Harvard Kennedy School Student Publication 2020–2021 Volume 31 Spring 2021

Asian American Policy Review Copyright Page The article, commentaries, interviews, book reviews, and additional editorial content appearing on the Asian American Policy Review do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors, the sponsoring university, or the members of the advisory board. ©2021 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Except as otherwise specified, no article or portion herein is to be reproduced to be adapted to other works without the express written consent of the editors of the Asian American Policy Review. 2020-2021 ASIAN AMERICAN POLICY REVIEW TEAM

Editors-in-Chief Aimee Hwang Dawn Kang Managing Editors Sarah Lin, Digital Cody Uyeda, Print Kyle Witzigman Senior Editors Kathy Tran, Partnerships Director Claire Kim Eki Ramadan Nathan Yoo TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword Viral Voting: AALDEF Adapts to 1 Aimee Hwang and Dawn Kang 34 2020 and Beyond Phil Tajitsu Nash Southeast Asian Americans in 2 2020: 45 Years of Resilience Wealth inequality in Asian and Resistance 43 American communities: The Quyen Dinh, Jenna McDavid, Continuing Significance of and Katrina Dizon Mariategue Ethnicity and Immigration R. Varisa Patraporn, Paul Ong, Disparate Impacts of COVID on and Chhandara Pech 11 South Asian Communities Mahnoor Hussain, Sophia Qureshi, Wrong Again: The Supreme Lakshmi Sridaran, 56 Court Gives Undue Judicial and Sruti Suryanarayanan Deference to National Security in Tauhi Vā as a Tool for Advocacy Korematsu and Trump v. Hawaii 22 in a Time of Crisis and Harvey Gee Transformation: Supporting the Stopping AAPI Hate: Student NHPI Community during the 66 Reflections on the Public COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond Policy Process Sina Uipi Russell Jeung, Megan Dela Cruz, Christina Shen, Richard Lim, Centering Our Communities: and Boaz Tang 25 Chinese-American Planning Council’s Response to the Nowhere to go: Anti-Asian COVID-19 Pandemic 76 hate crimes in 1945 and today Wayne Ho Shirley Ann Higuchi Chinese Restaurants: A History Building Pathways Through 30 of Resilience 80 Discomfort: Meaningful Curtis Chin Allyship in the Asian American Community Melody Ng FOREWORD

The Asian American Policy Review (AAPR) has a celebrated past as the country’s first non- partisan academic policy journal focusing on the AAPI community. This year, for the first time in the 31 years of AAPR, everything was moved online. We worked and studied remotely. Our editorial staff met as strangers through the screen. Our difficulties to adapt to this new online world is just one element of the AAPI experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The year 2020 spoke for itself, and we wanted to capture the AAPI experience of these times through the journal. With the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. in early 2020 came a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes as well as financial hardships, especially for communities of color. These experiences highlighted the importance of resilience and community networks in the AAPI community. Waves of protest across the country centered around the Black Lives Matter movement in summer 2020 showed us a need for racial allyship. On top of everything else, 2020 was also a presidential election year, and the campaigns, debates, and polling revealed the importance of AAPI political engagement and using our platforms to elevate AAPI voices in this country. 2020 was unpredictable, dramatic, and messy, and life will never quite be the same.

We are uplifted by the authors we have featured in this 31st edition of AAPR, who have raised their voices against injustice, inequality, and racism. This year’s edition showcases a call for more allyship and self-reflection for racial justice in the fight against white -su premacy and inequality, while also highlighting the many things our community should celebrate. The Asian American community has made great strides to claiming our political and social power.

We are honored to present the 31st edition of the Asian American Policy Review. This edition could not have been possible without the efforts of our many supporters. Our staff is thankful for the guidance and support from our publisher Martha Foleyand our faculty advisor Richard Parker. We thank our Advisory Board for their commitment in supporting our mission and staff. We are also grateful for our authors who have contributed thoughtful and timely pieces. Lastly, this journal could not have been published in the middle of a pandemic without our incredible staff. Their commitment to community-building and uplifting diverse AAPI voices has been the force behind this edition.

With gratitude, Aimee Hwang and Dawn Kang Co-Editors-in-Chief SOUTHEAST ASIAN AMERICANS IN 2020: 45 YEARS OF RESILIENCE AND RESISTANCE Quyen Dinh, Jenna McDavid, and Katrina Dizon Mariategue

Beginning in 1975, the confluence of the president to halt the deportation of South- Vietnam War, the Secret War in Laos, and east Asians, and calling for the advance- the Cambodian Genocide forced millions ment of equitable policies for Southeast of people to flee from their home countries Asian American (SEAA) communities.3 in Southeast Asia. This was and continues This resolution uplifts the vital contribu- to be the largest refugee diaspora the world tions of SEAAs while also recognizing that has ever seen, with more than 1.1 million disparities—health, economic, social, and refugees resettled from Vietnam, Laos, educational—are still a heavy burden on and Cambodia. The United States played the shoulders of Southeast Asian Ameri- a key role in welcoming and resettling cans. However, despite these challenges refugees, with the historic passage of the SEAA communities are deeply rooted in Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 opening a legacy of resilience and resistance that is the United States’ doors to Southeast Asian only growing stronger. families fleeing war and genocide.1 This act This year was a pivotal year for all com- was pivotal in the creation of a comprehen- munities of color. For SEAAs especially, the sive and unified system of refugee resettle- confluence of our 45th anniversary with ment for the first time in history, resulting a global pandemic, the ongoing fight in sup- in an increased number of individuals that port of black lives, and a historic election, the United States admitted into the coun- we are reminded that our fight for equity try under refugee status. It also created the and justice continues. Only by seeing our first statutory basis for asylum. Prior to needs and challenges through accurate data its passage, families were scattered across can we advocate fully for not just our vis- the country, with little to no support. This ibility but our community’s civil rights as landmark policy is the reason that more the largest community of refugees ever to be than 3 million Southeast Asian Americans resettled in America. Armed with our com- (SEAAs) now call the United States home.2 munity’s data, we will build our communi- The year 2020 marks the 45th anniver- ty’s self-determination from our legacy of sary of the arrival of Southeast Asian fam- refugee resilience to shape a new, multicul- ilies to the shores of the United States, and tural, equitable democracy and America. Congress continues to recognize the inte- gral role that SEAAs play in their communities and in our country. Earlier this year, Southeast Asian American challenges Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) introduced in 2020: A national analysis H. Res. 952 recognizing the 45th anniversary of the resettlement of Southeast Asian Health refugees, commemorating their contri- Southeast Asian Americans in 2020 face butions to the United States, urging the disparities in health and wellbeing. SEAA

2 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 communities benefited from the passage suffered from post-traumatic stress disor- of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and der (PTSD) and more than half had depres- continue to depend on public health insur- sion.6 In contrast, only 3 percent of the US ance for survival.4 SEAA communities population had suffered from PTSD, and have historically faced significant barriers about 7 percent had major depression. to accessing affordable health insurance SEAAs also suffer disproportionately from and culturally and linguistically appropri- Hepatitis B, which can lead to cirrhosis, ate health care. Prior to the ACA, SEAAs liver cancer, and liver failure.7 Hmong and experienced some of the highest uninsured Vietnamese women are at a higher risk of rates in the nation: one in five of our com- being diagnosed with cervical cancer than munity members had no health insurance.5 other racial and ethnic groups.8 Because By 2015, uninsured rates for SEAAs were so many community members are limited reduced by half as access to both public English proficient and low income, many and private health insurance increased families struggle to access the care they through the ACA and Medicaid expansion need to treat these urgent and chronic (Fig 1). Efforts to dismantle the Affordable conditions.

Figure 1. SEAA Health Insurance Coverage Rates 2011 & 2015

Care Act—such as the vote to repeal the As a result, SEARAC and our partners ACA in 2017 and ongoing efforts to liti- have continued to urge policymakers at gate the ACA out of existence—directly the federal and state levels to support the threaten the health and wellbeing of South- Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Expan- east Asian American communities. sion in all 50 states. SEARAC received The traumatic experiences of war, hundreds of comments from community genocide, and displacement left many members through our 2018 Protect Our SEAAs with physical and mental health Care campaign, each of whom extolled the conditions that have gone untreated. importance of affordable healthcare -cov A study conducted by RAND Health in erage for themselves and their families. 2005 reported that nearly two-thirds of One such comment came from a commu- Cambodian refugees from their study nity member who noted the ACA’s impact

Dinh, McDavid, and Mariategue 3 on women’s health issues. “I began tak- Economic security ing oral contraceptives in 2002—I spent The economic disparities faced by South- roughly $1,440 on oral contraception, at east Asian Americans also loom large. least $160 on well-woman visit co-pays, Nearly 1.1 million Southeast Asian and the cost of the HPV vaccine (which Americans are low-income, and about was strongly recommended) from the age 460,000 live in poverty.9 Hmong Ameri- of 14,” wrote one commenter. “My mother, cans fare worst compared to all racial sister, and I have been able to access well- groups across multiple measures of woman visits free of charge since ACA, income. Nearly 60 percent of Hmong which also covered birth control for myself Americans are low-income, and more and my sister.” Attacks against the ACA than one of every four live in poverty (Fig have occurred at all levels since its pas- 2). As a result of continued socioeconomic sage, and the legislation has been signifi- insecurity, Southeast Asian Americans cantly weakened; and yet, its importance also struggle with housing instability; all to Southeast Asian American health can- SEAA subgroups, with the exception of not be overstated. Due to SEAA’s experi- Vietnamese Americans, also have lower ence with historical trauma and the deep than average homeownership rates in the disparities that continue to persist in our United States. Those with home mortgages community’s care, bold steps are needed are more likely to be housing cost-bur- by our elected leaders to ensure that com- dened than average (32 percent). Viet- munities of color, immigrants and refugees namese American mortgagors (45 percent) have access to high quality affordable care have the highest rate of being housing that is culturally and linguistically respon- cost-burdened than all racial groups.10 sive to their unique needs. As such, policies that promote economic

Figure 2. Poverty and Low Income

4 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 security to help working families includ- different racial groups who speak more ing immigrants and refugees, such as fund- than 50 different languages. When the data ing for food stamps (SNAP), rental and about poverty, language, health, and edu- mortgage assistance, supplemental security cational attainment are disaggregated, we income, student loan forgiveness, and many begin to understand the varied experiences others are so critical now more than ever. of Southeast Asian Americans and the disparities that our diverse communities Education face. We miss out on these differences In 2020, SEAAs still face great educational when people are constrained to identify hurdles. Language barriers faced by South- themselves by broad categories—or when east Asian Americans impact our ability we don’t ask them to identify themselves to access healthcare, education, and eco- at all. Aggregated data also assume that nomic opportunities. Nearly 90 percent everyone under those overarching umbrel- of SEAAs speak a language other than las has the same identity, history, and cul- English at home, and 45 percent of SEAAs ture, which we know is untrue. are limited English proficient (LEP). Both The California AAPI Youth Assess- rates are higher when compared to Asian ment was launched in 2019 to illuminate Americans as a whole and other racial the stark disparities that diverse AAPI groups.11 For Southeast Asian American youth face. Building on the success of older adults, those rates jump as high as 95 a 2014 AAPI youth data disaggregation percent, and many of those elders live in survey in Oakland, CA, SEARAC and houses where no one else speaks English.12 CHARGE collected 813 survey responses Limited English proficiency has left SEAA from AAPI youth and young adults, ages communities more vulnerable to fraud 12-30, throughout California and con- and scams, lacking access to essential ser- ducted five focus groups with AAPI youth vices, and lagging behind their peers in and young adults in Fresno, Long Beach, educational attainment. Nearly 30 percent San Jose, Santa Ana, and Stockton. Survey of Southeast Asian Americans have not results and focus group discussions illus- completed high school or passed the GED, trated how youth from marginalized AAPI a rate more than double the national aver- groups experience significant educational age (13 percent).13 There are also gender disparities. For example, one in two Cam- disparities in educational attainment rates bodian, Laotian, and Iu Mien students in across the SEAA ethnic groups. A larger pro- our research had not taken classes that portion of women than men have not com- taught them about their ethnic history, cul- pleted high school, a difference that ranges ture, or identity.14 “I’m constantly telling from 6 percent among Laotian Americans to people about our history, or some of the 11 percent among Cambodian Americans. struggles we are going through, because Only one-quarter of SEAAs hold a bache- they don’t get to learn about it. [Teachers] lor’s degree or higher, compared to the one- don’t teach it in school. I have to educate half of Asian Americans who do. people about us, and that’s hard,” shared Disaggregated data are key to under- one focus group participant. Expanding standing the educational disparities facing and reporting on disaggregated AAPI data Southeast Asian Americans. The termi- in public K-12 and higher education insti- nology currently used by most survey tutions, developing culturally competent instruments to collect data about our student and parent support services, and communities is wildly insufficient. Over- developing ethnic studies curricula that arching categories such as “Asian” fail reflects the diversity of our communities to account for meaningful differences will help address the disparities in educa- among racial and ethnic subgroups. The tional attainment that SEAA students are term “Asian” or “AAPI” encompasses 25 experiencing. Dinh, McDavid, and Mariategue 5 Immigration The interviewees talked about the health, Finally, the impacts of restrictive immi- economic, and community impacts of gration policies and rampant deporta- having their loved ones detained and/or tions, which have increased exponentially deported by Immigration and Customs under the Trump administration, have Enforcement (ICE).17 One woman, Jenny, created fear and trauma among South- despite losing health insurance from her east Asian American communities. Since husband’s job, sought therapy for her and 1998, at least 16,000 Southeast Asian her children to deal with the mounting Americans have received final orders stress of raising four children, fighting her of deportation despite many arriving in husband’s deportation case, and organiz- the US with refugee status and obtaining ing a community of other women whose a green card. Due to stringent immigration family members were detained. Family policies enacted under President Clinton, members never know how long detention Southeast Asian American communities might last or if their loved one will eventu- are three to four times more likely to be ally be deported, heightening the anxiety deported for old convictions compared of living in a constant limbo of unknown with other immigrant communities.15 The outcomes while pursuing different ave- reason for this is due to two sweeping nues of legal action. “A lot of people get policies passed by Congress in 1996. The kind of stuck or have anxiety, especially Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty people within our Cambodian commu- Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration nity,” Jenny shared. “I remember my mom, Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act my mother in-law, she has a lot of fear of (IIRIRA) uniquely impacted immigrants, authority. I had asked her to go to DC with including lawful permanent residents.16 me one of the times . . . She couldn’t pack Southeast Asian refugees with green cards her bag, and I had to walk her through all were suddenly vulnerable to mandatory of the packing because she just kind of was detention and deportation for a broader in shock. She was in shock because her son category of crimes through the expanded was getting taken away from her.” definition of “aggravated felonies” in SEAAs require a pathway to meaningful these laws. Due to the retroactive nature immigration reform and a new vision for of these policies, individuals found them- the US immigration system. Representa- selves being unfairly punished for very old tives Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Pramila Jayapal, crimes, for which they had already served Karen Bass, and Ayanna Pressley under- their sentences. The mandatory nature of stood that need and introduced the New these laws also tied the hands of immigra- Way Forward Act (H.R. 5383) in December tion judges to review cases of individuals 2019, a historic bill that restores due process before sentencing them for deportation. protections for immigrants and refugees fac- In many cases, individuals who were ing detention and deportation; decriminal- deported had turned their lives around izes migration; and creates an opportunity after their crime and were active commu- for deported loved ones to come home.18 nity members, business owners, and care- Our communities cannot just push to pre- givers for their US citizen families. vent or renegotiate bilateral agreements but In SEARAC’s 2018 joint report with the must uproot the very laws and system that National Asian Pacific American Women’s have criminalized our people and torn our Forum, “Dreams Detained, in Her Words: families apart. Supporting the New Way The effects of deportation on Southeast Forward Act is a start in that direction. Asian American women and families,” we spoke with several SEAA female com- COVID-19 impact munity members whose families were These existing challenges and systemic impacted by detention and deportation. barriers have been exacerbated in 2020 by 6 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 the COVID-19 global pandemic. Despite Resilience in SEAA communities: local the best efforts of educators and school case studies staff, many Southeast Asian American students have been left behind during The challenges that we face are great, but widespread school closures. The transition despite these obstacles Southeast Asian to remote, online learning has revealed American refugee communities comprise longstanding gaps in digital access among one of the most resilient American narra- SEAA families. Twelve percent of Cambo- tives known in history. SEAAs are vital dian, 9 percent of Hmong, 11 percent of members of our society, and we have Lao, and 9 percent of Vietnamese American found creative ways to honor our legacy households lack a broadband internet sub- and support our communities. In the face scription.19 Many SEAA students pursuing of a global pandemic, SEAAs have been higher education rely on financial aid and working tirelessly to feed, house, and employment to pay for college. However, care for those most in need through food the economic shutdowns due to the pan- drives, tele-health, virtual education pro- demic and the revenue shortfalls for insti- gramming, fundraisers, and advocacy for tutions across the country that have shut those left behind or left out of the stimulus down campuses are limiting these sources packages. of financial assistance.20 When a stay-at-home order was issued Under COVID-19, fears have heightened in Seattle, WA, the leadership, staff, and among SEAA immigrants in detention facil- partners of Kandelia, a Seattle-based ities who fear exposure due to ICE’s histori- organization serving the local refugee cal record of overcrowding and inadequate and immigrant communities, took the health and safety precautions. Health dis- initiative to call and message every stu- parities have been further exacerbated with dent and family they served to see how SEAA community members facing increased they were doing—and learned that many mental strife, including increased isolation were in dire circumstances.23 “We had an for elders impacted by social distancing overwhelming number of reports of fam- measures, and increased generational and ilies who were out of work, out of money, cultural tension between youth and parents and out of food,” said Tamthy Le, interim who are home-bound due to school closures executive director. “One family was eat- and lay-offs. An increase in anti-Asian hate ing tortillas and salt by the time we got crimes and harassment across the country a hold of them.” As a result, Kandelia has been reported after officials used phrases began compiling all the needs that fami- like “China virus” to discuss COVID-19.21 lies had, including food, rental assistance, Additionally, because disaggregated data on diapers, hygiene products, internet/tech- COVID-19 does not exist for Asian American nology. Community members responded communities, the seemingly lower rate of quickly to help fill these needs. “Since COVID-19 contraction by Asian Americans then, we have provided over 1,200 bags of paints a misleading picture and conceals the food/basic needs items and over $150,000 real impacts facing SEAA communities who in financial assistance,” Tamthy said. have higher rates of pre-existing chronic Similarly, when Pennsylvania Gov. health conditions compared to other Asian Tom Wolf extended his statewide stay-at- American communities.22 Anecdotal infor- home order on March 17, 2020, the staff mation exists around the high impact of at the Cambodian Association of Greater COVID-19 on Southeast Asian American Philadelphia (CAGP) children and youth workers in the meatpacking industry in the development team switched gears to plan midwestern states, but the lack of data con- a brand-new digital program for its pre- tinues to be a barrier to understanding the school and elementary school program.24 full depth of the problem. By the fourth week of the closures, CAGP’s Dinh, McDavid, and Mariategue 7 education programs went completely vir- ‘model minority’ myth, it is at times like tual. Coming out of that experience were this crisis that we should remember that even stronger relationships with school our status is always conditional and sub- and organizational partners, as well as ject to being taken away by xenophobia,” with the families of students. “For families wrote the Asian Minnesotans Against Rac- whose English is not their first language, ism & Xenophobia Collaborative.26 Joan the acclimation time to remote learning Chun, Deputy Director of the Cambo- is lengthier due to higher need of digital dian American Literary Arts Association, navigation support,” CAGP’s children reflected on the protests and outrage that and youth development director, Raks- took hold in hundreds of US cities and meymony (Rex) Yin said. “Even now since wondered, “If the world had stayed silent mid-April, we are still supporting fami- forever while the Khmer Rouge genocide lies to adjust to the new learning systems. was happening, what would the outcome Some schools have deemed a lot of these have been like? How many more families students as out-of-reach and out-of-touch would have been separated? How many and have been seeking a community orga- more people would have been killed?”27 nization like CAGP to be that bridge to the We stand unequivocally with Black and families.” Brown communities facing violence, This year also brought a long-overdue oppression, disproportionate impacts of racial reckoning to communities across COVID-19, and socioeconomic and health the United States as uprisings responded disparities. to police brutality against Black and Afri- can Americans, sparked by the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minne- Figure 3. 1978 International Rescue Committee ad in apolis, MN. As refugees and descendants the New York Times of refugees, as survivors of war and genocide, Southeast Asian American communities also know the devastating impacts of police force. We acknowledge that our own paths to equity are a direct product of their historic civil rights wins and struggles, that they continue to build, as well as to endure, to this day. In fact, a 1978 International Res- cue Committee ad entitled “Black Ameri- cans Urge Admission of the Indochinese Refugees” in The New York Times documents the support of major Black leaders for the admittance of Southeast Asian refugees into the United States (Fig 3). In SEARAC’s statement in support of Black Lives, issued in May 2020, we urged Southeast Asian American communities to acknowledge the systems that have benefitted from having communities of color pitted against one another 25 and boldly resist them. Other SEAA Sokunthary Svay (co-founder of Cambodian community-based organizations echoed American Literary Arts Association) shared that sentiment. “While Asian communi- this image on 5/30/2020, derived from her ties have been rewarded for our assimi- scholarly research conducted in the New York lation into whiteness with the lie of the Public Library in 2018. 8 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 Asian American Health Assessment (Asian American Looking ahead Resource Center, 10 July 2014) [PDF file]. http:// austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Communications /Asian_American_Health_Assessment_document As we reflect on the challenges and resil- _2014-.pdf iency of the Southeast Asian American 8. Nancy K. Herther et al., “Health Disparities Research in the Hmong American Community: Impli- communities, we are also looking ahead cations for Practice and Policy,” Hmong Studies Journal to the work that needs to be done. This is no. 13.2 (2010): 1-31. a long-term struggle that will not be 9. “2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, C17002,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed resolved by a presidential election or 10 February 2020, https://www.census.gov/ the end of a global pandemic, as import- programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/ table-and-geography-changes/2015/5-year.html ant as those two milestones are; we are 10. Southeast Asian American Journeys (SEARAC, 2020) a community of people working to build [PDF file]. https://www.searac.org/wp-content/ uploads/2020/02/SEARAC_NationalSnapshot_ the future for which our ancestors fought. PrinterFriendly.pdf Beyond 2020 and the 45th anniversary of 11. “2011–2015 American Community Survey 5-Year our arrival to the United States, we envi- Estimates, Table B16004,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed 10 February 2020, https://www.census.gov/ sion a time when there is no longer depor- programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/ tation and detention of our families and table-and-geography-changes/2015/5-year.html communities, where all public data are dis- 12. Southeast Asian American Elders #TellACL (SEARAC, December 2016) [PDF file]. https://www.diverseelders.org aggregated to reveal community-specific /wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SEARAC needs and tailor specific interventions, -Infographic-v2.pdf 13. Southeast Asian American Journeys (SEARAC, where everyone has access to culturally 7 February 2020) [PDF file]. https://www. responsive healthcare, and where families searac.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ SEARAC_NationalSnapshot_PrinterFriendly.pdf are living with dignity and thriving, not just surviving. It is our responsibility to 14. Can you see me? School culture and climate for Cal- create that future, and we will do so with ifornia’s AAPI youth (SEARAC, 17 November 2020) [PDF file]. https://www.searac.org/wp-content/ love and collaboration. Here’s to the next uploads/2019/06/School-Culture-Climate-for-CA -AAPI-Youth_Final.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3VKXjgwWuLz 45 years. EC0DiQV3oNHnbsJDxjH8SfRAG55OC6bcSK_W9XuX c8lUno 15. Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders behind Bars: Expos- ing the School to Prison to Deportation Pipeline (Washing- 1. “Annual Reports to Congress (Fiscal Years 1981- ton, DC: National Education Association, December 2000),” Office of Refugee Resettlement (Washington, 2015) [PDF file]. https://www.advancingjustice-la. DC: Office of Refugee Resettlement, Administration for org/sites/default/files/18877%20AAPIs%20 Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Behind%20Bars.pdf Human Services,1982-2001). 16. Agnes Constante, “Decades after resettlement, 2. “2015 American Community Survey, 1-Year Esti- Cambodian refugees vulnerable to prison-to-deporta- mates,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed 10 February 2020, tion pipeline,” NBC News, 27 April 2020. https://www. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/ nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/decades-after technical-documentation/table-and-geography-changes/ -resettlement-cambodian-refugees-vulnerable 2015/1-year.html -prison-deportation-pipeline-n1193581 3. “SEARAC Applauds Introduction of 45th Anniver- 17. Dreams Detained, in Her Words (SEARAC, 2018) sary Southeast Asian American Resolution,” SEARAC, [PDF file]. https://www.searac.org/wp-content/ 5 May 2020, https://www.searac.org/press-room/ uploads/2018/09/dreams_detained_in_her_words_ searac-applauds-introduction-of-45th-anniversary report-2.pdf -southeast-asian-american-resolution/ 18. Kham S. Moua, “The New Way Forward Act is 4. Southeast Asian Americans Speak Out to Protect the Necessary to Combat Southeast Asian Deportations,” Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Expansion (Washing- SEARAC, 27 February 2020. https://www.searac.org/ ton, DC: SEARAC, 16 April 2018) [PDF file].https:// our-voices/staff-blog/the-new-way-forward-act-is- www.searac.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2017 necessary-to-combat-southeast-asian-deportations/ -PACAM_FINAL-Web-1.pdf 19. “American community survey 1-year estimate: 5. “2009 American Community Survey, 1-Year Esti- Selected population profile in the United States,” US. mates,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed 10 February 2020, Census Bureau, accessed 6 November 2020, https:// https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/ data.census.gov. technical-documentation/table-and-geography-changes/ 2009/1-year.html 20. Quyen T. Dinh, Katrina D. Mariategue, and Anna H. Byon, "COVID-19 - Revealing Unaddressed Systemic 6. Grant N. Marshall et al., “Mental Health of Cam- Barriers in the 45th Anniversary of the Southeast Asian bodian Refugees 2 Decades After Resettlement in the American Experience," Journal of Southeast Asian Amer- United States,” JAMA no. 294 (2005): 571-9. https:// ican Education and Advancement vol. 15: iss. 2, article jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/201332 11 (2020). https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jsaaea/vol15/ 7. Vince Cobalis, Lesley Varghese, and Peteria Chan, iss2/11/

Dinh, McDavid, and Mariategue 9 21. Kimmy Yam, “Anti-Asian bias rose after media, officials used 'China virus,' report shows,” NBC News, 29 September 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/ news/asian-america/anti-asian-bias-rose-after-media- officials-used-china-virus-n1241364 22. Agnes Constante, “Why the Asian American Covid data picture is so incomplete,” NBC News, 20 Octo- ber 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian -america/why-asian-american-covid-data-picture-so- incomplete-n1243219 23. “Tamthy Le,” SEARAC, 23 July 2020, https://seaa covidhub.squarespace.com/stories/tamthy-le 24. “Raksmeymony Yin,” SEARAC, 15 July 2020, https://seaacovidhub.squarespace.com/stories /raksmeymony-yin 25. “SEARAC Statement on the Death of George Floyd,” SEARAC, 27 May 2020, https://www.searac. org/press-room/searac-statement-on-the-death-of- george-floyd 26. “Unity and Solidarity for George Floyd,” Coalition of Asian Leaders, 29 May 2020, https://caalmn.org/ api4georgefloyd/ 27. Joan Chun, “Khmer community—It is time for us to say Black Lives Matter,” Southeast Asia Globe, 15 June 2020, https://southeastasiaglobe.com/black-lives- matter-khmer

10 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 THE DISPARATE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ACROSS SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES Mahnoor Hussain, Sophia Qureshi, Lakshmi Sridaran, and Sruti Suryanarayanan

