Approximately 50,000 Hmong people, members of an ethnic group from Southeast Asia, immigrated to the United States four decades ago. Today, many have become American citizens. How did they adapt to an unfamiliar political system? What topics are they paying attention to? What factors affect their voting? Before the 2022 Election period we went to Wisconsin, a state with the third largest Hmong populations in the U.S, to answer these questions. 

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New York City plans to introduce a long-discussed congestion toll plan, which would charge drivers extra to enter Manhattan’s Central Business District or any area south of 60th Street. 

The toll plan would make New York City the first city in the nation to charge drivers an extra fee for entering a heavily congested area. The state agency that runs New York City’s subways, buses and commuter rail lines plans to charge some motorists anywhere from $9 to $23 to enter Midtown. This area is home to popular buildings that gain a large number of visitors and employ a large number of workers at the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and Hudson Yards, among others. 

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced the congestion pricing plan early last month with a mission to address the traffic on the city streets and the financial needs of the public transportation system. 

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council found that before the pandemic, approximately 700,000 vehicles would enter the Midtown area on a daily basis. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Association’s (MTA) estimate, if the fee were set to $23, there would be about 27,500 fewer cars daily. 

“Congestion pricing is also necessary to support the long-term financing the MTA must have to modernize our outdated signal system, make all our subway stations accessible, and expand and improve service,” Lander said in a press release. 

“We pay NYC taxes, yet would be penalized for coming to access services like hospitals in Manhattan,” Adj, a Manhattan resident said. “People in transit deserts who live in New York City deserve to be able to drive into Manhattan.”

New York City was ranked as the worst among cities in the U.S. in terms of congestion by the 2021 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard — which doesn’t come as a surprise to many. 

Many New York City residents are frustrated and the hashtags #axthecongestiontax and #nocongestionpricing have been trending on social media. 

The Upper East Side’s Community Board 8 Congestion Pricing Task Force also rejected the MTA’s plan in a recent vote. 

“I don’t really think anyone drives through Manhattan for fun,” said Candice Brathwaite, a 41-year-old resident from Hell’s Kitchen. 

Brathwaite is a working mom of three who drives into Midtown on a weekly basis to get to her marketing job in Hudson Yards. When she first heard about the toll plan, she immediately felt stressed because of how much she relies on her car. 

“I don’t have a choice,” Brathwaite said. “My spouse uses our car to drive to carpentry jobs in the film industry and I use our car for work.”

Brathwaite also said this will have a financial impact on her family. She currently pays about $450 a month to park her car and about $460 in other tolls. When the plan goes into effect and if the rate is $23, it will add an estimated $690 to her costs just for using “a car that’s already paid off.” 

For some New York City drivers, the congestion plan may completely stop them from riding into the city. 

“Congestion pricing will only enhance the experience of being in Midtown Manhattan,” Zak Kamin, a 33-year-old from Queens, who drives into the city one or two times a week for work, said. “The worst part of being there is the cars. They should use this opportunity to pedestrianize huge swaths of Midtown to make it a more pleasant place to be.”

If it goes through, Kamin says he would stop driving to Manhattan if he is forced to pay a congestion fee. Even though he would rather take the train than drive into the city, he still supports the toll. 

Glenn Dewar, a resident from Astoria, said he is concerned that the MTA is asking for money from people who technically aren’t using the MTA’s services, including the city’s subway, buses and commuter rails. He believes the true goal of the fee is to raise money instead of cutting congestion. 

“They want to raise the revenue on the backs of a few people,” Dewar said. “The real solution is to spread the tax over all people who come into NYC.”

Lawrence Wirth, a resident of New York City, also agrees and believes residents of Midtown, Manhattan are generally not causing the congestion and should be exempt from the toll since they live within the tolling zone. 

“I don’t believe that residents of the congestion area who register their cars within the congestion area should have to pay this additional tax to help fund the MTA,” Wirth said. “Most residents with cars use their cars to leave the congestion area on weekends.”

Those who are retired and living within the zone are also nervous about the tolls they will have to pay to run simple errands. 

“When I simply want to return home I will be charged a toll, while other NYC citizens can choose to avoid the zone, but I live here,” said Bert Hirsch, a retired federal employee living in Midtown, uses his car to visit and help and take care of his grandchildren. “If the tolls go into effect, it will greatly increase my living costs.”

While many residents oppose the plan, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) — a not-for-profit organization that focuses on recommendations to improve the economic health, environmental resiliency and quality of life in the New York metropolitan area — is in full support of congestion pricing. 

According to RPA communications director Brian Fritsch, the RPA first recommended the idea of a congestion toll back in 1996 to make the city region more economically competitive and has continued to bring up the issue since then. 

