James Yee, the former US Army Guantanamo Chaplain and 2008 National Delegate for Barack Obama was out doing some grassroots campaigning in Ohio from October 23-26 for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He made stops in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

During the four days, Capt Yee made several Get Out The Vote presentations at major Islamic centers in Columbus and Cincinnati, also focusing on Muslim Participation in the Political Process The American Muslim vote will make a serious impact this year in several key battleground, swing states which have significant Muslim constituencies - Ohio being one of them.

Chaplain Yee also attended Town Hall Meetings in Dayton and Columbus in which former Washington State Governor Gary Locke headlined the events. Christine Chen, the former executive director of OCA National and APIA Vote spearheaded the planning for these programs along with Wright State University’s College Democrats in Dayton and the Ohio Democratic Party Campaign for Change in Columbus.

Governor Locke stressed the fact that America is built on the family sacrifice and hard work of Asians here and abroad and emphasized that Senator Obama recognizes the struggles that the AAPI’s and their ancestors have gone through. He pointed out that Barack Obama’s first Chief of Staff was Asian, and that one of his Legislative Directors was Chinese who would then be later promoted to Chief of Staff as well.

Prominent members of the APIA community were in attendance at the Dayton Town Hall meeting included the VP of JACL National Public Affairs - Professor Ron Katsuyama, the President of Asian American Council - Professor Munsup Seoh, and Ed Stanek - the Government Relations Director for the National Federation of Filipino American Associations. In Columbus, Ohio State Representative Jay Goyal and CP Chen - the founder of the Ohio State Asian American Democratic Caucus, among others were at the event.

Campaign Literature about Barack Obama was available in several languages: Vietnamese, Hindi, Tagalog, Chinese, Urdu, Japanese and Korean.

It’s positive to see the APIA community stepping up in this year’s historical election season to make a difference.

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