Comedian Kristina Wong tells Asian Americans to “get your momma out of the free sample line at Costco” and go vote in a new PSA featuring Asian American celebrities.
The PSA includes former Olympian Michelle Kwan and musician AJ Rafael, among others. In the video, the stars challenge popular Asian stereotypes.
“I actually failed organic chem and then became an actor,” says Rich Ceraulo Ko from Death Sentence.
Actress Elizabeth Ho, who’s appeared in Castle and Grey’s Anatomy, challenges the bad driver stigma by saying, “I am a very good driver. You’d want me for a getaway car.”
According to HuffPost, Asian Americans have the lowest voter turnout of any racial group in the country. And in the PSA, Filipino actor Dante Basco, voice of Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, says that “Asian American millennials are the poorest performers of all.”
However, many barriers exist that prevent Asian Americans from voting in elections. About one-third of the Asian American population has limited English proficiency, or LEP, with many Asian immigrants relying on their children to translate the voting process for them.
“There is not enough assistance for Asian Americans that it becomes a hassle for them to vote since English is not their first language,” writes the policy organization AAPI Data.
AAPI Data also noted that a majority of Asian Americans reported that neither the Democratic Party or Republican Party reached out to them regarding the 2016 election.
As the fastest growing racial group of 2017 according to Pew Research Center, Asian Americans have a huge opportunity to influence voting outcomes.
With all this in mind, Filipino actor Lou Diamond Phillips urges us to “put the adobo on simmer and get out and vote.”
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