“For decades, RPA has strongly supported congestion pricing because it is a centerpiece of a set of policies that will lead to a greener, more equitable region,” Kate Slevin, the executive vice president of the RPA said in a press release. 

In developing the plan, the MTA has considered various exceptions to the tolling program including exempting Manhattan residents, emergency vehicles, cars that travel specifically on the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive or West Side Highway but do not exit onto city streets and residents who live in the tolling zone that earn less than $60,000. 

Although the public hasn’t responded well to the idea that they will have to pay a toll and believe the exemptions aren’t enough, experts believe the earnings from the toll plan are necessary and will greatly improve the public transportation system. 

“Bringing our public transportation up to a world-class standard and building some additional capacity in places where it’s necessary will be extremely helpful for making New York City on par with other world cities that have continued to invest in mass transit over the last couple of generations,” Fritsch said. 

According to the RPA, the tolls collected are expected to raise about $15 billion dollars for MTA in revenue, which will fully go towards paying for improvements including subway upgrades, accessibility improvements, electric buses and new train cars. 

Additionally, an environmental review of congestion pricing in the city revealed that higher toll prices would result in steeper declines in traffic. The review also found that the air quality would improve overall and save the area from pollution with greater beneficial effects within and closer to the area. 

“We must get congestion pricing done so we can invest in public transit, curb emissions, and reduce traffic, which has roared back to pre-COVID levels,” New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a press release. 

There have also been public hearings in which experts, politicians, business owners and residents have been speaking out regarding the congestion pricing plan. 

Many expressed concerns for those from other boroughs who may not have easy access to the subway system and can’t avoid driving into the city including Queens and the Bronx. However, according to the MTA’s Central Business District Tolling Program Fact Sheet, the tolling program is necessary because it is expected to expand “access for low-income residents and visitors by improving travel options.”

The MTA’s environmental assessment also revealed that drivers who are trying to avoid the tolls would then contribute to traffic and pollution in areas like the Bronx, which is already heavily congested and polluted. It is also predominantly lower-income and made up of people of color — which raises a concern about racial equity as well. 

To combat this, the RPA is urging Governor Kathy Hochul, the MTA and city leaders to “develop a comprehensive approach to address localized impacts” that will prioritize the health of communities like the Bronx. 

Although there has been a large amount of pushback, the city still seems to be moving forward with the plan. 

As one of the busiest areas of New York City is set to see change, many residents are thinking about what Midtown Manhattan will look like in 20 years and whether it will be an area in which they truly want to live or work in. 

Both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Office and New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

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The vibrant red walls, fluorescent ring lights and scattered photographs of legendary basketball scenes painted an upbeat atmosphere in Tha Illest Barber Shop, located in the South side of Racine. A black and white portrait of Marilyn Monroe sits next to a washed out wall hanging with slanted words that read, “dreams to reality”. It’s difficult to imagine that several of the employees are felons or that the barber shop itself had been the site of a stabbing just a few months ago. The incident occurred between the co-owner of the shop and a man who he says came and provoked fighting and violence. 

Some of the employees at the barber shop won’t be voting because they lost their right as felons. Others won’t be voting because they’ve lost hope that politics will lead to change. After growing up in poor areas with high crime rates and frequent discrimination, these residents feel like their government has failed them — and it’s turned them off from any kind of civic participation. 

Nov. 6, 2022 – Racine, WI: Scenes from inside Tha Illest Barber Shop. Photo by Tatiana Ramirez.

Ron Johnson, who won his campaign for re-election, has served as a US Senator representing Wisconsin for eight years. His campaign was largely focused on tackling crime and drugs, but not in a way that helps those stuck in the cycle of it, according to Michael Torres Peterson, a 39-year-old employee at Tha Illest Barber Shop. Rather than prevent crime in the Southern part of the city where violence is most prevalent, he believes politicans in the area have increased police presence and focused on keeping the safer areas secure from external threats. Peterson believes that the areas that need support from government services, have remained largely unaddressed.

Peterson says that he wouldn’t vote even if he had the right to do so. He feels that the tough on crime approach that Johnson has embraced, only leads to repetitive incarceration cycles with the same people in and out of prison. It also doesn’t help remediate the parts of Racine that are in need of crime reduction.

“Like you look at certain areas in Racine, it has looked the same for years,” Peterson said.  “Politicians that have been elected over the years that promise change in certain areas in Racine, and all they did was increase more police in the same exact areas. And the crime rate is still the same.”

According to Crime Grade’s estimates, Racine has a crime rate of 47.58 per 1,000 residents. To put that in perspective, 82% of cities in the U.S. are safer than Racine. 

