Please help our 2009 Sam Yoon Fellow take Team Flaherty-Yoon to the Mayoral finish line!  Please read about Sam’s exciting alliance with Michael Flaherty as they take on an entrenched Boston Mayor. 

To quote from Senator Ted Kennedy, the work begins anew. This is exactly how I feel about the alliance of Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon. As Caroline has pointed out in an earlier AAA Fund blog post, Sam has joined forces with second-place finisher Michael Flaherty to unseat incumbent Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino.

This is exactly what Sam was talking about during his campaign by working collaboratively with people even if it is a person who was a fellow rival during the preliminary mayoral election. It is this type of innovative thinking that Boston desperately needs in a time when the country is moving ahead into the 21st century. Both Michael and Sam agree that Boston is stuck and that it take new ideas and new leadership to make sure Boston is also moving ahead into the 21st century.

As Sam mentioned during his speech on September 22nd, change is hard, but as Michael said on the same day, it also takes courage to change. That is what you need to think about when you are considering whether to continue to support my fellowship working for Sam. Changing course is hard but it also takes the courage to realize that the work DOES begin anew and that we cannot stop until that work takes Michael and Sam together to Boston City Hall on November 3rd. I do wish that you can extend your support for me to continue my fellowship. Thank you so much.

– ChunFai Chan

Now we ask for your help so ChunFai can continue his tireless work.  Please send your donation of $250, $100, $50, $25, or $15 (make checks out to “ChunFai Chan”) to AAA-Fund, 707 H St. NW, Ste. 200, Washington DC  20001).  No amount is too small.  We’ll then pass along your generous donations to ChunFai ASAP.

Thank you in advance for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

Please help our 2009 Sam Yoon Fellow take Team Flaherty-Yoon to the Mayoral finish line!  Please read about Sam’s exciting alliance with Michael Flaherty as they take on an entrenched Boston Mayor.

As I look back on my fellowship so far working for Sam Yoon, I am forever grateful that he and the AAA Fund gave me an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for him. I will never forget the first time I drove Sam and his wife Tina around Boston. It was an experience that I will never forget listening to what he had on his mind about change and collaboration to help Boston move into the 21st Century. That was no doubt my number-one best experience I ever had. (Yeah, you read that right, BEST EXPERIENCE.)

Working for Sam opened doors and experiences for me that I could not even imagine. Also, meeting great, talented, and energetic people was an awesome experience as well. It has sharpened my political view and analysis of what is wrong with the city of Boston as well as greater problems in our urban neighborhoods. It has made me a more confident speaker to people on the streets as well as a debater
and thinker of the problems that we do face in communities of color and why there needs to be fundamental changes in the system as well as trying to convince non-political people or people who just don’t vote very often why there needs to be that fundamental change.

This experience also made more aware of the neighborhoods in Boston especially the African-American neighborhoods. Even though I taught public school there for three years, it was still a learning experience. There were countless times at countless events over the past three months where I was the only Asian American person in a pre-dominantly African-American crowd. Driving, walking, meeting, and talking with regular, hard-working people in the neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan has made me feel more at ease going into these neighborhoods. The problem is despite my teaching experience in African American neighborhoods, I still needed to be deprogrammed of my pre-existing reservations about being in these neighborhoods. The problem stems from the fact that there is such a stigmatization in African-American neighborhoods no matter in which US city you are talking about. It takes a person with an open mind and a willingness to listen to overcome these reservations.

I would never have experienced all these things without Sam and the AAA Fund hiring me three months ago, but in that short time, I have been getting responses from people that I have changed and grown up so much. Indeed, I feel that what they are saying is true because it has been reflected in my writings and responses to articles on my Facebook page. Knowing and listening to the pulse of a community is very important trait to have especially in building the alliances that are needed to bring much needed representation and equity in decision-making positions not only in city government, but government in general.

There are more issues to discuss and more problems to solve in communities of color, but these are the highlights of what I experienced working on Sam’s campaign. However, my journey working for Sam Yoon is not over yet and I hope that I can continue to share this journey with all of you.

– ChunFai Chan

Now we ask for your help so ChunFai can continue his tireless work.  Please send your donation of $250, $100, $50, $25, or $15 (make checks out to “ChunFai Chan”) to AAA-Fund, 707 H St. NW, Ste. 200, Washington DC  20001).  No amount is too small.  We’ll then pass along your generous donations to ChunFai ASAP.

Thank you in advance for your generosity and thoughtfulness.