Humanity First: How Andrew Yang Made Me New Friends and Changed my Life

This is a story of unity. A story of diversity. This is my personal story about Andrew Yang’s 2020 campaign and the Yang Gang—how I got involved, how my perspective transformed, and how Andrew’s entrance into politics inspired hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country including me, a Cambodian American woman, to forget about our differences and demand a human-centered capitalism.

By Lena Chhay

Imagine this: an army veteran and former Trump voter, a Republican teacher, a gay libertarian, a nuclear activist, and a social justice warrior who caucused for Bernie Sanders (me) all walk into a bar. We have pleasant conversation, play 2020 election trivia, discuss upcoming volunteer opportunities, then plan to meet at the same time and place the following week. This was my reality every week from July 2019 to February 2020. We call ourselves the Yang Gang – we are supporters of 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

Andrew’s message transcends political ideology, identity politics, and socio-economic status – pulling together a wholly diverse set of humans. This will not be a detailed article about Andrew Yang’s 150+ policies, or how he rose from being virtually unknown to the top 6 out of 20+ candidates.

This is a story of unity. A story of diversity. This is my personal story about Andrew Yang’s 2020 campaign and the Yang Gang—how I got involved, how my perspective transformed, and how Andrew’s entrance into politics inspired hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country including me, a Cambodian American woman, to forget about our differences and demand a human-centered capitalism. The core value from this journey I will carry on forever; it is the motto: Humanity First.

Before I tell you about how Humanity First changed who I am, I must first describe who I was. A year ago, I was a young Cambodian-American professional, a college graduate and activist. My network was 90% Asian. My lengthy posts on Facebook revolved around a few topics: racism, sexism, and the stupidity of Donald Trump. I listed Facebook contacts, like my dad, as “acquaintances” to avoid Facebook comment wars with people opposite from me – namely Republicans, Trump supporters, and un-woke white people. I was quick to judge others solely from their stance on politics and social issues.

My then-network was an echo chamber, “an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own and alternative ideas are not considered.” I was in a woke, progressive, social justice-driven bubble. According to one Stanford article*, echo chambers led to political polarization in 2016. Unfortunately, our networks are not much different today in 2020.

I first read about Andrew Yang in a New York Times article. He was most known for being the candidate who proposed The Freedom Dividend, a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 per month given to every US adult paid for by a combination of consumption taxes, carbon taxes, and reducing bureaucratic bloat in the government. This Freedom Dividend would be a response to the automation of millions of jobs across the US, such as automated retail checkout and self-driving trucks. This type of economy left alone would generate billions for the wealthiest via AI and robots, leaving American humans behind. Lena Chhay and Andrew Yang at a town hall in Van Meter, IA

Andrew is the first Asian-American Democratic presidential candidate in our history. I followed him closely in the news and through YouTube interviews. The more Andrew spoke, the more his ideas resonated with me—from UBI to protecting our data from corporations. Something about him was addicting, a fellow Yang supporter described it as: “I believed in Andrew because his policies resonated with me so strongly. As a young woman hoping to start a family soon, I felt he was my best option to succeed. On top of his policies, I loved everything he stood for. He was kind, funny, and understanding. He talked to people instead of at them. His wife was beautiful inside and out, supportive and well spoken. His boys brought positivity and hope for future generations. The entire package represents the modern American Dream.”

Andrew was the candidate with it all— intellect, kindness, and relatability—and on top of that he is Asian-American. My own Asian parents nearly disowned me when I majored in political science in college and attended protests and marches, saying I should lay low and avoid rocking the boat. For me, the more representation people of color have in politics, the better. At first, I was extremely uncomfortable and questioned my own values. As someone who caucused for Bernie in 2016, I asked myself: How could I support this new candidate, when my activist friends are supporting someone else? Am I being true to myself in supporting this candidate?

I thought hard about the solutions each candidate was proposing this cycle. In the end, I decided ideas like UBI and ranked choice voting are necessary to helping Americans. After that decision, I researched volunteer opportunities to spread his message and ideas.

The media released articles portraying Yang supporters as mostly white males who lurked the depths of the internet. All of those traits were the opposite of myself, so I was anxious and nervous in the week leading up to my first volunteer event. I was surprised to find these articles were wrong. While the CO Yang Gang was majority white (like Colorado), there were quite a few Asian supporters and more female supporters than the article implied. In addition to race, the supporters were very ideologically diverse—progressives, conservatives, libertarians, non-voters, and everything in between were represented at nearly every event.

The more I got to know these other supporters, the more my empathy for these other humans grew. I heard the heart-breaking story of a now-friend whose brother, a veteran, was prescribed opioids as a treatment for PTSD. Although marijuana has been proven to be an effective treatment for PTSD, because it is illegal federally, the VA cannot prescribe it to veterans in need. This human voted for Trump in 2016 thinking he would bring major change for his brother’s situation – it didn’t.

I learned about muscular dystrophy, a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass, and its impact on the human body. This supporter and I are the same age (late twenties). He lost a friend recently due to muscular dystrophy, and eventually the disease will claim his life as well. We canvassed the 16th Street Mall together, organized debate watch parties, and packed hundreds of sack lunches for the homeless in his apartment. Despite cold weather impacting his disease negatively, he joined us for many winter events, saying “I will get Andrew elected, even if it kills me.”