Peterson says that in certain parts of the city, like the Northwest,which is considered safer, the streets look cleaner and feel safer than they did before — but they weren’t the areas that needed help. As someone who has been incarcerated three times, Peterson feels that increasing police presence in the south part of Racine only contributes to stagnant crime rates and increasing incarceration rates. He also says that sending people in and out of prison breaks up families, which leads the children of those in prison to follow similar paths. 

Peterson doesn’t only blame the current senator though. While Johnson, a conservative politician, has served for eight years, Governor Tony Evers has served since 2019 and represents the Democratic Party. When he looks at his community, Peterson finds inadequacy from both parties and believes both remain equally self-motivated.

“When it’s beneficial to politics, to, to utilize the black vote, that’s when black people become important, and that’s when minorities become important.” Peterson said. “But other than that, only time you’re important is when they put you in cups and chains and throw you in the system.”

He says that the Democratic party may build their platform on diversity, but they often fail to follow through on commitments. On a local level, the minority communities that need the most help often remain underserved. 

Nov. 6, 2022 – Racine, WI: Scenes from Tha Illest Barber Shop. Employee Germaine Spears styles a customer. Photo by Tatiana Ramirez.

“Now you try to contact that person who is just smiling in your face and shaking your hand. You get their secretary, you get a voicemail, you get an ‘oh, we’ll call you back’, you might get an email,” Peterson said. “I’s not coming from that individual that just shook your hand, smiled in your face, and made you all types of promises.”

Peterson isn’t the only one to feel like politicians care more about the race than they do about making an actual difference to the people voting for them. In fact, when Jamie Peterson, the Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), introduced Senate Candidate and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes at his Kenosha rally on Nov. 6, he brought up a story that raised this exact issue. While canvassing for the South Carolina Democratic party in 2014, he recounts knocking on the door of an African American man who said he had no interest in voting. He was more concerned about the dirt road that he lived on getting paved; the road had remained untouched for multiple election cycles. 

“Everybody has that proverbial dirt road,” Harrison said.”Because you have politicians who have made promises, but they don’t do them.” 

Harrison shares this anecdote as a reminder to elect politicians that will carry out their promises and serve all residents of the area they’re elected in, a standard that he feels the acting senator hasn’t done. The example from 2014 reinforces the same message that Peterson feels in 2022. 

“You all have something very different here in Wisconsin. You have leadership in folks like Governor Evers and Lieutenant Governor Barnes who have made promises,” Harrison said. “You all committed in 2020 because you all went to the polls and elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who made promises and they have worked hard to keep them.”

Peterson’s coworker at the barber shop, Germaine Spears, 31, shares a similar perspective. Spears has never been incarcerated but has been branded by other traumatizing experiences. He vividly remembers checking in with his friend after a shooting in the area that occurred in 2013. He says that as he was walking and talking on the phone, he says he was aggressively confronted by police who accused him of matching the description of the shooter. He recalls this instance as his first negative encounter with police. Then, at age 26, Spears’ friend, Donte Shannon, died after being shot by police in a chase. 

Even though he voted for Obama back in 2012, he’s lost all interest in politics in the years since. He’s seen too much suffering and not enough change to care about who gets elected next.

“Take Biden for example, he forgets what he says,” Spears said, referring to Biden’s promise to forgive student loans. 

Spears, like many others, made financial decisions based on the expectation of student loan forgiveness and says he now has $20,000 of debt that he has to pay off. At some point, when people are struggling, they stop caring about the petty arguments between parties and hope for improvement in their lives. 

Peterson and Spears, who have dealt with the same issues their whole lives, want to see visible change. For Peterson though, it feels like the two parties are more concerned with beating eachother down than with actually creating platforms that will make a difference for those in need. 

“Why do you have to always exploit somebody’s negatives to get what you want in life?” Peterson said. “If you come into it with a negative agenda of pointing out somebody else’s negative agenda, why would I even want to vote for you?” 

Peterson’s reaction to polarization is common among swing voters. According to a 2019 poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation that analyzed the 2016 election results, nearly a quarter of swing voters didn’t vote. This kind of turnout may explain why the election ended up being so close between Johnson and Barnes, a race that was expected to overwhelmingly lean conservative. 

As the country continues to become increasingly polarized, swing states like Wisconsin are losing voters by focusing more on exploiting their opponent. Even in Barnes’ rally, he focused heavily on Johnson’s faults. While he encouraged the crowd to vote blue if they want to see change, he didn’t explicitly get into his plan of action to make change happen. 

“There are no ads saying that, ‘Oh, thank you Ron Johnson for doing all this incredible work for us’, because he hasn’t, he hasn’t done anything for us,” Barnes said. “It is just wild to believe a person who’s been in office for 12 years doesn’t have a single positive ad about his campaign.”

Barnes even noted the fact that the speech primarily focused on Johnson and his failure to help communities in need.

