Coalition Against Red-baiting and Race-baiting in San Jose Political Arena

 

STATEMENT SHOWING SOLIDARITY AMONG COMMUNITIES OF COLOR AND CONDEMNING RACIST MAILERS TARGETING ASIAN AMERICANS

FROM SILICON VALLEY BIZ PAC

 

Last week, the Silicon Valley Biz PAC issued a mailer attacking Supervisor Cindy Chavez by falsely claiming that she is “trying to silence the Asian American community in San José” in addition to using a darkened photo of her in the hit piece. The undersigned members of the REAL Coalition and allies unequivocally condemn this racist mailer from Silicon Valley Biz Political Action Committee (PAC) and call for all PACs, political operatives, and candidates to stop using dog whistles, baseless claims, and outright lies to try to confuse, manipulate, and exploit the general public.

 

This race-baiting tactic has been used before in 2016 and 2020 when Councilmember Sergio Jimenez’s and Sylvia Arenas’ faces were darkened in campaign mailers. SVOPAC also used race baiting to attack Candidate Jake Tonkel by using a photo of Black men from South Africa to scare voters, which led to the dissolution of the Silicon Valley Organization PAC (SVOPAC), the resignation of their longtime CEO, and a months-long restructuring process of the once “San José/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.” Rather than learning from the mistakes of its predecessor, the Silicon Valley Biz PAC uses abhorrent race-baiting tactics and exploits an entire community for political gain.

 

The mailer in question darkens the face of Supervisor Chavez and attempts to victimize the Asian American community in San José by driving the narrative that Asians are being targeted for political oppression. It attempts to instill fear in us by turning a candidate into an enemy. It weaponizes the issue of Asian representation to target a woman of color.  This is on top of several other instances of inflammatory tactics used in this election cycle: in-language comments using racial stereotypes of Mexican Americans and crime made by an East Side Union School Board Trustee that the above-mailer references; a mailer sent by San Jose council candidate grouping three white women in contrast to two men of color, “portray[ing] white women as innocent and virtuous and men of color as dangerous and predatory.” These actions are unacceptable and must be addressed in written and community fora.

 

We are angry. We are angry at how political strategists can so easily try to manipulate our communities. We are angry at how politics is the justification for race-baiting. We are angry at how special interests who have never paid attention to our representation are now using this issue to drive communities of color apart.

 

A tenet and tactic of white supremacist logic is to divide and conquer – to pit communities of different racial and ethnic backgrounds against one another in an attempt to distract them from broader issues that uphold oppressive institutions. Power does not have to be a zero-sum game. We gain true power in working together, not in tearing each other apart. This is why the REAL (Race Equity Action Leadership) Coalition was created - to practice and advance racial justice through a coalition of nonprofit leaders, committed to learning, advocacy, and organizing while building power in authentic community solidarity.

 

We refuse to be pitted against other communities of color in political gamesmanship. We are not your model minority nor are we pawns. We choose solidarity!

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Organization Signatories (to sign on behalf of an organization, type in your name, title, and organization)

 

Angelica Cortez, Executive Director, LEAD Filipino

Angelica Ramos-Allen, President, National Women’s Political Caucus of Silicon Valley

Anna Nguyen, Co-Executive Director, Friends of Hue Foundation

Bao Trieu, President, Vietnamese Voluntary Foundation (VIVO)

Darcie Green, Executive Director, Latinas Contra Cancer

David Mineta, Executive Director, Momentum Health

Diane Fisher, Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council

Jahmal Williams, Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet of Silicon Valley

Jean Cohen, Executive Officer, South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council

Josh Selo, Executive Director, West Valley Community Services

Felicia Gershberg, Co-Lead, Together We Will - San José

Kyra Kazantzis, Executive Director, Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits

Lam Nguyen, Co-Chair of Orchard City Indivisible and Board President of EM Collective

Mimi Nguyen, Executive Director, Step Forward Foundation

MyLinh Pham, CEO & Founder, Asian American Center of Santa Clara County

Nassim Nouri, Green Party of Santa Clara County Councilmember

Philip Nguyen, Executive Director, Vietnamese American Roundtable

Quyen Vuong, Executive Director, International Children Assistance Network (ICAN)

Richard Konda, Executive Director, Asian Law Alliance

Ruth Silver Taube, Coordinator, Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition

Susan Hayase, San Jose Nikkei Resisters

Saul Ramos, Co-Executive Director, SOMOS Mayfair

Victor Vasquez, Co-Executive Director, SOMOS Mayfair

Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club

 

 

Individual Signatories (to sign on your individual behalf, type in your name and title, which is used for identification purposes only)

 

