er since becoming a US citizen in 2008, Pamela Burgos has voted
er since becoming a US citizen in 2008, Pamela Burgos has voted in one presidential election and will again participate in the November polls. “Participation in elections is the soul of a democracy like ours,” she said.
But Pamela, a Filipino American, is part of a very small percentage of Asian-Americans who are actively engaged in the electoral process in the country.
“The problem is that the pool of voters is small. Only about 37% of the overall Asian American adult population vote, Gloria Caoile, of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) said.
Next to the Chinese, the Filipino American community is the second largest Asian-American group in the US. About 80% of the Filipino-American community are US citizens, the US Census bureau reported.
This number of Asian-American voters is measly, compared to 73% of white adults and 68% of black adults who vote, noted Caoile, who is political director of APALA.
Individuals in general become apathetic when they cannot connect to the issues, Caoile added. “Why should they bother voting if they think it has no relevance to them?” she told Asian Journal.
But the problem may lie deeper, particularly if the culture of these immigrants is considered, particularly among Filipino-Americans, Marie O’Connor said.
“I think we still have a little bit of the Spanish colonial mentality in us, where we just don’t care,” she said.
Filipino-American O’Connor, who is an active member of political action group MoveOn.Org, also cited Filipino traits of being shy and unassertive as a hindrance to participating in political discussions and the electoral process in the US.
For her part, Girlie De Guzman who is also a member of MoveOn.org said there are Filipinos who remain unassimilated to the American society and thus remain uninvolved in the political process.
Still another Filipino-American said there is reluctance to become openly active in the political process, particularly campaigning, “because we are concerned about possible repercussions.”
“If the candidate we openly support loses, the fear is that the winning candidate will somehow make things difficult for us. Such would not be uncommon the Philippines, so we bring that fear here to America with us,” the Fil-Am business executive, who asked not to be named, said.
“If we become too visible and outspoken, we are drawing attention to ourselves and possibly our many friends and relatives, who include (undocumented) immigrants,” the Fil-Am added.