Across watershed moments of crisis—like advocacy toward both rapid response and September 11, the 2016 presidential elec- long-term change. tion, and now this Covid-19 pandemic— South Asian American communities have deeply divided experiences. The popu- Key Findings lations in our community who were primarily targeted after September 11, most South Asian Americans who were already impacted by this Administration’s racist vulnerable, whether due to immigration policies, and most vulnerable to Covid-19 status (refugees, undocumented, H-1B, are the same populations marginalized by J-1), domestic violence, living with under- immigration status, class, caste, religion, lying health conditions, or unsafe working and LGBT+ identity. While developing environments, have been most directly a shared narrative across these differences impacted by the pandemic. Every inter- is valuable for building collective power, viewee shared that, as a result, community only by centering the experiences of these members are experiencing mental health populations can we understand the magni- challenges. tude and range of these crises. Data on Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, Recognizing the gap between the real- and deaths are currently incomplete as sta- ity our communities face and existing tistics are undercounted in South Asian pandemic-mapping data, SAALT worked American communities, often labeled as to capture the effects of the coronavirus “other Asian” or “unknown” race catego- pandemic. The article examines not only ries. Disaggregated data is critical in ensur- Covid-19 infection and fatality rates in ing all communities receive timely and South Asian American communities but culturally appropriate care and resources. also intersections with escalating threats As of June 8, the city of New York’s to immigration, workers' rights, mental Health Department found that 7.6 percent health, housing, language access, as well of the city’s coronavirus victims were of as hate crimes and domestic violence. Asian descent. The Bangladeshi commu- This article looks at the impact this pan- nity, which makes up less than 8 percent demic is having across our communities by of NYC’s Asian population, accounted for centering accounts from local South Asian about 20 percent of those deaths. In addi- American organizations representing those tion, South Asian Americans are four times most affected, as well as findings from our more likely to suffer from heart disease or community survey that elicited nearly 400 diabetes than the general US population, responses between May and June 2020. putting them at a greater risk of fatality if Our goal is to understand our communi- they contract Covid. ties’ most urgent needs and to help inform Federal and state government agencies ongoing organizing, mobilization, and have neglected to provide Limited English

Hussain, Qureshi, Sridaran, and Suryanarayanan 11 Proficient (LEP) community members with a utility, but for many senior citizens, survi- culturally appropriate services and lan- vors of abuse, students, and working-class guage accessible information, impeding South Asian Americans, the internet has access to government services and relief been a useful tool to stay connected to the funds. South Asian American community community and to ongoing relief efforts. organizations have been forced to step in Despite sizable and growing South to translate resources into multiple South Asian populations in the South, the region Asian languages amid rapidly changing has limited formal avenues of support ded- rules and guidance. Even with commu- icated to South Asian Americans, outside nity organizations stepping in to support of religious and cultural institutions. communities of color, 11 million undoc- South Asian American community orga- umented immigrants, including 630,000 nizations are, once again, filling in the gaps Indians and 56,000 Pakistanis, were left in access to health, food, housing, and out of the CARES Act and unemployment employment as a remedy to failing gov- benefits as part of Covid relief packages. ernment social infrastructure. Overall, an estimated 16.7 million people who live in mixed-status households were ILLNESS, WELLNESS & LIVELIHOOD: left out, including 8.2 million US born or Covid-19 Infection Rates & Risk Factors naturalized citizens. Clusters of Covid-19 infection and fatality Approximately 85 percent of respon- rates impacting South Asian Americans dents to SAALT’s community survey are have been reported in Queens, Brooklyn, worried about immigration—specifically and the West Ridge neighborhood of Chi- being able to travel outside of the US, as cago—all areas with large working-class well as the status of green cards, H-1B South Asian American populations. But work visas, and student visas. more comprehensive disaggregated data For individuals experiencing domes- on South Asian Americans’ infection rates, tic violence, the stay-at-home orders have hospitalizations, and fatality rates is virtu- worsened abusive situations. Every sur- ally nonexistent. Despite the lack of data, vivor-support organization SAALT inter- South Asian Americans are prone to sev- viewed explicitly named a drastic increase eral different risk factors that both increase in gender-based domestic violence. At the their exposure to Covid-19 and increase same time, survivor support organizations their risk of hospitalization or death. are committed to challenging the role of law enforcement and emphasized that sur- Heart Disease & Diabetes vivors most often do not want to go to the Pre-existing conditions such as hyperten- police. sion, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and Technology plays an important role chronic lung disease, which are known to in setting up a remote infrastructure for increase the risk of Covid-19 severity, are organizations to provide safe and secure common among South Asian Americans. support to communities during the stay- In March 2020, nearly 90 percent of Amer- at-home orders. For domestic violence icans hospitalized with Covid-19 had at organizations like Daya, ApnaGhar, and least one underlying medical condition, SAHARA, there has been an increased including in New York2, home to one of the need for affordable laptops, phones, and largest populations of South Asian Ameri- accessible internet as their services require cans in the US South Asian Americans are secure digital platforms for case manage- four times more likely to suffer from car- ment. Additionally, tens of millions of diovascular conditions and heart disease Americans still do not have access to or than the general US population.3 Almost cannot afford quality internet service. Fed- 1 in 4 South Asian Americans have diabe- eral funding does not cover the internet as tes or hypertension.4 12 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 Lack of Protections for Frontline Workers medical care or even testing in the South It is no coincidence that Covid-19 is devas- Asian American community. Only 10.6 tating the same communities that also do percent of SAALT’s survey respondents essential work. Essential workers, the vast indicated they had been tested for Covid- majority of whom are women and people 19.10 Many survey respondents were able of color, are risking their lives during the to afford medical aid (roughly 89 percent), pandemic to provide critical services to our but fewer (85 percent) were able to receive communities—all while making unlivable it. Survey respondents also detailed their wages and receiving limited health-care communities’ experiences with Covid: benefits.5 Many South Asian Americans only 71 percent of survey respondents serve on the frontlines as healthcare, ful- whose family members or community fillment center, hospitality, and gig - econ members sought testing received it, while 6 omy workers, and consequently have percent sought testing and did not receive had limited access to benefits or safety it, and 6 percent had symptoms but did not equipment. Despite being deemed at risk seek testing. Nearly a tenth of all survey and working under precarious conditions, respondents indicated that they would not essential workers have limited access to seek testing, even if it were available and proper protective equipment, hazard pay, affordable, fearing unemployment or com- or additional support by employers or the munity stigma. One individual noted that state. Nearly 45,000,000 people filed for their BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of unemployment at some point during the color) friends were explicitly refused test- pandemic and 5.4 million American working; thus, the respondent themselves did ers lost their health insurance.6 not seek testing. Lack of Language Support Lack of Age-Based Protections The Covid-19 health crisis has highlighted Seniors are also at risk of experiencing com- a critical gap in getting timely, in-language plications, with nearly 8 out of 10 Covid- public health and government relief infor- 19 deaths occurring in adults 65 years and mation to immigrant and Limited English older.11 Since the onset of the pandemic, Proficient (LEP) communities. South Asian seniors have been experiencing food inse- American community organizations have curity, income insecurity, and social isola- been forced to step in to produce translation. South Asian American organizations, tion for government agencies amid rapidly like India Home, have stepped in to fill the changing rules and guidance. role of unreliable state agencies who have neglected to provide community members Crowded Housing & Multi-Generational Living with culturally appropriate services and The risk of contracting Covid-19 is also language accessible information. heightened by the fact that many South Asian Americans live and/or work in dense urban areas.7 As of June 2020, Cook Hot Spot Features County, Los Angeles, and Queens Borough had the highest number of confirmed cases CALIFORNIA of Covid-19.8 These counties also host the Coronavirus has been ravaging work- largest concentration of South Asian Amer- ing-class communities of color across the icans and are primarily working-class state and government relief efforts includ- communities.9 ing financial assistance have been limited. California based community organizations Barriers to Testing like SAHARA, Maitri, and the Jakara Move- Limited employment or lack of employment have been building power in South ment is leading to fears around seeking Asian American immigrant communities Hussain, Qureshi, Sridaran, and Suryanarayanan 13 for years; they have expanded their efforts issues. Recognizing that poverty and to further support their communities liv- economic insecurity affects all survivors ing in these hotspots during the pandemic. and that many are currently in financial Language access, barriers to accessing gov- distress, Maitri staff are providing a great ernment relief funding, financial instabil- deal of rental assistance through existing ity, needs for rental assistance, and mental county programs and community funding. health instability were issues that repeat- In March 2020, the Jakara Movement, edly came up within their constituents’ located in the Central Valley, hired nearly communities since the pandemic began. 250 organizers to help support in-person SAHARA is a gender-based violence survi- 2020 Census efforts to reach out to 300,000 vor support and community organization individuals across the state of California. based in Southern California. Since the When the pandemic emerged, they began pandemic began, they have been focused to re-evaluate their purpose as a commu- on providing the local South Asian Amer- nity-based power building organization ican community with in-language support given the inability to organize in person. and information on public benefits, social security, Medi-Cal and Medicare, unem- NEW YORK CITY ployment benefits, and citizenship and visa The virus itself may not discriminate, but applications. Since the onset of the pan- neighborhoods with high concentrations demic, SAHARA has also seen a 22 percent of Black, Latinx, and South Asian work- increase in calls from survivors of domes- ing-class communities still face the deep- tic violence, with Community Engagement est disparities in access to testing and Manager Sarah Manjra adding, “Kids and healthcare and deaths caused by Covid-19 moms are at home, and with dad becoming across the US, especially in New York City. unemployed, there’s increased violence Community organizing, mutual aid net- between parents and kids, or between works, and mutual aid funds remained spouses. As a result, our 24/7 hotline has robust throughout the height of the pan- people calling at all hours of the day, sig- demic in New York and are still able to nificantly more than before. There’s also provide much-needed resources, relief, a drastic and dangerous increase in the and support to immigrant communities amount of child abuse taking place. Many where the government failed. India Home, mothers are trying to get out of abusive sit- Indo-Caribbean Alliance, CAAAV, and uations, but too many factors are prevent- Adhikaar cited rental hardship, crowded ing them from leaving—including fear of housing, social isolation, language bar- losing custody of their children or reliance riers, and high infection rates as the core on their abuser’s income.” issues their community members have Maitri works to support survivors of been facing. domestic violence in Northern California. India Home is a senior center in New To keep pace with the rise in domestic York, which has been providing culturally violence that they observed, Maitri has appropriate meals, virtual programming, maintained its helpline for 24 hours each and overall support to South Asian Ameri- day, with live service from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. can seniors experiencing income insecurity every day, and voicemail monitoring with and social isolation in the pandemic. Pro- call-backs every 2 hours elsewise. This is gram Director, Shaaranya Pillai, noted the in addition to a legal helpline that is also unique role that India Home has during in place. Like other community organiza- the pandemic, tions, Maitri is also balancing the current We are reaching out to the commu- crisis with the demands of existing inequi- nity in many ways. Existing relief ties. They have monthly volunteer meet- programs from the government ings where they discuss these intersectional lack cultural competency and are 14 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 under-accessed by our communi- The Adhikaar team worked around the ties. Nonprofits like ours are able clock to respond to cases, deaths, and to bridge that divide and are doing support for testing and quarantine needs, essential work. The impact of the phone-banking over 1,500 members in a pandemic on the South Asian Amer- week. A vast majority of their members ican community is under-recorded, lost their jobs or were working as essen- but South Asian American nonprof- tial workers, and in response Adhikaar its are meeting these communities’ worked from March through August to needs. It’s not easy for this popula- deliver care packages, food, and PPE to tion - they get hit in a totally different over 700 households and emergency relief way, and that social isolation is a big funds totaling nearly $500,000 to over 600 reason for what we do. community members. Prior to Covid-19, the Indo-Caribbean Alli- ance had been working closely with allies ATLANTA at Jahajee Sisters and Chhaya Community As with many of the sunbelt states, Covid Development Corporation, both of whom cases were low in the beginning months of serve South Asian and Indo-Caribbean the pandemic, but early reopening led to New Yorkers. Jessica Chu-A-Kong noted virus surges by June and July in Atlanta. that collaboration and solidarity have been Global Mall, a South Asian American shop- crucial, ping mall in the city of Norcross, just out- Our communities are also known to side Atlanta, hosted a food drive led by the have high rates of diabetes and other Walia hospitality group throughout April underlying conditions so we have and May to address growing food insecu- been helping people connect to free rity in the community. On the first day of prescription delivery as well as part- the food drive, hundreds of cars lined up nering with local residents who were before the starting time of 10 a.m., wrap- sewing and distributing free masks ping around the Global Mall building and near our office in Richmond Hill, backing up traffic on Jimmy Carter Boule- Queens. vard. Despite Atlanta’s sizable and grow- CAAAV is a pan-Asian community-based ing South Asian American population, organization in New York City that works there are limited formal avenues of sup- to build the power of poor and work- port dedicated to South Asian Americans, ing-class immigrants and refugees. One of making it challenging to gauge the pan- the largest public housing developments demic’s impact on the community and for they work with engages around 200 Ban- community needs to be addressed outside gladeshi American families. With the state of informal family and friend networks unemployment rate at 15.7 percent, many and religious institutions. Two key Atlan- of CAAAV’s constituents are struggling ta-based non-profits, Raksha and Burmese to pay bills, and are at risk of losing their Rohingya Community of Georgia (BRCG) housing.12 cited financial insecurity, rental hardship, Adhikaar: The Nepali-speaking commu- barriers to accessing government relief nities, like other Asian Pacific Islander funding, and mental health as issues their American (APIA) communities, have been community members were facing. disproportionately affected by the Covid- Raksha is a South Asian American 19 health crisis. By late March, neighbor- community organization that serves as hoods in Queens with particularly high a major resource hub for pan-South Asian concentrations of the Nepali-speaking American communities with a focus on community like Jackson Heights, Elm- providing support to a constituency of over hurst, and Corona, were considered the 300 survivors of gender-based violence. epicenter of the New York City outbreak. Executive Director, Aparna Bhattacharya, Hussain, Qureshi, Sridaran, and Suryanarayanan 15 noted that “from a healing perspective, for legal services. While the number of clients the individuals who get counseling, it’s has not changed drastically since the pan- a totally different impact . . . there’s the demic began, reports of domestic violence emotional support and the connection that have become more frequent, and services you don’t get from the screen. That’s the like safety planning are occurring almost hard part.” Her major worries about Rak- every day—a shift from the pre-pandemic sha’s clients are increased food insecurity, rate of these services being requested anxiety over making rent payments, and once every few weeks. Approximately 90 the emotional impact of being isolated and percent of DAYA’s clients did not receive alone. stimulus benefits so the organization also The Burmese Rohingya Community of set up a network of support for pro-bono Georgia (BCRG) represents a community of legal attorneys to advise clients about their more than 500 Rohingya people, with the options. majority concentrated in Clarkston, a town in metro Atlanta known for having one CHICAGO of the largest refugee communities in the As the country reckons with growing cases US BRCG’s President, Ayub Mohammed, of Covid-19, the city of Chicago remains emphasized the economic duress their a hotspot for cases amongst communi- community members are facing, “There ties of color. While cases amongst South are many people who have lost their jobs, Asians remain aggregated under the some who have limited hours, some who larger Asian American umbrella, anec- are independent contractors like Uber dotal testimonies reaffirm that South Asian drivers. They’re not getting paid. And if Americans in Chicago have been dispro- they’re unemployed, many of them are not portionately impacted by the pandemic. qualified for state aid.” ApnaGhar and Chicago Desi Youth Ris- ing have cited housing, language access, TEXAS and financial relief for undocumented Texas is a microcosm of the country, where individuals as core issues facing their individuals eagerly protest to return to the communities. “norm” while economic stability is at the ApnaGhar works with domestic violence direct expense of human lives. Billionaires survivors in Chicago. At the onset of the became $565 billion richer during the pan- pandemic, they received an influx in calls demic while workers protested for hazard for support and had to quickly mobilize pay and protective equipment. Texas Lieu- to implement a secure text-based helpline tenant Governor, Dan Patrick, suggested for individuals living with their abuser(s). that the elderly should be willing to die to ApnaGhar has also continued to build rela- save the economy for their grandchildren. tionships with the neighboring Rohingya Data has revealed stark racial disparities Community Center (who has since lost in which communities of color have been funding), Muslim Women Resource Cen- deemed disposable in the name of the econ- ter, and the Bangladeshi American com- omy. As of July, Latinx Texans make up the munity on Devon Avenue to understand largest percentage of coronavirus deaths at the communities’ greatest needs. nearly 49 percent; nearly 66 percent of all Chicago Desi Youth Rising (CDYR), which Texans who have died of coronavirus have empowers youth to combat racial, eco- been people of color. nomic, and social inequity, began a rap- Daya is a Houston-based domestic vio- id-response relief fund for service workers lence organization and has been distribut- on Devon Avenue impacted by job loss. ing groceries and direct relief funds, as well They fundraised and distributed $50,000 to as providing technology for survivors to community members, prioritizing undoc- access counseling, case management, and umented individuals, gig workers, and 16 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 those who did not qualify for unemploy- with direct relief, given that many of these ment. Himabindu Poroori, an organizer individuals are ineligible for unemploy- with CDYR noted, “The frustrating thing ment benefits. Immigrant workers in is, that fund money ran out in the blink these industries already experience dif- of an eye. We have to cancel rent: that’s ficult working conditions, while earning the only solution. Rent is killing people.” below-market wages, facing restriction of Bindu expressed frustration about the gap movement, and having limited pathways between wealthier South Asian American to citizenship. The pandemic has reaf- communities and those in West Ridge, firmed the belief that we must advocate saying, “All oppressions are intertwined: for a labor migration model that respects caste and religion follow you overseas and and prioritizes the human rights of work- push you in an enclave that is restricted ers and their families, elevating labor stan- by caste, class, religion - insulating you as dards not just for South Asian American a community. The disconnection between workers but all workers.15 different caste and religious communities in Devon-area neighborhoods and the sub- Student Visa Restrictions urbs is so violent. It’s not happenstance; In response to universities across the coun- it’s not because families in poverty want to try shifting to online courses as a result stay disconnected from resources.” of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, ICE issued a directive targeting international students on F-1 and M-1 visas. The direc- Hate from the State tive, which was reversed a few days later, stated that students currently enrolled in 1. IMMIGRATION universities which moved to online courses Worker Visa Bans in the fall must depart the country or take The Covid-19 pandemic has dismantled other measures to remain in the country, what little was left of the US immigration such as transferring to a different school system. The Trump administration has offering in-personal instruction. There are summarily ended asylum, as northern hundreds of thousands of F-1 students and southern US borders remain closed from South Asian, African, and Latinx for non-essential travel under the guise countries who felt the chilling impact of of “national security.” Under a global the uncertainty around their decision to economic recession, the Trump adminis- pursue their education or risked falling tration extended its ban on worker visas, out of status. barring nearly 525,000 foreign workers.13 The visa ban blocks a wide variety of jobs Undocumented Population including H-1B, J-1, and seasonal workers South Asian Americans are also one of the in both exchange and au pair programs. fastest-growing groups of undocumented With national unemployment rates higher workers. While data is limited, there are than the 2008 Great Recession, as many at least 630,000 undocumented Indian as 250,000 guest workers could lose their Americans16 and 56,000 undocumented legal status by the end of June 2020.14 H-1B Pakistani Americans left out of the govern- visas, like many other work visas, are ment’s relief efforts (CARES Act) and state tied to a specific location and employer, unemployment benefits.17 For the millions and any changes to job status—including of individuals incarcerated, including a reduction in wages or remote work pol- 24,000 detained migrants, the pandemic icies—violate visa requirements. As places continues to be disastrous as it rap- of worship have been closed around the idly spreads in crowded and unsanitary country, the Jakara Movement has been detention facilities and prisons across the supporting R-1 visa religious workers country. Hussain, Qureshi, Sridaran, and Suryanarayanan 17 Detention worsened abusive situations, as partners In prisons and detention centers across the and families have been forced to live in country, incarcerated people are contract- close proximity. With their shelters and ing Covid while forcibly inhabiting inhu- apartments already at maximum capac- mane conditions. Nearly 1,500 individuals ity, ApnaGhar partnered with the state of in California’s San Quentin State Prison Illinois to provide hotel rooms for survi- tested positive for coronavirus; nine people vors, a strategy that many survivor sup- have since died.18 San Quentin, like most port organizations have adapted. other prisons and detention facilities in the The reliance on police is particularly US, has done little to nothing to protect the challenging for South Asian American people it has incarcerated from contracting domestic violence organizations and has the virus.19 South Asians in US detention historically been a subject of deep con- facilities have always been harassed and sideration in the field, especially now abused, dealing with inadequate language with the much more widely accepted access, medical neglect, Islamophobia— reality of police violence, thanks to the and now, they also have to deal with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Our inter- fear of contracting a fatal virus.20 views with domestic violence service orga- At the Northwest Detention Center in nizations revealed that survivors rarely Tacoma, WA, detained migrants, including want to go to the police, as found by a 2015 at least six South Asian women, described study conducted by the National Domes- pain from breathing in toxic fumes due tic Violence Hotline, which showed that to undiluted chemical cleaners in poorly among the women surveyed who had ventilated areas. In the Adelanto Immi- previously called the police after experi- gration Detention Center, this same prac- encing partner abuse: one in four would tice has caused bleeding and pain.21 From not call the police in the future; more than the lack of protective equipment to the half said calling the police would make deliberate overcrowding of facilities and things worse; and more than two-thirds slow response rate to treat sick patients, said they were afraid the police would not it is no surprise that researchers at Johns believe them or do nothing.24 The study Hopkins have found that incarcerated also showed that women who did end up people are 550 percent more likely to get calling the police only did so after multiple infected than the general population, and victimizations, demonstrating how critical three times as likely to die from Covid-19.22 early intervention is in addressing domes- Under the Free Them All campaign, thou- tic violence. For this very reason, South sands of doctors and advocates continue to Asian American community organizations demand the release of all people currently working adjacent to domestic violence ser- detained by ICE; cease of interior enforce- vice providers must understand this land- ment; elimination of ICE check-ins; free scape. access to phone and video calls for those in For many domestic violence survi- detention; and assurance that all facilities vors, financial instability remains a huge are prioritizing the health and well-being concern and Daya has distributed over of people detained.23 The government can $100,000 directly to survivors in direct and must release all people from deten- cash transfers. The city of Houston granted tion and prisons immediately so they can a $650,000 fund for their city’s women’s return home safely. shelters and domestic violence organizations to provide hotel stays to survivors, 2. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE since shelters have become less accessible For individuals experiencing domestic during the pandemic. Additionally, U visa violence, the stay-at-home orders have applications, Violence Against Women Act

18 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 (VAWA) protections, and asylum cases national responses that do not continue to have been put on hold for the foresee- rely solely on police. able future, leaving many people ineligi- It is clear that the violence and organized ble for benefits and putting them at even abandonment is intentional by design and more risk of exploitation or abuse. This that we are the only ones who keep us safe. chilling effect has been felt across- immi During the height of the George Floyd and grant communities even when the Trump Black Lives Matter uprisings, the Jakara Administration’s policies are rescinded or Movement organized political education challenged in court. segments addressing anti-Black racism, policing, and prisons, and how Sikhs bene- 3. THE PANDEMIC OF VIOLENCE: fit from anti-Black racism through systems Anti-Black Racism & Islamophobia like racial capitalism.29 They also created Black, Indigenous, and communities of short in-language videos addressing ways color are experiencing two deadly pan- in which non-black South Asian Ameri- demics: racism and Covid-19. Racist and cans play a role in the movement for Black Islamophobic rhetoric, state-sanctioned lives and in dismantling anti-Black racism. violence, along with centuries of divest- The Jakara Movement continues to meet ment from meaningful social services has the immediate needs of its constituency led to a disproportionate increase in vio- while remaining responsive to ongoing lence against our communities. We live movements, recognizing that the two are in a society in which our government’s inherently linked. prolonged failure to invest in community care has only proliferated deaths caused by Covid-19. Conclusion A Pew study found that Asian and Black Americans are more likely than We recognize that local organizations other groups to report race or ethnici- directly serving our communities are hold- ty-related hate since the coronavirus out- ing the significant load of managing this break.25 In the US, in April alone, there crisis. As a national organization, SAALT were more than 3,000 reported incidents has necessarily shifted our work to be sup- of hate violence targeting Asian Ameri- portive by: cans. Additionally, nearly 60 percent of * Expanding our tracking of hate vio- Asian Americans say they have seen or lence incidents to include those resulting been affected by a xenophobic reaction to from pandemic-related xenophobia and Covid-19. discrimination. In India, there has been a surge in corona- * Providing increased access to and virus-driven hate violence fueled by Islam- translation of critical COVID-19 resources. 26 ophobia. Equality Labs found that the * Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 hashtag #CoronaJihad appeared “nearly federal legislation on South Asian Ameri- 300,000 times” and was likely “seen by 165 can communities and sharing information million people on Twitter.”27 These tweets with our communities about their rights. were cited in violence, including against * Monitoring the effect of COVID-19 a paralyzed Muslim man in Valsad, Guja- government responses on voting and civil rat.28 At SAALT, we have expanded our rights, especially for Muslim, Arab, and hate violence database to track incidents South Asian (MASA) communities. in response to Covid-19 discrimination. * Advocating for policy solutions that We are also working with our partners address the disproportionate impact of the in the National Coalition of Asian Pacific pandemic on undocumented, detained, Americans (NCAPA) to develop effective domestic violence surviving, low-income,

Hussain, Qureshi, Sridaran, and Suryanarayanan 19 15. “About Migration That Works,” Migration and Limited English Proficient (LEP) South That Works. https://migrationthatworks.org/ Asian Americans. about-migration-that-works/#:~:text=Worker%20 Stories-,About%20Migration%20that%20Works, * Hosting monthly forums with NCSO reflects%20their%20voices%20and%20experiences. partners to assess needs and strategize. 16. Robert Warren, “US Undocumented Population Continued to Fall from 2016 to 2017, and Visa Overstays Significantly Exceeded Illegal Crossings for the Seventh Consecutive Year,” Center for Migration Studies, 16 Janu- ary 2019. https://doi.org/10.14240/cmsesy011619 1. Shikha Garg et al., “Hospitalization Rates and Characteristics of Patients Hospitalized with Labora- 17. “Unauthorized Immigrant Population Profiles,” tory-Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019—COVID- Migration Policy Institute, accessed 11 February 2020. NET, 14 States, March 1–30, 2020,” Center for Disease https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/us Control, 8 April 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/ -immigration-policy-program-data-hub/unauthorized volumes/69/wr/mm6915e3.htm -immigrant-population-profiles 2. Safiya Richardson et al., “Presenting Characteristics, 18. “COVID-19 Death Toll at San Quentin State Prison Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Reaches Nine,” Democracy Now, 13 July 2020. https:// Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City www.democracynow.org/2020/7/13/headlines/ Area,” JAMA, no. 323 (2020): 2052–2059. https://doi. covid_19_death_toll_at_san_quentin_state_prison_ org/10.1001/jama.2020.6775 reaches_nine 3. “Chronic Conditions Among U.S. South Asians in 19. Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, "The Bells," 23 the Context of COVID-19,” South Asian Public Health December 2020, in Ear Hustle, produced by Earlonne Association, accessed 7 February 2020, http://joinsapha Woods and Nigel Poor, podcast, MP3 audio, https:// .org/all-event-list/chronic-conditions-among-u-s- www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2020/12/23/the- south-asians-in-the-context-of-covid-19/ bells 4. Ibid. 20. South Asian Migrants in Detention: A Factsheet, 5. Campbell Robertson and Robert Gebeloff, “How (South Asian Americans Leading Together, Septem- Millions of Women Became the Most Essential Workers ber 2019) [PDF file]. https://saalt.org/wp-content in America,” New York Times, 18 April 2020. http://nyti. /uploads/2019/08/South-Asian-Migrants-in ms/3rwDy2G -Detention-A-Factsheet-SAALT.pdf 6. Eli Rosenberg, “1.5 Million Workers Filed for 21. Canela López, “Report Finds Ice Detention Center Is Unemployment Insurance Last Week,” Washington Using a Disinfectant Over 50 Times a Day That Causes Post, 18 June 2020. http://wapo.st/3cRHAhU; Sheryl Bleeding and Pain,” Insider, 5 June 2020. https://www. G. Stolberg, “Millions Have Lost Health Insurance in insider.com/report-detention-centers-use-disinfectant Pandemic-Driven Recession,” New York Times, 13 July -causing-bleeding-and-pain-2020-6 2020. http://nyti.ms/2OaBn6s 22. Caitlin Hoffman, “Coronavirus Infections 7. “SAALT Releases Groundbreaking Voter Guide to and Death Rate Higher Among Incarcerated Peo- Educate, Mobilize South Asian American Community ple,” Johns Hopkins University, 8 July 2020. https:// in Preparation for 2018 Midterm Elections,” South Asian hub.jhu.edu/2020/07/08/coronavirus-infection Americans Leading Together, 5 October 2018. https://saalt. -and-death-rates-higher-in-prisons/#:~:text org/saalt-releases-groundbreaking-voter-guide-to =The%20death%20rate%20of%20U.S.,3.4%25%20 -educate-mobilize-south-asian-american-community in%20the%20general%20population. -in-preparation-for-2018-midterm-elections/ 23. “COVID-19: Free Them All,” Detention Watch Net- 8. “COVID-19 United States Cases,” Johns Hopkins work, 2020. https://www.detentionwatchnetwork. University, June 2020. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ org/covid-19 us-map 24. TK. Logan, and Roberta Valente, Who Will Help Me? 9. “SAALT Releases Groundbreaking” Domestic Violence Survivors Speak Out About Law Enforce- 10. “COVID-19 & South Asian Americans,” South Asian ment Responses, (Washington, DC: National Domes- Americans Leading Together, accessed 8 February 2020, tic Violence Hotline, 2015) [PDF file]. http://www. https://learngis2.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal thehotline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/09/ /index.html?appid=3073157054f94c66b9f5812f NDVH-2015-Law-Enforcement-Survey 335b7868&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId -Report.pdf =faa50469-c2f7-4d40-b739-5b36773c7378 25. Neil G. Ruiz, Juliana M. Horowitz, and Christine 11. “Older Adults at Greater Risk of Requiring Hospi- Tamir, “Many Black and Asian Americans Say They talization or Ding if Diagnosed with COVID-19,” Center Have Experienced Discrimination Amid the COVID-19 for Disease Control, 13 December 2020. https://www.cdc. Outbreak,” Pew Research Center, 1 July 2020. https:// gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/07/01/ /older-adults.html many-black-and-asian-americans-say-they-have -experienced-discrimination-amid-the-covid-19 12. “Unemployment Rates for States,” U.S. Bureau of -outbreak/ Labor Statistics, July 2020. https://www.bls.gov/web/ laus/laumstrk.htm 26. Apoorvanand, “How the Coronavirus Outbreak in India Was Blamed on Muslims,” Aljazeera, 18 Apr 2020. 13. Michael D. Shear and Miriam Jordan, “Trump Sus- https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/4/18/ pends Visas Allowing Hundreds of Thousands of For- how-the-coronavirus-outbreak-in-india-was-blamed- eigners to Work in the U.S.,” New York Times, 22 June on-muslims/ 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/us/ politics/trump-h1b-work-visas.html 27. T. Soundararajan et al., CoronaJihad, (Equality Labs, 2020) [PDF file]. https://static1.squarespace.com/ 14. Olivia Carville, and Shelly Banjo, “Over 200,000 static/58347d04bebafbb1e66df84c/t/5ed86655611dc H-1B Workers Could Lose Legal Status by June,” 04dc4c48e7f/1591240284877/CORONAJIHAD_Equal Bloomberg, 28 April 2020. https://www.bloomberg. ityLabs_Report2020.pdf; Billy Perrigo, “It Was Already com/news/articles/2020-04-28/200-000-h-1b-workers Dangerous to Be Muslim in India. Then Came the -could-lose-right-to-work-live-in-the-u-s

