OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 3, 2020 Volume 30 - No. 86 • 2 Sections – 20 Pages
USA
DATELINE Meet the Fil-Am millennial serving as a Trump campaign spokesperson FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
THOUGH surveys show that Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are largely rallying behind the Democratic Party and its nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, there remains a segment of the electorate that upholds the conservative values, and is pushing for a second term under President Donald Trump. The 2020 Asian American Voter Survey in September found that 54% of Asian Americans favor Biden, while 30% would re-elect the current president. Breaking it down by ethnic group, 52% of Filipino Americans back Biden, while 34% call for another four years under Trump, showing the second-highest support among the groups after Vietnamese voters. To court the fastest-growing electorate, the Trump re-election campaign announced “Asian Pacific Americans for Trump” earlier this summer, which includes six individuals of Filipino descent on the advisory board. Since then, Filu PAGE A2
Analyst: US to continue support for PH’s South China Sea claim after election by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
THE Philippines’ claim on the South China Sea would continue to have the backing of the United States regardless of whoever wins the 2020 U.S. presidential race, according to an analyst.
“It certainly comes down to the Philippines and how hard is the Philippines going to seek to protect its claim, how is it gonna hedge between the U.S. and China,” Drew Thompson, visiting senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said Tuesday, October 27.
Filipino Dodgers fans rejoice the team’s first championship since 1988 by KLARIZE
MEDENILLA AJPress
PH-born suspect in fatal hit and run extradited back to SoCal THE suspect in a fatal 2017 hit-and-run in Whittier who fled the United States three years ago arrived in Southern California on Thursday, October 29 after being extradited from Australia. Andrea Dorothy Chan Reyes, a former Whittier resident who was born in the Philippines, was identified by the city’s Police Department as the driver of the white Lexus sedan. She currently faces charges of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter. “On Monday, January 30th, 2017, the Whittier Police Department responded to a hitand-run vehicle versus bicyclist traffic collision in the area of Calmada Ave and Flomar Drive. A female driver, driving a white Lexus sedan struck the bicyclist, dragging him under the car for a long distance, and then fled the scene. The bicyclist, Agustin Rodriguez Jr., age 46, succumbed to his injuries,” the Whittier Police Department said in a statement on Thursday, October 29.
“The U.S. will continue to adapt to that,” he added. Thompson noted that the main interest of the U.S. in the South China Sea having the freedom to traverse and cross through the contested waters. “[The] freedom of navigation issue is really the u PAGE A2
Los Angeles City Hall was lit up in blue on Tuesday night, October 27 after the LA Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays and won the World Series, 32 years after the team’s last title. Photo courtesy of the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti
IT’S almost too saccharine, as an Angeleno, to think about the perfectness of the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series in the same year that the Lakers won the NBA Championship. It’s almost too dramatic, the redemption arc for a baseball team based in the City of Angels — the cinematic capital of the world — for whom the Dodgers finally clinched a World Series victory after losing two back-to-back World Series in 2017 and 2018, the former which involved one of the most egregious cheating scandals in the history of sports. It’s almost way too good to be true that all of this happened in Los Angeles, a city and county that continues to tread through civil unrest and deaths from a global viral pandemic that continues to cast a shadow over the country. It’s a beautiful, perfectly-tied-up-in-a-bow conclusion to a weird, confusing MLB season, but stranger u PAGE A3
Among Asian countries, Trump gets From in-language help to 2nd highest approval rating in PH reporting voter suppression: Resources available for Fil-Ams nationwide to safely vote
“According to a yearly poll by Gallup, approval of U.S. President Trump is varying widely across Asia, with MonUNITED States President Donald golia and the Philippines exhibiting the Trump has received the second-highest highest level of support. The poll asked level of support from the Philippines, ac- approximately 1,000 persons over the by CHRISTINA M. ORIEL AJPress cording to a recent survey of Asian coun- age of 15 per country if they approved or tries by German market and consumer disapproved of U.S. leadership,” Statista WITH increased concerns about data company Statista. said. The country gave Trump an approval “Other countries with a majority of voter suppression and intimidation rating of 58%, closely following behind people approving of the U.S. president across the country, voting rights u PAGE A4 Mongolia’s 62% rating. u PAGE A2 advocates serving groups like the Filipino American community are ramping up efforts ahead of Election Day to provide protection resources and dispel misinformation. Historically, voter suppression has looked like waiting in long lines, receiving misleading information, or being intimated at a polling location to dissuade voters — especially voters of color most essential workforces in this — from exercising their right to by KLARIZE MEDENILLA country, whether we’re in a pan- vote. AJPress demic or otherwise. This year, during an already But the COVID-19 undoubtedly high-stakes election, reports have IF you’ve ever been to a hospital or were treated in a hospital complicated life for Filipino nurs- included armed individuals outside in the U.S., the chance that a Fili- es, who were disproportionately of polling places and drop boxes in pino nurse treated you is high, to affected by the government’s LA County and Boston being set failed response to the crisis, sig- on fire, as mail-in ballots are besay the least. It’s a stereotype and a joke that, naling the need for union orga- ing encouraged as the preferred indeed, reflects reality: nearly ev- nizing and a clear plan to protect option to keep voters safe from the ery hospital wing in America is the most vulnerable health care continued COVID-19 threat. flowing with Filipino nurses, doc- workers. “Whatever is going to happen To celebrate this year’s Filipino on Election Day or in the early vottors, caregivers and technicians. It’s no question that Filipinos American History Month — which ing period, we need to be prepared are abundantly influential in the is themed around social justice — but we also need to be a calming overall registered nursing work- the California Nurses Association influence on the electorate. The force, which nearly everybody (CNA)/National Nurses United fear of chaos, the fear of despair National Nurses United President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez speaks at the union’s Filipino American can agree is among the u PAGE A3 that my vote won’t count in of itHistory Month celebration on Thursday, October 29. by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
‘Putting the welfare of the group over the individual’: Nurses union celebrates FAHM by reflecting on Fil-Am contributions to the profession Looking back at the history of racism, resilience and activism in the rich community of Fil-Am nurses
self is voter suppression. We need to continue encouraging people to vote and if they see something, say something,” Francey Lim Youngberg, a former deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration, told the Asian Journal. Youngberg joins several other Obama administration appointees who have banded together to direct individuals to national and state voter protection resources through a site (protectvotevols. org) that has links to voting tip sheets, assistance hotlines, and a list of virtual volunteer opportunities in the final get-out-the-vote weekend. Whether it’s requiring in-language assistance or needing to report an experience at a polling location, volunteers are on alert to help ensure that voters can cast their ballots safely and thoroughly. “This is especially important for the Filipino American community because we’re still looking for Tagalog speakers to help man those hotlines,” Youngberg said. Even if Fil-Ams live in ‘blue states’ like California or New York, u PAGE A3