Suhail Khan, left, a volunteer with the Bush campaign, and Victoria Lai, director of Asian American outreach at the Kerry campaign, who kicked off the Summer Speaker Series of the Indian American Center for Political Awareness in Washington, D.C., on June 22. (Photo: Chris Dumm)

On June 22, the Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA) kicked off its Summer Speaker Series for 2004. Every summer, in conjunction with its Washington Leadership Program (WLP), IACPA hosts a series of lectures on various topics of concern to the Indian-American community. In the past, the Speaker Series has attracted such speakers as former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth, Louisiana Congressional candidate Bobby Jindal (R-LA), and Majority Leader of the Maryland House of Delegates Kumar Barve. The first event was a discussion of the 2004 elections featuring a representative from the John Kerry campaign and a representative from the George W. Bush campaign. Victoria Lai, director of Asian American outreach at the Kerry campaign, and Suhail Khan, a volunteer with the Bush campaign, spoke to the audience of about 30 young Indian Americans. Khan is a political appointee in the office of governmental affairs at the Department of Transportation when he isn’t speaking on behalf of the Bush campaign. Lai works full time for the Kerry campaign. Both speakers have also had extensive careers on Congressional staff.

Suhail Khan

I don’t want to speak too long so I can take as many question and answers as I can.

I was born in Colorado and my parents, like many of your parents, came here from India to get an education. My parents came from Madras, India, in the South, and like many of your parents were here to get an education and fulfill the American Dream.

I, like a lot of children of immigrants, was not raised in a political family. My parents became Democrats in the mid-70’s when they became citizens. Since they became citizens under Carter, they said why don’t we become Democrats. It was towards the end of the Carter presidency they reexamined that affiliation and first they said maybe we’re independent and then identified themselves as many of the Democrats that supported Reagan’s election in ’80 and his reelection in ’84. In the 80’s, they made the formal switch to become Republican.

I had a basic upbringing like most of you, with parents putting a strong emphasis on education but there wasn’t much of an overt political discussion at our family table.

And it wasn’t until I went to college at 17 and I ended up going to the University of California–Berkeley, where I really had to start making some decisions where I stood on issues that affected me as an individual, issues that affected myself as a member of the community, both the South Asian community and the larger American community, and finally as an

American.

On campus, the big issues were, like many other campuses, affirmative action, opportunity, discrimination, particularly against minorities and women, rent control, which is a very local issue –– how to keep housing affordable for low income families. These are some of the things I began to think about as a 17-year-old and knew there was an election coming up. I am a lot older than you think am. My first election was 1988, the first Bush election. As I looked at both the parties, I felt much more comfortable in the Republican Party.

The Republican Party looked at me as an individual and not just the particular member of an ethnic group. When I would talk to folks on campus both in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, I felt that the Republican Party reallyd its doors to me as an individual and was a party that really stood for the individual taking responsibility for their own destiny and the Republican Party trusted individuals to make decision for themselves rather than making a one size fits all government solutions for problems that vary from individual to individual. So at that point I became 18 and registered as a Republican and its been 16 years and I’ve never looked back since.

We have a record number of South Asians serving in this administration, one of the biggest stars in Bobby Jindal, who was the Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services. He left the administration to run for governor of the state of Louisiana as most of you know. Narrowly lost in a close election. I was down in Louisiana for a week before the election. It was a heartbreaking loss, but again I was proud that we as Republicans were the first party to have an Indian-American candidate for Governor, that we narrowly lost not because he was Indian or South Asian but because quite frankly his opponent went negative against him in the last week which happens in a race and he tried to take the high road and didn’t respond as strongly as I would have.

The door is wide The RNC has a very active program. You can volunteer for a few hours a week or you can volunteer for a few days or months up until the election on Nov. 2. They are looking for volunteers to go work on campaigns locally or nationally. You can work in whatever state or congressional district you feel most comfortable. You can volunteer in your home states or the main office in Arlington. It is just a great experience and the door is wide Whether you choose Republican or Democrat, get involved. You’ll feel it right

away and you’ll definitely experience being involved in your community and in your

country’s future.

Victoria Lai

My name is Victoria Lai. I work for the John Kerry campaign. I’m the Director of Asian American and Pacific Islander Outreach. I previously held that position at the DNC. The role of that job is to make sure that Democrats and John Kerry are very cognizant of issues that are important to Asian Americans. And that Asian Americans know what the Democratic Party is doing.

Just a very quick word about how I came to politics. I went to school in Boston, and volunteered on Cambridge City Council campaign, a very grassroots campaign, which is really the way to start. We knocked on everybody’s door. But then I moved on to a congressional campaign for South Boston.

Diversity is very important to the John Kerry for President campaign. Out of about 150 D.C. staff we have about 30 Asian Americans and about 8-10 Indian Americans. My deputy, Siddharth Tickoo is here, and together we work on making sure Asian Americans feel like they are an important part of this population. One of the things that Suhail said at the very end, no matter what party you join or are register for, it is really important that you, your family, and your friends get involved and help amplify the voice of Asian Americans and Indian Americans in particular. Many of the Indian Americans on our campaign staff came to us from different experiences from the hill and different staff and many of them are on the delegate team so they are now working with all the people who are going to the national convention in Boston and are making sure all the delegates that go there look like America.

The reason I bring the convention up is because it is an excellent opportunity to volunteer since it is a whole lot easier than when you have your midterms in November and it is a great way to get involved, make contacts and talk to potential mentors about staying involved in politics. I think Indian Americans are concerned about issues that all Americans are. This is everything from affordable education, quality health care, to jobs, making sure that there are jobs for all levels of people whether you are just newly arrived to the country or just finished your Master’s degree that jobs are here and available for you and your families. And another thing that is all on our minds is safety, safety from discrimination. Statistics say that a rise in hate crimes particularly after 9/11, fortunately is has subsided a little bit, but hopefully it is something that is on a lot of people’s minds. There is domestic safety and there is international safety. National security is something that all politicians and all Americans are concerned about and not ready to compromise.

I encourage you all to go to the John Kerry Web site and take a look at John Kerry’s proposals on how he is going to provide credits for college students to help pay for their college education either through service or through loans. I don’t know how many of you are on college loans but I was startled to find that most of the money goes to the bank. I encourage you take a look at his plan because he has a first 100 days in office plan that is a well laid out document that would be more thorough than I would be.

Lastly, I would just mention that there has been such a ground swell of support for John Kerry. Last week, we had this really tremendous event in Washington, D.C., a gala, with two of his new national steering committee members, Governor Gary Locke from Washington and Congressman Mike Honda from California.

It is really encouraging to see how Indian Americans are becoming more and more active. So I encourage you all most importantly to go out and vote and register your friends and families to vote. And you can always help out in any way you can. From taking a week off in the last week of October and hopping on a bus with other students from your school and going to Ohio, Missouri, or Florida something like that, that is a great way to get involved. Or you can just help your friends get informed of what is going on as easily as you send an e-mail forward. You can see around how John Kerry’s plan for American includes all Americans, including Indian Americans.