First Vote Documentary Panel Discussion
On October 22, 2020 at 6pm MT, the Center for Humanities & the Arts hosted a panel discussion on FIRST VOTE, a character-driven documentary film with unparalleled access to a diverse cross section of politically engaged Chinese Americans. Director Yi Chen and the four subjects of the film were present for the panel: Lance Chen, Jennifer Ho, Sue Googe, and Kaiser Kuo. The event was moderated by Professor Elizabeth Skewes, the Chair of Journalism at CU Boulder, who asked the panelists questions about voting and civic engagement to reinforce the importance of participating in US democracy through voting.
FIRST VOTE is a character-driven documentary film with unparalleled access to a diverse cross section of politically engaged Chinese Americans: a gun-toting Tea Party-favorite candidate courting GOP votes in the South; a podcaster in Ohio who became a citizen in order to vote for Trump; a progressive journalist confronting Chinese Americans for Trump after moving to a battleground state; and a University of North Carolina professor teaching about race and racism in the US.*** A vérité look at Chinese American electoral organizing in North Carolina and Ohio, the film weaves their stories from the presidential election of 2016 to the 2018 midterms, and explores the intersection of immigration, voting rights and racial justice. Until 1952, federal law barred immigrants of Asian descent from becoming U.S. citizens and voting. Today, Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in the United States. More than 11 million Asian Americans will be able to vote in 2020. Directed by Yi Chen, a Chinese immigrant and first-time voter herself, First Vote is a must-watch and rare long-form look at the diverse Asian American electorate.
The panel-style discussion took place from 6pm-7pm MT via Zoom.
You can find the recorded event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pNQI_141CY
