crisis and turned it into a weapon against AAPIs… The amount of anti-Asian hate that was unleashed by a president who decided that calling a global pandemic the ‘Kung Flu’, a ‘China Virus’, that those kinds of things were appropriate for a national leader, and that the consequences that occurred from that didn’t matter to him, is outrageous to me.”当被问及拜登的年龄和精力是否能胜任总统这一职位时,苏驳斥了这些担忧:“作为一个曾经与他共同参加辩论和今年七月四日独立日庆典的人,我认为他是一个完全理解总统职责要求的人。两位候选人的年龄差异不大,但经验差异巨大,品德差异更是天差地别。”When asked about Biden’s age and mental ability to serve as President, Su dismissed these concerns, rebutting that as someone who has “been with him at the debate [and] on July 4th, this is a man who understands exactly what the role of the presidency requires… The age difference is not much between our two candidates, but the experience difference is vast, the decency difference could not be wider.”