20 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 Coronavirus,” TIME, 3 April 2020. https://time. com/5815264/coronavirus-india-islamophobia -coronajihad/ 28. Evangeline Elsa, “Islamophobia in India - Coro- navirus: Muslim Man Suffering From Partial Paral- ysis Falsely Accused of ‘Throwing Notes’ to Spread COVID-19,” Gulf News, 28 April 2020. https:// gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/islamophobia-in -india---coronavirus-muslim-man-suffering-from-partial -paralysis-falsely-accused-of-throwing-notes-to- spread-covid-19-1.1588069289914 29. Jakara Movement, “Talk with Jakara Movement about Black Lives Matter Movement,” 11 June 2020. Video. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/? v=352042399096107&ref=watch_permalink; Robin D. G. Kelley, “What Did Cedric Robinson Mean by Racial Capitalism?” Boston Review, 12 Jan 2017. http:// bostonreview.net/race/robin-d-g-kelley-what-did -cedric-robinson-mean-racial-capitalism

Hussain, Qureshi, Sridaran, and Suryanarayanan 21 TAUHI VĀ AS A TOOL FOR ADVOCACY IN A TIME OF CRISIS AND TRANSFORMATION Sina Uipi

Empowering Pacific Islander Commu- pandemic took place, and especially now. nities is a pro-Black, pro-Indigenous, A world that includes our stories and expe- anti-racist national organization based on riences beyond statistics and numbers. Tongva land that advances social justice A world where it doesn’t take a pandemic by engaging Native Hawaiians and Pacific to see the inequities that exist. Tauhi means Islanders in culture-centered advocacy, to care for or to take care of, and vā is the leadership development, and research. We social or relational space connecting peo- know that our cultural-centered approach ple. Through our moments of grief and for advocacy will help us thrive as a com- resilience, tauhi vā has been a way for us munity and lead us to freedom, not just to communicate virtually with each other for us, but for all. As Lilla Watson said, “If from holding space to making decisions you have come here to help me you are collectively to advocating to policymakers wasting your time, but if you have come about the impact COVID-19 has on our because your liberation is bound up with communities. mine, then let us work together.”1 We look EPIC has answered the call to be in com- to our kāinga, or community, for insight, munity and tauhi vā through the National wisdom, and guidance to ensure we par- Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response Team ticipate and engage in spaces that we are (NPICRT),2 which mobilized in April 2020 typically left out of, especially in national immediately upon the reports of data policy discussions. When I see my mom identifying the disproportionately high and her sisters gather together to put in incidence of COVID-19 cases and mortal- the time, labor, and lessons to preparing ity among Native Hawaiians and Pacific yards of handmade ngatu, fuatanga, fala Islanders (NHPI). It consists of a support- kie, and a kato teu (cultural mats and basing network of over 30 Native Hawaiian kets) together, to offer as ceremonial gifts and Pacific Islander advocacy organiza- for Pacific Islander events, it doesn’t make tions and academic institutions spanning sense to me why we are deemed the most the continental US and Hawai‘i. vulnerable, most underserved, and most The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light underrepresented communities in data on the inequities across many areas in our and policy. Such protocols and ceremonies society including health care, research, require us to give our absolute best, which policy, and essential community services. always takes a collective effort. Yet, in the Although data that separates Pacific context of policy, we are not given the best Islander numbers from the general popula- opportunities to weigh in about decisions tion is limited, the states and counties that that shape our realities. are reporting data show Pacific Islanders Our cultural practice of tauhi vā has are disproportionately affected by COVID- been a tool of advocacy for a world which 19—with some regions seeing rates of infec- we have been creating long before this tion up to five times that of white people.3 22 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 As of November 30, 2020, the NHPI com- communities to optimize interventions via munity surpassed 30,000 COVID-19 cases. the identification of factors that increase This represents an increase of nearly 8,000 the susceptibility of NHPIs to infection and NHPI COVID-19 cases and 42 NHPI adverse outcomes. COVID-19 deaths in the past month. This * On 4 September 2020, NPICRT sub- means that, on average, at least one mem- mitted a comment letter to the National ber of the NHPI community died from Academies' Committee on Equitable Allo- COVID-19 every day in November. cation of Vaccine for the Novel Corona- Pre-existing health disparities and ineq- virus to address the lack of inclusion of uities in the social determinants of health Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders in are driving the COVID-19 risk among their 114-page draft discussion document NHPIs.4 They make up a large number of of a preliminary framework for equita- the essential workforce, such as in the tour- ble allocation of COVID-19 vaccine and ism and food industries.5 In the military, offered to work together moving forward. NHPI representation is six times higher * On 27 May 2020, the US House Com- than in the general US population.6 NHPIs mittee on Ways and Means held a hear- are more likely to live in large multi-gener- ing titled “The Disproportionate Impact ational households and denser communi- of COVID-19 on Communities of Color,” ties, which further increases their exposure where Dr. Raynald Samoa served as a wit- risk.7 The high rates of asthma, obesity, ness and provided testimony.10 diabetes, heart disease, smoking, and vaping among We know that our cultural-centered approach for NHPI increase advocacy will help us thrive as a community and the risk for severe COVID-19 symp- lead us to freedom, not just for us, but for all. toms.8 COVID-19 containment and mitigation measures * Development of the NHPI Health Data have led to an increase in economic hard- Policy Lab housed at the UCLA Center of ships, behavioral health issues, and dif- Public Health and Policy that provides ficulties in managing chronic disease for weekly updates on the status of COVID- many NHPIs.9 19 in NHPI communities around the As a result, here are some examples of country. our collective advocacy: * Implementation of community-led * In early December 2020, NPICRT sent COVID-19 testing in NHPI communities letters along with the National Council of in Arkansas, Northern California, South- Asian Pacific Americans to President-elect ern California, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Joe Biden, providing recommendations to Washington state. appoint two Native Hawaiian and Pacific * Broadcasting weekly topics regarding Islander medical professionals to his newly COVID-19 and NHPI communities such formed COVID-19 Equity Task Force, in as information regarding participating in addition to outlining the impact the pan- clinical trials and the latest information demic has had on NHPI communities. regarding the different COVID-19 vaccines * On 11 November 2020, NPICRT sent to a viewership of 10,000+. a letter to the Centers for Disease Con- For many of our partners in NPICRT, trol (CDC) and to the National Institute this advocacy work is done in addition to of Health (NIH) requesting to allot fund- their current work, and others do this out- ing for the secondary analyses of public side of their regular jobs while balancing health databases to increase the yield of family responsibilities. We have even lost information regarding COVID-19 in NHPI some of our leaders to COVID-19, like

Uipi 23 publication/345821132_Structural_Racism_and_Its_ Margarita Satini who dedicated her life Effects_on_Native_Hawaiians_and_Pacific_Islanders_ to ensure Native Hawaiians and Pacific in_the_United_States_Issues_of_Health_Equity _Census_Undercounting_and_Voter_Disenfranchisement Islanders were civically engaged. 6. 2018 Demographics: Profile of the Military -Commu nity, Department of Defense, 2018) [PDF file], https:// download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/ Our current work tells us what Reports/2018-demographics-report.pdf. 7. Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, “Amplifying we have always known—that the Voice Of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities Amid the Covid-19 Crisis Nimhd,” National Institute of Minority Health and Health we have never been in national Disparities, 30 November 2020, https://nimhd.blogs. govdelivery.com/2020/11/30/amplifying-the-voice- policy discussions—and we are of-native-hawaiian-and-pacific-islander-communities- amid-the-covid-19-crisis/ no longer waiting to ask to be 8. Raynald Samoa et al.,“COVID-19 and the State of Health of Pacific Islanders in the U.S.,” AAPI Nexus included anymore. Policy Practice and Community 17, (2020), https://www. researchgate.net/publication/344592475_COVID- 19_and_the_State_of_Health_of_Pacific_Islanders_in_ Similar to knowing what it takes to give the_US our best when practicing our cultural cer- 9. Joseph Kaholokula, “Amplifying the Voice Of Native Hawaiian.” emonies, we also know that this is what 10. Statement of Raynald Albert Samoa M.D., (Pacific it takes to work together to influence Islander Response Team, 27 May 2020) [PDF file], https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats. upstream measures through research, data waysandmeans.house.gov/files/documents/Samoa_ collection, and policy. Our current work Testimony.pdf tells us what we have always known— that we have never been in national policy discussions—and we are no longer waiting to ask to be included anymore. The call for data disaggregation will inform better research and resources needed to address and improve the health disparities that exist. Tauhi vā has been a source for us to navigate this horrific storm of a pandemic, and we will continue to practice it with each other and with our allies until we have the representation we need because we deserve the absolute best and nothing less.

1. “About,” Lilla, 28 January 2010, https://lillanet- work.wordpress.com/about/. 2. “Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response Team - Pacific Islander Center Of Primary Care Excellence (PI-Copce),” Pacific Islander Center of Primary Care Excellence (PI-CoPCE), 2020, https://pi-copce.org/ covid19response/. 3. Ibid 4. J. K. Kaholokula et al., “COVID-19 Special Column: COVID-19 Hits Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities the Hardest,” Hawai'i Journal of Health & Social Welfare, no. 79(5) (2020): 144–146. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7226312/ 5. Brittany Morey et al., “Structural Racism and Its Effects on Native Hawaiians and Pacific - Island ers in the United States: Issues of Health Equity, Census Undercounting, and Voter Disenfranchise- ment,” AAPI Nexus Policy Practice and Commu- nity no. 17 (2020). https://www.researchgate.net/

24 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 CENTERING OUR COMMUNITIES CHINESE AMERICAN PLANNING COUNCIL’S RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Wayne Ho

On 13 March 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio District. In Flushing, Queens, business issued a state of emergency for the City of was down 40 percent in January according New York, removing any legal and regula- to the Flushing Chinese Business Asso- tory barriers related to response efforts for ciation.6 Xenophobia impacted not only COVID-19. The mayor said, “This isn’t the the economic stability but also the public first set of restrictions we’ve handed down safety of the Asian American community. and it will not be the last. As we learn more As the pandemic spread throughout the about COVID-19 and how it spreads, we’ll United States, President Donald Trump continue taking steps to keep New Yorkers would continue to blame China, using safe.”1 Two days later, with 269 cases and terms like the “Chinese virus” and “kung six deaths, Mayor de Blasio announced flu.” Anti-Asian racism related to COVID- on 15 March that all schools would close 19 would surge in New York City, as 316 due to COVID-19 and that all students racist incidents against Asian Americans would move to remote learning.2 The were reported to the New York Police mayor also announced that restaurants, Department (NYPD) between March and cafes, and bars are limited to take-out and July. In response, the NYPD would form an delivery and that entertainment venues Asian Hate Crime Task Force in August.7 like movie theaters, nightclubs, and con- Under these circumstances, the Chinese cert venues must all close.3 On 20 July, American Planning Council would imple- New York City was the last region of the ment its COVID-19 relief efforts. state to enter Phase 4, though restrictions remained in place on group gatherings.4 New York City public schools closed for History and Mission the rest of the 2019-20 academic year and did not reopen for in-person instruction The Chinese American Planning Council until 29 September 2020. By then, New (CPC) was founded in New York City’s York City had over 298,000 confirmed Chinatown in 1965 during the Civil Rights cases and over 24,200 deaths related to Movement, Immigration Reform, and War COVID-19.5 on Poverty. Today, CPC is the nation’s larg- While all New Yorkers were affected by est Asian American social services orga- the pandemic, COVID-19 had a negative nization and has the mission to promote impact on the Asian American commu- the social and economic empowerment of nity as early as January 2020, two months Chinese American, immigrant, and low-in- before the rest of New York City. Small come communities. businesses in Manhattan’s Chinatown As the largest non-profit provider of reported sales drops of between 40 per- social services targeting Asian American cent and 80 percent in January according communities in the United States, CPC to the Chinatown Business Improvement is in a unique position to serve the many Ho 25 immigrant and low-income individuals in high school. She fell out of status soon and families in New York City who have after entering the US Since then, she has been afflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic suffered many instances of abuse and is and its disastrous racial and economic currently in the process of applying for consequences. CPC operates commu- immigration relief as a victim of human nity centers, school-based programs, and trafficking. Given her undocumented affordable housing developments in five status, Elizabeth was working under the neighborhoods of New York City. CPC also table, cash-based jobs but lost her job due has a subsidiary, the CPC Home Attendant to the pandemic. She has experienced anti- Program, which provides home care ser- Asian harassment, such as people fake vices to homebound seniors and people coughing around her and saying racial living with disabilities in all 51 council dis- slurs. Elizabeth is most worried about food tricts of New York City. insecurity. Another example is Mr. and Mrs. Fu, who immigrated to the US with their two children and their grandparents. Communities in the Wake of COVID-19 Prior to entering the US, Mrs. Fu was per- secuted in China for being Hui and living CPC’s social service programs serve in Xinjiang. Their entire family is undoc- nearly 60,000 community members of all umented, and Mrs. Fu is currently in the ages and immigrants from 40 different process of applying for Asylum based countries speaking 25 distinct languages on Religion, Nationality, and under "Par- or dialects. Nearly all of the individuals, ticular Social Group". They do not qual- seniors, and families fall below 200 per- ify for any federal assistance, given their cent of the federal poverty line. Almost immigration status. Mr. Fu was work- all the children qualify for free or reduced ing cash-based jobs prior to COVID-19 lunch. Two-thirds of community mem- to support his family. Unfortunately, he bers are Asian, and the remaining one- lost his job due to the pandemic. The Fu third represents the diversity of NYC. Family is most worried about making rent In the neighborhoods with CPC’s three payments. community centers (Chinatown, Manhat- In a survey of CPC’s families in July tan; Sunset Park, Brooklyn; and Flush- 2020, 70 percent reported a loss in work ing, Queens), 25 percent of residents are hours or a loss in jobs altogether. The below the federal poverty level, while New York State Department of Labor 49 percent of all Asian residents in New saw unemployment claims from Asian York City live at or near the poverty level. Americans spike 6,900 percent in April More than 1 in 4 immigrants of working (147,000 claims), the highest of any racial age has less than a high school education, or ethnic group.9 Because Asian American and those with more formal education or neighborhoods in New York City were training may still find their career options particularly hard hit as early as January, limited. businesses were forced to lay off workers. Since the pandemic has taken hold, About 25 percent of residents in Asian individuals and families in CPC’s pro- American neighborhoods work in indus- grams have reported facing food insecu- tries like restaurants, hotels, retail, and rity, inaccessible health care, high medical personal care where layoffs have been costs, mental health needs, difficulty with most prevalent and where jobs will be their children’s education, inability to slowest to recover.10 In addition to health assist aging family members, problems and economic burdens, Asian American paying rent, and unemployment. For communities have faced discrimination example, Elizabeth8 is a young woman and harassment, though many instances go who immigrated to the US when she was unreported. 26 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 Pandemic Relief Response and Impact In order to reach isolated and vulnerable community members, CPC staff have mod- CPC implemented immediate relief ser- ified programming and outreach, includ- vices on 16 March, when New York City ing establishing a WeChat account and schools were ordered to close, and moved providing daily health and news updates any operations that were not reliant on on Chinese radio. CPC distributed cell in-person services to remote on 22 March. phones, tablets, and laptops to staff mem- Community members seeking assistance bers to address the influx of requests for in enrolling in unemployment insurance, assistance to complete unemployment SNAP, and other public benefits flooded insurance, housing vouchers, SNAP, Med- the phone lines of CPC’s community cen- icaid, and other benefit applications. CPC ters. Community members relied on CPC updated its online and digital platforms because New York State’s helpline for filing with the latest advisories and worked unemployment claims had limited inter- with partner organizations to share trans- pretation and translation available. When lated resources like one-pagers on renter’s the shelter-in-place happened in March, rights and the Families First Coronavirus government funders initially communi- Response Act. CPC leadership have also cated regularly with human services orga- spoken regularly with elected officials, pol- nizations like CPC to ensure that contracts icymakers, and foundation leaders about would be paid in full. As New York State community members’ stories of struggle and City began facing deficits of billions of with medical bills, children with special dollars, CPC faced budget cuts to its sum- needs, and fear of deportation. CPC pro- mer children and youth programs and the cessed over 1,500 requests for cash assis- possibility of staff furloughs and layoffs. tance to eligible community members, Because of the pandemic, CPC has reaffirmed its belief that community-based organizations remain critical to advancing the rights and well-being of low-income and immigrant communities. The strength and resiliency of the Asian American community is tied to the capacity and sustainability of Asian American organizations.

The challenges brought on by COVID-19 many of whom have not qualified for fed- raised both strategic and tactical consider- eral stimulus relief. ations for CPC, from pivoting to serving For example, in April, a new mother daily hot meals to seniors to ensuring staff named Megan and her newborn faced members have the necessary PPE, supplies, a lack of resources as the pandemic hit. She and technology needed for vital services was terrified to leave the house with her in-person and remotely. Many of CPC’s infant and take public transportation due programs and staff members have shifted to COVID-19. She tried to obtain food assis- their day-to-day programming to entirely tance for weeks over the phone but did not new models of operating, which is strain- get any response from the New York State ing organizational resources in a climate of helpline. Then her husband lost his job. An uncertainty and creating new challenges immigrant, Megan lives in a mixed-status when providing services to hard-to-reach household and did not know if her family constituents, especially those with limited would qualify for SNAP. Megan called CPC English proficiency and limited digital for help enrolling in SNAP and securing literacy. an EBT card, and CPC staff contacted the Ho 27 organizations and staff who serve them. Though 2020 has been a It is working to ensure that the federal government provides another stimulus challenging year due to the package that supports not only state and COVID-19 pandemic, CPC’s local governments but also marginalized immigrant families. Because the pandemic resilient staff, diverse programs, had disparate impacts on communities of advocacy efforts, and dedicated color, CPC continues to work with partner supporters and partners have organizations on an advocacy campaign to mandate New York State to disaggregate ensured that New York City’s data on Asian American ethnic groups, Asian American community will which would be critical to targeting health resources. CPC is also engaging with have a better opportunity at an elected officials to increase funding for equitable recovery. human services organizations to pay for the full cost of program delivery and for human services workers to have a living city office to verify Megan’s information wage, hazard pay, and PPE. Though 2020 remotely to help her get the EBT card. CPC has been a challenging year due to the also gave emergency cash assistance to the COVID-19 pandemic, CPC’s resilient staff, family, which they used to cover rent and diverse programs, advocacy efforts, and necessities for their infant child. In June, dedicated supporters and partners have an undocumented couple with an infant ensured that New York City’s Asian Amer- and a 6-year-old were referred to CPC by ican community will have a better oppor- the Mayor’s Office. The Kim Family was tunity at an equitable recovery. worried about public charge affecting their adjustment of status, so they did not want to apply for public benefits, preferring to 1. “Mayor De Blasio Issues State of Emergency,” The official website of the City of New York, 13 March go hungry. After speaking with CPC staff, 2020. https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/ the Kim Family applied for their US citi- news/138-20/mayor-de-blasio-issues-state-emergency. zen infant to receive SNAP, and CPC gave 2. “New York City to Close All School Buildings and Transition to Remote Learning,” The official website of them emergency cash assistance to help the City of New York, 15 March 2020. https://www1. nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/151-20/new- them cover their rent and other expenses. york-city-close-all-school-buildings-transition-remote- learning. 3. “Statement From Mayor de Blasio on Bars, Restau- Looking Forward rants, and Entertainment Venues,” The official website of the City of New York, 15 March 2020. https:// www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/152-20/ statement-mayor-de-blasio-bars-restaurants-entertain Because of the pandemic, CPC has reaf- ment-venues. firmed its belief that community-based 4. Michael Gold and Matt Stevens, “What Restrictions organizations remain critical to advanc- on Reopening Remain in New York?” The New York Times, 19 June 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/article ing the rights and well-being of low-in- /new-york-phase-reopening.html. come and immigrant communities. The 5. “New York Coronavirus Map and Case Count,” The New York Times, 1 April 2020. https://www. strength and resiliency of the Asian Amer- nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/new-york ican community is tied to the capacity -coronavirus-cases.html. and sustainability of Asian American 6. Alexandra Olson, “Misguided Virus Fears Hit- ting Asian American Businesses,” Associated Press, organizations. Because Asian American 18 February 2020. https://apnews.com/article/ organizations do not receive an equitable a2d312755662ca7c7b5f0bb49dfe8633. 7. Dennis Romero, “New York Police Create Asian share of public and private funding, CPC Hate Crimes Task Force,” NBCUniversal News Group, continues to advocate for Asian American 19 August 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/ communities as well as human services asian-america/new-york-police-create-asian-hate- 28 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 crimes-task-force-n1237193. 8. Names have been changed to protect the identity of community members. 9. Shannon Liao, “Unemployment Claims from Asian Americans Have Spiked 6,900% in New York. Here's Why,” CNN, 1 May 2020. https://www.cnn. com/2020/05/01/economy/unemployment-benefits -new-york-asian-americans/index.html. 10. Jonathan Bowles and Charles Shaviro, “Bearing the Brunt: Where NYC's Hard-Hit Sector Workers Live,” Center for an Urban Future (CUF), May 2020. https:// nycfuture.org/research/where-hard-hit-sector-workers -live.

Ho 29 CHINESE RESTAURANTS: A HISTORY OF RESILIENCE Curtis Chin

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, over labor, long hours, thin profit margins— 40,000 Chinese restaurants were operating Chinese establishments have also had to across America. That’s more than all the deal with the burden of racism and gov- McDonalds, KFC’s, Wendy’s and Pizza ernmental policies that were often hostile Huts combined. Located in nearly every to their success. community and corner of the country, The first Chinese restaurant in -Amer these ubiquitous establishments, big and ica, the Canton Restaurant, opened in San small, are as American as apple pie, and, of Francisco in 1849. Thousands of Chinese course, more delicious. men had left Southern China to mine for The $15 billion Chinese restaurant treasures on Gold Mountain. These bach- industry, which includes many inde- elors needed a place to eat. By 1850, there pendently owned family businesses, was were five such establishments. However, amongst the first to be hit, and hit hard, by the growing wave of anti-Asian immigra- the economic crisis wrought by the corona- tion policies, including the Chinese Exclu- virus. With some national leaders promot- sion Act, kept the community small and ing the use of terms like “Wuhan virus,” limited the number of Chinese restaurants “Hong Kong Fluey” and “General Tso’s to a dozen or so. Revenge,” the old stereotype of Chinese It wasn’t until 1915, when the federal eateries being dirty and disease-ridden government loosened the immigration returned, negatively impacting businesses. restrictions to exempt restaurant owners, According to Restaurant News, 50 percent that the number of restaurants increased of these Chinese restaurants shut down by substantially. Suddenly, a wave of aspiring Spring 2020.1 restauranteurs applied to come to America. Luckily, there’s a new administration While the number of restaurants increased, in charge and vaccine distribution has general anti-Asian hostility in the country been ramped up. As state and local offi- kept these businesses relegated to China- cials grapple with the best course to tackle towns on the East and West Coast. While the pandemic and chart our recovery, an the clientele was still primarily Chinese, it important question emerges—is America did expand to include other immigrants destined for life without egg rolls? and the more adventurous non-Chinese. COVID-19, and its sadly predictable World War II changed the industry’s accompanying racism, is just the latest trajectory. As the US and China became challenge to visit these iconic businesses. allies, there was a new openness towards Throughout their history, owners—includ- Chinese people and Chinese culture. Chi- ing families like my own—have faced many nese Americans benefited, as they were tough challenges. In addition to the usual no longer seen as strangers or the enemy. difficulties of operating a restaurant—hard The discrimination and hostility they often

30 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 faced subsided, though sadly replaced by of those rare places in our segregated city a rise in anti-Japanese sentiments. This led where everyone felt welcomed. Black or to an explosion in the number of Chinese White, rich or poor, gay or straight, Chris- restaurants, as well as their move into the tian or Jew—we took anyone’s money. suburbs. Over six decades, our family sacrificed It was during this wave that my family and worked hard to ensure the success of entered the restaurant business. Though Chung’s. But like most small family busi- my great-great-grandfather immigrated to nesses, its fortunes were often impacted by Detroit in the late 1800s and opened laun- larger political forces beyond its control. dries and grocery stores, my great-grand- After immigration, the first major policy father, Joe expanded the family business challenge came with eminent domain. As into promoting Chinese food. Joe and his “White Flight” continued to decimate the two oldest children opened a small chop city in the 1950s and 1960s, Detroit officials suey joint in the city’s Old Chinatown in opted to build a freeway, to connect their 1940. The restaurant was named Chung’s, former residents with the government not Chin’s, after Joe’s American-born son- and financial jobs stranded downtown. To in-law, Harry, who spoke more English accommodate the added concrete, the city and convinced my great-grandfather to branded Chinatown, as well as Paradise identify the restaurant after his family’s Valley, a nearby Black neighborhood, as surname. slums. Ignoring the protests of its poor and My ancestors understood they still faced working-class inhabitants, the city demol- lingering stereotypes and confusion about ished both communities of color. the Chinese and Chinese Americans. To At the prodding of the city, my family make sure that potential White, Black, and relocated our business a few blocks east Jewish customers wouldn’t be scared off, they made sure In addition to the usual difficulties of operating the ingredients a restaurant—hard labor, long hours, thin profit were familiar to the American pal- margins—Chinese establishments have also had to ette. No authentic deal with the burden of racism and governmental dishes like chick- policies that were often hostile to their success. en’s feet or bok choy appeared. Instead, since there were so many South- to a downtrodden area known as the Cass erners in Detroit, Chung’s menu featured Corridor, the most crime and drug infested a lot of fried foods smothered in gravy, part of the city. Local officials promised to including their most popular dish and develop the area into an “International Dis- local Detroit invention, Almond Boneless trict” that could serve as a bustling tourist Chicken. destination. Par for the course for the White With its Americanized menu and angli- power structure, those funds never came. cized names for the dishes, the restau- With little government support, our rant was an instant hit. Diners came in community was left stranded. So, we seven days a week, lining up for exotic, again turned to ourselves. The Chinese though still safe, dishes like shrimp fried Merchants Association and the five other rice, breaded shrimp, and sweet and sour Chinese restaurants on the block pulled chicken. The restaurant stayed open until together to support programs like the 4 a.m., feeding the late-night diners and Lunar New Year parade, the Moon festival, bowling leagues. Our restaurant was one and the Miss Chinatown beauty pageant.

