There’s a memory seared into my brain when I was 5 years old.

It was the spring of 1942 when soldiers came marching up our driveway,

stomped up the front porch and banged on the door

and ordered my family out of our home.

We were imprisoned behind barbed wired fences

for four years, for the duration of the war.

Simply because we happened to look like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor.

We were American Citizens.

Yet, because of who we were, what we looked like,

we were in prison without due process.

It’s been 7 decades now we have made undreamed of advances.

President Obama has had 3 Asian Americans on the Cabinet:

Steven Chu, General Eric Shinseki and Gary Locke.

We now have legislators in the US Congress.

But we have, as an Asian American Community, low voter registration.

We've got to be actively involved in the electoral process.

And if you really appreciate the price that has been paid for that right,

you should be in there participating, protecting our interests

and in so doing making our democracy a truer democracy.

We have a unique opportunity to support a president who is a part of us.

He grew up in Hawaii, the ‘Aloha’ spirit, his sister’s half-Asian,

he understands, and loves, the Asian-American community.

President Obama’s record of helping to advance opportunities for Asian Americans

has been remarkable.

We support President Obama for re-election because of that fantastic record.

I can’t urge you strongly enough to register to vote,

to raise funds, to volunteer your time and energy.

Talk to your friends, talk to your relatives:

it’s very important for all of us.

For more information on how to get involved, go to

barackobama.com/aapi

(Obama Biden - barackobama.com/aapi)
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(subtitles based on the transcript in http://lybio.net/george-takei-weve-got-to-be-actively-involved-in-the-electoral-process/news-politics/)