While immigration remains a highly contentious topic in this year’s U.S. presidential election, AAPI leaders like New York State Senator Iwen Chu are steadfast in protecting their community’s rights.
On this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out, TaiwanPlus reporter Joyce Tseng visits Senator Chu at her constituency in Brooklyn. We first zoom in on Chu’s legislative priorities, then zoom out to look at the stakes for the 2024 election.
On this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out, TaiwanPlus reporter Joyce Tseng visits Senator Chu at her constituency in Brooklyn. We first zoom in on Chu’s legislative priorities, then zoom out to look at the stakes for the 2024 election.
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00:00Welcome to Zoom In Zoom Out, your look at news from Taiwan and around the world. I'm
00:16Joyce Sen coming to you from New York City for this special episode. The U.S. presidential
00:22election is right around the corner and a lot is at stake. Domestically, issues from
00:28the economy to immigration and abortion have been fiercely debated this election cycle
00:34between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. The
00:39U.S. has long been known as a melting pot, home to people from a range of different backgrounds
00:45and cultures. Now, to better understand what these diverse communities need in a leader,
00:52I spoke to State Senator Yuen Chiu. She's a Taiwanese-American journalist turned politician
00:58and has represented New York's 17th State District since January 2023. She's the first
01:04Asian woman to be elected to the New York State Senate in its over two centuries old
01:09history. We began the conversation zooming in to her personal background.
01:18Twenty years ago, I came here as an international student. Of course, I didn't foresee myself
01:2120 years ago to step on this route for this direction. So with all the capacity, being
01:29an immigrant myself, being a journalist, to foresee every challenge, every sad story,
01:35and then become a staffer, that angle, for me, it's how can I help them? That puts me
01:41in that kind of mindset. And now with this platform for me being their representative
01:47in the state level, I'm their senator. I want to do more. I want to do prevention because
01:52I already see the challenge. I know where to navigate the system, how to get the resource,
01:59how to prevent, become the priority of how I can serve this community better. That's
02:05why my office, we speak 13 different languages. So being an immigrant, the worst thing is
02:12you're in life struggle. At the moment, you're vulnerable. You need help. You don't know
02:18how to open your mouth. You don't know how to let people know what was your challenge,
02:22what was the issue. And that's why my commitment is we speak your language. I want you to come
02:28into this office. When you need help, when you're looking for help, let me speak your
02:32language. We will do the translation. Remember, I was a reporter. My job is to do the translation.
02:39I will navigate the system. I'll navigate the issues. I will translate. That was part
02:43of my job. And become a staffer. That was my job, to identify issues and navigate issue
02:50and resolve the issue. That was my job. And that's how I become like use the same mentality
02:55with my office team over here. This is how we're going to serve. And that's how we prioritize
02:59people's voice.
03:01And what are the main issues or concerns that come up when you're engaging with your constituents?
03:08My district is majority predominantly immigrant communities. My district is the first AAPI
03:17Asian-majority district, a senatorial district. But when you talk about AAPI, it's not just
03:22East Asian. I have East Asian, South Asian, Central Asian. I have Uzbekistan. I have Bangladesh.
03:28I have all different diverse Asians. So they come with different issues in that angle as
03:34well. So for me to serve, to address their issues, and also that's 50%. I have another
03:4120% of Latino families. I represent the largest Muslim communities. I also have like Jewish,
03:47Italian, Russian. I have all those immigrant communities. Basically, we're talking about
03:53the same thing. They want safety. How do they feel safe on the street? How do they feel
03:57safe in their school? How do they feel safe when they practice their religions? They need
04:02to feel safe when they're going to grocery and shopping. They need to feel safe when
04:06they're going to the park to just take a walk with their friends. That's why my legislation
04:12priorities going towards safety, public safety, not just about police presence. They need
04:18to feel safe when they're taking subways going to work. They need to feel safe when they
04:22send their kids going to school. I introduced a package of e-buy safety bills. So our seniors
04:28need to feel safe when they're walking on the sidewalk. When we see those e-buy scooters,
04:34they're riding on the sidewalk. It's against law. We need some enforcement. And there's
04:39way too many cases in my district. The battery, they're under-regulated. So they are those
04:45cheap kind, the faulty kind, the recycled kind, they're exploding everywhere throughout
04:51the New York City, especially in my district. So I have those legislation and the governor
04:56already signed into law. It's a law now.
04:59And as a leader in a predominantly immigrant community, what do you make of the discourse
05:04around immigration now in the U.S.?
05:08So it's very simple. We're here. We're in the U.S. We're Americans. There is a fundamental
05:14value over here. We are here for democracy. We're here for freedom. We are here for human
05:19rights. No matter what kind of background you are, no matter what kind of immigration
05:23policy, immigration policy, that's a federal when we talk about border issues.
05:27However, when people are in here locally, they are my constituents. It is my mission
05:33to make sure they are protected, treated fairly, equally, there's no discrimination, and how
05:39I can prioritize government resource and legislation to protect the diversity of New York City.
05:45That is something I can put my hands down and make sure that we can implement those.
05:51It's been a fiercely debated topic, this election cycle. What do you make of the rhetoric
05:57around this issue?
05:59It's not as hard when we talk about it's New York City. That's the whole diversity this
06:03city is about, the beauty of the city. But there's a lot of misinformation, especially
06:09on social media. That's something we need to overcome. We need to regulate those. And
06:16also when we talk about social media, there's different opponents of issues. Media has the
06:24social responsibility, how we can be a gatekeeper to make sure our audience, our constituents,
06:32they receive the accurate facts. That's something we need to do a lot of education, do a lot
06:40of groundwork to make sure our constituents, when they're going through those information
06:46on social media, they have the right judgment, be able to evaluate and pick the value they
06:52truly believe instead of being manipulated by the false information.