Chin 31 The successful events they created drew pharmaceuticals, that is. With changes in people to come down to Chinatown, and healthcare law, prescription drug compa- their businesses thrived. nies could now directly market their prod- However, increasing racial tension in ucts to doctors. The companies started our city—fueled by inequity in housing hiring pharmaceutical representatives who and education policies—led to the city hosted luncheons for doctors and hospital executives. Our restaurant supplied the food for the catered luncheons. Who knew During their long and often that legal drugs were more profitable than turbulent history in America, illegal ones? Still, Detroit continued to shrink, and Chinese restaurants have always my family did their best to hang on. How- found a way to survive and thrive. ever, crime was too high, and after being vandalized a few more times, they had no choice but to finally leave the city and rioting in 1967. Just as now, protests and move out to the suburbs. Once again, they civil unrest swept across the nation. For adapted their menu, this time to accommo- five days, Detroit resembled a war zone, date the suburban tastes. Instead of fried with the National Guard occupying its foods with gravy, suburbanites wanted streets. The city instituted a curfew and more vegetables and healthier options, as my parents stayed home. It was the longest well as spicier regional cuisines. amount of time our restaurant closed. Sadly, the restaurant’s run, at least as Once again, my family was forced to part of our family, came to an abrupt end adapt. After dusk, all the white-collared in the mid-2000s after my dad was killed workers left the city for their homes in the in a car accident. On his drive to work, suburbs. Except for a few special evenings after stopping at a store to pick up a few like concerts at Orchestra Hall, there was last-minute items, he was killed when a no longer a dinner rush. In response, my car rammed into the driver’s side. With- parents adjusted their business hours, out my dad’s presence, my mom didn’t closing earlier and reducing shifts to save feel like she could carry on and none of the money. They also configured their business six children wanted to run the business, to accommodate more carryout orders. as we had all earned out college degrees With fewer residents and a reduced and moved on and mostly out of the tax-base, Detroit faced major budget cuts state. throughout the 1970s. So, city officials shut I was living in Los Angeles at the time down police substations all across the city, but returned home to Michigan to sell the including the one in Chinatown. This led family business. It was a hard decision, full to a further increase in crime, with the city of so many memories, but we felt it was now christened “Murder City.” After being better to let Chung’s survive, even if it no robbed at gunpoint twice—low by Detroit longer would be in our family’s hands. The standards—our restaurant absorbed the restaurant is now run by a Chinese immi- cost of additional security measures. My grant family from Hong Kong hoping to dad hired a security guard to work during realize their own American dream. nights. Unfortunately, the new employee During their long and often turbulent kept going into the kitchen and raiding our history in America, Chinese restaurants refrigerators. So, my dad had to fire him. have always found a way to survive and In the mid-1980s, business in the inner thrive. Today, with COVID-19, the owners city got even tougher with the crack epi- again face deep challenges. I wish them the demic and the rise of AIDS. My family best, as their food is too good to disappear responded by moving into the drug trade: from the scene. 32 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 1. Peter Romeo, “Half the Nation’s Chinese Restau- rants Have Closed, Study Finds,” Restaurant Business, 13 April 2020, https://www.restaurantbusinessonline. com/operations/half-nations-chinese-restaurants- have-closed-study-finds. Viral Voting: AALDEF Adapts to 2020 and Beyond

Chin 33 VIRAL VOTING: AALDEF ADAPTS TO 2020 AND BEYOND Phil Tajitsu Nash

polarized political landscape, and a Black Introduction Lives Matter movement that galvanized nationwide conversations about racial jus- In Georgia, outside a small Korean church tice and police tactics. housing a November 2020 polling site, The Asian American Legal Defense and non-partisan Asian Pacific American Education Fund (AALDEF) and its partner (APA) exit poll volunteers set up a table to organizations in thirteen states and Wash- conduct their surveys, just as volunteers ington, DC organized teams of lawyers, did across the country. During the course law students, and other volunteers, who of Election Day, however, two disturbing conducted exit polls in many states and events occurred at this site. A truck with provided non-partisan assistance to APA four or five extra-large Trump flags sped voters in New York, New Jersey, Massa- menacingly around the church’s small chusetts, Pennsylvania, California, and parking lot, and then drove directly toward New Mexico. The 400 exit poll volunteers volunteers at the exit poll table before exit- spoke to 5,424 APA voters on Election Day ing the lot. Some felt intimidated. Later that and found that they supported Democrat day, a partisan poll watcher stood directly Joe Biden over Republican Donald Trump in front of the volunteers at their table, by a margin of 68 percent to 29 percent, blocked them from conducting their voter with no gender gap between APA men surveys of exiting APA voters, and stared and women. While Vietnamese Americans them down while refusing to move or identify for Thanks to AALDEF’s 2020 exit polls, we know whom he worked. several important facts about APA voters: 27 While no single percent of APA voters were first-time voters, incident escalated to the levels of anti- 27 percent were not enrolled in a political party, Asian violence that and APA female voters (including some who had occurred in some states ear- contributed to the surge in suburban women voters) lier in the year, outnumbered APA male voters by 6 percent. anti-Asian racial tensions definitely were a noteworthy factor in the 2020 elec- favored Trump by 57 percent to 41 per- tion season. Other major factors included cent, all other APA ethnic groups favored a COVID-19 pandemic, major economic Biden.1 disruptions, extremely high levels of Thanks to AALDEF’s 2020 exit polls, we unemployment, housing crises, a bitterly know several important facts about APA 34 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 voters: 27 percent of APA voters were first- a number of onerous restrictions on our time voters, 27 percent were not enrolled ability to own land and have other rights in a political party, and APA female voters were based on our status as “aliens ineligi- (including some who contributed to the ble for citizenship.”7 surge in suburban women voters) outnum- Some of the most consequential civil bered APA male voters by 6 percent.2 When rights advances of the nineteenth and early combined with other research showing twentieth centuries for APAs were lawsuits that APAs had the biggest net increase in filed by Chinese immigrants using white eligible voters over the last twenty years3 lawyers to establish equal protection guar- and the highest recent increase in voter antees for Chinese laundry owners in San turnout of any racial group (a quadrupling Francisco8,9 and the right to United States of APA voters from 1.1 million in 2016 to citizenship for someone born to immigrant 4.7 million in 2020),4,5 it is clear that APA parents on American soil.10 voters will be an increasingly decisive elec- Nevertheless, even when Chinese, Jap- toral segment of the electorate in the years anese, Korean, and other immigrants had ahead. children who were American citizens When combined with other research showing that APAs had the biggest net increase in eligible voters over the last twenty years and the highest recent increase in voter turnout of any racial group (a quadrupling of APA voters from 1.1 million in 2016 to 4.7 million in 2020), it is clear that APA voters will be an increasingly decisive electoral segment of the electorate in the years ahead.

This article will examine the 2020 presi- by birth, racist local, state, and national dential election through the lenses of both laws—as well as blatant discrimination a unique year to elect the 46th president and threatened or actual violence11—made and forty-six years of AALDEF’s efforts voting and political empowerment less to support APA community empower- of a priority for many APAs than making ment. While some challenges were unique a living. Japanese Americans12 and Indian to 2020, the article will conclude with Americans13 tried and failed to get the thoughts on how APA individuals and advantages given to “whites” in a society organizations can enhance democracy via where “one drop” of non-European blood the electoral process in the future. meant you were a second-class citizen.14 The huge strike by Chinese railroad workers in June 1867,15 the proud history Overview of APA Voting and Community of labor organizing by Larry Itliong and Empowerment other Filipino American agricultural workers,16 and the great Hawai’i Sugar Strike of The history of voting rights for Asian 194617 proved that APAs did not passively Pacific Americans (APAs) in this country accept discrimination and second-class runs parallel to the history of fighting for citizenship. Yet a combination of factors our rights to work, get an education, get that included exclusion from schools, married, stay safe, and be treated as full exclusion from professions, bias against citizens. APAs were not mentioned in the those who spoke with an accent, and first United States Census in 6 1790, and anti-immigrant discrimination meant that Nash 35 APA leaders, who could have become may- and the growing number of APA politicians ors or members of Congress if they had of all political affiliations in every level of been white, decided instead to go into busi- government. However, progressing from ness or remain leaders in their own ethnic the world first researched by Don Nakan- communities. ishi and his colleagues in the 1970s to the Japanese American Nisei veterans current world of APAs being accepted as returning to Hawai’i after their service in voters, candidates, campaign profession- the European theater during World War II als, and policy experts took fifty years joined the Democratic Party and created of hard work by countless individuals, the most successful, sustained electoral organizations, and communities. The rise success for APAs in history.18 They routed of AALDEF in 1974 and its voter empower- the white plantation owner class and sent ment work in subsequent decades provide Daniel Inouye to Congress as a Territorial just one example. representative and then Congressman and Senator.19 This movement opened the door for Patsy Takemoto Mink in 1964, the first Building AALDEF’s Capacity: Activists to woman of color elected to Congress;20 Sen- Law Students to Lawyers ator Spark Matsunaga, who envisioned the United States Institute of Peace;21 and gen- In 1974, current AALDEF Executive Direc- erations of Hawai’ian APA leaders of all tor Margaret Fung, who had not yet gone political parties and ethnic backgrounds in to law school, worked with others to orga- local, state, and national politics. nize a legal rights workshop in New York Indian American Democrat Dalip Singh City. It was attended by pioneering APA Saund was elected to represent the Impe- attorneys Bill Marutani, Josephine Ho, rial Valley of California in Congress in Anthony Kahng, and Ben Gim, as well as 1956,22 and Chinese American Republi- interested community members such as can Hiram Fong became the first APA in chemist Stan Mark, who was inspired to go the United States Senate when Hawai’i to law school and now serves as AALDEF’s became a state in 1959.23 As the civil rights Senior Staff Attorney. They discussed the and anti-war movements of the 1960s and need for an organization to help APA com- 1970s galvanized the creation of an Asian munity members understand the legal sys- American movement24 all across the coun- tem, defend their rights, and move from try and Asian American Studies courses the margins to the mainstream of American on many campuses,25 dynamic community society. leaders such as Don Nakanishi entered the By 1976, AALDEF had opened its doors academy and created resources such as at 43 Canal Street, right off of the Bowery the National Asian Pacific American Politi- and in the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge. cal Almanac—the first record of APAs who Nicholas Chen, who has been on the AAL- were entering the political arena via town, DEF board for forty years after first serving city, county, regional, state, and high-pro- as a student intern, said, “We had no com- file federal offices. National APA newspa- puters or fax machines or internet. There pers such as Asian Week26 garnered a wide was barely a private place to talk to a client, following, as APA advocates in every state and the need for legal help was so great that looked for ideas, role models, and allies clients found us by word-of-mouth.” as they pushed for APA empowerment in By the 1980s, AALDEF had moved to their communities. 99 Hudson Street in Lower Manhattan Today, we see the political power of as part of the Public Interest Law Center, APAs in the presence of numerous advo- which included the NAACP Legal Defense cacy organizations in Washington, DC,27 and Education Fund and other leading contributions to the political science field,28 civil rights law groups. In addition to 36 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 participating in national civil rights litiga- interpreters at poll sites. tion and amicus briefs in leading Supreme * 1988 - Conducts first exit poll of APA Court cases, AALDEF focused on immi- voters in a presidential election. grant rights, voting rights, economic justice * 1990 - Educates APA communities for workers, language access to services, about the importance of participating in educational equity, housing and environ- the 1990 Census. mental justice, as well as the elimination of anti-Asian Today, we see the political power of APAs in the violence, police presence of numerous advocacy organizations misconduct, and human traffick- in Washington, DC, contributions to the political ing. Recognizing science field, and the growing number of APA that not everyone can afford a -law politicians of all political affiliations in every level yer and that many of government. conflicts never reach a courtroom, AALDEF staff and volunteers spent much * 1992 - AALDEF is the only APA group time providing legal resources for com- invited to testify before the US House Judi- munity-based organizations, facilitating ciary Committee on expanding minority grassroots community organizing efforts, language assistance under the Voting and conducting free multilingual legal Rights Act, affecting 200,000 APAs nation- advice clinics for low-income APAs and wide. new immigrants. 1994 - Leads advocacy effort to AALDEF chose to not take any gov- secure first fully translated Chinese-lan- ernmental funding so that it could advo- guage voting machine ballots in New York cate, if necessary, against unfair practices City under the Voting Rights Act. by government entities. Instead, it held * 1994 - Launches Asian American Cit- an annual Lunar New Year banquet and izenship Project in response to anti-im- other fundraising events, solicited indi- migrant sentiments; assists thousands of vidual and organizational contributions, permanent residents to become US citi- and wrote proposals to receive grants from zens. foundations. Many lawyers and law firms * 1996 - Conducts exit poll of 3,264 provided pro bono representation on key Asian New Yorkers in the presidential elec- cases, and thousands of students such as tion; 39 percent are first-time voters. Nick Chen, Helen Kang, and Arthur Hui * 2000 - Conducts multilingual exit poll started as interns or volunteers and went of over 5,000 APA voters in presidential on to provide years of help as staff mem- election. bers, exit poll monitors, board members, * 2002 - Works with New York Vot- and donors. ing Rights Consortium, a multiracial col- AALDEF’s work in support of voting laborative, to coordinate state and local rights and civic engagement over the last New York redistricting plans and election few decades led or tracked many of the reform advocacy; monitors Korean-lan- ways that APAs were getting involved and guage ballots and assistance in New York asserting their rights. Here are a few exam- City. ples of AALDEF’s initiatives: * 2002 - Works with the Beyond Ground * 1985 - Negotiates voluntary agree- Zero network; testifies before Congress, ment with NYC Board of Elections to pro- calling for funds to research and treat vide sample ballots in Chinese and hire post-9/11 environmental health problems Nash 37 affecting Chinatown and Lower East Side * 2018 - More than 8,000 APA voters in residents; assists thousands of people to fourteen states participate in AALDEF’s access 9/11 relief programs. multilingual Asian American Exit Poll. * 2004 - Releases new report on The Voter turnout is high across the country. Asian American Vote 2004, based on a multi- More exit polls follow in 2019 and 2020. lingual exit poll of 10,789 APA voters. All of this incremental change was com- * 2006 - Testifies before the US Senate bined with holding ongoing legal advice Judiciary Committee in support of twenty- clinics for immigrants, providing assistance five-year reauthorization of key provisions to immigrants seeking to become natural- of the Voting Rights Act. ized US citizens, translating legal advice * 2007 - In response to AALDEF’s law- materials into many Asian languages, suit under the Voting Rights Act, the NYC and conducting impact litigation, when Board of Elections agrees to update and necessary. In the course of forty-six years, improve its Chinese and Korean language these activities built a reservoir of trust and assistance programs in Chinatown Voter a cadre of committed volunteers to help Education Alliance v. Ravitz. with exit polling and other labor-intensive * 2008 - Conducts the nation’s largest tasks that are some of AALDEF’s biggest multilingual exit poll of 16,665 APA vot- contributions to community empowerment. ers in eleven states and Washington, DC; poll shows overwhelming APA support for President Barack Obama. Election 2020: A Challenge for AALDEF and Other Advocates * 2010 - Releases report on AALDEF exit poll of 3,721 APA voters in five states in the 2010 midterm elections; exit polls were also Some of the issues that challenged elderly conducted in 2012 and 2014. APA voters and those with limited English * 2013 - Speaks at DC rally as the US ability in 2020 were similar to issues seen Supreme Court hears Shelby County v. Ala- by veteran poll monitors over many bama, a case that found certain provisions decades. For example, AALDEF Senior of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional Staff Attorney Susana Lorenzo-Giguere and limited protections for minority voters. reported that some poll officials in 2020 still Sues the NYC Board of Elections for failing do not understand that Chinese and other to provide Bengali ballots in Queens; the Asian voters customarily give their name Board settles and provides Bengali ballots to the poll worker with their surname first, for the September 2013 primary election. for example, “Nash Philip” rather than * 2016 - Releases report on AALDEF “Philip Nash.” Poll workers have turned multilingual exit poll of 13,846 APA voters away such voters because they inevitably in fourteen states in the 2016 presidential cannot find the voter so listed in the list of election. registered voters. A variation on that mis- * 2016 - A federal district court blocks understanding occurred when voters used the Texas election law that limits access to an English nickname such as “Ann” on interpreters for limited English proficient a driver’s license and an official Vietnam- voters, in violation of the Voting Rights ese name such as “Anh” on a voter regis- Act, in AALDEF’s case OCA-Greater Hous- tration, causing poll officials to reject such ton v. State of Texas. voters because the name on the voter’s ID * 2017 - Conducts another exit poll, does not match the name on the list of reg- and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth istered voters. Finally, some poll workers Circuit affirms that Texas election law, were hostile to APA voters with limited requiring interpreters to be registered vot- English proficiency, made anti-Chinese ers, violates the Voting Rights Act in OCA- comments about Chinese voters, yelled at Greater Houston v. State of Texas. APA volunteer poll monitors who were 38 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 providing election protection and lan- answer exit polls in-person might also guage assistance, and even demanded that object to answering questions online, authorized APA poll monitor volunteers which might be seen as less private. AAL- leave poll sites and exit pollers leave des- DEF got around this issue, however, by ignated outdoor exit poll tables.29 providing a QR code to an online exit poll However, in many respects, Election questionnaire that was not publicly broad- 2020 was unlike any other election: cast except to voters who were leaving 1. The COVID-19 virus limited in- a voting place and did not want to stop to person voter registration, polling, Get- talk. Out-the-Vote (GOTV) activities, and exit 6. Exit polls take a lot of labor in the polling. Masks made communication preparation phase, but COVID-19 restric- more difficult, and social distancing made tions meant that the ninety boxes of exit approaching voters to ask exit poll ques- polling materials sent to volunteers around tions riskier for all involved. the nation (up from eighty-two in 2016) 2. President Trump’s blatant anti- had to be assembled and mailed by staff Asian taunts and his encouragement members working in socially distanced of anti-Asian bullying resulted in shifts. a spike in anti-Asian violence that led Rep. As always, volunteers tended to be Grace Meng (D-NY) and others to sponsor about two-thirds students (undergradu- and then pass a House of Representatives ates, law students, and graduate students) resolution condemning anti-Asian bigotry and one-third lawyers and community and discrimination.30 members. In some cities such as Boston, 3. Concerns about the virus also led to for example, students from the Harvard the closing or consolidation of voting loca- APALSA, Pan-Asian Graduate Student tions, which was a tactic used in years past Alliance, Kennedy School of Government in minority communities to create chaos Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus, and discouragement on Election Day. Many and T.H. Chan School of Public Health AALDEF volunteer exit polling teams had South Asian Student Association did the to scramble from one location to another planning and volunteering that made the as the day started because notice about exit polling possible. closed polling locations was not uniformly well-publicized. On the plus side, however, the consolidation of polling places meant Challenges: The Virus and Beyond that some exit polling teams were able to reach some voters who would have voted Given almost fifty years of experience, at locations with no exit poll questionnaires AALDEF was able to adapt to the chal- available; so, this year’s results included lenges of the 2020 election and get polling more Bengali, Korean, and other exit data that will help researchers, policy ana- poll results. lysts, and community groups to under- 4. Exit poll takers and volunteer poll stand who voted, how they voted, and what monitors, who provide non-partisan assis- their needs and concerns are. For exam- tance at polling sites, tend to be older and ple, while APAs overwhelmingly chose therefore less likely to volunteer to go Biden over Trump,31 there were voters out in public due to the pandemic. As a who supported Trump despite what one result, the number of AALDEF volunteers woman described as “his inability to keep dropped precipitously from about 800 to his mouth shut.” In fact, this elder had about 400, and there were fewer volunteers stockpiled food at home before coming able or willing to work full-day shifts. to the polls to vote for Trump because she 5. AALDEF privacy experts worried had heeded Trump’s warning that civil that voters who did not want to wait to unrest was coming if he was not re-elected. Nash 39 AALDEF’s success is based on a holis- of APAs, but also those of Native Ameri- tic model of community service legal cans, the Hispanic community, and people work that sees success not as the victory with disabilities. of one plaintiff in a court case, but as What will future elections hold for the a legal case that is one part of an overall APA community, and how can AALDEF strategy to empower individuals, other and other APA community groups prepare community service organizations, the sur- to help APAs vote and get involved? rounding community, and the nation as 1. More translators are needed at major- a whole. For example, AALDEF’s efforts ity-minority precincts, and more training to promote economic justice have helped is needed for poll workers and others who low-wage workers collect stolen tips, get will interact with the names and needs of paid legally mandated minimum wages, APA voters, especially those with limited and improve workplace conditions that English abilities. ultimately lead to a better workplace for 2. More needs to be done to remind everyone. AALDEF’s immigrant rights reporters, politicians, and policy analysts efforts have encouraged clients to get nat- that APAs are not monolithic or easily cate- uralized, learn their rights, and assert their gorized. For example, more exit polling and rights at the ballot box. In both of these analytical studies of APA evangelicals will legal arenas, community education and allow for a more nuanced and thoughtful legal clinic work is done onsite at small view of a large and growing community. immigrant rights or worker rights organi- 3. Much more needs to be done to halt zations that provide interpreters. The net anti-Asian harassment, such as the truck effect is that the legal client is served, while prowling through the parking lot in Geor- AALDEF, the partnering organization, and gia, that unfairly or unlawfully discour- trust in the nation’s legal processes all are ages APAs from full civil engagement and improved as well. voter participation. Success in providing non-partisan poll 4. More political campaigns need to do monitors and collecting exit poll data outreach to APA communities during cam- comes from having a year-round Democ- paign season – both to understand how racy Program and a team with diverse skill to encourage APA voting and address the sets and experiences. For example, Director needs of APA communities once a candi- Jerry Vattamala is a lawyer and adjunct law date becomes an elected official.32 professor who refines, implements, and analyzes polls, while also litigating cases, providing testimony on APA voting rights, Postscript: Runoff Election in Georgia speaking on redistricting panels, and leading training for volunteer attorneys, law AALDEF organizer Judy Lei, Senior Staff students, and others. Voting Rights Orga- Attorney Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, and nizer Judy Lei, who handles the logistics Legal Intern Joanna Xing partnered with involving exit polling work, is also an staff from the Atlanta-based Center for Pan actress and community organizer whose Asian Community Services (CPACS) to people skills are essential when reaching conduct exit polling in Georgia’s Gwinnett, out to community partner organizations. Fulton, and DeKalb counties during the 5 Senior Staff Attorney Susana Loren- January 2021 United States Senate run-off zo-Giguere, who formerly served as a Spe- elections. The Georgia exit polls, offered cial Litigation Counsel at the Civil Rights to over 270 individuals in Korean, Bengali, Division of the United States Department Chinese, and Vietnamese, showed that 22 of Justice and is a nationally recognized percent of API voters were casting their voting rights expert, has participated in vote for the first time, 33 percent were lim- cases to defend not only the voting rights ited English proficient, and 77 percent were 40 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 aaldef-exit-poll-asian-americans-favor-biden-over- foreign-born naturalized citizens. Two- trump-68-to-29-played-role-in-close-races-in-georgia- thirds of APA voters favored the Demo- and-other-battleground-states/ cratic candidates (Warnock 64 percent and 2. Ibid. 3. APIA Vote, “2020 Asian American Voter Survey,” Ossoff 68 percent) over their Republican Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Press Release, opponents (Loeffler 33 percent and Perdue 15 September 2020, accessed 18 January 2020, https:// 33 www.apiavote.org/research/2020-asian-american 31 percent). -voter-survey; Jerry Vattamala, AALDEF Democracy 4. Li Zhou, “Asian Americans are Seeing Unprec- Program Director, said, “One issue we edented Outreach – but Campaigns Could Still Do Better,” Vox, 3 November 2020, accessed 18 January observed in the runoff elections was that 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/11/3/21540472/ hundreds of voters of color, including asian-american-campaigns-outreach 5. Juan Gonzalez, “The Media has it Wrong. Record Asian American voters, were turned away Latinx Turnout Helped Biden. White Voters Failed and told they were at incorrect poll sites. Dems,” Democracy Now, 5 November 2020, https:// www.democracynow.org/2020/11/5/2020_election_ This was particularly egregious when ballots_electoral_college the site to which they were directed was 6. United States Census, “1790 Overview,” United closed. We will continue to work with elec- States Census, accessed 18 January 2020, https://www. census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/ tion officials to investigate these serious overview/1790.html 34 voting problems.” 7. Cherstin M. Lyon, “Alien Land Laws,” Densho Encyclopedia, accessed 18 January 2021, https:// To address these issues on Election Day, encyclopedia.densho.org/Alien_land_laws/ AALDEF and CPACS staff provided a nec- 8. Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886), Justicia, essary polling place look-up service, not accessed 18 January 2021, https://supreme.justia. com/cases/federal/us/118/356/ . only for API voters, but also for Black and 9. AALDEF won a case in Philadelphia in 2019 that Hispanic voters. CPACS staff even pro- had some similarities to the Yick Wo case: AALDEF, “Philadelphia Settles Discrimination Lawsuit with Chi- vided car rides to elderly APA voters who nese Restaurant Owners for $265,000; Formally Agrees had been turned away so they could reach Not to Enforce Disputed City Ordinance,” AALDEF Press Release, accessed 18 January 2021, https:// their proper voting site. www.aaldef.org/press-release/philadelphia-settles “Even with a record number of early -discrimination-lawsuit-with-chinese-restaurant -owners-for-265-000-formally-agrees-not-to-enforce- voters in Georgia, AALDEF’s exit polling disputed-city-ordinance/ revealed a remarkable Election Day turn- 10. United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), out among young and first-time Asian Justicia, accessed 18 January 2021, https://supreme. justia.com/cases/federal/us/169/649/ American voters,” said Senior Staff Attor- 11. Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore (Bos- ney Lorenzo-Giguere. “It also cemented ton, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1998). https:// www.google.com/books/edition/Strangers_from_a_ AALDEF’s enduring commitment to pro- Different_Shore/mt_tw5cn8y0C?hl=en tect the rights of all voters of color when 12. Takao Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178 (1922), they were turned away by poll workers Justicia, accessed 18 January 2021, https://supreme. justia.com/cases/federal/us/260/178/ from their polling places in Gwinnett 13. 35 United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 County.” (1923), Justicia, accessed 18 January 2021, https:// Looking toward the future, AAL- supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/261/204/#214 14. Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial Formation DEF Executive Director Margaret Fung in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s, 2nd Edi- observed: “Asian American voters played tion (Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 1994) https:// books.google.com/books?id=j9v6DMjjY44C&print a critical role in electing Warnock and sec=frontcover&dq=Michael+Omi+and+Howard Ossoff in two extremely close races that +Winant,+Racial+Formation+in+the+United +States:+From+the+1960s+to+the+1990s,+2d will result in Democratic control of the US +Edition&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa Senate. Asian American voters must no =X&ved=2ahUKEwis3Oys5sHuAhXnHjQ IHTztBHgQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg longer be ignored in the political process.”36 15. Chris Fuchs, “150 Years Ago, Chinese Railroad Work- ers Staged the Era's Largest Labor Strike,” NBC News, accessed 18 January 2021, https://www.nbcnews. com/news/asian-ameri- 1. AALDEF, “AALDEF Exit Poll: Asian Americans ca/150-years-ago-chinese-railroad Favor Biden Over Trump 68% to 29%; Played Role in -workers-staged-era-s-largest-n774901 Close Races in Georgia and Other Battleground States,” AALDEF Press Release, 13 November 2020, accessed 18 16. Patricia Leigh Brown, “Forgotten Hero of Labor January 2021, https://www.aaldef.org/press-release/ Fight; His Son’s Lonely Quest,” New York Times, 18 October 2012, accessed 18 January 2021, https://www.

