Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Jennie L. Ilustre
Who is Andrew Yang, and why is he running for president of the United States?
Yang, 44, is a successful businessman in the field of tech investment. He founded Venture for America (VFA). VFA is a national nonprofit fellowship program “that places graduates in struggling communities to help local businesses revitalize the economy.”
Yang is one of three Asian Pacific American candidates of the Democratic Party in the 2020 presidential elections. His candidacy is considered a long shot by political experts and the media. One reason: His lack of name recognition.Senator Kamala Harris, whose mother is originally from India, and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabard, the first Hindu elected to Congress, get more public and media attention. Also, it is a crowded field: There are some20 candidates from the Democratic Party.
Yang, however, has received a lot of media buzz for his innovative platform of Universal Basic Income (UBI). He has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Huffpost and TMZ. Last April 14, he appeared on CNN’s Townhall, along with another candidate, author Marianne Williamson. UBI is a form of social security that guarantees $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year, to every American adult over age 18.
Yang explained: “In the next 12 years, 1 out of 3 American workers is at risk of losing his or her job to new technologies,,,To avoid an unprecedented crisis, we’re going to have to find a new solution, unlike anything we’ve done before. It all begins with Universal Basic Income for all American adults.”
Asian American civil rights and community advocate Jon Melegrito welcomed the candidacies of the Asian Pacific Americans. He pointed out: “It is encouraging to know there are three Asian Pacific Americans running, giving a prominent voice to what concerns APAs – not just on immigration, but on a host of mainstream issues like health care, education and jobs. Each of these candidates has something unique to offer – their identities and ideas, backgrounds and experience.”
“A strong showing by APA candidates like Kamala Harris and AndrewYang will send a powerful statement to the Democratic National Committee about the voting power of APAs,” he added. Melegrito was the former publications director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), one of the nation’s top union organizations. He worked during the presidential campaigns of Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama in Iowa, Nevada and California.
1. Who is Andrew Yang?
His website states that Andrew Yang is a New York and Silicon Valley entrepreneur running as a Democrat. In 2011, he founded Venture for America, a national public service fellowship that places graduates in struggling communities to help local businesses revitalize the economy. Within six years, he helped create more than 2,500 jobs in cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. His work at VFA saw him recognized by the Obama White House as a 2012 Champion of Change and a 2015 Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.
2. Why is Andrew Yang running for president?
“I’m running for President as a Democrat in 2020 because I fear for the future of our country. New technologies – robots, software, artificial intelligence – have already destroyed more than 4 million US jobs, and in the next 5-10 years, they will eliminate millions more. A third of all American workers are at risk of permanent unemployment. And this time, the jobs will not come back.
“I’m not a career politician. I’m an entrepreneur who understands the economy. It’s clear to me, and to many of the nation’s best job creators, that we need to make an unprecedented change, and we need to make it now. But the establishment isn’t willing to take the necessary bold steps. As president, my first priority will be to implement Universal Basic Income for every American adult over the age of 18: $1,000 a month, no strings attached, paid for by a new tax on the companies benefiting most from automation. UBI is just the beginning. A crisis is underway – we have to work together to stop it, or risk losing the heart of our country. The stakes have never been higher.
“Once I understood the magnitude of this problem, and that even our most forward-thinking politicians were not going to take the steps necessary to stem the tide, I had no choice but to act. I’m the father of two young boys. I know the country my sons will grow up in is going to be very different than the one I grew up in, and I want to look back at my life knowing I did everything in my power to create the kind of future our children deserve—an America of opportunity, freedom, equality, and abundance.”
3. What is his platform as a candidate?
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a form of social security that guarantees $1,000 a month, of $12,000 a year, to every American adult over age 18 without having to pass a means test (economic status) or fulfill a work requirement. Medicare for All, ending the fear of medical bankruptcy while removing one of the largest costs associated with starting a small business; and Human-Centered Capitalism, changing the focus of our economic measurement from GDP to numbers that reflect the well-being of the average American. (GDP refers to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.)
At the April 14 CNN Townhall, Yang said he would like to hire a government ombudsman to monitor malicious speech in the country, particularly from the press. A CNN report quoted him as saying, “We have to be able to sort out people who are maliciously informing the American people and that to me is a much greater danger than we face now.”
4. Where can one get more information about his candidacy?
For more details, visit his website, www.yang2020.com
5. What are his chances of winning?
At this point, the media have reported that Andrew Yang is “a dark horse,” that he has “a long shot in winning the presidency.” Yang lacks the name recognition of frontrunner Senator Bernie Sanders – or if he runs, former Vice President Joe Biden. Asian Americans, the nation’s fastest growing minority, only make up five percent of the country’s population.
Yang is serious about his candidacy. CNN reported he filed paperwork for his campaign as early as November 2017. The report added Yang may have already met one requirement to qualify for the first June and July Democratic National Committee debates: he has gotten campaign contributions from 80,000 individual donors (the minimum needed is 65,000) from at least 20 different states. Yang reported donations totalling1.7 million in the first quarter. His campaign manager said for a political outsider, raising nearly 2 million is unheard of. To qualify for the debate, Yang must also reach a minimum 1% support in three separate polls.
Andrew Yang: In his own words
I was born in upstate New York in 1975. My parents immigrated from Taiwan in the 1960s and met in grad school. My Dad was a researcher at IBM—he generated 69 patents over his career—and my Mom was the systems administrator at a local university. My brother and I grew up pretty nerdy. We also grew up believing in the American Dream—it’s why my parents came here.
I studied economics and political science at Brown and went to law school at Columbia. After a brief stint as a corporate lawyer, I realized it wasn’t for me. I launched a small company in the early days of the internet that didn’t work out, and then worked for a healthcare startup, where I learned how to build a business from more experienced entrepreneurs.
In my thirties, I ran a national education company that grew to become #1 in the country. I also met my wife, Evelyn, and got married. My education company was acquired, and with Evelyn’s support, I decided to take my earnings and committed myself to creating jobs in cities hit hard by the financial crisis. By that time, I understood the power of entrepreneurship to generate economic growth, so I founded Venture for America, an organization that helps entrepreneurs create jobs in cities like Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.
In its first year, VFA trained 40 Fellows. By 2017, more than 500 VFA Fellows and alumni have launched dozens of companies and helped create over 2,500 jobs across the country. I even received a few awards from the Obama White House, being named a Champion of Change in 2012 and a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship in 2015.
