On November 2nd, just 3 days before Election day, Julie Su, President Biden’s Secretary of Labor, stopped in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. A distinguished advocate for labor rights and Asian American communities, Su has dedicated her career to public service, focusing on issues such as workers’ rights, equitable job opportunities, and community representation, such as winning the court case that would establish a pathway to citizenship for victims of human trafficking to the US.
苏维思与海华都市报记者在峨嵋山庄
图片来源:海华都市报
Photo Credit to Metro Chinese Weekly
Speaking passionately about the stakes involved, Su framed the upcoming election on Nov. 5th as a pivotal moment for voters, particularly within the Asian American community in Pennsylvania, which is potentially the most important state to win for both campaigns.苏维思将当前的政治局势与卡马拉·哈里斯(Kamala Harris)领导的愿景进行了对比,强调哈里斯团队能够理解和倡导多元社区的需求。她表示:“我们可以选择一个与我们有同样想法的领导人——缓解住房压力、支持小企业,以及确保人人可以安居乐业的候选人。”Su contrasted the current political landscape with the promise of a future led by Kamala Harris as someone who understands and advocates for the needs of diverse communities. “We can choose somebody who thinks about the same things that we think about—housing affordability, support for small businesses, and ensuring every job is a good job,” she said.苏维思称,哈里斯将把亚裔的利益放在“核心位置”,“多元性将是哈里斯掌权后的白宫和她的内阁的显著特征”,她强调哈里斯是在移民家庭中长大,“哈里斯对我们的文化理解远比另一位候选人(特朗普)更深入……后者则把我们视为外星人。”According to Su, Harris would put the interests of Asian-Americans at the “very center, as “diversity would characterize a Kamala Harris White House [and] a Kamala Harris Cabinet” and that because she was raised by an immigrant family and “in our culture” that “she understands our culture much better than the alternative… [who] sees us as aliens.”在谈到亚裔等有色人种选民上在历史上曾是民主党坚实支持者的群体,现在在政治倾向上日益保守或倾向于无党派时,苏维思指出:“即使对于那些可能与民主党意见相左的人来说,我们也有一个共识,那就是‘特朗普是这个国家的威胁’。”她强调,本次选举已经超越了党派的界限,“特朗普不是一个传统的共和党候选人,他的许多主张对我们的民主制度构成了威胁,”比如2021年1月6日的国会山暴乱事件。Addressing concerns about the increasingly conservative or unaffiliated political allegiances of voters of color such as Asian-Americans, who have historically been a stronghold for Democrats, Su noted, “Even for those who may disagree with the Democratic Party about a lot of things, there’s a shared understanding of what a threat Donald Trump is to the country.” She underscored that this election transcends party lines, saying, “This is not a traditional Republican candidate. His agenda is a clear threat to our democracy”, citing the Jan. 6 insurrection.此外,苏维思坚称特朗普的美国愿景并不符合包括亚裔在内的广大移民的利益。她解释道:“特朗普提到俄亥俄州斯普林菲尔德的海地移民(特朗普竞选团队曾散布谣言,声称海地移民在俄亥俄州斯普林菲尔德吃当地居民的宠物,如猫和狗),但实际上他也是在影射我们……” 她还表示,亚裔一直是种族歧视以及媒体错误舆论的受害者,正如今天发生在像海地移民群体身上的一样。Additionally, Su asserted that Trump’s vision of America is not in the interests of immigrants, including those coming from Asia, arguing that “even if he’s talking about Haitians[1] in Springfield, Ohio, he’s talking about us…!” and that Asian-Americans have been the victims of “closing off the borders to whole communities based on religion and media lies about whole communities”, something that she says is happening today to people such as Haitians and Muslims.苏维思表示,这正是特朗普对美国更大的“愿景”,在这个“愿景”中,只有少数人被视为合适的人,而其他人则统统被排除在外。她呼吁说:“我们需要发出一个非常明确的声音,他的愿景不是我们想要的美国。那不是我的父母、我们的家人,以及我们许许多多人漂洋过海来到这里所追求的美国。”This, Su says, represents Trump’s greater “vision” for America, in which there are “very few people who belong and the rest of us who don’t” but that “I think that what we need to do is send a very clear message that that is not our America. That is not the America that my parents, our families, some of us, crossed continents and oceans to live in.”为了防止这种情况发生,苏维思恳请亚裔选民为哈里斯投票,让这位有亚裔血统的美国副总统入主白宫。“亚裔将左右大选的局势……如果所有亚裔美国人都出来投票,我们就能拿下这次大选。”To prevent this, Su asks the Asian-American community to elect Harris, who is half South Asian, to the White House, as “this community is larger than the margin of victory… if all Asian Americans came out to vote we would decide this election.”