I have never met Kathy Zhu, the 20-year-old former Miss Michigan whose crown was stripped by Miss World America on July 19 when organizers deemed some of her old Twitter posts inappropriate. But as a journalist who has spent several months talking to Chinese conservatives in the U.S., including some who worked with Zhu to campaign for Donald Trump in 2016, I feel like I know her story inside out.
I know why she and many other new Chinese immigrants have been gravitating toward the right. And I know how American liberals, particularly those who are Chinese American, have failed to engage them.
Many of the people I spoke to for my recent story in National Review, “The Rise of the Chinese-American Right,” came to this country for higher education and, over the two or three decades they’ve been here, have not been politically vocal. In fact, they’ve had no political preference until recently, when they began to believe their middle-class lives and the future of their children are being threatened by a slew of programs bearing the progressive mark, from the legalization of marijuana to the racially conscious admissions policies of top high schools and universities.
I know why she and many other new Chinese immigrants have been gravitating toward the right. And I know how American liberals, particularly those who are Chinese American, have failed to engage them.
Many of the people I spoke to for my recent story in National Review, “The Rise of the Chinese-American Right,” came to this country for higher education and, over the two or three decades they’ve been here, have not been politically vocal. In fact, they’ve had no political preference until recently, when they began to believe their middle-class lives and the future of their children are being threatened by a slew of programs bearing the progressive mark, from the legalization of marijuana to the racially conscious admissions policies of top high schools and universities.
