【4/8/2021】 CAPA-NoVA Distinguished Chinese American Project
（Written by: Tian Olson）
杨安泽 (Andrew Yang) (1975-) The son of immigrants from Taiwan, ran for President of the U.S. in the 2020 election. Yang’s campaign focused on responding to the rapid development of automation, which is leading to workforce challenges in the U.S. His signature policy was the “Freedom Dividend,” a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 a month to every American adult as a response to job displacement by automation, Yang went from a relative unknown to a major competitor in the 2020 presidential race. Yang qualified for and participated in seven of the first eight Democratic debates and has been credited with elevating discussions on UBI, automation, and autism to the national level, as well as for engaging Asian Americans in presidential politics. Yang is at least the third American of East Asian descent to run for President of the U.S., after Hiram Fong and Patsy Mink. According to BBC, he “is one of the first and most recognizable East Asian-Americans in history to run for president.” He has said that he hopes his campaign can inspire Asian Americans to be engaged in politics. Yang is currently running for the Major of New York.
More information about Yang: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Yang
Yang’s campaign website: https://www.yangforny.com
POLITICO Interview of Yang: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/04/andrew-yangs-asian-american-superpower-479011
