Proponents of I-1000 claim that they are going after “white privilege”, and consider the Asian American Community a part of the group that has benefited from I-200. However, in the battle against I-1000, Asian Americans are the underprivileged.
Asian Americans bounded together to fight against I-1000 are facing an uphill battle against special interest groups, political establishment, and mainstream media. I-1000’s PDC report shows spending of $689K on signature collection alone but lacks information on who is writing the big check. Political establishment, Governor Jay Inslee, former Governor Dan Evans, Gary Locke, Christine Gregoire are all backers of I-1000 because I-1000 will expand Governor’s power.
The most frustrating part is that mainstream media is also on I-1000’s side. When I-1000 was launched in August 2018, Seattle Times jumped on the news very fast. KUOW, King 5, Q13 Fox, all followed. However, when I-1000 submitted signatures on Friday, Jan. 4th, 2019, not one single mainstream media reported it. Even Tim Eyman’s $30 car tab got Seattle Times coverage when submitted signatures on Thursday, Jan. 3rd. Wondering why? They want to hide I-1000 under the rug so that Legislature can quietly pass it.
On Tuesday, Jan. 8th, we launched a stream of tweets aiming at mainstream media. Seattle Times finally reported I-1000 and quoted statement from our media advisory on Thursday. KUOW also reported I-1000 and quoted statement from our site on the same day. Despite our media advisory, press release, no other mainstream media reported I-1000.
Despite Seattle Times’ sugar coding, comments under the I-1000 article are mostly against I-1000. People want a colorblind society. The special interest groups, political establishment, and mainstream media all know that they do not stand a chance if I-1000 goes on the ballot. They are using their political clout to hide I-1000 for the public.
Still, we, underprivileged Asia Americans, have decided to fight against I-1000 till the very end.