“And I hate to go on and on and on about ’em, right?” Johnson said. “Because honestly, this should be about our values and our vision, and it is. That’s what the campaign is about.” 

Nov. 6, 2022 – Racine, WI: Scenes from outside Tha Illest Barber Shop. Photo by Tatiana Ramirez.

While Johnson focused less on his opponent, he also took part in shaming his approach to crime and mentioned that Barnes was ill-equipped for the job. Nikki Haley, who introduced Johnson, mainly discussed points in line with the larger party goals. Still though, she led a chant where she repeated the phrase, ‘not us, that’s them’, referring to all the shortcomings of the Democratic party platform. 

Without attending either rally, Peterson knows the kind of rhetoric that politicians were taking part in because he’s seen it many times before. He doesn’t want to contribute to the negativity from both sides — what he wants is a better economy and life for people in his community. 

With the exception of Trump, who gave out stimulus checks during the pandemic, Peterson says that he’s never received tangible aid from any politician. This is a factor that might change the way he views politicians. 

“At the end of the day, like he did something,” Peterson said. “He was delivering money to people’s front doors. God bless Trump.”

Peterson made it clear that he isn’t a fan of Trump but his perspective demonstrates the importance of government aid. He went as far as saying that drug dealers contribute more positively to his community than the government does, because they’re providing some kind of monetary relief. 

After years of stagnancy and financial qualms, people like Peterson and Spears have  given up. Moving forward, Spears said that the best he can do is educate his children and encourage them to stay out of trouble. 

“I don’t even want to have any type of encounters. I don’t wanna be stereotyped,” Spears said. “I lost all hope to be honest.”

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That’s why leaders of the organization Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) said they knocked on doors, had personal conversations, and showed up to support the candidates that align with their values. 

BLOC was founded in 2016 by current Executive Director Angela Lang in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She chose Milwaukee because it is one of the most incarcerated and segregated cities in America. 

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. JoVonna Lue, the Community Organizer of the Racine branch of BLOC talks about the day-to-day routine her line of work entails during election season in her office in Racine. Photo by Lauren Peacock

“We’re building up what Milwaukee started, and we’re bringing it to Racine and Kenosha,” said JoVonna Lue, Community Organizer of BLOC. “We’re having those day-to-day conversations and making sure we are present in the communities where we live.” 

Lue said she got involved because she wanted to help people improve their lives. She emphasized the importance of having simple, genuine conversations in her line of work. 

“We want to build those relationships,” Lue said. “These are our communities so we really have to care in order to find solutions to work together.”

Kyle Johnson, Political Director of the Racine branch of BLOC, said that in the 2018 midterm elections BLOC contributed to the Democratic sweep of the constitutional offices as well as Tammy Baldwin’s win. 

“In the last midterm election in 2018, BLOC knocked on more than 175,000 doors in Milwaukee,” Johnson said.

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. Kyle Johnson the Political Director of the Racine branch of BLOC discusses their hectic schedule days before the 2022 midterm elections in Wisconsin. Photo by Lauren Peacock.

BLOC leaders are open about the candidates they support and endorse publicly. Johnson said they work to show communities how these candidates can help residents more than their opponents. 

“You can see the hostility through the policy,” Johnson said.

BLOC worked tirelessly for the 2022 midterm election by making phone calls, sending text messages and knocking on doors. 

“We sent over 620,000 text messages, and knocked over 55,000 doors,” Johnson said. “We reached out to people with a sense of education and an intent to inform.”

Johnson said the organization works this hard to ensure certain candidates don’t get voted into office —Candidates like Tim Michels, the Republican who ran for governor of Wisconsin and lost to incumbent Tony Evers on Nov. 9, 2022. 

Michels said that Republicans would never lose another election in Wisconsin after he was elected. 

“He’s willing to sacrifice democracy for his party,” Johnson said. 

Evers supports the work that BLOC does. 

“I don’t care what side of the isle you’re on, getting people to vote is what democracy is all about,” Evers said, just days before the election. 

Johnson says that some people of color in Wisconsin that he met expressed feeling shut out of specific areas by white people. 

“They’re trying to turn Wisconsin into a Sundown state,” Johnson said. “ Know your place, stay in Milwaukee, stay in Racine, stay in Kenosha. The rest of this is ours.”

Johnson believes that the Supreme Court banning ballot boxes in Wisconsin is one obstacle blocking people of color from having easy access to voting.

“We have so many barriers already to jump through,” Johnson said. 

Bryan Tanayo, a 23-year-old resident of Kenosha, believes the work that organizations like BLOC do is essential because voting is not as accessible in communities of color. 

“For example, limited access to voting places,” Tanayo said “Some voting places are put far away in communities where people rely on public transportation.”