Nash 41 nytimes.com/2012/10/19/us/larry-itliong-forgotten races-in-georgia-and-other-battleground-states/ -filipino-labor-leader.html 32. Li Zhou, “Asian Americans are Seeing Unprec- 17. Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR), edented Outreach – but Campaigns Could Still Do University of Hawai’i – West Oahu, “1946: The Great Better,” Vox, 3 November 2020, https://www.vox. Hawai‘i Sugar Strike: Rice & Roses,” CLEAR, accessed com/2020/11/3/21540472/asian-american-campaigns 18 January 2021, https://www.hawaii.edu/uhwo/ -outreach clear/home/1946.html 33. “AALDEF Exit Poll: 2/3 of Asian American vot- 18. “AJA Political Advancements—Inouye, Matsu- ers favored Senators-Elect Raphael Warnock and Jon naga, Mink and Ariyoshi,” Nisei Veterans Legacy, Ossoff in 2021 Georgia runoff elections,” AALDEF Press accessed 18 January 2021, https://www.nvlchawaii. Release, 7 January 2021, https://www.aaldef.org/ org/aja-political-advancements-—-inouye-matsunaga press-release/aaldef-exit-poll-2-3-of-asian-american -mink-and-ariyoshi -voters-favored-senators-elect-raphael-warnock-and- 19. Chris Cillizza, “Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye dies jon-ossoff-in-2021-georgia-runoff-elections/ at age 88,” Washington Post, 17 December 2012, 34. Ibid. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/ 35. Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, email message to author, wp/2012/12/17/hawaii-sen-daniel-inouye-dies-at- 17 January 2021. age-88/ 36. “AALDEF Exit Poll: 2/3 of Asian American vot- 20. “Mink, Patsy Takemoto (1927-2002),” History, Art ers favored Senators-Elect Raphael Warnock and Jon and Archives: The United States House of Representa- Ossoff in 2021 Georgia runoff elections,” AALDEF Press tives, accessed 18 January 2021, https://history.house. Release, 7 January 2021, https://www.aaldef.org/ gov/People/detail/18329 press-release/aaldef-exit-poll-2-3-of-asian-american 21. “Spark Matsunaga's Legacy: The United States -voters-favored-senators-elect-raphael-warnock-and- Institute of Peace,” USIP, accessed 18 January 2021, jon-ossoff-in-2021-georgia-runoff-elections/ https://www.usip.org/spark-matsunagas-legacy -united-states-institute-peace 22. Phil Tajitsu Nash, “Centennial of Asian Ameri- can Pioneer Dalip Singh Saun,” IM Diversity, 1999, accessed 18 January 2021, https://imdiversity.com/ villages/asian/centennial-of-asian-american-pioneer -dalip-singh-saund/ 23. Dan Nakaso, “Hiram Fong dead at 97,” Honolulu Advertiser, 18 August 2004, accessed 18 January 2021, http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/ Aug/18/br/br03p.html 24. Michelle Chen, “Making and Unmaking the Asian American Movement: Karen Ishizuka’s ‘Serve the Peo- ple’ tells the story of a radical period in Asian American activism, and compels us to ask, where does that lead us now?” Asian American Writers Workshop, 17 November 2016, https://aaww.org/asian-american-movement/ 25. “AAAS: About Us,” Association for Asian American Studies, accessed 18 January 2021, http://aaastudies. org/about/ 26. Asian Week, “Asian Week Database Project,” accessed on 18 January 2021, https://www.asianweek. com 27. Philip Nash, “March on Washington: A History of Asian Pacific Americans’ Growing Political Power in the Nation’s Capital,” Harvard Asian American Policy Review, volume 19-20 (2009-10): 27-37. https://aapr. hkspublications.org/print/vol20/ 28. Pei-te Lien, M. Margaret Conway, and Janelle Wong, The Politics of Asian Americans: Diver- sity and Community (Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2004). https://books.google.com/ books?id=o7ucGq1RZ-EC&newbks=0&hl=en&source =newbks_fb 29. Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, email message to author, 21 November 2020. 30. Nicholas Wu, “House passes measure condemning anti-Asian discrimination amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” USA Today, 17 September 2020, accessed 18 January 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/ news/politics/2020/09/17/covid-19-house-vote -condemn-anti-asian-discrimination/5806530002/ 31. “AALDEF Exit Poll: Asian Americans Favor Biden Over Trump 68% to 29%; Played Role in Close Races in Georgia and Other Battleground States,” AALDEF Press Release, 13 November 2020, https://www.aaldef. org/press-release/aaldef-exit-poll-asian-americans- favor-biden-over-trump-68-to-29-played-role-in-close-

42 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 WEALTH INEQUALITY AMONG ASIAN AMERICANS: THE CONTINUING SIGNIFICANCE OF ETHNICITY AND IMMIGRATION R. Varisa Patraporn, Paul M. Ong, and Chhandara Pech

of Asian Americans, there is also evidence Abstract of Asian American economic disparity.1 Much of the work on wealth status to date This paper expands on existing research has focused on comparing Asian Ameri- by providing a more in depth and cans to other racial groups using a dichot- nuanced analysis of wealth within the omy that typically posits Asian Americans Asian American community by consider- and Whites against Latinos and African ing foreign-born status and ethnicity. By Americans on the lower end of the wealth a number of traditional aggregate wealth distribution.2 This framework limits and indicators (e.g., income, home ownership, misconstrues the reality that many Asian entrepreneurship) Asian Americans are at Americans face, particularly those that are or near parity with non-Hispanic whites newer immigrants. Popular media such (NHWs). However, this dichotomy buries as the film “Crazy Rich Asians” also per- some critical disparities among AAs and petuate the model minority myth, which may lead policymakers and scholars to can be detrimental to understanding the exclude Asian Americans from asset build- vast inequality within the community which ing policies targeting racial minorities and policy can address. As an alternative policy disadvantaged groups. Using data from framework, this article provides a more in the Survey of Income and Program Partic- depth and nuanced approach, which consid- ipation we find a notable portion of Asian ers its ethnic diversity and historical context.3 Americans at the higher and lower ends The Asian-White wealth gap has fluc- of the wealth distribution demonstrating tuated over time, disappearing in 2005 large disparity of wealth within the Asian because of the housing boom, but subse- American community. With data from the quently widening as the Great Recession Census American Community Survey, we wiped out wealth gains made by Asian find that foreign born status and ethnicity Americans.4 In 2009, Asian Americans are key to explaining this disparity. Our were behind Non-Hispanic whites in over- findings suggest policies and programs all wealth,5 Despite findings that show that focus on and target the most vulner- Asian Americans exceeding Non-Hispanic able Asian Americans at the bottom of the Whites on other economic measures such wealth quartile, newer immigrants, and as household income. Income has not Southeast Asians. translated into wealth for Asian Ameri- cans as it has for Non-Hispanic whites. There are several explanations for why the 1. Introduction wealth gap persists, including differences in ethnicity, immigration history and vari- While much of the scholarly research con- ous historical experiences of Asian Ameri- tinues to demonstrate the economic success cans in the United States. Patraporn, Ong, and Pech 43 Few studies have examined predictors a commensurate level for Asian Americans of wealth among Asian subgroups. Existing compared to their non-Hispanic White studies either focus solely on immigrants, counterparts. This finding is consistent or they provide descriptive statistics on with studies showing that a lower rate a few larger groups.6 Much of this lacuna of return on earnings from education for is due to a lack of publicly available statis- Asian Americans, particularly males.11 tics, due partly to small sample size. This There are several explanations for group paper addresses these limitations by using differences in wealth. One of the most influential works on African Amer- Much of the work on wealth status to date has icans and Whites focused on comparing Asian Americans to other is Oliver and Sha- piro’s Black Wealth/ racial groups using a dichotomy that typically White Wealth.12 They posits Asian Americans and Whites against Latinos expanded understanding about the and African Americans on the lower end of the structural and his- wealth distribution. This framework limits and torical factors that influence wealth misconstrues the reality that many Asian Americans status, especially the face, particularly those that are newer immigrants. transfer of intergenerational wealth. Long standing dis- micro-level data, which enables us to esti- crimination in housing and financial mar- mate predictors of wealth including nativ- kets such as redlining, zoning, and subprime ity for Asian American ethnic groups using lending contributed to different opportuni- an indirect measure of wealth, income ties to build wealth.13 from interests, dividends, and rental Historically, racial discrimination income. This refined analysis provides has also impacted Asian Americans. a more holistic picture of Asian American For instance, the first zoning law in the wealth that encourages equitable pol- United States was directed at Chinese icy and programs targeted to those who Americans growing their laundry busi- need it most. nesses in California.14 Discrimination in the housing market is especially important as Asian Americans, like other racial 2. Prior Research minorities, continue to hold most of their wealth in homeownership (opposed There is a small but growing body of to stocks, rental income, other assets, research examining predictors of wealth etc.) compared to whites.15 It has been for Asian Americans.7 This research gen- noted that racial discrimination based erally concludes that wealth levels are on skin color including darker-skinned close to or exceeding that of non-His- Asian Americans, as well as discrimina- panic Whites.8 These findings might tion based on accent, which affects for- be expected because on average Asian eign-born Asians and Asian Americans Americans have higher levels of educa- negatively.16 tion and income.9 After controlling for Like the Latinx population, Asian Amer- wealth determinants, some studies still icans have been impacted by immigration find an Asian and White wealth gap.10 policies which favor certain groups over Essentially, higher levels of education and others.17 The most influential policies in income are not translating into wealth at shaping the distribution have been (1) 44 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 economic selection; (2) refugee policy; and studies have included an analysis of spe- (3) family reunification. This has -mani cific Asian American ethnic groups. How- fested into ethnic differences in wealth. ever, to date, much of this research has Some ethnic groups came and continue to been descriptive and the data is not pub- enter the United States by bringing capi- licly available.24 tal investment or by filling highly skilled occupations.18 These Asian immigrants such as Asian Indians and Chinese, arrive 3. Data and Methods ready to ride the wave of the new economy, contributing their skills, knowledge, and We analyze wealth patterns among Asian dollars to the United States.19 In compari- Americans overall and overtime using data son, political refugees from Southeast Asia from the Census Bureau’s 2000, 2004 and have come with few economic resources, 2008 cohorts (which includes 2011 data) to escape war and political persecution Survey of Income and Program Participa- with for the most part less education and tion (SIPP).25,26 Since it is primarily a tool skills.20 Lastly, family reunification has for government planning, it does not accu- facilitated chain migration of individuals rately account for wealth held by house- of the same socioeconomic standing, rein- holds at the top end of the distribution.27 forcing class differences and reproducing Information about country of origin is the same patterns of distribution of wealth available only in some years which is why among Asian Americans.21 Thus, for Asian some research published has examined Americans, foreign-born status remains only Asian immigrants.28 Despite these an important variable to understanding limitations, the SIPP is the most compre- wealth differentials including those within hensive data set available for public use an Asian ethnic group. with a sufficient sample for Asian Ameri- Since the Asian population in the United cans.29 States remains a highly foreign-born pop- We use 2008 SIPP data from Wave 10 ulation at 66 percent, factors related to Core micro data, which include informa- immigration remain relevant.22 Immigra- tion on household demographic character- tion status and how long one has been in istics, family size, and income status. This the United States plays a role in behaviors, data set includes information up to 2011. attitudes, and understanding around US We derive wealth information (i.e., total financial institutions and mechanisms for wealth, total net wealth, total debt, etc.) generating wealth and saving. For exam- from the Wave 10 Topical file. We retrieved ple, English language proficiency affects information about foreign-born status and how well one understands US financial the number of years in the United States institutions and policies. from the Wave 2 Topical file. We kept Research on Asian American wealth cases that had information for both waves, remains limited mostly due to low sample restricting to only those respondents in size in national data sets and because of the the fourth reference month. After joining popular belief that Asian Americans are a the two waves together, there was a total “successful” minority not in need of exam- sample of 17,298, which breaks down as ination. Because of the small but growing follows: 12,763 Non-Hispanic whites; 1,958 numbers of Asian Americans, they often Blacks; 1,916 Latinos; and 661 Asians. are grouped with other populations such We complement the analysis of SIPP by as American Indian and Alaska Natives or analyzing the Census American Commu- “Other”.23 This makes it difficult to do anal- nity Survey Public Use Microdata Sample ysis specific to the Asian American popula- (ACS PUMS) 5-year (2008-2012), which tion and even more so by Asian American enables us to analyze wealth for Asian ethnicity. To address this challenge, newer ethnic groups, and by nativity. The ACS Patraporn, Ong, and Pech 45 PUMS collects information correlated with will have assets or not have assets. Japa- assets in the form of income from interests, nese are used as the reference group in dividends, and rental income.30, 31 the model because they have the highest The PUMS in the analysis included mean income from assets, among all Asian 221,435 Asian Americans, identified as subgroups. This model controls for the the reference person, and excluded those same variables as the Tobit model: ethnic- residing in group quarters. We examine ity, education, sex, age, citizenship status, patterns for the 13 largest Asian American and English language proficiency. Like the ethnic groups. These include 40,275 Asian Tobit regression model, we estimated this Indians; 57,485 Chinese; 37,040 Filipinos; model for both native and foreign-born 22,168 Koreans; 21,567 Vietnamese; 17,478 Asian Americans. Japanese; 3,725 Pakistanis; 2,701 Cambo- dians; 2,436 Thais; 2,158 Laotians; 1,729 Hmong; and 1,326 Bangladeshis.32 4. Results We also use multivariate statistical models to estimate the amount of income 4.1 Wealth Inequality Among Asian Americans from assets and the likelihood of having When we examine the spread of wealth income from assets by Asian ethnicity and within the Asian American community, nativity status.33 To estimate the predicted we find that Asian American wealth is income from assets, we ran a Tobit regres- more spread out compared to non-His- sion to account for the many observations panic whites. What this means is that there with zero values for the dependent vari- is greater inequality among Asian Amer- ables (income from assets). We ran two icans compared to non-Hispanic whites. separate models, one for native-born (US Table 1 shows the dollar amount of total born) and one separately for foreign-born net worth, housing equity and non-hous- Asians. We controlled for the following ing equity at the 25tht, 50th and 75th per- variables in the native-born model: age, centiles for Asian Americans compared sex, and education (years of schooling). to non-Hispanic Whites. The normalized The foreign-born model includes the same spread tells us the amount of difference in independent variables as native-born wealth between those at the extreme ends but also controls for years in the US, cit- of the wealth distribution (75th and 25th) izenship status, and English language standardized by those at the 50th percentile. proficiency.34 The ratio of the 75th percentile value We used logistic regression to examine for total net worth to the 25th percentile factors associated with the likelihood that is 28.7 for Asian Americans compared to various Asian American ethnic groups 11.2 for non-Hispanic whites, which also

Table 1: United States Wealth Distribution, Asians, and Non-Hispanic whites, 2011

Source: Tabulations by authors using SIPP 2008 Panel, Wave 10 data 46 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 suggests greater differences among Asian $5,947 for Asians at the 25th percentile com- Americans. The difference in spread is pared to $7,800 for non-Hispanic whites significant, and the current ratio for Asian at the 25th percentile. Overall, non-His- Americans represents an increase com- panic Whites at the 75th percentile have a pared to 2005 data that showed a 15.0 ratio higher total net worth and non-housing net for Asian Americans compared to an 11.0 worth. In comparison, Asian Americans at ratio for Non-Hispanic whites. This means the 75th percentile have a higher housing that after the housing boom, inequality worth, which again reinforces the finding between Asian Americans increased. that racial minorities hold most of their The normalized spread shows a simi- wealth in housing. lar pattern where Asians have a slightly higher spread than non-Hispanic Whites 4.2 Wealth Differences Between Asian American in terms of total net worth; 2.7 compared Groups to 2.4 for non-Hispanic Whites. The differ- Table 2 presents a parity index to compare ence in spread was more prominent when the relative difference between Asian eth- we look at the worth of housing which was nic groups relative to the average for all 4.1 for Asian Americans compared to 2.5 Asians. To calculate the ratios, we took the for non-Hispanic Whites. The non-housing mean value of the wealth indicator for each net worth also showed Asian Americans Asian ethnic group and divided that by the with greater difference between those at average for all Asians. For example, the the 75th and 25th percentile with a slightly mean interest and dividend, and/or rental larger spread compared to non-Hispanic income for all Asians is $3,111. The parity whites; Asian American non housing net index shows that Filipino mean interest worth ratio was 4.4 compared to 4.1 for and dividend and/or rental income mean non-Hispanic whites. is 51 percent of $3,111. Table 1 also allows for a comparison of Consistent with Ong and Patraporn actual dollar amounts between the two (2006) and Patraporn, Ong and Houston groups and for various types of wealth Table 2: Mean Household Income and Assets in the United States by Asian Ethnicity, holdings. The bot- 2008-2012 tom 25th percentile of Asian Americans fare much worse than their non-His- panic White counterparts. The total net worth for the bottom 25th percentile for non-His- panic whites was more than twice the amount for Asian Americans; $36,833 compared Source: Tabulations by authors using US Bureau of Census, ACS Public to $14,980. The Use Microdata Sample, 2008-2012 gap was smaller Notes: "Mean Income" and "Mean, Interest, Dividend, and Rental for other net worth Income" include negative (indicating loss) and zero-dollar amounts (indi- (non-housing), cating no income). "Mean Home Value" includes those who do not own where the differ- their own home (i.e., renters). For those who do not own their home, home ence was smaller; value was set to zero. Patraporn, Ong, and Pech 47 (2009) this study also finds great variation the amount of income from assets (542.44, in wealth by ethnicity. Chinese and Asian p<.01) and having limited English pro- Indians exceed or come close to parity on ficiency decreases the amount of assets almost all wealth measures. In compari- (-221.49, p<.05). son, Hmong and Laotians report only half of the average for all Asians on all indica- 4.4 Ethnic Differences Predicted Income from tors except homeownership. Other recent Assets Among Native Born studies examining Asian American wealth Overall, the results show that ethnic differ- by ethnicity report similar findings; Japa- ences in income from assets exist, but the nese Americans are six times more likely to significance of ethnicity remains only for hold wealth than Vietnamese Americans. certain groups after controlling for other “Chinese Americans hold key financial factors related to wealth. Model 1 (Table 3) assets, at a rate that is roughly five times shows that coefficients for all ethnic groups that of Vietnamese Americans”37 are statistically significant except for Chi- nese. After controlling for key variables 4.3 Predicted Income from Assets Among related to wealth (see Model 2), the coef- Foreign Born ficients remain significant only for Asian Overall, ethnic differences in income from Indian, Pakistani-Bangladeshi, Chinese assets among foreign born exist, but the and Filipino. Native born Asian Indians significance of ethnicity for all groups and Chinese Americans have more income remains mixed once we control for other from assets compared to Japanese Ameri- wealth factors. (see Table 3). Model 1 shows cans net of all other factors. In contrast, Fil- that being any other Asian ethnic group ipinos and Pakistani-Bangladeshi display compared to being Japanese results in less less income from assets compared to native wealth. These findings are all statistically born Japanese Americans (b=-1119.04, significant. In comparison, Model 2 (once p<.01 and b=-447.24, p<.10, respectively). we add control variables) shows that eth- We also see ethnic differences between nic differences remain significant only for other groups that are not Japanese such as, Cambodians, Chinese, Filipinos, Laotians Chinese and Filipino representing a differ- and Vietnamese compared to Japanese; ence of about $2,400. As expected, we find Cambodians (b=-824.35, p<.10), Filipinos that being male and having more educa- (b=-1834.27, p<.01), Laotian (b=-1405.69, tion increases the amount of income from p<01), and Vietnamese (b=-888.11, p<.01). assets. These findings are both statistically Being Asian Indian, Pakistani-Bangla- significant. deshi, Chinese, Korean or Other Asian results in a higher amount of assets but 4.5 Ethnic Differences in the Odds of Having none of these findings are statistically Income from Assets Among Foreign Born significant except for Chinese (b=1340.41, Differences between Asian groups also p<.01). We also find ethnic differences appeared in the logistic regression results. between groups (not including Japanese Almost all other Asian ethnic groups as the reference group). For example, the regardless of nativity experience a lower difference in income from assets for Cam- likelihood of having positive net assets bodian and Chinese is just over two thou- from secondary income compared to Jap- sand dollars. anese Americans. Table 4 shows the results As expected, findings in Model 2 demon- from the logit model for both foreign strate that having more education, years in born and native-born Asian Americans the US and being male opposed to female with and without controlling for a set of results in more income from assets. These independent variables. Model 1 shows that findings are statistically significant.- Simi for the most part Japanese have a higher larly, as expected being a citizen increases likelihood of wealth relative to all other 48 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 Table 3: Tobit Model Results, 2008-2012

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey, 2008-2012 ethnic groups regardless of whether they ratio=1.00). These findings are highly sta- are foreign born or native born; the two tistically significant. exceptions are in the case of foreign-born Even after controlling for key wealth Chinese and Asian Indians which have factors such as age, years in school, sex, the same likelihood or higher odds of and Asian ethnicity (see Model 2) ethnic- having wealth (odds ratio=1.18 and odds ity remains significant. All Asian ethnic Patraporn, Ong, and Pech 49 Table 4: Logit Model Results, 2008-2012

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey, 2008-2012 groups (except Chinese) showed lower All foreign-born Southeast Asian refu- odds of having positive net assets com- gee groups have significantly lower odds pared to foreign-born Japanese. Apart of having positive net assets compared to from Asian Indians, all ethnic differences Japanese Americans. For example, the odds between various Asian ethnic subgroups of having positive assets for a foreign-born and Japanese are statistically significant Hmong compared to a foreign-born Japa- (see Table 4). nese net of all other factors is reduced by 88 50 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 percent. Similarly, the odds of having posi- slightly lower odds of holding wealth tive net assets for a foreign-born Laotian or (odds ratio=.89, p<.01). Cambodian is reduced by 84 percent and 79 percent respectively compared to being 4.6 Ethnic Differences in the Odds of Having Japanese holding all other factors constant. Income from Assets for Native born These findings are all highly statistically When we examine results for those native- significant. born Asian Americans, we find a slightly For foreign born Asian Americans different pattern with some ethnic groups Model 2 includes years in the US, citi- experiencing substantial gains in income zenship status, and English language from assets once we control for age, years proficiency. As foreign-born Asians age in school and sex. Despite such gains, the and the longer they remain in the US pattern of which groups have lower or their odds of having wealth goes down higher odds of wealth compared to Japa- slightly. This is consistent with the life nese Americans remains the same. Overall, cycle which purports that as individu- ethnic differences in odds of having income als get older and closer to retirement age from assets exist for each group compared wealth will begin to decrease as one is to Japanese Americans; all coefficients for no longer working. The same is true for ethnicity are statistically significant except years in the US (b=.043) and for years in the for Asian Indians. The only ethnic group to US squared (b=-.0023). As expected, being have higher odds of wealth compared to male compared to being female increases native born Japanese Americans are Chi- the chances of positive net assets (odds nese Americans (odds ratio=1.33, p<.01); ratio 1.26; p<.01) for foreign born Asians Asian Indians, Pakistani-Bangladeshi, Fil- controlling for all other factors. Being a citi- ipinos, and Koreans all have lower odds of zen compared to not a citizen improves the wealth compared to Japanese Americans odds of having wealth (odds ratio=1.14, (see Figure 1 adjusted columns). p<.01) net of all other factors. In addi- Again, Southeast Asian populations tion, foreign born individuals who have showed lower odds of having wealth com- limited English proficiency compared to pared to their Japanese counterparts with those that have some or higher also show the most prominent finding being that

Figure 1. Likelihood of Having Positive Income from Assets (Reference Group=Japanese), 2008-2012

