MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday November 3, 2022 Contact: team@feldmanstrategies.com Jasmine Rivera jasmine@risingvoicesaaf.org
Leading Asian American Voting Rights Advocates Condemn Hateful, Racist Mailers by Stephen Miller’s American First Legal Ahead of 2022 Midterms
DETROIT, MI – In recent days, as voting has begun in Michigan, the households of Asian American voters across the state have been receiving deceitful, racist, hateful mailers aimed at suppressing the turnout of the Asian American community. The target mailings were sent by the American First Legal Foundation, the conservative organization founded by Trump confidant Stephen Miller. Miller has a long history with peddling racist hate and division and was the architect behind the Trump Administration’s family separation program, which led to the widespread images of kids in cages that shocked the nation.
Said Rising Voices Executive Director Jungsoo Ahn: “As the fastest growing voter population in Michigan, Asian Americans are raising their voices in greater numbers to advocate for a better future for families in this state. We are calling for responsive and representative leadership, healthcare access, language access, reproductive rights, inclusive education and more. We don’t have time for games.
“The mailer is a desperate attempt to deceive our families by playing into pernicious stereotypes, lies and anti-Black racism meant to divide and conquer our communities. It’s clear our numbers are a threat to racist extremists like Miller and his associates who recognize the growing power of Asian Americans who repudiate the kind of divisive and hateful rhetoric they are trying to sell.
“Asian Americans resoundingly rejected such rhetoric in the 2020 elections and will continue to do so this election cycle. Our community continues to suffer from anti-Asian rhetoric and violence perpetuated by Miller and his associates and is part of the larger system of white supremacy that impacts Black and Brown communities. Attempts to divide us will not succeed. We stand in solidarity with our partners.”
This voter suppression effort is part of a coordinated campaign by the American First Legal Foundation. Outside of Michigan mailers have been received in Arizona, Virginia, California, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas over the past week and digital and radio advertisements have also popped up across the country. Since its formation in 2021, the group has a long history of using these tactics and divisive rhetoric.
RISING VOICES, which is part of the Asian American Power Network, the leading coalition of grassroots community organizations working to not only mobilize AAPI voters but build AAPI political power across the country, will not be deterred from educating and engaging the AAPI community on the issues that matter.
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Rising Voices, a project of the Center for Empowered Politics, is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization that seeks to increase the civic participation of Asian Americans in Michigan by developing the leadership, organizing, and power-building capacity of Asian American women, youth and communities.