Johnson said that BLOC’s support for the Democratic party in the 2022 midterm election was based on harm reduction for communities of color. 

If BLOC didn’t endorse Democratic candidates like Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes, Johnson  feels that it would run the risk of having a representative who doesn’t support people of color. 

“If Tim Michaels gets in, or Ron Johnson gets in, we’re the first person in line with targets on our backs and they’re coming for us,” he said.

The results of the 2022 midterm elections in Wisconsin showed that most of the candidates that BLOC endorsed ended up winning, including Tony Evers, Sara Rodriguez and Josh Kaul.  

“We saw Democrats maintain control of at least the Senate, bucking decades of the trend of midterms yielding large losses to the party that held the Presidency,” Johnson said.

The Republican candidate Ron Johnson won the senate seat over Democratic candidate Mandela Barnes by exactly 1% of the vote.  

BLOC openly supported Barnes and regardless of his defeat, Kyle Johnson said BLOC is proud of the work and role of Mandela Barnes.

“This was one of the closest Senate races we have seen in this state and it is a testament to Mandela that he lost by 1%,” Johnson said. “We need to continue the conversation around racism in this state and country if we want to truly understand many of the factors that played into this defeat.” 

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. A flier hanging on the front door of BLOC’s office in Racine lists the candidates the organization supports. Photo by Lauren Peacock.

Johnson and Lue feel that the chaos of elections brings distraction to important issues, such as getting justice for Black Lives Matter cases like Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake. 

“We need to make sure people don’t forget what we were marching for in 2020,” Johnson said. “That fight’s not over.” 

BLOC has an agenda with 10 points for issues that they believe need to be addressed on a federal level to create thriving black communities. 

These points include the creation of rent controlled housing, moving towards 100% renewable energies, raising the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour and various other reforms. 

“I like how they’re telling people what it actually entails, registering to vote,” Aidan Kiely said. “When I graduated high school at 18, they told me to go vote, but didn’t tell me what that actually entails.”

Kiely, 22, works at a cannabis shop in Kenosha and firmly believes in the importance of voting in the midterm elections. He applauds BLOC for teaching specific details about the voting registration process. 

Lue described what BLOC specifically outlines for voters what the voting registration process entails. 

“Sending out information on how, when and where to register, request ballots, vote early and times and locations on Election Day,” Lue said. “We also made phone calls from home on Fridays reaching out to voters and potential voters.”

Outside of election season, BLOC focuses on asking people of color what a thriving community looks like to them. Johnson said that these conversations can go anywhere. It may be about adding a stop sign at the end of a street or ensuring more public safety in areas that see a lot of gun violence. 

Johnson believes that voting should mean more to people than carrying out a civic duty. 

“You care about climate change, you care about student loan debt, you care about legalizing Marijuana, you care about incarceration,” Johnson said. “That’s the reason why you vote,” John said. “When it becomes personable, it becomes real. Voting is the last step.”

Nov. 5, 2022- Racine, Wisconsin. The back of the flier on the desk at the BLOC Racine office next to another flier, an ipad and Mandela Barnes stickers. Photo by Lauren Peacock

Lue and Johnson believe that work doesn’t end after one midterm election in one state of the country, and there’s a long road that follows.

“We have to shift the culture and reframe the conversation,” Johnson said. “It’s not going to be a fight to get justice and liberation tomorrow.”

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“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,” he said.

Johnson was making a point about the future and his values. It is common for liberal politicians and activists to use the argument for the protection of future generations to emphasize the importance of climate change. For Johnson, this couldn’t be further from what he wants.

In spite of the blue sky giving way to the sun, the air is cold. A stage was put up in the parking lot for the day. As was the huge American flag dancing in the wind. The surrounding car’s bumper stickers share political party symbols and phrases. The rally held just before election day attracted an audience of predominantly white, middle-aged Americans. They whipped out their favorite colors: red, white, and blue, and put them in their hair, on their heads, accessories, and jewelry. In the next 48 hours, these voters will decide an incremental part of Wisconsin’s future. Today, they’re here to see the man they want to walk them into this future: Ron Johnson. 

How the Republican incumbent for senate envisions the future is very different from his opponent, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes. Throughout his rally, the conservative senator, who was first elected in 2010, emphasizes how he opposes change. 

His followers in the audience repeatedly chant “we want our country back!” – a wish for how things were in the past. He declares his love for this country and uses an analogy, comparing the country to his wife. 

”Imagine I wake up in the morning and say, ‘Jane, I love you and I’m gonna change everything about you,’” Johnson said. “That won’t go over very well, would it?” 

For him and his supporters, the path into the future lies in rebuilding what used to be, the way it used to be. His opponent, Lieutenant Governor Barnes, sees the path to the future to be change and transformation. 