06:57What do you hope the future of U.S. politics looks like?
07:04The future of politics or the future of society is going to look like it's up to the people.
07:10This is people's country. People have grown up in the grassroots. They are empowered by
07:17voting to pick the right leader, to pick the voice that represents them in different tiers,
07:23different levels of government. People make the choice. People have the power to make
07:28the decision. That's why as long as we can provide the accurate information based on
07:32facts, people make their own choice. That's the future and that's the hope.
07:38How do we engage our next generation? That's another thing. When we talk about futures
07:44in 10, 15 years, it's going to be a new flock of new leaders. They will lead our society.
07:50They will lead our countries. They need to be ready. 10 years ago, 12 years ago, I was
07:56able to serve on the staffer for the state government assembly member. I learned so much
08:02from that position. I was ready because of that opportunity. We need to, as a leader
08:09over here, especially I'm the first Asian woman senator. I'm the only Asian woman senator
08:16in the whole state, 248 years now. It is my mission to make sure our next generation,
08:22they have the opportunity, they have the platform, they have the training, be able to be ready
08:29when the opportunity is there, when we need new leaders, they need to be ready. This is
08:34my job to cultivate them, to train them, to educate them, to provide the platform for
08:39them.
08:40Something Taiwan and the U.S. share is their commitment to democratic values. With your
08:46experiences living in both Taiwan and the U.S., what do you think are some things that
08:51you can learn from one another? Also, what can the U.S. perhaps do to advance its democracy?
08:59In Taiwan, it's direct vote. The majority of the vote pick the president. Over here,
09:05we have electoral, we have delegates. It's a different system. So there's no way to literally
09:13compare, right? They're not apple, orange, it's just different. But there's one thing
09:19we can put more engagement about voting turnout. Over here, even if you're a citizen, you don't
09:26necessarily become a voter. You need to do one more step to register as a voter. So right
09:32now, like now it's election season. We are having calls from the government, like governments
09:39that people are asking where to vote, how to vote, how to become a voter. There's a
09:43lot of civic engagement 101 over here. This is a very important step. How to amplify your
09:50voice, how to empower yourself is actually through vote. And my district is actually
09:55the lowest turnout district in the whole New York State, because the nature of this district,
10:00majority, they're immigrants. So that's also one of the challenges, how do I encourage
10:06more voters to filter through the false information, to make the right judgment based on the fact
10:12and choose what they believe and go to vote. That's something the U.S. should be doing
10:20In general, our voting here, the voting rate is about like 20-30%. In Taiwan, sometimes
10:27I know the voting rate is about 60-70%. That's a very different, but also it comes with a
10:33different history of the democracy election history. Over here, people maybe they feel
10:39they took it for granted. They have the political fatigue. Every year, every other year, my
10:48position is every other year. That means I need to run every other year. But that means
10:54our voters, every other year, every year, there's a city election, there's state election,
11:00there's federal election, and there's judges. And other area, not New York City, there's
11:05a county, there's water board, there's school board. It's all different kinds of level of
11:11election. So there is easy to become a voter fatigue. So how do we overcome? It's up to...
11:21I don't have a perfect answer for that. But that's something as a democracy process, I
11:29can only put a hope to the voters. If you don't coming out to vote, that means you're
11:33giving up your right, your opportunity to make a difference. And we could only encourage
11:38everybody, no matter what you got to vote, pick the one you truly believe into it. And
11:43that has your role, because that's your responsibility for a better future that you believe in.
11:53This consequential election year, State Senator Chiu was also appointed to be a Democratic
11:58National Convention delegate. The party's presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala
12:03Harris, has picked up momentum and record-breaking levels of funding since rising to the top
12:09of the ticket in place of President Joe Biden. To zoom out and look at the Democrats and
12:15their vision for the country's future, I asked State Senator Chiu what Harris's presidential
12:20bid means to the party and to Chiu personally.
12:25I was very excited to see Kamala Harris to be on the ticket because first, she's a woman.
12:33So absolutely about time for us to elect a woman president. And the second thing is
12:39she's a person of API background. That's why for me, as an immigrant, as a woman myself,
12:46she's my absolute choice because I know for her firsthand life experience, she will prioritize
12:54on immigrants' needs. She will prioritize on women's issues. She will prioritize to
13:00amplify the democratic values. And that's something I personally believe in. And I would
13:06like to see the next generation that can benefit from this. She's not going to just become
13:11a leader of the United States. She's a leader of the world. And that's a value we need to
13:18share with the whole world, how we protect our democracy, how we amplify the freedom.
13:25Freedom is not falling from the sky for free. Freedom, you need to fight for it. You need
13:29to protect it. And that's something I need to make sure I have a political leader who
13:34share the same value and true belief in the state government, United States government.
13:39They will project our image to the world. So when people look at us, they look at a
13:45true leader.
13:48That was New York State Senator Elin Chiu speaking on what Vice President Kamala Harris'
13:53bid for the top seat of the White House means to the Democratic Party and to leaders of
13:59diverse communities like Chiu herself. This has been Zoom In, Zoom Out. Don't forget to
14:04check out townplus.com or follow us on social media for more of our stories. Thanks for
14:09joining us. We'll see you next time.