Source: Tabulations by authors using Census ACS PUMS 2008-2012. Notes: Positive income from assets includes interest, dividends and/or rental income. For purposes of interpreting the odds ratios, Japanese Americans are the reference group due to their having the highest mean for interest, dividends and/or rental income compared to all other Asian groups. “Other South Asian” includes both Pakistani and Bangladeshi. Patraporn, Ong, and Pech 51 being Cambodian compared to Japanese banking in the Chinese and Korean com- lowers the odds of having positive assets munities, less is known about what kind by 91 percent net of all other factors. Simi- of formal and informal institutions exist larly, being Hmong lowers the odds by 87 for other communities. The use of infor- percent and being Laotian lowers the odds mal, alternative financial institutions or by 80 percent. non-traditional financial institutions by ethnicity is less clear, although we know as a group that Asian Americans may use 5. Future Research remittances as a form of alternative financial service.39,40 While this research shows ethnic differ- A third area worthy of further study ences in wealth, it is not clear why certain is why certain ethnic groups are dispro- groups vary on wealth measures. Poli- portionately at risk for foreclosures. For cymakers and researchers would benefit example, in 2011 Southeast Asian Amer- from studies which explore cultural differ- icans in the Central Valley accounted for ences in approaches to and attitudes about 5 percent of all Notices of Default, a rate wealth building including consumption and disproportionately higher than their pro- savings patterns. It would also be import- portion of the total population.41 Similarly, ant to understand in 2009 Chaya CDC groups that have in New York found been successful and [T]here continues to be a large that 53 percent of the mechanisms that disparity between the top wealth Notices of Default work in their favor were sent to South as well as the spe- holders and those at the bottom. Asian Americans in cific challenges that Queens, New York, other groups face. Overtime, Southeast where they comprised only 13 percent of Asian refugees have shown progress in the neighborhood’s population.42 In Los wealth, yet for some groups the gap with Angeles, Ong, Pech, and Pfeiffer (2014) other Asian groups remains alarming. Sim- estimated that Filipinos (11 percent), Kore- ilarly, for some groups such as Filipinos we ans (10 percent), and Cambodian Ameri- would expect higher levels of wealth or cans (9 percent) were the most impacted by wealth at more comparable levels to Japa- foreclosures among Asian American ethnic nese, yet we find their wealth status to be groups, with foreclosure rates more than lower. four times that of Asian Americans overall A second area of future research would (4 percent).43 These examples demonstrate be to examine financial institutions such a need to better understand ethnic differ- as banks and their role in the provision of ences as it relates to maintaining assets as wealth building services and programs. well. Presumably those groups that have better access to financial institutions that understand their culture would also show 6. Discussion and conclusion greater wealth accumulation. As a highly foreign-born population, the existing Asian Americans continue to have research on Asian Americans and financial a wealth gap in relation to Non-Hispanic institutions providing in-language services Whites. Moreover, their wealth appears is notable.38 To our knowledge, what has to be more tenuous as gains made from not been done is a comparative study of before the housing boom in 2005 diminish how access to such institutions might dif- by 2012 with the most substantial change fer by Asian ethnicity. Additionally, while occurring with housing debt. This change there has been some research focusing on in wealth is likely linked to the geographic 52 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 concentration of Asian Americans in areas Finally, our results highlight which groups where the housing boom saw the greatest and subgroups policy makers and com- increases in home value but also the great- munity leaders need to focus efforts and est decreases. where more research is needed to close the Moreover, there continues to be a large wealth gap. disparity between the top wealth holders and those at the bottom. We find that immigration and factors related to immigration 1. Christian E. Weller and Jeffery Thompson, “Wealth Inequality Among Asian Americans Greater Than to be significant in wealth building. Years Among Whites,” Center for American Progress, 20 Dec. in the US and English language proficiency 2016, https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ race/reports/2016/12/20/295359/wealth-inequality- continue to have a significant impact and among-asian-americans-greater-than-among-whites/; thus, policies aimed at wealth accumula- Rakesh Kochhar and Anthony Cilluffo, "Income Inequality in the U.S. Is Rising Most Rapidly Among tion among Asian Americans should con- Asians," Pew Research Center, 12 July 2018, https:// tinue to focus on more recent immigrants www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/07/12/ income-inequality-in-the-u-s-is-rising-most-rapidly- and those with less English language pro- among-asians/. ficiency. 2. Rebecca Tippett, PhD., Beyond Broke: Why Closing the Racial Wealth Gap is a Priority for National Economic Secu- In addition, our findings also suggest rity (Washington, DC: Center for Global Policy Solu- that we should focus on particular ethnic tions, 2014) [PDF file], https://globalpolicysolutions .org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/BeyondBroke_ groups. Differences by ethnicity appear Exec_Summary.pdf. consistently for foreign born Asian Ameri- 3. Melany De La Cruz-Viesca, Darrick Hamilton, and cans across our analysis. Among native born William A. Darity, Jr., "Reframing the Asian Ameri- can Wealth Narrative: An Examination of the Racial Asian Americans, we also find statistically Wealth Gap in the National Asset Scorecard for Com- significant differences by ethnicity when munities of Color Survey," AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community 13, no. 1–2 (2015): 1–13. https://doi. we examine the odds of having income org/10.17953/1545-0317.13.1.1 from assets holding key factors related to 4. R. Varisa Patraporn, Paul M. Ong, and Douglas Houston, “Closing the Asian-White Wealth Gap?” wealth constant. The groups that typically Asian American Policy Review, vol. 18 (2009): 35–48. hold higher amounts of and greater likeli- https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE %7CA210520238&sid=googleScholar&v hood of wealth are Asian Indian, Chinese, =2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=10621830&p and Japanese. In comparison, Southeast =AONE&sw=w.; Tippett et al., “Beyond Broke.” Asian groups consistently show less assets 5. Tippett et al., “Beyond Broke.” 6. Lingxin Hao, Color Lines, Country Lines: Race, and lower probabilities for having assets. Immigration, and Wealth Stratification in America (New Filipinos, Koreans, Pakistani-Bangladeshi York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007), https://www. jstor.org/stable/10.7758/9781610442688#:~:text and other Asians fall in between and vary =Workspace-,Color%20Lines%2C%20Country%20 in terms of their position in both amount Lines%3A%20Race%2C%20Immigration%2C,and%20 Wealth%20Stratification%20in%20America&text of wealth and odds. Thus, policymakers =Book%20Description%3A&text=In%20Color%20 should focus their efforts on such groups Lines%2C%20Country%20Lines,in%20the%20 ways%20commonly%20believed..; Lisa A. Keister, Jody with perhaps a tiered approach based on Agius Vallejo, and Brian Aronson, “Chinese Immigrant differences. Wealth: Heterogeneity in Adaptation,” PLoS ONE 11, no. 12 (2016): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. Despite the limitations of this study, pone.0168043; Pew Research Center, The Rise of Asian the results enhance the understanding of Americans; De La Cruz-Viesca et al., “Reframing the Asian American Wealth Narrative.” Asian American wealth and the factors that 7. Lingxin, Color Lines, Country Lines; Keister et al., impact such wealth. Furthermore, findings “Chinese Immigrant Wealth”; Patraporn et al., “Closing the Asian-White Wealth Gap?”; Paul Ong and Varisa confirm the level of disparity within the Patraporn, “Asian Americans & Wealth,” in Wealth Asian American community that policy Accumulation & Communities of Color in the United States: Current Issues (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan makers should note. In addition, results Press, 2006), 173–88; Paul M. Ong, Chhandara Pech, point to the continuing significance of eth- and Alycia Cheng, “Wealth Heterogeneity Among Asian American Elderly,” Asian American Policy Review nicity and nativity in asset building. Par- 27, (2017 2016): 1–22. ticular attention should be paid to those in 8. Ong and Patraporn, “Asian Americans & Wealth.”; the bottom quartile of the wealth distribu- Patraporn et al., “Closing the Asian-White Wealth Gap?”; Rakesh Kochhar and Richard Fry, “Wealth Inequality tion as well as those that are foreign born. Patraporn, Ong, and Pech 53 Has Widened Along Racial, Ethnic Lines since End of Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Great Recession,” Pew Research Center, 2014, https:// Project, 26 July 2011. https://www.pewsocialtrends. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/12/racial- org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs wealth-gaps-great-recession/; Tippett et al., “Beyond -between-whites-blacks-hispanics/. Broke.” 16. Matthew A. Painter, Malcolm D. Holmes, and 9. José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, Javier Díaz-Giménez, and Jenna Bateman, “Skin Tone, Race/Ethnicity, and Andy Glover, “Facts on the Distributions of Earnings, Wealth Inequality among New Immigrants,” Social Income, and Wealth in the United States: 2007 Update,” Forces 94, no. 3 (March 1, 2016): 1153–85. https://doi. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review 34, org/10.1093/sf/sov094. no. 1 (2007): 2–31; Maury Gittleman and Edward N. 17. Lingxin Hao, “Wealth of Immigrant and Native- Wolff, “Racial Differences in Patterns of Wealth Accu- Born Americans,” The International Migration Review 38, mulation,” The Journal of Human Resources 39, no. 1 no. 2 (2004): 518–46. (2004): 193–227. https://doi.org/10.2307/3559010; Lisa A. Keister, “Race and Wealth Inequality: The Impact of 18. John M. Liu, Paul M. Ong, and Carolyn Rosenstein, Racial Differences in Asset Ownership on the Distri- “Dual Chain Migration: Post-1965 Filipino Immi- bution of Household Wealth,” Social Science Research gration to the United States,” International Migration 29, no. 4 (2000): 477–502. https://doi.org/10.1006/ Review 25, no. 3 (September 1, 1991): 487–513. https:// ssre.2000.0677; Martha N. Ozawa, Jeounghee Kim, and doi.org/10.1177/019791839102500302. Myungkook Joo, “Income Class and the Accumula- 19. Yen-Fen Tseng, “Beyond ‘Little Taipei’: The tion of Net Worth in the United States,” Social Work Development of Taiwanese Immigrant Businesses Research 30, no. 4 (2006): 211–22; Edward N. Wolff, in Los Angeles,” International Migration Review “Inheritances and Wealth Inequality, 1989-1998.” The 29, no. 1 (March 1, 1995): 33–58. https://doi. American Economic Review 92, no. 2 (2002): 260–64. org/10.1177/019791839502900103; Yen-Fen Tseng, 10. Lori Ann Campbell, and Robert L. Kaufman, “Racial “The Mobility of Entrepreneurs and Capital: Taiwan- Differences in Household Wealth: Beyond Black and ese Capital-Linked Migration,” International Migration White,” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 24, 38, no. 2 (2000): 143–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468- no. 2 (April 1, 2006): 131–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. 2435.00105; Rebecca Kim, and Min Zhou, “A Tale of rssm.2005.06.001; Patraporn et al., “Closing the Asian- Two Metropolises: New Immigrant Chinese Commu- White Wealth Gap?” nities in New York and Los Angeles,” in New York and Los Angeles: Politics, Society, and Culture--A Comparative 11. Chang Hwan Kim and Arthur Sakamoto, View (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2003), “Have Asian American Men Achieved Labor Mar- 124–50. ket Parity with White Men?” American Sociolog- ical Review 75, no. 6 (2010): 934–57. https://doi. 20. Ngoan Le, “The Case of the Southeast Asian Ref- org/10.1177/0003122410388501; Deborah Woo, Glass ugees: Policy for a Community ‘at-Risk,’” in The State Ceilings and Asian Americans: The New Face of Workplace of Asian Pacific America: A Public Policy Report: Policy Barriers (Lantham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000). Issues to the Year 2020. (Los Angeles, CA: LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute and UCLA 12. Melvin L Oliver, Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Asian American Studies Center, 1993); Paul Ong and Perspective on Racial Inequality (New York: NY: Rout- Evelyn Blumenberg, “Job Access, Commute and Travel ledge, 1995). Burden among Welfare Recipients,” Urban Studies 13. James A. Berkovec et al., “Race, Redlining, and (Routledge) 35, no. 1 (January 1998): 77–93. https://doi. Residential Mortgage Loan Performance,” The Journal org/10.1080/0042098985087. of Real Estate Finance and Economics 9, no. 3 (November 21. Paul Ong and John M. Liu, “US Immigration Policies 1,1994): 263–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01099279; and Asian Migration,” in The New Asian Immigration in Derek S Hyra et al., “Metropolitan Segregation and Los Angeles and Global Restructuring, (Philadelphia, PA: the Subprime Lending Crisis,” Housing Policy Debate: Temple University Press, 1994)45–73. Assessing the Foreclosure Crisis From the Ground Up 23, no. 1 (2013): 177–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/1051148 22. “American Community Survey 1 Year Estimate, 2.2012.697912; John Yinger, “Why Default Rates Can- Table B05003D Sex by Age by Nativity and Citizenship not Shed Light on Mortgage Discrimination,” Cityscape Status (Asian alone),” US Bureau of the Census, 2019. 2, no. 1 (1996): 25–31; Dan Immergluck, and Geoff 23. Yoonmee Chang, Writing the Ghetto: Class, Author- Smith, “Measuring the Effect of Subprime Lending ship, and the Asian American Ethnic Enclave, (New on Neighborhood Foreclosures: Evidence from Chi- Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2010); Sher- cago,” Urban Affairs Review 40, no. 3 (January 1, 2005): man Hanna and Suzanne Lindamood, “The Decrease 362–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087404271444; in Stock Ownership by Minority Households,” Journal Gary Arthur Dymski, “The Theory of Bank Redlining of Financial Counseling and Planning 19, no. 2 (2008): and Discrimination: An Exploration,” The Review of 46-58, 94-95; David W. Rothwell and Chang-Keun Black Political Economy 23, no. 3 (March 1, 1995): 37–74. Han, “Exploring the Relationship Between Assets https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02689991; Geoffrey M. B. and Family Stress Among Low-Income Families,” Tootell, “Redlining in Boston: Do Mortgage Lenders Family Relations 59, no. 4 (2010): 396–407. https://doi. Discriminate Against Neighborhoods?” The Quarterly org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00611.x. Journal of Economics 111, no. 4 (1996): 1049–79. https:// doi.org/10.2307/2946707; Gary Dymski, Jesus Hernan- 24. De La Cruz-Viesca et al., “Reframing the Asian dez, and Lisa Mohanty, “Race, Gender, Power, and the American Wealth Narrative”; Kochhar and Fry, Us Subprime Mortgage and Foreclosure Crisis: Ameso “Wealth Inequality Has Widened”; Tippett et al., Analysis,” Feminist Economics 19, no. 3 (July 2013): 124– “Beyond Broke.” 51. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2013.791401. 25. The SIPP is administered by the Census Bureau, “to collect information on source and amount of income, 14. Paul Ong, “An Ethnic Trade: The Chinese Laun- dries in Early California,” Journal of Ethnic Studies 8, no. labor force participation, program participation and 4 (1981): 95–113. eligibility data, and general demographic characteristics of individuals and households in the U.S.” 15. Z. Di, “The Role of Housing as a Component of Wealth,” Northwestern Joint Center for Poverty, Work- 26. “SIPP Introduction & History,” The United States ing Paper Series, no. 16, (2001); Richard Fry, Rakesh Census Bureau, accessed 11 October 2020, https:// Kochhar, and Paul Taylor, “Wealth Gaps Rise to www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sipp/about/ Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics,” sipp-introduction-history.html.

54 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 27. John L. Czajka, Jonathan E. Jacobson, and Scott Cody, respondents used remittances or wire transfers—a rate “Survey Estimates of Wealth: A Comparative Analysis slightly higher than Latinos (17 percent)—and the third and Review of the Survey of Income and Program Par- most used alternative financial service, following credit ticipation,” IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc, cards from a bank and gift cards. 2004. http://csulb.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https:// 41. National Coalition for Asian Pacific American search.proquest.com/docview/1698793612?accountid Community Development, (National CAPACD), =10351; Deborah A. Cobb-Clark and Vincent A. Hildeb- and (SEARAC) Southeast Asia resource Action rand, “The Wealth and Asset Holdings of U.S.-Born and Center, “Untold Stories of the Foreclosure Crisis: Foreign-Born Households: Evidence from Sipp Data,” Southeast Asian Americans in the Central Valley,” Review of Income & Wealth 52, no. 1 (March 2006): 17–42. April 2011. https://www.firminc.org/wp-content/ https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.2006.00174.x; Di, uploads/2011/05/SEARAC_CRISIS_REPORT_2011_ “The Role of Housing”. Final.pdf. 28. Hao, Color Lines, Country Lines. 42. Chhaya Community Development Coalition “Fifty 29. This is when compared to the other two major Percent of Homes in Pre-Foreclosure Are Owned by national surveys that track wealth: the Survey of Con- South Asian Immigrants in Sections of New York City,” sumer Finance (SCF) conducted by the Federal Reserve January 12, 2009. Board, and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) 43. Paul M Ong, Chhandara Pech, and Deirdre Pfeiffer, conducted by the University of Michigan, Institute for “The Foreclosure Crisis in Los Angeles,” UCLA Luskin Social Research. For instance, the most recent Survey School of Public Affairs Lewis Center California Policy of Consumer Finance (SCF) 2011 collected data on the Options 2014, 2013, 20. race of the respondent but those data are not publicly available by Asian race due to the small sample size, which could potentially cause a disclosure issue. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics also readily reports data on wealth and like the SIPP has the advantage of being a longitudinal study. However, this data set does not contain a sufficient sample of Asians nor does it make data on Asians publicly available. 30. Ong et al., “Wealth Heterogeneity.” 31. PUMS is an individual-level subsample of ACS data, covering approximately 1 percent of the population annually. The PUMS file covering a five-year period contains data on approximately 5 percent of the population. PUMS data, as opposed to summary data, contain the individual responses for a subsample of the ACS housing units, and the people in the selected housing units. Using micro-data allows for custom sample universes and detailed relationships among variables to be drawn, and that may not be shown in standard summary data. 32. All other Asian ethnic groups were categorized as “other Asian.” Due to the smaller sample size of Ban- gladeshis and a similar history and culture, we combined Bangladeshi and Pakistani together for purposes of regression analysis. 33. Assets are defined as positive income generated from interest, dividend, and rental income. 34. Years in the US was computed by subtracting the year of entry into the US from the year of the ACS survey. We defined limited English proficiency as those who self-reported that they spoke English “less than very well.” Those individuals who are not citizens include documented and undocumented foreign-born persons, although there is no way to distinguish the two in the PUMS dataset. 35. Patraporn et al., “Closing the Asian-White Wealth Gap?” 36. Ong, and Patraporn. “Asian Americans & Wealth.”; Patraporn, Ong, and Houston. “Closing the Asian- White Wealth Gap?”. 37. Tippett et al. “Beyond Broke”. Tippett et al. “Beyond Broke” pg. 5. 38. National CAPACD, National Urban League, and National Council of La Raza, “Banking in Color: New Findings on Financial Access for Low- and Mod- erate-Income Communities,” 2014. https://www. nationalcapacd.org/uncategorized/banking-color -new-findings-financial-access-low-moderate-income -communities/. 39. Ibid. 40. About 22 percent of Asian American and Pacific Islander low- and moderate-income survey Patraporn, Ong, and Pech 55 WRONG AGAIN: THE SUPREME COURT GIVES UNDUE JUDICIAL DEFERENCE TO NATIONAL SECURITY IN KOREMATSU AND TRUMP V. HAWAII Harvey Gee

ban in the face of the President’s direct Introduction and repeated statements of anti-Muslim animus that began on the campaign trail Without question, the Japanese Ameri- and continued throughout his presidency. can internment experience is relevant to As soon as the travel ban was proposed, the post-9/11 war on terror and President many lawyers and activists compared the Donald J. Trump’s Muslim travel ban.1,2,3 Muslim ban to the internment of Japanese As history revealed, the curfew and exclu- Americans during World War II because sion orders enforced against the Japanese both acts targeted minority groups under were based on racial prejudice, unsup- the auspices of national security.8 In both ported by evidence of any real Japanese instances, the US government used pro- threat.4 These orders were egregious exam- tected characteristics as a proxy for danger, ples of how laws can be used as an instru- and the Supreme Court was reluctant to ment of racism and how racist laws can be question the government’s judgment, to defended by claims that such laws are not the detriment of our nation and American race-based. Enabled by President Franklin ideals.9 During the 2020 presidential cam- D. Roosevelt’s executive orders, the US paign, President-Elect Joe Biden referred to government considered approximately the ban as the start of “nearly four years 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry to of constant pressure, insults, and attacks” be disloyal.5 About 80,000 of these people by Trump against racial minorities.10 As were US citizens and held indefinitely, in a remedial measure, in his first day in office, the absence of a single case of espionage on President-Elect Biden ended Trump’s the West Coast during World War II or any travel ban with an executive order of his declaration of martial law. Like steer, they own.11 were sent by train to relocation centers and camps located in the most undesirable and I. The Relationship Between Japanese American remote regions in the country—the des- Internment During World War II and the War on erts and swamplands of California, Idaho, Terrorism After 9/11 Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Race was the sole consideration behind Arkansas.6 internment because only individuals of This article compares the wartime Japanese descent, including American Supreme Court’s complete deferral to the citizens who held no allegiance to Japan government’s justification for the detention or its culture, were interned.12 To the US of Japanese Americans to argue that the government, both Japanese immigrants modern Supreme Court repeated a similar and Japanese Americans were foreigners tragic mistake almost seventy-five years who could not be trusted. The internment later in Trump v. Hawaii.7 Hawaii upheld was consistent with a long legacy of rac- the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ism and historical domination over Asian 56 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 immigrants in the US In a social context, strategically skirt the Constitution by the government utilized and facilitated crafting national security policies to satisfy the racial stereotype of Japanese Amer- their agenda during the war on terror.22 icans as a subordinate racial and ethnic I also examined how politics and racial group that could not assimilate.13 And in prejudice can conspire to trample the civil a political context, mainstream American liberties of an entire racial group during a society viewed Japanese immigrants and time of war by using fabricated claims of Japanese Americans as economic threats military necessity.23 Aware that Korematsu to whites at a time when FDR was seek- can be used as a tool by the government ing reelection.14 In upholding the exclu- to prosecute terrorists, Berkeley Law Dean sion order in Korematsu v. United States, the Erwin Chemerinsky cautions that Guan- Supreme Court announced that it would tanamo Bay cases repeat the mistake of not reject the judgment of the military Korematsu on a smaller scale, since detain- and Congress that disloyal citizens were ees are held indefinitely without mean- amongst the Japanese population and that ingful due process, and that Korematsu is it was impossible for military authorities to a reminder of the role of race in judicial immediately segregate disloyal from loyal decisions.24 Japanese Americans.15 Decades later, in the immediate weeks II. Racism and the Law: Analyzing the after the terrorist attacks on the World Supreme Court’s Failure to Uphold Civil Liberties Trade Center and Pentagon on 11 Sep- During a Time of War in Hirabayashi, Yasui, tember 2001, the US government’s actions Korematsu, and Endo evoked echoes of Japanese internment.16 President Trump was ignorant of the Just as the US government viewed important lessons offered by Korematsu Japanese Americans with suspicion after and Japanese internment. He likened the Pearl Harbor, policymakers and law Muslim travel ban to the proclamation enforcement racially and religiously pro- issued by FDR in 1942 authorizing the US filed Muslims and Arab Americans after government’s apprehension and detention September 11.17 In a manner similar to of Japanese, German, and Italian immi- the process leading to Japanese American grants.25 Trump’s lack of understanding internment, the legislative branch aligned of Japanese internment also compelled the with the executive branch in a collabora- Japanese Americans Citizens League to tive effort to sacrifice fundamental liberties lambast members of Trump’s administra- in the name of national security.18 tion who were in Arkansas to scout poten- Within the government-manufactured tial locations to house up to 20,000 migrant framework of the war on terrorism, an children who were separated from their unprecedented expansion of executive families while crossing the US–Mexico power began.19 On 13 November 2001, border under the Trump administration’s President Bush issued a military order “zero-tolerance” policy.26 These officers directing the Secretary of Defense to create considered a location two miles away from military tribunals and establish detention the former site of a World War II-era Japa- authority.20 He also convinced Congress nese internment camp as the location for that the denial of habeas corpus rights a detention center for Mexican children. to alleged enemy combatants housed at Further, the Trump administration consid- Guantanamo Bay was appropriate and ered a plan to send select ISIS fighters to lawful.21 a US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay In my prior writings, I analyzed the to join the remaining detainees. As wit- internment experience and Guanta- nessed during the Bush and Obama admin- namo Bay litigation to demonstrate how istrations, the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the executive branch has attempted to like the many Japanese American internees Gee 57 in the 1940s, wait indefinitely without due imposing the curfew order, which was process of law.27 “a much lesser intrusion on liberty” than In order to understand the impact of the exclusion of all Japanese Americans— internment cases to Hawaii, a brief review allowing the Court to avoid the difficult of the four internment cases that reached issues of evacuation and internment.33 The the Supreme Court is necessary. There Court simply upheld Hirabayashi’s con- were two curfew cases. First was Hira- viction for violating the curfew. bayashi v. United States, which concerned In the second case, Yasui v. United States, Gordon Hirabayashi, who was born and Minoru Yasui walked the streets of Port- raised in Seattle, Washington and had land in defiance of the curfew order.34 He never been to Japan. Hirabayashi believed turned himself in to a police station. He that the curfew was discriminatory and waived his right to a jury trial and was unjust. Based on this belief, and intent on found guilty after a bench trial. Decided challenging the exclusion orders, he went the same day as Hirabayashi, Yasui’s con- to Seattle FBI headquarters to submit his viction was sustained for the same rea- written proclamation, “Why I Refuse to sons. The Court again avoided the legality Register for Evacuation.”28 Hirabayashi of the mass internment of an entire racial was convicted of violating Public Procla- group by characterizing the case as a “cur- mation No. 3, which imposed a curfew on few” case. Chief Justice Stone wrote a brisk all enemy aliens and citizens of Japanese three-page unanimous opinion holding descent and required Japanese Americans that the application of curfews against citi- to be home between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 zens is constitutional. a.m.29 The government urged the Supreme Up to this point, military reports were Court to decline to address the issue of the Court’s primary source for finding constitutionality by insisting that only the military necessity. Lt. General John L. exclusion order was before the Court.30 DeWitt’s Final Report on the removal of The government alternatively argued that Japanese Americans was not made pub- if the Court was inclined to determine the lic until 19 January 1944—after the Hira- confinement’s constitutionality, the curfew bayashi and Yasui opinions and eleven was within the war powers of the President months before the Court relied on it in and Congress. Korematsu. DeWitt’s Final Report, which In writing for a unanimous Court in contained racial stereotypes and assump- Hirabayashi v. United States, Chief Justice tions, was duly discredited as being Harlan F. Stone relied on the government’s based on falsehoods forty years later in war powers as the foundation on which to Korematsu’s coram nobis proceedings. This uphold the race-based order and construed report presented “facts” purporting con- the order as a mild, temporary depriva- cerns about espionage and sabotage on the tion that was constitutionally permissible West Coast such as: Japanese Americans in this instance.31 Limiting his analysis to were concentrated on the West Coast near the text of the curfew order and ignoring military installations; Japanese Americans the racial reality of the internment, Jus- were not to be trusted because hundreds tice Stone offered a rational basis for the of Japanese organizations advanced Jap- order.32 He perceived that there was an anese war efforts before the bombing of immediate threat of another attack on the Pearl Harbor; Japanese born in the US had west coast based on evidence that some sympathy for Japan because thousands of Japanese Americans were disloyal. How- them went to Japan for education where ever, the Court skirted the real issue of the pro-Japanese ceremonies were held; Jap- case: Can the government intern an entire anese Americans, as a racial group, were racial group? The Court instead reasoned tied to the enemy by race, culture, and reli- that the military had a “rational basis” for gion; Japanese American loyalties remain 58 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 unknown; and Japanese Americans were hearings and Germans and Italians to involved in illegal signaling along the whom the government provided inves- West Coast.35 tigation and loyalty hearings. He further Eventually the rulings in the two exclu- explained that because months passed sion cases - Korematsu and Endo - came between orders, there was no imminent or down after the presidential election and urgent danger to public safety, thus there the Roosevelt Administration’s announce- was no military necessity. ment of the camps’ closures. On 18 Decem- Equally damning was Justice Roberts’ ber 1944, the Court in Korematsu restricted dissent, which centered on the treatment its holding to the question of the evac- of Japanese Americans, explaining that to uation alone, again avoiding the issue focus solely on the validity of the exclusion of the internment’s constitutionality.36 orders “is to shut our eyes to reality.”43 He Korematsu was the third of four sons born criticized the majority for separating the in the US37 As a San Francisco Bay Area race issue from the exclusion order, which native, Korematsu was fully immersed in he believed to be indivisible. Because American mainstream culture. He worked incarceration was ancestry-based and in in a shipyard until he was eventually ter- clear violation of constitutional rights, minated because of his race. Korematsu Justice Roberts insisted that the case was was walking down the street when he about “convicting a citizen as punishment was apprehended by the San Leandro for not submitting to imprisonment in police. In upholding the exclusion order, a concentration camp . . . without evi- Justice Hugo Black, writing for the major- dence or inquiry concerning his loy- ity, assured that the case was not about alty and good disposition towards the racial prejudice, but was instead about United States.”44 an exclusion order. “Korematsu was not These sentiments about racial preju- excluded from the Military Area because dice were further expounded in a sep- of hostility to him or his race. He was arate dissent by Justice Robert Jackson excluded because we are at war with the who acknowledged that Korematsu was Japanese Empire . . .”38 an American citizen by birth and had The majority opinion was met with never been accused of being disloyal.45 backlash in the form of fierce dissents He declared a double standard existed— authored by Justices Frank Murphy and had Korematsu been a German or Italian Owen J. Roberts, who vigorously and alien, the Court would not have found effectively countered the majority’s- rea that he violated the order. Justice Jackson soning.39 To begin, Justice Murphy claimed also questioned the necessity of the orders, that the entire internment was a “legaliza- especially given the lack of evidence before tion of racism.”40 In his view, the case was the Court. Without more evidence, Justice motivated by racial prejudice that facili- Jackson explained, the Court is forced “to tated an erroneous, blanket racial assump- accept General DeWitt’s own unsworn, tion—all Japanese individuals born inside self-serving statement, untested by any or outside of the US were disloyal.41 Jus- cross-examination.” Aware of the danger- tice Murphy asserted that the justification ous precedent Korematsu would set and its for the exclusion was based on “question- potential to be a “loaded weapon” for the able racial and sociological grounds” of executive branch, Justice Jackson warned expert military judgment, supplemented that once a judicial opinion rationalizes by “an unwarranted use of circumstan- such an order to prove its constitutionality, tial evidence.”42 Justice Murphy makes “the Court for all time has validated the these allegations again when he compares principle of racial discrimination in crim- the difference in treatment between Jap- inal procedure and of transplanting Amer- anese Americans who were not afforded ican citizens.”46 Gee 59 The Court ruled on Ex Parte Endo on been authorized by the President and Con- the same day as Korematsu; it was the only gress, the suffering of Japanese Americans action not to challenge a criminal convic- was never attributed to the actors in fact tion because Mitsuye Endo was never responsible.”50 Support for this claim is charged or tried. Additionally, Endo was the found where Justice Douglas provides only action that involved a petition for writ political cover to Congress and President of habeas corpus, and Endo was the only Roosevelt by explaining that no assump- female litigant in the internment litigation. tion should be made that “Congress and Like Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and Yasui, the President intended that the discrimina- Endo was born in the US and had never tory action should be taken against these been to Japan, nor did she speak or read people wholly on account of their ancestry Japanese. After being dismissed from her even though the government conceded job after Pearl Harbor, Endo was housed at their loyalty to this country. We cannot the Tanforan Assembly Center, a converted make such an assumption.”51 racetrack near San Francisco surrounded The avoidance of constitutional issues by armed guard towers. She was later was strongly criticized in separate concur- removed to the Tule Lake War Relocation rences by Justices Murphy and Roberts. Center, temporary military-style camps in First, Justice Murphy insisted that Endo’s California near the Oregon border. detention and the internment was based Just like the other cases, the Court in on race, and “racial discrimination…bears Endo avoided determining the constitu- no reasonable relation to military necessity tionality of internment by basing its ruling and is utterly foreign to the ideals and tra- on administrative law grounds to shield dition of the American people.”52 Second, the executive branch from accountability.47 Justice Roberts criticized the majority’s Justice William O. Douglas wrote the unan- avoidance of the underlying constitutional imous opinion ruling that the US govern- issues: “The opinion… attempts to show ment could not continue to detain a citizen that neither the executive nor the legisla- who was "concededly loyal" to the US48 tive arm of the Government authorized the Justice Douglas, a Roosevelt loyalist with detention of the reliable.”53 For Justice Rob- presidential aspirations, was well aware of erts, Endo posed a serious constitutional the political implications of the case.49 To question implicating the Bill of Rights and Justice Douglas, exclusion was about loy- the guarantee of due process of law.54 alty, not race. With the release of the Jap- Vindication for Japanese American anese American internees, Justice Douglas internees occurred forty years later. On Jan- thought justice would be served and the uary 31, 1983, Korematsu filed a petition for integrity of Roosevelt Administration’s writ of coram nobis in the Northern District detention policy would be maintained. of California, asking the court to overturn The administrative law framework his criminal conviction because govern- of the opinion was apparent from the ment attorneys suppressed or destroyed beginning. Two-thirds of the opinion was evidence that negatively impacted the devoted to the origins of the relevant exec- court’s ruling.55 In response to Korematsu’s utive orders and legislative acts. Executive claim, the government acknowledged the Order 9066 delegated power to the mil- internment as an “unfortunate episode,” itary to bar access to military areas. With but urged the court not to rule on the mer- regard to the Court’s framing of this issue, its of the substantive allegations of fraud, Professor Jerry Kang argues that “in Endo, misrepresentation, and suppression of evi- the Supreme Court manipulated the ques- dence.56 Soon thereafter, Hirabayashi and tion of executive and congressional autho- Yasui filed separatecoram nobis petitions in rization to deny accountability. By finding Seattle and Portland, respectively. As the that the full-blown internment had never coram nobis litigation gained momentum, 60 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 the report by the Commission on War- valid travel documents.62 The procla- time Relocation and Internment of Civil- mation sought to improve vetting pro- ians recommended that Congress issue cedures for foreign nationals traveling a national apology to Japanese Americans to the US by identifying information and provide redress of $20,000 to each sur- deficiencies used to determine whether viving camp member, and that there be nationals of particular countries present a presidential pardon of those convicted a security threat. Trump concluded that of violating military orders.57 it was necessary to impose entry restric- At Korematsu’s final hearing, Judge tions on nationals of countries that pres- Marilyn Hall Patel determined that the ent national security risks. Hawaii and government relied on baseless misrepre- several other states and groups challenged sentations and the racist views of military the proclamation and the two precursory commanders. Based on those findings, executive orders also issued by Trump on Patel granted a writ of coram nobis, and statutory and constitutional grounds.63 The dismissed Korematsu’s indictment. Unfor- plaintiffs cited a variety of statements by tunately, this was only a partial victory Trump and administration officials, argu- because, as Judge Patel explained, her ing that the proclamation and its preceding ruling did nothing to affect the Supreme orders were motivated by anti-Muslim ani- Court decision which remains law.58 Three mus. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals years after the adjudication in Korem- affirmed the district court’s granting of atsu’s case, Hirabayashi and Yasui were a nationwide preliminary injunction bar- also successful in their coram nobis cases. ring enforcement of the restrictions. Later as senior citizens, Korematsu, Hira- The Court reversed the Ninth Circuit’s bayashi, and Yasui were each awarded the ruling that Trump’s proclamation violated Presidential Medal of Freedom. the Establishment Clause in a 5–4 decision, and the majority concluded that it would III. Hawaii v. Trump: The Supreme Court is Again on uphold the policy set forth in Trump’s lat- the Wrong Side of History est proclamation even though its primary Japanese American internment is one of justification might be unconstitutional. the twentieth century’s most prominent The Court wholeheartedly accepted the mass trampling of civil liberties, and it government’s claim that the travel ban has been widely condemned as racist gov- was justified by national security, even ernmental and judicial conduct towards though a fundamental constitutional lib- Japanese and Japanese Americans.59 As for erty interest was at stake. The decision of Korematsu, it has been widely condemned the Court, written by Chief Justice John by scholars and jurists and serves as Roberts, examined the significance of a cautionary tale: during a time of war, a series of statements with racial under- or amidst claims of military necessity, the tones by the President during the presi- courts must protect constitutional guaran- dential campaign and after the President tees.60 Unfortunately, to the dismay of civil assumed office. Without deciding the rights advocacy groups, the mistakes of soundness of the policy, the Court deferred Korematsu were reopened and reinforced to the President’s prerogative, and found writ large in the Supreme Court’s deci- that the government had offered a -suffi sion in Trump v. Hawaii.61 Hawaii upheld cient national security justification, sep- Presidential Proclamation 9645 signed arate from religious animus, to survive by President Trump, which restricted rational basis review. travel in the US for people from seven Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissenting, Muslim-majority countries: Iran, North complained that by refusing to look behind Korea, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, the plain language of the proclamation, the and Venezuela, or for refugees without Court’s majority had ignored abundant Gee 61 evidence that the proclamation was “driven dangerous logic underlying Korem- primarily by anti-Muslim animus, rather atsu and merely replaces one “gravely than by the Government’s asserted nation- wrong” decision with another. al-security justifications.”64 Sotomayor’s This comparison triggered an angry impassioned assertions echo the concerns response from Justice Roberts, who crit- brought by Justices Murphy and Jackson in icized his colleague for using “rhetorical their fiery dissents in Korematsu. Even the advantage” and wrote, "Korematsu has Court’s rational-basis review, Justice Soto- nothing to do with this case. The forcible mayor said, should have demonstrated relocation of US citizens to concentration that “the primary purpose and function camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of of the Proclamation is to disfavor Islam race, is objectively unlawful and outside by banning Muslims from entering our the scope of Presidential authority."68 Jus- country.”65 Here Justice Sotomayor pow- tice Roberts then offered the most powerful erfully cited more than a dozen instances, rebuke of Korematsu since the original dis- before and after Trump was sworn in as sents in Korematsu. Justice Roberts said Jus- President, in which Trump tweeted or tice Sotomayor’s dissent “affords this court issued anti-Muslim sentiments to support the opportunity to make express what is her claim that Trump’s policy “masquer- already obvious: Korematsu was gravely ades behind a façade of national security wrong the day it was decided, has been concerns.”66 overruled in the court of history, and—to Justice Sotomayor professed that the be clear—“has no place in law under the majority employed the same rationale that Constitution.”69 produced the tragic result in Korematsu. In In the wake of Hawaii, legal scholars have comparing the two majority opinions, Jus- pointed out that the overruling of Korem- tice Sotomayor points to “stark parallels” atsu merely whitewashes the enduring in the reasoning of the majority opinion shame of the Court’s decision to condone and the Korematsu opinion: (1) “[t]he Gov- the Trump administration’s devastating ernment invoked an ill-defined nation- policies. Professor Jamal Greene describes al-security threat to justify an exclusionary the majority’s claim of overruling Korem- policy of sweeping proportion;” (2) “the atsu as “grotesque” because “it condones exclusion order was rooted in dangerous racism with one hand but deploys token- stereotypes about, inter alia, a particular ism with the other.”70 Scholars Eric Yama- group’s suppose inability to assimilate moto and Rachel Oyama add: and desire to harm the United States;” (3) [T]he [Hawaii] majority did not extend “the Government was unwilling to reveal its repudiation to the most danger- its own intelligence agencies’ views of ous aspect of Korematsu—its uncon- the alleged security concerns to the very ditional deference to the executive citizens it purported to protect;” and (4) branch. Instead, [Hawaii] reinscribed “there was strong evidence that imper- this ‘logic’ by expressly embracing missible hostility and animus motivated extreme judicial passivity in the for- the Government's policy.”67 Justice Soto- eign policy and immigration settings mayor then chastised the majority in her and validating the President’s proc- conclusion: lamation ‘on a barren invocation of By blindly accepting the Govern- national security.’71 ment’s misguided invitation to Similarly, Neal Katyal, counsel of record sanction a discriminatory policy for the state of Hawaii, argues nothing motivated by animosity toward has really changed because one bad prec- a disfavored group, all in the name edent was replaced by another bad prec- of a superficial claim of national secu- edent that enables excessive deference to rity, the Court redeploys the same the executive.72 Katyal urges that Hawaii 62 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 purported to overrule Korematsu but actu- national security. By not learning the les- ally recreated its reasoning.73 In his view, sons of Korematsu and the internment, the “the majority opinions in both cases share Court dishonored the memories of Fred common arguments and rhetorical devices. Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi, Minoru The majorities in both cases tempered Yasui, Mitsuye Endo, and the experiences the implicit premises of judicial oversight of all Japanese and Japanese Americans by hiding behind the shield of the execu- interned during World War II. Mindful of tive branch’s intuitional competence.”74 Korematsu’s legacy, we must do better. As From a similar vantage point, Professor national security and civil liberty tensions Harold Hongju Koh asserts that in both reemerged in the aftermath of Septem- Korematsu and Hawaii, the government ber 11, Dale Minami, civil rights lawyer invoked a grossly overbroad group stereo- and lead attorney for Korematsu’s coram type and the “president invoked an amor- nobis legal team, and Professor Susan Ser- phous national security threat to justify rano wrote, “[W]e must engage ourselves a sweeping discriminatory policy that sig- to assure that the vast national security nificantly limited the freedom of a particu- regime does not overwhelm the civil lib- lar group.”75 Professor Eric Muller likewise erties of vulnerable groups. This means observes, in “Hawaii the Court looked only exercising our political power, making at the veneer of neutrality that govern- our dissents heard, publicizing injustices ment lawyers tacked on to the President’s done to our communities as well as to oft-stated and oft-tweeted confessions of others, and enlisting allies from diverse animus against Muslims.”76 communities.”80 Relatedly, Muller further cautions that Two decades later, Minami’s hopeful while Korematsu was overruled, a greater words still resonate. It remains impera- danger is posed by Hirabayashi which tive that people rise up and stand strong has been regularly cited as authority for in unity for social justice. This anti-racist upholding curfew orders by the govern- work was seen and heard when members ment without question. This occurred of the Black Lives Matter movement, along when the Trump administration cited with Muslim, Latino, Jewish, and Asian Hirabayashi in its argument to prevent a communities, and civil rights and inter- Guantanamo Bay detainee from distrib- faith groups, stood in solidarity against uting his artwork to his attorney and the Trump’s travel ban in 2017. And during the public.77 Muller suggests that oftentimes, coronavirus pandemic, millions of people curfews are characterized as a modest from all walks of life likewise joined Black imposition, “Curfews…happen all the Lives Matter in protests against police vio- time…they’re enforced in the wake of nat- lence and racial injustice. Undoubtedly, ural disasters and civil unrest “78 His con- such inspiring collective action strength- cerns are not farfetched considering the ens our spirit and resilience in the ongoing impromptu transformations of major cit- struggle against white privilege and white ies into police surveillance states this past supremacy. summer.79

