截至周五上午,科技企业家杨安泽是唯一将出现在民主党12月辩论中的有色人种候选人。
民主党全国委员会(民主党全国委员会)经历了从数月前笨拙的10名候选人表现中筛选出该领域的严格审查过程。
这样一来,民主党全国委员会无意中消除了党内庆祝的一些多样性。几位领导历史性竞选的候选人——如众议员朱利安·卡斯特罗和参议员卡马拉·哈里斯——要么被该党提高的标准所抛弃,要么因财政拮据而被迫辞职。
民主党第六次总统初选辩论将于12月19日在洛约拉·玛丽蒙特大学举行,将由美国公共广播公司新闻小时和政客。
就他而言,身为台湾裔美国人的杨致远周二庆祝了这一消息,并向观众宣布,他的竞选团队刚刚获得了第四次资格投票,在此前获得了最低数量的捐赠后,该投票将于12月份在舞台上进行。
当杨致远突破终点线时,他独特的包容也给剥夺了其他候选人开展历史性竞选活动的机会的过程带来了严峻的考验。许多人都在问,如果不是因为他们的种族,情况相似的候选人怎么可能取得相似的结果。
“我不认为你可以不考虑这样一个事实,即作为一名有色人种女性,[·卡马拉·哈里斯也面临着前所未有的性别歧视,种族主义也加剧了这种歧视,作为一名有色人种女性候选人,”风景共同主持人桑妮·霍斯丁在最近的一集里说。“我认为令人惊讶的是,有些人仍然在比赛中面临问题,[,但他们仍然]在比赛中。”
2019年6月27日,佛罗里达州迈阿密,民主党总统候选人前技术主管杨安泽在第一次民主党总统辩论的第二晚发表讲话。杨最近有资格参加该党在洛杉矶举行的2020年第六次初选辩论。
但那些试图将辩论阶段少数族裔候选人的缺席归咎于民主党全国委员会的人,可能错过了这场比赛中描绘出他们未能突破的更复杂图景的关键动力。
最近的一项调查来自《经济学人》YouGov发现,正如整个竞选过程中的许多调查一样,2020年民主党领袖乔·拜登正在赢得少数选民的大力支持。将近一半的黑人民主党人和超过三分之一的西班牙裔民主党人更喜欢拜登。没有其他候选人能从少数族裔选民那里获得同等份额的支持。
另一方面,19%的白人民主党人更喜欢前副总统。参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦和伯尼·桑德斯是获得大量少数选票的其他候选人。
黑人和拉丁美洲选民对白人候选人的支持,通常是排斥更能代表自己背景的候选人,这并不是缺乏选择的结果。
当盖洛普在9月下旬调查民主党选民时,73%的非白人报告说,他们总体上对竞选候选人的选择感到满意,而不是期望另一名候选人参加竞选。
前参议员卡罗尔·莫斯利·布劳恩是第一位在美国参议院任职的黑人女性,她支持拜登参加2020年的竞选。
布劳恩在一篇专栏文章中解释道:“我们一直都知道国内媒体现在在说什么:有色人种女性将是[初选决定的关键。”。“乔·拜登也一直知道这一点,他的记录证明他现在会一如既往地为我们努力工作。”
ANDREW YANG IS THE ONLY PERSON OF COLOR TO QUALIFY FOR THE DEMOCRATS' DECEMBER DEBATE
As of Friday morning, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang is the only candidate of color who will appear in the Democratic Party's December debate.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has undergone the enormously scrutinized process of winnowing the field from its unwieldy 10-candidate performances of months prior.
In doing so, the DNC has inadvertently eliminated some of the diversity that had been celebrated within the party's ranks. Several candidates leading historic campaigns—such as those of Congressman Julián Castro and Senator Kamala Harris—have either been abandoned by the party's heightened standards or have been forced to shutter due to financial constraints.
The Democratic Party's sixth presidential primary debate will take place on December 19 at Loyola Marymount University and will be co-hosted by the PBS NewsHour and Politico.
For his part, Yang, who is Taiwanese-American, celebrated the news on Tuesday, announcing to an audience that his campaign had just achieved the fourth-qualifying poll needed to appear on stage in December after having previously secured the minimum amount of donors.
As he breaches the finish line, Yang's unique inclusion is also casting a harsh light on the process that deprived other candidates of the opportunity to carry forth their historic campaigns. Many are asking how similarly situated candidates, but for their race, could not achieve similar outcomes.
"I don't think you can look at [the hurdles] without also looking at the fact that, as a woman of color, [Kamala Harris] also faced unprecedented sexism compounded by racism as well, as a female candidate of color," The View co-host Sunny Hostin said during a recent episode. "And I think it's just surprising that there are people who are still in the race facing issues, [and yet they're] still in the race."
Democratic presidential candidate former tech executive Andrew Yang speaks during the second night of the first Democratic presidential debate on June 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida. Yang recently qualified for the party's sixth 2020 primary debate in Los Angeles.
But those seeking to cast blame on the DNC alone for the absence of minority candidates on the debate stage may be missing key dynamics within the race that paint a more complex picture of their failure to break through.
A recent survey from The Economist and YouGov found, as have many surveys throughout the race, that the leading 2020 Democrat, Joe Biden, is earning substantial support from minority voters. Nearly half of black Democrats and over one-third of Hispanic Democrats prefer Biden. No other candidate attracts a comparable share of support from minority voters.
On the other hand, a disproportionately small share of white Democrats, at 19 percent, prefer the former vice president. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are the other candidates who receive a substantial share of the minority vote.
The support of black and Latino voters for white candidates, often to the exclusion of candidates more representative of their own backgrounds, is not a function of a lack of options.
When Gallup surveyed Democratic voters in late September, 73 percent of non-whites reported that they were generally pleased with the selection of candidates running, as opposed to desiring another entrant in the race.
Former Senator Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, endorsed Biden for the 2020 race.
"We've always known what so many in the national media are now saying: Women of color will be key to that [primary] decision," Braun explained in an op-ed. "Joe Biden has always known that, too, and his record proves that he'll work hard for us now, as he always has."