Sam Yoon and Ethnicity
Recently, the Boston Globe published a piece about Sam Yoon and his use of his ethnicity for political purposes. For those of you who don’t know, Sam Yoon is running for mayor of Boston against incumbent Thomas Menino and Michael F. Flaherty, a former Boston City Council president.
Mr. Yoon, a Korean American, was recently seen parading around with a large fortune cookie at a St. Patrick’s Day function. In my opinion, he can’t be seen perpetuating Asian stereotypes and just say it is a joke. He is sending the wrong message about what the Boston mayoral competition should be about.
He hints a lot about riding the coattails of Obama’s historic victory and how much he idolizes him (I can probably beat him on that though), but he forgets that the key to Obama’s victory was to avoid the race issue and focus on the issues of everyone. If someone brings race up, address it of course, but downplay it because it should not be the focus of his campaign.
If I were his political adviser, I would tell him that if he really wants to emulate the Obama momentum, there a few things he can do. First, stop stating the obvious that he’s Asian. Second, focus on how to fix our schools especially in the neighborhoods of Roxbury and where he lives in Dorchester. Third, establish a working relationship based on mutual respect with the unions. Fourth, provide more opportunities for affordable housing. Finally, find a way to provide more jobs in the city of Boston to people that actually live in the city of Boston. Once he outlines this, the other things will fall into place.
One more thing, don’t rely on people that just want change for change sake. He’s got to find an identity and find issues that he is passionate about changing. He’s just not clear on this and that is what makes me so frustrated about him.
I have met him a couple of times, his passion for the city of Boston is admirable. However, these missteps make him look bad. Please stop pandering to people and start focusing on the issues that affect the people in the city of Boston! I know he is more than capable of doing this. He just needs a push and a good dose of reality.
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2 comments
i haven’t been keeping up with the race, but i’ve always thought that when sam ran for mayor (not if, but when) he should play up his ethnicity. i mean, i doubt he wanted to run this early in his political career, but now’s his chance – in a city that is so aware of ethnic identity, having two powerful and well-known guys split the irish and italian votes, sam should probably play UP his otherness.
he’s been down with felix and chuck in the past, so since both of them have been railroaded out of city council, let’s get that new majority back in effect and forget about these steps backward and start moving forward again.
[...] I haven’t been engaged in Sam Yoon’s mayoral aspirations for various reasons. As ChunFai mentioned earlier, Sam Yoon is running for the office of mayor in Boston, and while that news enthused me, hesitation [...]