1. Eric K. Yamamoto and Rachel Oyama, “Mas- querading Behind a Face of National Security,” Yale Conclusion Law Journal Forum, (30 January 2019): 699. https:// www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/masquerading -behind-a-facade-of-national-security. In the final analysis,Hawaii will be remem- 2. Brief of Korematsu, Karen, Jay Hirabayashi, Holly bered as another instance where the Yasui, the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, Civil Rights Organizations, and National Court again turned a blind eye towards Bar Associations of Color as amici curiae in support of racist governmental conduct to pay def- respondents, Trump v. Hawaii, 136 S. Ct. 923 (30 March erence to the government’s claims of 2018). Gee 63 3. Eric K. Yamamoto et al., “Loaded Weapon” Revis- documents/Publications/geeTUOPLR474.pdf ited: The Trump Era Import of Justice Jackson’s Warn- 23. Harvey Gee, “Journey Towards Justice: The His- ing in Korematsu, Asian American Law Review 24, (2017): torical and Legal Legacy of Fred Korematsu and the 6. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_ Japanese American Internment in a Post-9/11,” Suf- id=3488759 folk U. Law. Review, 50 (2017): 237. https://cpb-us-e1. 4. Angelo N. Ancheta, Race, Rights, And the Asian wpmucdn.com/sites.suffolk.edu/dist/3/1172/ American Experience (New Brunswick: Rutgers Uni- files/2020/01/Gee_Lead.pdf versity Press, 1998): 31. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/ 24. Erwin Chemerinsky, “Korematsu v. United States: A Record/1714369 tragedy hopefully never to be repeated,” Pepperdine 5. Geoffrey R. Stone, “Civil liberties v. national secu- Law. Review, 39 (2011): 170. https://digitalcommons. rity in the law’s open areas,” B.U. Law Review 86, (2006): pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1356 1320. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_ &context=plr articles/4554/ 25. Julia Glum, “Trump Muslim ban and FDR’s Japanese 6. Gordon K. Hirabayashi, et al, A principled stand: the Internment Camps: How Anti-Islam Debate Compares story of Hirabayashi v. United States (Seattle, WA: Univer- to Roosevelt’s WWII policies,” International Busi- sity of Washington, 2013): x-xi. https://www.jstor.org/ ness Times, 10 December 2015. https://www.ibtimes. stable/j.ctvcwn7n2 com/trump-muslim-ban-fdrs-japanese-internment 7. Trump v. Hawaii, 138 S.Ct.2392, 2420 (2018). -camps-how-anti-islam-debate-compares-2218243 8. “Lawyers draw similarities between Trump travel 26. “Trump administration learned all the wrong ban, Japanese internment,” CBS Sacramento, 15 May lessons from history,” Japanese American Citizens 2017, https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/05/15/ League, 26 June 2018, https://jacl.org/trump-admin trump-travel-ban-japanese-internment-camps/ . istration-learned-all-the-wrong-lessons-fromhistory [https://perma.cc/32RN-NMNC]. 9. Neal Kumar Katyal, “Trump v. Hawaii: how the supreme court simultaneously overturned and revived 27. Tess Bridgeman, et al., “Gitmo is not the answer,” Korematsu,” Yale Law Journal Forum, (30 January 2019): SLATE, 31 August 2018, https://slate.com/ 644-46. https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/ news-and-politics/2018/08/the-question-of-what-to- trump-v-hawaii do-with-isis-detainees-is-trickythat-doesnt-mean-we- should-send-them-to-gitmo.html [https://perma.cc/ 10. Christina Wilkie, “Biden pledges to end Trump’s PH5G-ZWXB]. ‘Muslim ban’ on his first day in office,” CNBC, 20 July 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/20/biden- 28. Gordon K. Hirabayashi et al., A principled stand: the pledges-to-end-trumps-muslim-ban-on-his-first-day- story of Hirabayashi v. United States (2013): xi-xii. in-office.html. 29. Hirabayashi v. United States, 320 U.S. 81, 88 (1943). 11. “Biden Kicks Off Term With Executive Orders and 30. Lorraine K. Bannai, Enduring conviction: Fred Korem- Prime-Time Celebration,” NY Times, 21 January 2021, atsu and his quest for justice, The Western Historical Quar- https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/20/us/ terly 47, (2015): 87. https://www.researchgate.net/ biden-inauguration. publication/306105250_Enduring_Conviction_Fred_ 12. Eric K. Yamamoto et al., Race, Rights and Repara- Korematsu_and_His_Quest_for_Justice_Scott_and_ tion: Law and the Japanese American Internment, 2nd. Laurie_Oki_Series_in_Asian_American_Studies_By_ ed 2013): 114-15. https://repository.uchastings.edu/ Lorraine_K_Bannai faculty_books/9/ 31. 320 U.S. 81 (1943). 13. Ibid, 105-07. 32. Gordon K. Hirabayashi et al., A Principled Stand: The 14. Noah Feldman, Scorpions: The Battle and Triumphs of Story of Hirabayashi v. United States (2013): xiii. FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices (Twelve, 2010): 243. 33. Eric K. Yamamoto et al., Race, Rights and Reparation: https://wcfia.harvard.edu/publications/scorpions- Law and the Japanese American Internment (2d. ed 2013): battles-and-triumphs-fdr%E2%80%99s-great-supreme- 105. court-justices 34. Noah Feldman, Scorpions: The Battle and Triumphs of 15. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 223 (1944). FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices (Twelve, 2010): 235. 16. Eric K. Yamamoto et al., Race, Rights and Reparation: 35. Lorraine K. Bannai, Enduring Conviction: Fred Korem- Law and the Japanese American Internment, 2nd. ed (2013): atsu and his Quest for Justice. (2015): 84. 106-08. 36. Eugene Grossman, “Korematsu: A Melange of 17. Serrano, Susan Kiyomi and Dale Minami, Korem- Military Imperatives,” Law & Contemporary Problems atsu v. United States: a “Constant caution” in a time of 68, (2005): 19. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/ crisis, Asian Law Journal 10 (2003): 37, 38. https://core. vol68/iss2/4/ ac.uk/download/pdf/211322222.pdf 37. Lorraine K. Bannai, Enduring Conviction: Fred Korem- 18. Eric K. Yamamoto et al., Race, Rights and Reparation: atsu and his Quest for Justice. (2015):11-12. Law and the Japanese American Internment, 2nd. ed (2013): 38. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 223 (1944). 406. 39. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 225-42 (1944) 19. Ibid: 391. (Roberts J. & Murphy, J. dissenting). 20. Neal K. Katyal, and Laurence H. Tribe, “Waging 40. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 242 (1944) (Mur- War, Deciding Guilt: Trying the Military Tribunals,” phy, J. dissenting). Yale Law Journal, 111 (2002): 1259, 1259-1260. https:// digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylj/vol111/iss6/1/ 41. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 236 (1944) (Mur- phy, J. dissenting). 21. Jonathan Hafertz, Habeas Corpus After 9/11: Confront- ing America’s New Global Detention System (2011):160-62. 42. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 236-37 (1944) (Murphy, J. dissenting). 22. Harvey Gee, “Habeas Corpus, Civil Liberties, and Indefinite Detention During Wartime: From Ex Parte 43. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 232 (1944) Endo and the Japanese American Internment to the War (Roberts, J. dissenting). on Terrorism and Beyond,” University of the Pacific Law 44. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 226 (1944) (Rob- Review, 47 (2016): 791. https://archive.mcgeorge.edu/ erts, J. dissenting).

64 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 45. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 242-43 (1944) the second monster,” Texas Law Review 98, (2020): (Jackson, J. dissenting). 744; 746. https://texaslawreview.org/wp-content/ 46. Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. at 246 (1944) uploads/2020/03/Muller.Printer.pdf (Jackson, J. dissenting). 77. Nicole Goodkind, “Trump administration uses 47. Jerry Kang, “Watching the watchers: enemy com- Japanese internment example to deny rights to detain- batants in the internment’s shadow,” Law and Contem- ees,” NEWSWEEK, 15 June 2018, https://www.news porary Problems 68, (2005) 260; 271. Korematsu v. United week.com/guantanamo-bay-donaldtrump-japanese States, 584 F. Supp. 1406, 1410 (N.D. Cal. 1984). https:// -internment-980049 [https://perma.cc/8PEB-7HC9]. scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol68/iss2/12/ 78. Eric L. Muller, “Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and the 48. Ex Parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283, 302 (1944). second monster,” Texas Law Review 98, (2020): 753. 49. Noah Feldman, Scorpions: The Battle and Triumphs of 79. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “U.S. watched George FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices (Twelve, 2010): 241. Floyd protests in 15 cities using aerial surveillance,” NY Times, 19 June 2020, https://www. 50. Jerry Kang, “Watching the Watchers: Enemy Com- nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/politics/george-floyd batants in the Internment’s Shadow,” Law and Contem- -protests-surveillance.html. porary Problems 68, (2005): 260; 267. 80. Susan Kiyomi Serrano and Dale Minami, “Korem- 51. Ex Parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283, 301 (1944). atsu v. United States: a constant caution in a time of 52. Ex Parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283, 307-308 (1944) (Murphy, crisis,” Asian Law Journal 10, (2003): 49. https://core. J. dissenting). ac.uk/download/pdf/211322222.pdf 53. Ex Parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283, 308 (1944) (Roberts, J. dissenting). 54. Ex Parte Endo, 323 U.S. 283, 310 (1944) (Roberts, J. dissenting). 55. Korematsu v. United States, 584 F. Supp. 1406, 1410 (N.D. Cal. 1984). 56. Korematsu v. United States, 584 F. Supp. 1406, 1413 (N.D. Cal. 1984). 57. Lorraine K. Bannai, Enduring Conviction: Fred Korematsu and his Quest for Justice (2015): 163-72. 58. Korematsu v. United States, 584 F. Supp. 1406, 1420 (N.D. Cal. 1984). 59. Susan Kiyomi Serrano and Dale Minami, “Korem- atsu v. United States: a ‘Constant caution’ in a time of crisis,” Asian Law Journal 10, (2003): 41. 60. Eric K. Yamamoto, and Rachel Oyama, “Masquer- ading Behind a Face of National Security, Yale Law Jour- nal Forum,” 30 January 2019: 689. 61. Trump v. Hawaii, 138 S.Ct.2392, 2420 (2018). 62. 82 Fed.Reg.45161 (2017). 63. Executive Order No.13769, 82 Fed.Reg.8977 (2017); Executive Order No.13780, 82 Fed.Reg.13209 (2017). 64. Trump, 138 S.Ct. at 2348 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting). 65. Trump, 138 S.Ct. at 2445 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting). 66. Trump, 138 S.Ct. at 2433 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting). 67. Trump, 138 S.Ct. at 2447 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting). 68. Trump v. Hawaii, 138 S.Ct.2392, 2423 (2018). 69. Trump, 138 S.Ct. at 2423. 70. Jamal Greene, “Is Korematsu good law?” Yale Law Journal Forum, 30 January 2019: 630. https://www. yalelawjournal.org/forum/is-korematsu-good-law 71. Eric K. Yamamoto, and Rachel Oyama, “Masquer- ading behind a face of national security,” Yale Law Jour- nal Forum, 30 January 2019: 715 (citing to Trump, 138 S.Ct. at 2448; 2447 (Sotomayor J., dissenting)). 72. Neal Kumar Katyal, “Trump v. Hawaii: how the supreme court simultaneously overturned and revived Korematsu,” Yale Law Journal Forum, 30 January 2019: 642. 73. Ibid: 645. 74. Ibid: 646. 75. Harold Hongju Koh, “Symposium: Trump v. Hawaii—Korematsu’s ghost and national- security masquerades,” SCOTUSblog, https://www.scotusblog .com/2018/06/symposium-trump-v-hawaii-korematsus -ghost-and-national-security-masquerades/. 76. Eric L. Muller, “Korematsu, Hirabyashi, and

Gee 65 STOPPING AAPI HATE: STUDENT REFLECTIONS ON THE PUBLIC POLICY PROCESS Russell Jeung, PhD, Megan Dela Cruz, Christina (Krysty) Shen, Richard Lim, and Boaz Tang

“We have all seen, at the same time that the SAH succeeded in putting this issue on the coronavirus pandemic has broken out, so, too, agenda of policy makers and in pinning has a disturbing epidemic of hate and discrimi- racism on the officials’ political rhetoric.3 nation against the AAPI community, and that Along with raising awareness about has erupted. COVID-19 discrimination, SAH sought to According to the Stop AAPI Hate Reporting develop policies that addressed the roots Center, more than 2,500 recorded incidents of and trends of the problem. Their data anal- anti-Asian hate have been perpetrated against ysis revealed that most incidents were not AAPI communities . . . Many of these incidents hate crimes, but primarily cases of harass- represent civil rights violations. And that is a ment and shunning. Consequently, in for- value for us to protect.” mulating policy solutions SAH prioritized —House of Representatives models of public education, restorative Speaker Nancy Pelosi justice, and civil rights enforcement over In her floor speech on a House resolution, hate crime enforcement. Speaker Pelosi acknowledged the perva- San Francisco State University students sive upsurge in anti-Asian hate during the in Asian American Studies (AAS) were Coronavirus pandemic. Citing numbers instrumental in setting anti-Asian racism from Stop AAPI Hate (SAH), a coalition on political leaders’ agenda, formulating of civil rights organizations and SF State policies, and advocating for them. This University Asian American studies, she case study of our involvement with SAH highlighted “the systemic injustices and first describes the activities of SAH. It then discriminations perpetrated against gen- reviews how we were engaged with the pol- erations of Asian Americans” and noted icy process and what we learned as we 1) that “some of the bigotry is being fueled reviewed data; 2) produced policy reports; by some in Washington DC.”1 and 3) advocated for specific recommen- From its inception in March 2020, one dations. To conclude, we share lessons of SAH’s objectives was to shape the for other community-based, participatory narrative about anti-Asian hate.2 Rather research efforts oriented towards effecting than framing COVID-19 discrimination social change through public policy. as isolated incidents by a few prejudiced individuals, the coalition wanted to 1) connect it to historic racism against Asian Stop AAPI Hate: Tracking Anti-Asian Americans; 2) articulate the widespread, Hate during COVID-19 systemic nature of this racism; and 3) promote solidarity with other communities of When news of the COVID-19 epidemic color. As Speaker Pelosi’s speech and the in China broke in January 2020, Dr. Rus- LA Times op-ed “Anti-Asian Hate Crimes sell Jeung of San Francisco State Univer- Are Surging. Trump is To Blame” attest, sity AAS knew that it would lead to the 66 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 scapegoating of the Chinese, and to sub- * A convening of staff from Human sequent racism against Asian Americans Relations Commissions nationwide on best both in terms of interpersonal violence and practices to address anti-Asian hate nativist government policies. Along with Having issued fourteen reports in 2020 on graduate researchers Sarah Gowing and hate incidents, anti-Chinese rhetoric, and Kara Takasaki, he began to document news state-specific trends, SAH also received accounts of anti-Asian hate and reported widespread media attention. The New on the upsurge of incidents of shun- York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles ning, harassment, and boycotts of Asian Times, NPR, and Time Magazine, as well businesses. as international and local media, have fea- Having documented the increasing tured SAH’s work.4 extent of this racism through secondary Along with its data reporting and advo- sources, he joined with two community cacy, SAH established a national Youth organizations—Chinese for Affirmative Campaign to raise awareness about the Action in San Francisco and the Asian issues of racism faced by young AAPIs. Pacific Policy and Planning Council of Los Led by twelve young adult team leaders, Angeles—to call upon the California Attor- the campaign’s ninety high school interns ney General to create a reporting center developed a social media campaign, gath- for COVID-19 discrimination. When that ered 930 interviews of peers, created edu- office responded that it lacked the- capac cational workshops, and wrote their own ity to do so, Dr. Jeung and his collabora- policy report, “They Blamed Me Because tors launched Stop Asian American Pacific I Was Asian.”5 They continue to advocate Islander Hate (SAH) to gather first-hand for their youth policy recommendations accounts of hate incidents. Receiving sup- and to lead their workshops for other port from the CA Asian Pacific Islander young adults. Legislative Caucus and garnering exten- The activities of SAH follow the first sive media attention, the tracking center three stages of the public policy process: received hundreds of reports daily in the agenda-setting, policy formation and policy first three weeks. advocacy.6 Conducting community-based, SAH has since become the leading participatory research from an Ethnic Stud- advocacy organization and thought leader ies paradigm,7 this project aimed to uplift in combating anti-Asian hate during the the voices of Asian Americans and Pacific pandemic. SAH’s research and advocacy Islanders, develop a collective voice, pro- with elected leaders have led to: vide community resources, offer technical * President Joe Biden's memorandum assistance, and develop policy recommen- "Condemning and Combating Racism dations.8 *Against Asian Americans and Pacific The following lessons learned by San Islanders" Francisco State University AAS graduate * A US congressional resolution students demonstrate both this methodol- denouncing anti-Asian hate ogy and paradigm. Richard Lim discusses * Over three dozen local resolutions how categorizing the language employed calling for tolerance and respect by perpetrators of hate demonstrated the * The formation of city task forces in racial bias of their acts and put anti-Asian New York and San Francisco racism on the agenda of policy makers. * Pronouncements from CA Gover- Working with high school interns, Krysty nor Newsom and CA Superintendent of Shen highlights how SAH utilized social Schools Tony Thurmond resisting racism media to reach out to youth and employed and bullying qualitative story gathering to ascertain the * A forum with the CA Assembly on the issues facing youth. They then formulated State of Hate appropriate policy recommendations for Jeung, Cruz, Shen, Lim, and Tang 67 their concerns, such as online harassment. to understanding COVID-19 discrim- Similarly, Megan De la Cruz shares how ination. Recording isolated, individ- student interns researched best practices to ual incidents was not the primary goal address racism in schools and integrated of SAH. Instead, we aimed to tie hate their perspectives to create key recom- speech to reported incidents and thus mendations. Finally, Boaz Tang describes reveal how the “perpetual foreigner” ste- how he worked with SAH to tailor its reotype harms Asian Americans. High- priorities for California Governor New- lighting perpetrators’ comments indeed som’s office and to marshal the efforts of proved critical in demonstrating the state agencies in addressing COVID-19 nativist and Sinophobic natures of these discrimination. incidents. To verify the nationwide severity of anti-Asian hate incidents, my research Documenting Bias and Setting anti- team and I categorized incidents based Asian Hate on the Agenda (Richard Lim) on the statements employed by perpetrators as reported by respondents to SAH. 789 incidents. Further coding and analysis yielded five Each incident included some vitriolic major themes in how perpetrators of comment against Asian Americans. Some hate harangued Asian Americans: 1) vir- statements vocalized hostility: “Cover ulent animosity; 2) Chinese and China your f**king mouth, you Chinese b***h! related scapegoating; 3) anti-immigrant How dare you yawn at me!” Others made nativism; 4) Orientalist depictions; and 5) threats on Asian American lives: “If you racial slurs. Certain vocabulary often dis- are Chinese or Japanese, I'm going to kill tinguished one comment’s themes from you!” Reading incident after incident left another. For example, while the theme me with anxiety. And negotiating my “virulent animosity” often constituted angst while coding data became increas- expletives, “Chinese and China related ingly challenging. Despite my frustra- scapegoating” comments involved some tion, I channeled my energy to categorize reference to blaming Chinese people as the the cases we received. We wanted to source of the coronavirus. Comments of publish both Asian American lived expe- “anti-immigrant nativism” involved riences and the alarming trends facing the perpetrator complaining that Chi- them to demonstrate the significance of nese people should “go back to China.” anti-Asian hate to policy makers and the Incidents with “Orientalist depictions” general public. I argue that our reports revolved around statements about amplified this issue even amidst the pan- Asians’ cultural exoticism, such as their demic, the George Floyd killing, and dietary habits. Finally, cases involv- the presidential election. Media reporting “racial slurs” referenced derogatory ing on our work expanded awareness Asian labels, such as Chink, Gook and and placed further pressure on policy Chinaman. makers. Just by bearing certain physical features, To begin, the primary accounts of I found myself linked with fellow Asians hate incidents provided an entry point and also felt scapegoated as a vector of

68 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 death. In particular, the high number of to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Go back to your country!” comments where they urged a government response dumbfounded me for being so nativ- to increasing anti-Asian hate.11 Later, ist. And given the anti-China rhetoric Congresswoman Judy Chu and members coming from the president and the of the Congressional Asian, Latino, and Black caucus pushed a resolution calling for action against growing anti-Asian hate, Just by bearing certain physical with the resolution citing SAH’s numbers.12 features, I found myself linked As media and elected leaders responded to SAH’s reports and prioritized anti-Asian, with fellow Asians and also felt AAPI youth took the next step to identify scapegoated as a vector of death. policies to address the issue.