Carmen Brammer, Political Strategist & Community Advocate

Daniel Cao

Dieu Huynh, VietUnity - Southbay

Elizabeth Barcelos, South Bay Progressive Alliance

Elly Matsumura, Powerswitch Action

Emily Ann Ramos, Northern Vice-Chair, California Democratic Party API Caucus

Felwina Opiso-Mondina, PAWIS

Hong Cao, Board Member, Viet Museum

Huy Tran, Justice at Work Law Group, LLP

Jane Do Bui

Linda D. Nguyen

Lucy Tran

Mary Cheryl B. Gloner

Matt King, policy director, Sacred Heart Community Service

Michele Lew

Milan Balinton

Nadia Nouri, Iranian American SCC Green Party

Nick Cortez, South Bay Progressive Alliance

Patricia Gardner

Peggy Elwell, South Bay Progressive Alliance

Peter Allen, Political Strategist

Regina Celestin Williams

Richard Hobbs, Executive Director, Human Agenda

Robin Goka Huynh, San Jose Nikkei Resisters

Sarita Kohli, Executive Director, Asian Americans for Community Involvement

Vanessa Shieh

 

 

Elected Officials (to sign on your individual behalf, type in your name and title, which is used for identification purposes only)

 

Ash Kalra, Assemblymember, 27th Assembly District

Derek Grasty, Mt. Pleasant Elementary School District Trustee

Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto, Member of Fremont Union High School District Board

James Chang, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner

Javed Ellahie, Mayor, Monte Sereno

Jorge Pacheco Jr, Oak Grove School District Trustee

Ruben Abrica, Mayor, City of East Palo Alto

Sergio Jimenez, Councilmember, City of San Jose

Tara Sreekrishnan, Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee

Tony Alexander, San Jose Evergreen Community College District Trustee

Tony Estremera, Director, Santa Clara Valley Water District

Van Le, East Side Union High School Trustee

Wendy Ho, San Jose-Evergreen Community College District Trustee

Johnny Khamis and Santa Clara County Supervisor D1 Race

 

While most voters in San Jose are focusing on the contested San Jose mayoral seat, another significant race is shaping up to be very important for the balance of power in Santa Clara County as well as the representation of the Vietnamese - American community.  Currently, Santa Clara County D1 covers most of South San Jose neighborhoods including Blossom Hills and Almaden (SJ D10 and SJ D2), and Evergreen (SJ D8).  With about 10% of the registered are Vietnamese - American, the community cannot afford to ignore the race between former City Councilmember Johnny Khamis and D8 City Councilmember Sylvia Arenas.

After the redistricting in 2021, both Santa Clara County D3 and D1 are two districts that have the most Vietnamese-American voters, 12% and 10% respectively.   Supervisor Otto Lee won the D3 seat in 2020 when it made up of  16% Vietnamese-American voters. 

Johnny Khamis is a close ally of former City Councilmember Tam Nguyen.  Arriving in San Jose in 1976 from Beirut to escape the civil war, he grew up in a struggling immigrant family who rebuilt their life from scratch.  He graduated from San Jose State University and the CEO of a successfuly financial consulting firm.  His politics are aligned with most Vietnamese-Americans who came here as refugees to rebuild their lives  -  strong family values, personal accountability, fiscal responsibility, and more importantly, a government that works for the people without waste and mire in bureaucracy.

So far in this race,  Khamis  has shown to be a tiredless campaigner.  He raised over $550,000, twice his opponent, and received endorsements of key bipartisan political leaders in Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Jose.

His opponent has been on cruise control and relies heavily on South Bay Labor Council for her campaign.  The battle ground right now is San Jose City District 8 where over 25% of registered voters are Vietnamese-Americans.  

Syliva Arenas is a controversial candidate when earlier this year, she decided to introduce a measure  to allow noncitizen residents in San Jose a right to votes in all local elections.  This would allow about 120,000 noncitizen residents in San Jose to vote.  To Vietnamese-Americans, extending the right could lead lead to corruption and unaccountability of the voting system.   Moreover, with no representation in city council despite representing 13% of the registered voters, many Vietnamese-Americans feel threaten that their votes will be more diluted by the noncitizens, especially when a high percentage is Latina. 

In the primary, the Evergreen neighborhood where Vietnamese-Americans are dominant, Arenas won all of the precincts in the area,  mostly because of name recognition as their councilmember.  However,  Khamis has been actively campaign in community trying to change that.  

The race will come down to the wire.  Right now, the conventional wisdom is that Khamis has an edge  if the hispanic turnout is low as expected.   But he still needs to convert the Vietnamese-American voters who mostly  aligned with his pragmatic politics.