“We can change the way things are done when we show up as we’ve never shown up before,” the 35-year-old said the night before, at an event for his campaign in Kenosha. 

For many liberals, like Barnes, the future lies in renewable energies, a green economy, and fighting against a climate crisis. He supports and believes in opportunity in climate action in many ways. 

Abortion, gas prices, Inflation: Looking at the campaigns and top issues talked about in these midterm elections, climate change did not make the cut. 

While many of the impacts of climate change cannot be felt by most Americans yet, such as the rising temperatures’ impact on snow and glaciers melting and sea levels rising, others are becoming part of reality. Due to warmer ocean water temperatures, tropical storms are becoming more severe. Longer and more extreme droughts promote devastating flooding and boost wildfires. Data from the National Interagency Fire Center show that out of all wildfires in the US since 1983, the 10 most destructive have all happened in the years since 2004. 

Wisconsin comes in seventh on the climate change index, a measurement calculating which states are most impacted by climate change. The impact is measured by drought, extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, and climate change preparedness. If an individual state can remain relatively safe in this scenario though, some voters question why they should care. Wisconsin, by this measure, is relatively safe. 

While the environment did not take center stage on this year’s campaign trail, a poll published in January 2022 showed that a majority of voters in fact perceive the issue to be an “extremely big problem.” In this survey, the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison asked Wisconsin residents how much of a problem several issues were.  

Climate change was named as a prime issue, with 59% of the 5,000 respondents believing it to be “at least quite a problem”. While 39% of respondents thought climate change was “an extremely big problem” on a national level, only 27% felt the same about climate change in the state. While 65% of Democrat voters believe it to be “an extremely big problem” on a statewide level, only 6% of Republican voters said the same – 34% believing it to be “not a problem.”

Democrat voter Mary Helen Prince voted early. The twenty-year-old student of Carthage College in Kenosha grew up in the neighboring state of Michigan. To her, climate change and climate justice is the most important topic, when deciding who to vote for. She researched every candidate before casting her early vote.

“I looked specifically for them to be aware that we are at a climate crisis,” she said. “Because if the candidate can’t even acknowledge that are, these are not the people that I want to be in charge.”

Alternatively, rally attendants in Waukesha call climate change a joke, an excuse to funnel money to the Democratic party. Conversations in the crowd circulated around how humans have been around too long to have made an impact. They mirror rhetorics that their candidate has used in the past. Throughout his political career, Johnson has assembled an extensive record of publicly denouncing the scientific evidence backing up the existence of a man-made climate crisis, such as his statement that he thinks that “climate change is – as Lord Monckton said – bullshit.” 

“The climate has always changed and always will change, so I don’t deny climate change,” Senator Johnson said. “The question is, can you really do anything about it?” 

Extensive scientific research proves man-made climate change. The intensity of human impact on the future of this planet is backed by organizations worldwide, including the United Nations. Still, our collective impact on the planet seems to be just another topic deepening the void between red and blue, right and left.

Johnson defines himself as neither a climate change denier nor a climate change alarmist.

His actions speak differently. In his years in office, Johnson co-sponsored the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which aimed to prevent new rules on carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Just this year he was one of the Republicans voting against the Inflation Reduction Act, a measure that allocated approximately $369 billion for climate and clean energy programs. On the other hand, Barnes has voiced support for these bills as well as further federal legislation to address climate change. 

Looking closer, between the lines, climate politics do seem to be an underlying issue, tying a lot of the big topics together. For the Republican party, nationwide and in Wisconsin, the focus of most campaigns is inflation, gas prices, and crime. At this rally too, Johnson touches on all of these topics 

“You can’t end fossil fuel but when you try, guess what happens?” he said. “Duh. You know, gasoline prices hit record prices and it contributes to inflation, you know, skyrocketing crime.” 

Much like in the rest of the US, Wisconsin’s Democrat campaigns put a great emphasis on the overturn of Roe v Wade and democracy being at risk ever since the Jan. 6 insurrection and legal battles surrounding voting. Johnson’s opponent Barnes turned the Republican senator’s string of arguments around at his campaign rally two nights before election day. 

The young Lieutenant Governor explained how a clean power plan can provide hundred percent renewable energy for the state and, more importantly, create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs in the process. He builds on this foundation, in these opportunities and jobs, as a solution for problems like crime. According to him, in the past, the decline in opportunities led to an unfortunate rise in crime and violence. 

He goes on to point out that, while the prices for gas have risen, oil and gas companies, oil and gas execs are making record profits. The Democrat accuses Johnson, who has been a senator for the past 12 years, to be standing with those companies instead of the people of Wisconsin. 

