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Conversation at a Swing State Asian Mart
In many Asian families and communities,
opportunities for cross-generational political
dialogue are few. But sometimes they arise in
unlikely places.
By Peggy Hong, IMDiversity.com Special
Contributor
One of the last and most practical things my mom taught me before she
died was “the healthy way” of preparing ramen. I’d stopped buying it
years ago because of the hydrogenated fat and MSG. But the way Mom made
it was by cooking the noodles, then straining them, while simmering her
own broth with whatever wholesome ingredients she had on hand. That way,
you could slurp away at the curls of ramen, toss in some kim-chi and an
egg, and spare yourself of guilt.
So I was at Asian Mart on Milwaukee's Old World Third Street, surveying
the ramen aisle and thinking of Mom, when I became distracted by the mention of
George Bush by a loud voice at the checkout. A 50-something woman,
probably Filipino, was talking to the African man who runs the
Africa Hut restaurant down the street.
“My taxes are lower this year!” she exclaimed. “I couldn’t believe--less
this year than last year. Tax cut is good!”
I couldn’t help myself. As I approached the cash register with my case
of Sapporo Ichiban, I touched the woman’s arm. “So, you’re going to vote
Bush out?”
“No! I like Bush,” she declared. “I’m voting for Bush. He’s saving me
money.”
“But isn’t everything else more expensive?” I queried. “Like health
care, medicine, even gasoline...”
“No, no, I’m saving money,” she insisted. “I decided long ago, I’m
voting for Bush. I like him because he’s honest.”
This was admittedly more than I could handle. Before I could counter,
the woman added defiantly, “I don’t care about the war.”
“Really? Do you think Bush was honest about the war?”
“We had to go in,” she asserted, “because of the WMDs.”
“But we’ve been there a year and a half and we haven’t found any.”
“They had them. They buried them. It’s easy to bury them. And we had to
get rid of Saddam Hussein.”
“Well, what about the other dictators in the world? What about Sudan,
what’s happening in Darfur?”
The woman shrugged, repeating her rhetoric like a mantra. I decided to
try a different tack.
“Who do you like for Senate?” I asked.
“Senate....I don’t know much about Senate....If Feingold has done good
things for us, I will vote for him...”
“We’re really lucky to have Feingold,” I suggested. “One of the best
things he’s done is oppose the Patriot Act.”
“Patriot? Patriotic....I’m patriotic,” she said, nodding and pursing her
lips.
Behind the cash register, the affable shopowner, an older Filipino man,
finished bagging my groceries, smiled, and said, “I guess we’ll all be
watching the debate tonight!”
Of Interest from the Career Center
APIAs Across the Nation: Host
a DebateWatch
Release by
APIAVote.org
DebateWatch offers families and friends
opportunities to discuss issues, get registered, volunteer
to protect the polls, teleconference with politicians, hear
in-language PSAs, and more.
Last Presidential Debate:
Wednesday, October 13 at 9:00
PM
|
Indeed.
As I was waiting to cross the street to my car, a young man who had
silently heard every word standing behind me in line shook his head,
saying, “Wow...that was tough...you made some good points.”
“But I don’t know how much she heard,” I said.
We crossed the street and got into our cars, mine a Civic with a
bumper full of political stickers, his, a RAV with a university
decal, and drove off. Driving home, I imagined what Mom would have
said. First of all, she’d never have gotten into a political debate
at the Asian grocery. I thought how rare it was for Asian Americans
of different generations to really ever talk to each other about
politics -- or even have an opportunity to.
Mom's last earthly vote was for George W. Bush in 2000 because, she
said, he seemed like a prince. But after having Medicare cut, and
prescription drug costs go up, few of his 2000 campaign promises
fulfilled, and the war continuing to escalate in Iraq, would she
vote for him again? Maybe, like the
woman at Asian Mart, she'd have her reasons. But
maybe, too, this year we would have taken the opportunity to sit and
watch the debates and talk about them together. I
go home with my ramen and wonder.
Other Readings of Interest
-
Politics of a Model
Minority
By Peggy Hong, IMDiversity Special
Contributor
Looking at her somewhat divided, somewhat undecided family,
the writers weighs immigrant-generation
aspirations and interest as
"outsiders"
against more outward-looking concerns of a
new generation that feels it belongs
Peggy Hong is a Korean-American poet, activist,
yoga teacher, college instructor, and mother of three teens living in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is author of three poetry collections, and her
new book, THREE TRUTHS AND A LIE
(Water Press
and Media) will be released this fall.
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