Filipinos in US say 'Yes, we can' to Obama

After being passive for too many elections, Filipinos in San Francisco have found their voice and they’re chanting: "Yes, we can."

Around 150 Filipino-Americans in the Bay area, including educators, politicians and community leaders, gathered downtown last week for the formal kick-off of Filipinos for Obama (FFO), a grassroots organization of supporters of presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the first ever person of colour who has a real shot at the White House.

To "Filipinize" the event, the fired-up Obama supporters occasionally erupted in chants of "Kaya ba? Kaya!" Which is Obama’s campaign slogan, "yes, we can" in Filipino.

"I’ve never seen this level of energy and enthusiasm and commitment from our community; this is astounding," six-term West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon said in an interview on the sidelines of the kick-off party at the Zebulon Lounge.

Cabaldon said the movement has the potential of ending the "invisibility" of Filipino-Americans in the landscape of U.S. national politics, according to a report in The Inquirer.

"For the first time in probably two generations, (there are a lot of) young people seriously engaged in politics ... And it seems (their interest is) stronger than it’s ever been," said the Filipino-American who is seeking re-election this year.

There are around four million Filipino immigrants in the U.S. comprising the second biggest Asian-American bloc in the country, representing 1.5 per cent of the U.S. population.

However, only about a million are registered voters. In Nevada, considered a swing state, nearly half of the Asian-American voting population is of Filipino descent, but only 18 per cent of Asians of voting age are registered to vote.

"It’s 77 days before the elections of our lifetime … we need to register Pinoy voters; we need to tell our stories, to talk to every single Filipino out there especially our Lolas, Titas, Titos (grandmothers, aunts and uncles), our cousins … we can make a huge impact in the elections particularly because there are a lot of Filipinos in the swing states," said FFO chair Angelica Jongco.