“He’s standing against more money in the pockets of hard-working people in order to appease wealthy donors,” he said. 

According to OpenSecrets, the energy sector funded Barnes’s campaign with almost $87,000, Johnson’s with $560,000 — almost $320,000 of which came from oil and gas. And Johnson does continue to swear by fossil fuels, which allegedly have among the highest impacts on climate change. He has claimed that the Democrats’ war on fossil fuels is the reason for the rising gas prices throughout his campaign.

“Inflation sparked by massive outta control deficits, spending record gasoline prices, high energy prices,” he said. “Why? Because of their war on fossil fuel.” 

The Republican has accused the Democrats of waging a war on fossil fuels before. At the Oct. 7 debate, just a month before Election Day, Johnson called the problem of the earth’s climate changing not solvable. He explained how he believes that investments in a greener future just don‘t make sense. 

On the other side, Barnes emphasized the importance of reducing carbon emissions and how the state needed to move towards a clean energy economy and make sure Wisconsin is in the driver’s seat. 

According to the United Nations, since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels.

The young Lieutenant Governor is chair of the first-ever Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change. Tasked with proposing policy options that would help move the state closer to the governor’s goal of achieving 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050, their mission is to help prepare the state for the impacts of climate change.

During the debate Johnson emphasized that wind and solar are not reliable, whilst his opponent promised to work towards energy independence, launching a national green bank, and funding clean energy projects upon election.

Where one sees a downfall, the other sees hope. Barnes highlights the economic opportunities that climate-friendly measures and regulations for industries such as farming and manufacturing can bring.  Meanwhile, Johnson holds onto his strong opposition to government spending addressing global warming, believing that these actions trying to control the climate simply hurt the economy.

While some attendees at Ron Johnson’s rally are convinced that climate change is a means to an end for the democrats to make money, student Mary Helen Prince has a different idea for the future. 

“I think we need to stop supporting big oil and big gas,” she said. “I think we need to start spending more and more money on sustainable energy and sustainable agriculture.”

In her opinion, people need to be more aware and stop taking on the burden of climate change. Instead, she says the responsibilities should lie with the leaders of the big oil companies and the plastic producers.

Climate change seems to be a poster child example of the division in this state and in the country between the two parties. Both candidates have a distinct vision for the future, values that drive them. One supports the acts that the other condemns. While one sees the future in fossil fuels, the other sees opportunities in anything but it. It’s one of the topics most by the outcome of the election. Barnes, the liberal governor in his mid-thirties, would have probably taken the state in the opposite direction of his antagonist, conservative winner Senator Johnson. For better or worse, climate change will most probably not take center stage in Wisconsin’s senator’s politics. 

The post Climate change: a poster child of American division appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

“We have to take a part in educating our people why it’s important to make their voices heard through voting,” Moua, who is now the executive director of Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, said. 

The Hmong lived in China for centuries, but they had their own culture and language separate from the Han majority. In the 1800s, they left due to increasing conflict with the Qing Dynasty. They settled in what is now Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma, where they would end up embroiled in various conflicts over the centuries.

During the Vietnam war, the C.I.A. organized a “Secret Army” composed of Hmong people to fight for the United States. The war ended in 1975 after approximately 50,000 Hmong men and boys were killed or wounded. When the Laos Communist Party seized control of South Vietnam, they attempted to genocide the remaining Hmong soldiers and their families. A wave of Hmong people fled the country to Thailand and immigrated to the United States and other countries as political refugees in the following decades.

Nov. 7, 2022- Milwaukee, WI: Scenes from Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. Mayhoua Moua, 53, is the executive director of Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. She is working in her office. Photo by Leying Tang.

Vang and Moua were part of this wave of immigrants. In 1998, there were around 200,000 Hmong people in the United States.

Vang was a 24-year-old soldier who had been living in a refugee camp in Thailand for three years. He was forced to flee Laos with his wife because he had worked with the C.I.A. during the Vietnam War. 

Moua’s father had also worked with the C.I.A. during the war, and he brought her and the rest of their family with him when he fled the country. They lived at a refugee camp in Thailand for one year, and when they finally arrived in the U.S. Moua was only 7 years old.

Wisconsin has the third largest Hmong population in the U.S. with over 62,000 Hmong people as of 2021, accounting for just over 1% of the state’s population of 5.9 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Most Hmong Americans here have similar experiences to Vang and Moua.

However, it’s challenging for senior Hmong Americans to get involved in politics. They didn’t grow up in the U.S., so they face a language obstacle. 

“In Laos, I did have educational training, but in America, I understood only a little bit of English,” Vang, a retired machinist, said. 

Vang still thinks he’s not good at English even though he has received training here. Amoun Sayaovong, Vang’s nephew and the elderly services specialist for the Hmong American Friendship Association helped translate.

