Actor Kelly Hu will headline a party for
presidential candidate Barack Obama’s Asian American Pacific Islander
supporters in the Bay Area on Tuesday, January 29, from 6 p.m. to 9
p.m. at Roe Restaurant, 651 Howard St., San Francisco. The event is
free.

Hu joins San Francisco school board members Jane Kim, Eric Mar and
Hydra Mendoza, filmmaker and Giant Robot’s Catherine Park and
organizers Keith Kamisugi, Brian Wang, Angelica Jongco, Stella Ngai,
Jenn Pae, Colbert Tse and others as co-hosts of gathering.

Like Hu, Senator Obama was born in Hawai’i, a state where Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders make up a significant portion of the
population. As a child of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic family that
included Asian Americans, Obama lived in Indonesia, sharing some of the
same personal experiences that many Asian immigrants in the United
States have also experienced before arriving on these shores.

A video featuring Hu speaking about her support for Obama can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/UnitedForObama, a YouTube channel with videos produced by filmmakers Eric Byler and Annabel Park.

“I am proud of the strong personal ties I have had with the Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders communities that go back to my birth,
and I am humbled to have the widespread support from these communities
in my campaign,” said Barack Obama in an earlier statement issued by
the campaign. “Like most Americans, the AAPI community knows that with
the great challenges facing our nation today, we need leadership that
can unite us to bring change we can believe in.”

Senator Obama comes down on the right side of all the major issues
impacting AAPIs, including staunch support for the DREAM Act,
comprehensive immigration reform that includes an emphasis on family
unification and improvements to the H-1B visa program, greater
investment in minority-owned small businesses, and an end to racial
profiling and discrimination.

Obama has the support of respected leaders such as former Calif.
Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, attorney and civil rights activist Angela Oh,
as well as endorsements by a new generation of AAPI officials,
including Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon, and San Francisco school
board members Kim, Mar and Mendoza. Other prominent supporters include
actor Kal Penn, Center for Asian American Media executive director
Eddie Wong, Joy Luck Club film producer Janet Yang and Los Angeles
County Hospital and Healthcare Delivery Commission chairman Stanley
Toy, who is also co-chair of Obama’s AAPI National Leadership Council.

For more information on the event and to RSVP, visit http://kellyhu.apaforobama.com. Senator Obama has an AAPI website at http://aapi.barackobama.com.  AAPIs interested in supporting Obama can visit http://asianamericansforobama.com to learn how to get involved.

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NOTE TO EDITORS: A print-resolution photo of Kelly Hu can be downloaded from http://apamediaaug2004.c.topica.com/maajIsrabEtF9aaaaaab/