Educated people have long known that every ethnicity in the US, with the exception of White people, is partial to its own group at the ballot box. Though there have been exceptions, for the most part, blacks will vote for a black candidate over a non-black one. Latinos are the same way, and so are Asians. Whites will either ignore race or actually vote for a candidate BECAUSE he is not White. I’ve seen it first-hand. Many Whites voted for Obama so that they could pat themselves on the back for supporting “America’s first black president.”
The City of San Francisco has decided that it would be illegal for non-Chinese candidates to pretend to be Chinese in order to gain Chinese votes. From The Northwest Asian Weekly:
San Francisco to enforce law against adopting Chinese names for political gain
San Francisco is cracking down on ballot name rules amid a trend of many non-Chinese candidates adopting a Chinese name in an effort to appeal to monolingual Chinese voters.
The city’s Department of Elections will now enforce a 2019 state law that bars political candidates from using a Chinese name on a city ballot unless a name has been given to them at birth or used for at least two years.
Because of the city’s robust Chinese-speaking population, ballots are in both English and Chinese, which has led many non-Chinese candidates to adopt a Chinese name…
Chan called the trend a form of “cultural appropriation.”
While the law will prevent non-Chinese candidates from abusing the flexibility of self-submitted names, it may also impact American-born Chinese candidates who do not have a birth certificate in Chinese that proves they were born with Chinese names.
This is wrong on several levels.
Firstly, a Chinese person who immigrates to the United States should consider himself “American,” not “Chinese.” After all, he made a choice to move to the US. If he wishes to be Chinese, he should have stayed in China.
Secondly, it’s morally dubious to encourage ethnic groups to show ethnic loyalty at the ballot box. To enforce such preferences by law is unacceptable – especially considering the fact that Whites are not allowed to openly do so.
Thirdly, this looks like a violation of the First Amendment. If an American of Chinese origin is allowed to list his name, on a ballot, in Chinese, then the same right should apply to everybody.
Fourthly, this is a violation of equal protection under the law. If this law is allowed to stand, then we might see a prohibition against non-blacks from using black-sounding names on ballots – or non-Jews from using Jewish-sounding names on ballots.