These conversations over time turned into friendships. Ironically, Lena from 2016 would fight for diversity, but my friends were 90% similar in race and ideology. Lena of 2020 has a much more diverse network filled with those of varying race, gender, and political party.

I am now friends with a lifelong Republican, who recently switched to Independent to vote for Andrew in the Colorado primary. I’ll be supporting him at his upcoming spring choir concert. Although neither of us had volunteered for a political candidate before, we both were inspired to go to Iowa in mid-January to canvass for Andrew Yang. While in Iowa, I knocked on over 800 doors with a group of volunteers from St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Seattle. I met volunteers who quit their jobs to drive to Iowa and canvass for Andrew in below zero temperatures.

Whatever anger I had in the past against others, turned into hope for our country. I no longer felt right in cancelling, or retaliating, against people who made inappropriate remarks – instead I would think harder about the best way to respond. And I did. I shared my perspective as a Cambodian-American female. I challenged my friends to attack policies, not personality. I learned to see people who are different than me as humans first before I saw them as libertarians, Republicans, or Trump supporters. Andrew reinforced this idea publicly. Evelyn and Andrew Yang with Colorado Yang Gang Matthew Lazar in Iowa

Kiet (St. Louis), Jamie (Seattle), YJ (Los Angeles), and Lena (Denver) enjoy a Costco lunch while canvassing in Clive, IA

Andrew once said: “One thing I think Democrats should do, I think we should go on Fox News and talk to the American people. Because how can you win an election and bring the country together if you literally won’t talk to 40% or 50% of the population?” He didn’t say Republicans or Trump supporters; he said American people. While we may not agree on everything, we are all a part of a shared country, human race, and economy.

Throughout the campaign, I struggled balancing my passion for Asian-American social justice and supporting Andrew Yang. MATH – Make America Think Harder – was another slogan for the Yang campaign. Andrew received sharp criticism from the Asian-American community, especially in regards to perpetuating stereotypes and the Model Minority myth.

During the September 2019 democratic debate, Andrew made an Asian doctor joke. Soon after, a comedian called Andrew a racist expletive. Instead of calling for the comedian to be fired (he was fired), Andrew instead invited the comedian to have a conversation to understand his intentions. My Facebook feed flooded with dozens of comments attacking Andrew. I was at conflict with myself – I fully understood why these stereotypes harm our community. At the same time, am I reinforcing these stereotypes I hate by supporting this candidate?

My answer came when I asked Andrew a question on a conference call. He responded saying the last thing he wanted to do was to prevent our community from moving forward. He didn’t want to lose the core message of his campaign, but he would make less jokes if it meant progress for our community. The Yang Gang values include grace and forgiveness: “We are all human, and not perfect. While we always strive to do the right thing, when we or others fail at achieving our high standards, we believe in grace, love, and forgiveness so we can learn from mistakes and improve upon them for next time.” We often hold others to high standards and retaliate/punish before giving them a chance to show they’ve learned. I needed to show some Humanity First, and give Andrew a chance to show he listened to our community. Indeed, he did.

On February 11, Andrew Yang announced the suspension of his campaign. The Denver Yang Gang had a Yang Hang that night. When we found out, we stared confused and shocked at the TV. The night started with our hearts sunk. For many of the Yang Gang, it was their first time donating, much less volunteering for a political candidate. The sacrifices we made as a group hung over our heads as the red banner flashed across the screen, “Breaking – Andrew Yang suspends campaign.” That night, with tears falling down our cheeks, I hugged and comforted my now friends until the last one closed out their tab and went home.

As a Colorado Yang Gang, we’ve collectively knocked on thousands of doors across Colorado, Iowa, and New Hampshire, and spread Yang’s message to thousands more by sign-waving on intersections and over highways since July 2019. We volunteered thousands of hours, organizing canvassing here in Colorado, but also engineering canvassing operations in California, Oklahoma, and New Hampshire (shoutout to Dave). I bought a laser printer off of Craigslist to print thousands of brochures to hand out, and flew to Iowa in the middle of winter to canvass for a week. We uprooted our lives and routines to spread Andrew’s ideas, and it hurt that much more to return to “business as usual” after the campaign suspended. After all that work, it was over. Or was it? Andrew Yang brought more to the country than he probably ever thought. Through his campaign, his wife Evelyn Yang had the platform to share her story of sexual assault—inspiring over 70 other women to come out and press charges against the same perpetrator.

Millions of Asian-American children saw Andrew, thinking one day they could run for president of the United States as well. Dozens of candidates have announced running in local and state elections with Andrew’s modern solutions on their platform since Andrew begun his campaign. Finally, Andrew inspired his supporters to see others as humans first. Days after Andrew’s campaign suspension, my new friends texted me asking how I was doing, and if I wanted to continue our weekly Yang Hangs so that we can keep in touch. We are brainstorming ways we can bring Andrew’s modern solutions to the country, hand-in-hand.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to realize that what unifies us is stronger than what divides us. Andrew’s 2020 campaign might be over, but the Humanity First movement has just begun. August Democratic Debate watch party at the University of Denver Denver Yang Hang packed and handed out 300+ sack lunches for homeless citizens I shared my perspective as a Cambodian-American female. I challenged my friends to attack policies, not personality. I learned to see people who are different than me as humans first before I saw them as libertarians, Republicans, or Trump supporters.