Hmong Americans are also not familiar with politics in the U.S. because they grew up in a  different political environment.

“We come from a background where we didn’t have very much choice in politics,” Moua said. “That is not because we don’t want to, but we’re just not used to it, and we don’t fully understand it.” 

This is also why the institution where Moua works often holds workshops to provide education to the local Hmong Americans and share information on different political candidates and their platforms. 

Often, the attention to politics depends on individuals. Cherkao Vang doesn’t like getting involved in politics, instead, he tries to focus on his family.

“A lot of my friends say that I am a young man because I don’t deal a lot with issues that cause people headaches,” he said. 

Vang did pay some attention to politics when he felt they impacted his life. This is why he says he used to support the Republican Party. When Vang and his wife first arrived in the U.S., he made very little money. He was paid $8 an hour as a worker shaving wood. Then he graduated with a Certificate of Machinist, which grants him the credentials to work at a machine shop, but he still couldn’t find a job. At that time, Jimmy Carter was serving as the U.S. president. Once President Ronald Reagan came into office, Vang felt the economy improved and there were more jobs available. He also got a job after graduating from the Milwaukee Area Technical College.

 “I think that he is a great president,” Vang said of Reagan.

Now Vang is an independent voter and doesn’t pay much attention to politics. He voted for Democrat Tony Evers for governor and Republican Ron Johnson for senator in the midterm election, and he says he chose them because he’s familiar with their names.

“Hmong voters don’t get their information from traditional media outlets,” Sayaovong said. “If a candidate is made known to them, through a meet, or a greet, or through friends and family, just hearing that name from a trusted source will often make the difference in voting for a candidate.”

Sayaovong introduced his uncle to Governor Tony Evers when he asked him to attend a meet-and-greet event for the then-candidate. Although Vang was unable to attend, just hearing the name made the difference in voting for Evers. As for Ron Johnson, Vang said he didn’t know who Mandela Barnes was, and Ron Johnson is the person he voted for in the last election.

Moua has also already cast her vote. She declined to share her decision because she runs a nonprofit organization, but she said that affordable health care for Hmong Americans was her deciding factor in the voting booth this November. 

She said cancer and chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes are very prevalent in the Hmong community, but it’s hard for the Hmong people to fully conceptualize western physical therapy in their minds. 

“When you talk about operations or surgery, the only vision that we can understand is how we butcher animals for food,” Moua said. “Cancer to us is like a death sentence.”

When Moua’s family first came to the U.S., they had never been exposed to western medical practices. The only way to cure diseases for Hmong people was to look for a shaman to perform spiritual healings, a traditional religious practice in the Hmong culture. It’s a gradual process for the Hmong people to trust western medicine. 

Nov. 7, 2022- Milwaukee, WI: Scenes from Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. Mayhoua Moua, 53, is the executive director of Milwaukee Consortium for Hmong Health, Inc. Photo by Leying Tang.

When Moua’s father-in-law had appendicitis, his relatives didn’t understand. He chose to undergo surgery because he felt there was no other option. The procedure saved his life. And now he encourages people around him to trust western medicine. Moua also uses her own experience receiving medical care to educate other Hmong Americans and encourage them to do screenings for early detection of cancer and chronic diseases.

A major challenge in addressing these issues is that the Hmong Americans are a minority within a minority. There is not enough data to demonstrate why they need to educate the Hmong people, so it’s hard to find grants to support their educational programs.

Moua and her colleagues attend research conferences to bring attention to Hmong people’s healthcare and medical issues. They also go to churches, organizations, festivals, and different community events to expand their network and reach out to people in the community.

Although Moua and Vang came from the same origin and cultural background, they still vote for different reasons. Neither votes for a certain party. 

Politicians in Wisconsin know about Hmong Americans’ preference for voting and they take action on that. Tony Evers, the governor of Wisconsin, often goes to the Hmong community in person. He signed a bill to order the U.S. and Wisconsin flags to be flown at half-staff to honor Hmong-Lao Veterans Day this May. And he won his re-election campaign for governor earlier this month.

“For causes, not for parties,” Moua said, “If they want our votes, they need to come to us. ”

The post Wisconsin’s Hmong Americans in the 2022 election: how community issues and familiarity affect their vote appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

As the votes come in for the 2022 election, results show that Republicans didn’t have the red wave that they predicted. But with the races closer than expected, democrats are left to wonder where they could’ve closed the gap. We visited a local barber shop in Racine Wisconsin in the days preceding the election, to hear their take on the political situation.

This piece was produced by Ana Altchek and Sabrina Salovitz for NYU Pavement Pieces

The post Closing the gap: Democratic shortcomings in the 2022 election appeared first on Pavement Pieces.