“This is what Standing With Greece looks like,” according to Endy Zemenides, executive director of the Chicago-based Hellenic American Leadership Council, an advocacy group that orchestrated a campaign to push the U.S. State Department to send a more powerful message in support of Greece.
According to statistics released by HALC, officials at the U.S. Department of State woke up to almost 4,000 emails from Greek Americans throughout the United States– from 48 out of 50 states– demanding that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issue a more forceful rebuke of Turkey’s “destabilizing behavior.”
The formal letter, provided by HALC and signed and emailed automatically by the online campaign, asks that the State Department “speak clearly and unequivocally to Turkey – asymmetric warfare, weaponization of migrants, and hostage politics must be condemned by the United States.”
The campaign went viral on Facebook almost immediately after it was launched, with thousands of comments and shares.
HALC provided a map that shows the response of their campaign. Only Wyoming and North Dakota had zero response, with the majority of emails coming from states withvv populous Greek American communities like New York, Illinois and others.
Map of Emails Sent Using the Hellenic American Leadership Council’s Campaign
“What this map shows is the widespread nature of that response,” Zemenides said. “Strong responses from New York, Illinois, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts are expected, but given that we are in a presidential election year, the response in some other states is worth noting.”
The key presidential swing states of Florida and Pennsylvania have had more than 200 advocates reach out to Secretary Pompeo so far. Other carefully watched swing states including Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina have topped 100, according to the statistics provided to The Pappas Post.
Is this an indication that Greek-Americans can effectively push an issue’s agenda during the 2020 campaign?
Zemenides certainly thinks so.
Source: pappaspost.com