Republican Party during the pandemic, Social Media and Story Gathering: Orientalist depictions of Asians as “dis- Policy Formulation for AAPI Youth eased” and subversive troubled me. Issues (Krysty Shen) Our data offered a reminder that regardless of our citizenship, Asian Ameri- On June 1, 2020, Dr. Jeung asked SAH vol- cans continue to be seen as conditional unteers about piloting a summer youth Americans. internship. I expressed interest, and four By documenting anti-Asian hate inci- days later we held our first planning meet- dents, we provided the media with the ing. The next day we distributed our fly- necessary evidence to underscore the ers on social media, and within a week we racial motivations behind the acts of hate. received over 100 applications and hired Bold headlines from media outlets such twelve team coordinators. Within only as Vox declared, “How the Coronavirus two weeks, we officially launched the SAH is Surfacing America’s Deep-Seated Anti- Youth Campaign. Asian Biases.”9 Such articles employed This short timeline shows how quickly SAH’s framing to highlight how the racism we were able to mobilize and start an during the coronavirus pandemic was no on-going, national Youth Campaign. aberration. Eventually, the youth interns themselves Our data offered a reminder that regardless of our citizenship, Asian Americans continue to be seen as conditional Americans.

Ultimately, the media accounts, in con- have built a social movement as a virtual junction with advocacy of Asian American community. Social media work, and later groups, catalyzed responses from poli- interpersonal story gathering, were critical ticians. In a Huffington Post article titled for our Youth Campaign; they served as “Trump Is The Biggest 'Superspreader' the basis for formulating specific policies Of Anti-Asian Racism,” Connie Chan, a to address the hate issues that AAPI youth candidate for San Francisco supervisor, face. also reinforced that the discrimination she The youth-requested and youth-led faced was a product of Trump’s anti-China SAH social media campaign suggests rhetoric.10 At the federal level, Democratic the growing importance of utilizing an US Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth War- online platform for youth organizing and ren and Tammy Duckworth sent a letter highlights their adeptness with online Jeung, Cruz, Shen, Lim, and Tang 69 information distribution. Compared to youth interns were well-versed with social community-based organizing in the past, media, they were less skilled at direct, ver- newer generations are no longer bound bal communication. Several interns asked to their immediate, proximate networks. if they could hold text conversations as In their applications, the great majority of a substitution, but we emphasized the inter- youth wrote that the best strategy to get personal connections of phone calls and/or youth to report to SAH was through social video calls. These direct interactions were media outreach. We incorporated their crucial to gathering and gaining deeper input and included a Social Media Cam- understandings of the personal accounts paign as the first unit of the internship. of anti-Asian hate that youth experienced. SAH youth interns created a wealth From the youth interviews, one-fourth of of resources for their online networks. In peer respondents experienced COVID-19 under two weeks, my intern team devel- discrimination first-hand. Interns noted a oped a multi-slide educational resource trend that many of these incidents occurred with a historical timeline of anti-Asian online. Aside from the Youth Campaign, hate, statistics and quotes from SAH, and I was also working on a separate policy a call to action to report incidents to post report on youth incidents for SAH, and on Instagram. Continuing interns recently I had not realized the prevalence of online launched an Instagram account and will incidents prior to youth bringing it to the publish materials from the summer cam- forefront. paign. Their passion and speed in produc- Because of youth efforts in gathering sto- ing content demonstrated their adeptness ries and documenting cyber-bullying, we with media technology and in connecting integrated an emphasis on online incidents with their peers. to both the Youth Campaign and adult

The second unit for our internship was version of the youth policy report. This the Stories Campaign. We wanted youth experience reaffirmed the importance of a to practice holding difficult conversa- bottom-up approach to policy formation; tions with peers in order to gather what we need to collect data on the issues which was happening in their settings. While communities face to find emerging trends, 70 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 and we need to ask the affected communities what changes they want. Armed with This experience reaffirmed the this data, the youth interns then researched importance of a bottom-up evidence-based best practices to deal with approach to policy formation; anti-Asian hate directed at youth. we need to collect data on the Formulating Youth Policy, Part 2: issues which communities face Tailoring Youth-led Policies (Megan to find emerging trends, and Dela Cruz) we need to ask the affected “The gathering of stories allowed us to inte- communities what changes grate the issues of AAPI intersectionality to they want. the Youth Campaign policy report in a much stronger way.” - V. S., SAH Intern (17 y. o.) 5. Support AAPI student affin- After gathering 930 stories from their ity groups and their school-safety and peers, the interns focused on a policy anti-racism campaigns. report with recommendations that address About forty-five interns worked on anti-Asian racism at the school level. This this policy report—gathering data, choos- report would be the culmination of the ing images, and crafting a document for interns' experience and showcase what school districts. By working on the policy they had learned through the Social Media report, I was able to learn about policy for- Campaign, the Stories Campaign, and mation and advocacy at the local level. In the workshops facilitated by the program particular, I assisted the interns in devel- leaders. The students synthesized the data oping policies particularly suited for local gathered through the Stories Campaign, school contexts that vary in size and demo- as V. S. notes in the above quotation, and graphic composition. included their own points of view in cre- The first section of the policy report ating effective remedies for school-based included the history of anti-Asian rac- and online bullying. ism and the current context of COVID-19 The interns developed the following discrimination. The curriculum from the policy recommendations: Youth Campaign helped interns interpret 1. Implement Ethnic Studies the current political moment during the throughout secondary school curricula to 2020 elections, especially the rhetoric from center histories of communities of color, elected officials inflaming xenophobia and analyze the sources of systemic racism, giving license to hate. The interns also and learn from movements that advocate explored the economic conditions and Yel- for equity for people of color. low Peril stereotype that have also given 2. Provide anti-bullying training for rise to hostile treatment of AAPIs. teachers and administrators that would The second section of the report ana- include practices of social-emotional learn- lyzed the data from the Stories Campaign. ing. The interns reviewed both quantitative 3. Train students and adults in and qualitative data to understand the restorative justice practices, which can extent and nature of anti-Asian bullying. begin to replace zero tolerance approaches They found that cyberbullying in the form that have proven ineffective. of hateful comments and racist videos was 4. For online harassment and bul- quite prevalent, such that it seemed to be lying, provide accessible and anonymous normalized behavior not often deemed as reporting sites on social media platforms. racism. Jeung, Cruz, Shen, Lim, and Tang 71 Students thus wanted to address bully- policy report are models of communi- ing of Asian Americans at their high schools, ty-based participatory research conducted specifically centering bullying as racialized by high school interns. Through social microaggressions. The interns investigated media and Zoom meetings, they were policies that address the sources of the able to meet nationwide and to develop problem, as well as build on the strengths a social media campaign to raise youth of our ethnic communities. To get at the concern for this issue. By gathering stories root of racism, the interns found that Eth- and documenting youth experiences, the nic Studies and high school affinity groups interns verified the ongoing surge of - rac were effective in promoting solidarity and ism targeting Asian American high school coalitions. They realized that by learning students.13 And through integrating best their own histories and by organizing their practices with their own experiences and fellow students, they could find power as knowledge, they have developed a policy they mobilized affinity groups. In order platform aimed at empowering, healing, to deal with bullies, they recommended and transforming their communities. Hav- restorative justice models as better than ing developed policy recommendations, zero tolerance policies that led to inequita- the next step for SAH was to advocate for ble suspension rates. And to support Asian their implementation. American students targeted with racism, they highlighted the need for mental health resources based in schools. Each of these Promoting Policies Given Political recommendations included citations of the Contingencies: Policy Advocacy at the research that documented their efficacy and State Level (Boaz Tang) feasibility. Finally, given the interns’ focus on effect- “One thing I also want to express is deep, deep ing change at the school and school district recognition of the xenophobia, racism that is level, the report offered policy recommen- being perpetuated against Asians in our state. dations by researching best practices that We have seen a huge increase in people that are were applied to their own experiences. assaulting people on the basis of the way they They acknowledged that different school look and I just want folks to know we are better contexts based on district size and school than that, we are watching that, we’re going to demographic composition led to varied begin to enforce that more aggressively . . .14” levels of power and influence that the stu- --Governor Gavin Newsom (CA), dents could exert. They therefore provided March 19, 2020 general recommendations that could be I felt stunned to hear a public official tailored to different schools and prioritized denounce anti-Asian discrimination and according to school need. violence at a press conference. Having Although the summer portion of this been gutted by the long legacy of vitriol internship has ended, some high school towards the Asian American community, interns have decided to continue their I was stirred with pride over finally being work and implement their recommenda- seen by the governor. One month later, Pro- tions. In fall 2020, interns hosted a nation- fessor Russell Jeung reached out to me and wide conference to spread awareness of the a handful of other San Francisco State Uni- issue and build a student movement for versity graduate students to join the SAH social change. Largely influenced by the research team. At the time, I did not realize recommendations of the report, the interns that SAH’s research and advocacy were the are advocating plans to implement Ethnic catalysts for Governor Newsom’s remarks, Studies within their school districts. and I certainly did not anticipate research- Overall, the Youth Campaign and their ing policy recommendations for a meeting

72 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 with his key staff just a few weeks later. suggested signage reminding people to I had to help frame the aims of SAH—to treat others with respect and to intervene promote public education and restorative in situations of harassment. justice models—according to the concerns, Following that meeting with the scope, and limits of the governor’s office. Governor’s Office, SAH has met reg- SAH’s policy recommendations address ularly with the California DFEH to systemic racism through public educa- host public education webinars and to tion and restorative justice measures, in explore pursuing mediation of Asian contrast to previous models of hate crime American cases through its complaint enforcement. From our research, we found procedures.20 We continue to investigate that Ethnic Studies15 and particular types how we might use California as a model for of anti-racism education16 were effective other states in extending public accommo- in curbing the xenophobia towards Asian dations and working with state agencies to Americans. In addition, the George Floyd curb anti-Asian harassment at businesses. killing in June 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement made us well aware of the failures of our criminal justice system Conclusion that were largely retributive and punitive. Instead, SAH saw restorative justice as an Through SAH’s data collection, research essential part of ending structural racism analysis, and policy advocacy, we learned leveled at communities of color. Indeed, about public policy by actively engaging such measures are effective in increasing in its formulation itself. Despite having to community resilience, lowering recidivism review hundreds of harrowing and even rate, and decreasing financial costs for all traumatizing accounts of anti-Asian hate, parties in conflict.17 Thus, we prioritized we have been heartened by the overall these policy approaches for their philoso- community’s resistance against racism. phy and efficacy. Elderly Asians and Asians with limited Given the agencies that the governor’s English proficiency made the effort to file office oversaw, we tailored our recommen- reports to SAH. Ninety youth across the dations for state departments that handled nation quickly responded to the call to stop sites where we tracked anti-Asian inci- the violence against AAPIs, and spent their dents. According to our research, 38 per- summer working to address the issue. cent of California hate incidents occurred AAPI celebrities like Bowen Yang, Helen at businesses. Our recommendation to the Zia, Tzi Ma, xmxtoon, Maulik Pancholy, governor's office was for the Department of and Jeremy Lin have spoken out on the Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) to issue at SAH’s Youth Campaign meetings. better promote and enforce public accom- Across generations, ethnicities, and profes- modations, as protected by the Unruh and sions, the AAPI community stood up. Ralph Civil Rights Acts.18 Enforcement of Through hands-on learning, we gained these civil rights codes would provide safe key lessons on the public policy process. In access to goods and services, and thereby order to put anti-Asian hate on the agenda keep them free of harassment and discrim- of policy makers, we needed to document ination. Since streets and parks were the major trends of racism impacting our com- locations of 31 percent of hate incidents, munities. We had to frame the narrative we proposed targeted public education about COVID-19 discrimination as rooted campaigns and signage on transit routes, in systemic racism, so that the government streets, and parks.19 Recognizing that calls would respond appropriately. In devel- to changes in behavior are more effective oping policies, we found that identifying than general awareness of an issue, we solutions with a bottom-up approach was

Jeung, Cruz, Shen, Lim, and Tang 73 Episodes Exceed 800, Activists Push Newsom for critical: impacted communities need to Help,” The Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2020, https:// have a voice in addressing their own con- www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-05/ anti-asian-hate-newsom-help; Steve Mullis and Heidi cerns. For example, our high school interns Glenn, “New Site Collects Reports Of Racism Against took the time to listen to their peers and Asian Americans Amid Coronavirus Pandemic,” NPR, 27 March 2020, https://www.npr.org/sections/ consider their own experiences before cre- coronavirus-live-updates/2020/03/27/822187627/new- site-collects-reports-of-anti-asian-american-sentiment ating their policy platform. And to advo- -amid-coronavirus-pand; Anna Purna Kambhampaty, cate strategically, we had to understand “'I Will Not Stand Silent.' 10 Asian Americans Reflect on Racism During the Pandemic and the Need for Equal- the structure of government and existing ity,” TIME, 25 June 2020. https://time.com/5858649/ policies so that we could promote our own racism-coronavirus/ priorities well. Identifying the appropriate 5. “They Blamed Me Because I am Asian” and other Stop AAPI Hate reports can be downloaded at https:// authorities, their powers, and their own stopaapihate.org/reportsreleases/. political agendas—whether they were the 6. Michael Howlett, Michael Ramesh, and Anthony California Superintendent of Schools or the Perl, Studying public policy: Policy cycles and policy subsys- tems, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). director of the Department of Fair Employ- 7. Meera Viswanathan et al., "Community-Based Par- ment and Housing—helped us collaborate ticipatory Research: Assessing the Evidence: Summary," Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, no. 18 (2004): 1-8. strategically to stop the bullying of AAPI https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8254093_ youth in schools and the harassment of Community-Based_Participatory_Research_Assessing _the_Evidence_Summary; Andrew J. Jolivette, ed., AAPI customers in stores. Research Justice: Methodologies for Social Change (Bristol, SAH is now pivoting towards the next UK: Policy Press, 2015). stage of the public policy process, that of 8. “About,” Stop AAPI Hate, accessed 11 February 2020, https://stopaapihate.org/about/. policy implementation. Beyond retracting 9. Li Zhou, “How the Coronavirus is Surfacing Amer- many of the anti-immigrant policies of the ica’s Deep-Seated Anti-Asian Biases,” Vox, 21 April 2020. https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/4/21/21221007/ Trump administration, we look forward anti-asian-racism-coronavirus; Ali Rogan and Amma to expanding Ethnic Studies, extending Nawaz, “We have been through this before: Why anti-Asian hate crimes are rising amid coronavirus,” civil rights protections, and promoting PBS Newshour, 25 June 2020. https://www.pbs.org/ restorative justice models for community newshour/nation/we-have-been-through-this-before- why-anti-asian-hate-crimes-are-rising-amid-coronavirus. transformation. These policy approaches 10. Marina Fang, “Trump Is The Biggest 'Superspreader' are promising practices as we seek to build Of Anti-Asian Racism, Activists and Scholars Warn,” The a larger AAPI movement of justice and sol- Huffington Post, 21 October 2020. https://www.huffpost .com/entry/trump-anti-asian-racism-covid-19_n_ idarity. 5f905c0fc5b62333b24133f5?guccounter=1&guce_referrer =aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_ referrer_sig=AQAAANUw6GACBet0pDYSBAhzVDE Zl0DK3udybbnTd6NQW7S5yJt6ii7LdxQOFdZbAg 1. Newsroom, “Pelosi Floor Speech in Support of 90cmRYwyWic8YjyenvxNJh1S6cUIgDa6vtdNYfSx House Resolution Condemning All Anti-Asian Senti- k2vYT_ffLWeot-Y9P_SQ5VEJzZlIObTZc1W5xr4MB ment Since the Outbreak of COVID-19,” 17 September cIlMKGKGfamnHMFba00oX6WDyNH0z 2000, https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/91720 11. Alexia Fernández Campbell and Alex Ellerbeck, 2. Stop AAPI Hate is a project of Chinese for Affir- “Federal Agencies are Doing Little About the Rise in mative Action, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Anti-Asian Hate,” NBC News, 16 April 2020. https:// Council, and SF State University Asian American Stud- www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/federal ies. -agencies-are-doing-little-about-rise-anti-asian- hate-n1184766 3. Russell Jeung, Manjusha Kulkarni, Cynthia Choi, “Trump’s racist comments are fueling hate crimes 12. Kimmy Yam, “House passes resolution to denounce against Asian Americans. Time for state leaders to Covid-19 racism toward Asian Americans,” NBC step in,” Los Angeles Times, 1 April 2020. https://www. News, 17 September 2020. https://www.nbcnews. latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-04-01/coronavirus com/news/asian-america/house-passes-resolution -anti-asian-discrimination-threats -denounce-covid-19-racism-toward-asian-americans -n1240385 4. Sabrina Tavernise and Richard A. Oppel Jr., “Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for 13. Claire Wang, “'Ching chong! You have Chinese Their Safety,” New York Times, 2 June 2020.https:// virus!': 1 in 4 Asian American youths experience rac- www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-corona- ist bullying, report says,” NBC Asian America, 17 Sep- virus-racist-attacks.html; Craig Timberg and Allyson tember 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/ Chiu, “As the Coronavirus Spreads, so Does Online asian-america/25-percent-asian-american-youths Racism Targeting Asians, New Research Shows,” -racist-bullying-n1240380 The Washington Post, 8 April 2020, https://www. 14. 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74 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 15. Christine E. Sleeter, “The academic and social value of ethnic studies,” Education Resources Information Center, 2011. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED521869; Brooke Donald, “Stanford Study Suggests Aca- demic Benefits from Ethnic Studies Courses,” Stan- ford News, 12 January 2016. https://news.stanford. edu/2016/01/12/ethnic-studies-benefits-011216/ 16. Jeff Wagenheim, “There’s Nothing Soft About These Skills,” Harvard Ed. Magazine, 2016. https://www.gse. harvard.edu/news/ed/16/01/theres-nothing-soft- about-these-skills; Astrid Mona O'Moore and Stephen James Minton, “Evaluation of the effectiveness of an anti-bullying programme in primary schools,” Aggressive Behavior, vol. 31 (2005): 609-622. https://onlinelibrary .wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ab.20098 17. John Kidd and Rita Alfred, Restorative Justice: A Work- ing Guide for Our Schools, ed. JoAnn Ugolini (Alameda County Health Services Agency, 2011) [PDF file]. https:// www.courts.ca.gov/documents/D2_Restorative -Justice-Paper_Alfred.pdf 18. “CACI No. 3060. Unruh Civil Rights Act - Essen- tial Factual Elements (Civ. Code, §§ 51, 52),” Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2020 edition). https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/ caci/3000/3060/; “CACI No. 3063. Acts of Violence - Ralph Act - Essential Factual Elements (Civ. Code, § 51.7),” Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instruc- tions (2020 edition). https://www.justia.com/trials -litigation/docs/caci/3000/3063/ 19. Lacey Meyer, “Are Public Awareness Campaigns Effec- tive,” CURE, 15 March 2008. https://www.curetoday .com/publications/cure/2008/spring2008/are-public -awareness-campaigns-effective; Anne Pederson, Iain Walker, and Mike Wise, "'Talk does not cook rice’: Beyond anti-racism rhetoric to strategies for social action," Australian Psychologist, no. 40 (2005): 20-30. https:// www.academia.edu/7177159/Talk_does_not_cook_ rice_Beyond_anti_racism_rhetoric_to_strategies _for_social_action 20. Susan Jeghelian, Madhawa Palihapitiya, and Kaila Eisenkraft, "Legislative Study: A Framework to Strengthen Massachusetts Community Mediation as a Cost-Effective Public Service,"Massachusetts Office of Pub- lic Collaboration Publications, 2011. https://scholarworks .umb.edu/mopc_pubs/1

Jeung, Cruz, Shen, Lim, and Tang 75 NOWHERE TO GO: ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES IN 1945 AND TODAY Shirley Ann Higuchi

Iyekichi Higuchi prepared to leave the incarceration had on him and his family. Heart Mountain camp for Japanese Ameri- The weight of the hate crimes that settled cans in May 1945 to return to San Jose, Cali- on him and others of Japanese ancestry fornia, look for a home for his wife and two proved too much to bear. at-home children, and to find a job. He had been forced to sell his 14.25-acre home in San Jose three years earlier when the federal government had forced 120,000 Japanese Ameri- cans from the West Coast because of hysteria about the alleged security threat they posed in the days following the 7 December 1941, Japa- nese attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Just hours before Higuchi was to leave Heart Mountain, he suffered a heart attack while eating in the mess hall.1 The stress caused by the impending trip proved too much for him. The proud 59-year- old farmer could not leave. Iyekichi Higuchi was my paternal grandfather. His personal file kept by the US War Relo- Iyekichi Higuchi stands next to the barn at the farm in San Jose that cation Authority details he bought before he was incarcerated in a Japanese American concen- the effects his unjust tration camp during World War II. 76 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 As I detail in my book, Setsuko’s Secret: that awaited them at home. Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese What faced those returning Japanese American Incarceration, thousands of Japa- Americans mirrors the hate crimes now nese Americans faced the same challenges facing Americans of Asian descent who as my grandfather. They faced discrimi- are blamed for spreading the COVID-19 natory practices established by officials at virus that originally started in China to the the highest levels of our government and United States. the lies perpetrated by these officials. As Since the pandemic took over in March, the war ended, the incarcerated Japanese thousands of Asian Americans have Americans faced the challenges of mov- been accosted in public spaces, spit on or ing to communities that had previously assaulted and told to go back where they rejected them. came from, even if that was not Asia at all.2

Setsuko Saito and William Higuchi sit next to each other in the front row of their ninth-grade class photo in the high school at the Heart Mountain concentration camp. After the war, they would meet again on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, marry and have four children, including author Shirley Ann Higuchi.

Before the war, they owned businesses President Donald Trump routinely calls or built professional careers as doctors, COVID-19 the China virus or plague, as he lawyers or scientists only to have their live- continues to mismanage the pandemic that lihoods destroyed by an over-hyped hyste- has killed at least 235,000 Americans.3 His ria based on racism and cultural ignorance. words turn an unfair spotlight on millions Those successful careers meant little of Americans of Asian descent. to the Caucasian-dominated society that In Sacramento, psychologist Carolee rejected them. Come 1945, these same vic- Tran was attacked by a fellow customer in tims of racism had to navigate the bigotry Costco who told her to go back where she Higuchi 77 came from. Tran is a refugee from South members as they ran outside for safety and Vietnam who arrived in the United States to extinguish the fire. in 1975 after her country fell to the com- “Joe Takeda home subjected to 12:50 munists. a.m. night shooting and attempted burn- “I said to him, ‘Shut the f—up, get out of ing by men in unidentified sedan who cut my face or I am going to call the manager.’ telephone wires and set fire to house and I am sick of it,” Tran said.4 sheds with gasoline poured under home,” In 1945, Higuchi knew he faced similar according to the account of the attack sent bigotry or worse. So did the government, to Myer. which knew that Japanese Americans were “No one injured and family of 10 evac- not welcome back in their former home- uees put out fire with aid of rain,” the towns. War Relocation Authority records report continued. “One shot fired from show the agency collected information on car slowly cruising highway 75 feet away, all of the acts against Japanese Americans, 2 shots fired as it passed on 4th trip past. starting with arson and attempted murder.5 One revolver slug went over heads of 2 At the same time, however, the WRA children on porch, lodged in bedroom embarked on a disinformation campaign wall. First incident case in Santa Clara Val- aimed at selling the formerly incarcerated ley, Sheriff Emig’s office notified. 3 -depu on the need to return home. The author- ties arrived within 15 minutes.”7 ity used camp newspapers, such as the Higuchi did not realize it at the time, Heart Mountain Sentinel, to tell them that but one of the Takeda daughters, Thelma, they would receive warm welcomes on the would later marry his second-oldest son, West Coast. Kiyoshi. “The small ratio of relocated Japanese In Auburn, Calif., three Caucasian broth- who may wish to return to the Pacific coast ers set fire to the Doi family’s home. They after the war ‘will find a warmer welcome had recently returned from being incarcer- because of the good record of Japanese ated at the camp in Amache, Colorado. in the American armies,’ Dillon B. Myer, “Two civilian brothers and two brother national director of WRA, told Califor- AWOL from Army held in case before nians last week,” the Sentinel reported on Superior Court for attempting burning 14 October 1944.6 and dynamiting and scare shooting at Many Heart Mountain Japanese didn’t Sumio Doi ranch home,” the WRA report believe the happy propaganda. After the read. “Doi family has son in Army unit federal government rescinded the exclusion which rescued Lost Battalion. No one order from the West Coast on 17 Decem- injured.”8 ber 1944, formerly incarcerated Jap- anese soon heard [T]housands of Japanese Americans faced the through word of same challenges as my grandfather. They faced mouth and other reports about prob- discriminatory practices established by officials lems back home, at the highest levels of our government and the such as that faced by lies perpetrated by these officials. the Takeda family of San Jose, who had recently returned from their incarceration at The Lost Battalion was an Army unit the camp in Gila River, Ariz. made up of Texans that had been caught On 6 March 1945, War Relocation behind German lines in the Vosges Moun- Authority records show, arsonists set fire tains of France the previous fall. Mem- to their home and then shot at the family bers of the all-Japanese American 442nd 78 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 PMC7364747/ Regimental Combat Team fought for days 4. Ray Locker, “Asian Americans need to speak out to rescue them. and stand up for themselves,” Pacific Citizen, 5 June Also, on 16 January 1945, the WRA 2020, https://www.pacificcitizen.org/stand-up/. 5. California Incidents of Terrorism Involving Persons of Jap- reported that a “fire of suspicious origins anese Ancestry, prepared by War Relocation Authority, destroyed Mayhew Sunday School build- (Washington, DC, 1945), p. 1. https://babel.hathitrust. org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c004340593&view=1up&seq=7 ing in which was stored property belonging Accessed 12 November 12, 2020. 6. Myer Predicts Warm Welcome,” Heart Mountain Sen- tinel, 14 October 1944. Asian Americans have long faced 7. California Incidents of Terrorism Involving Persons of Japanese Ancestry, prepared by War bigotry and false accusations Relocation Authority, (Washington, DC: 1945), p. 10 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1. c004340593&view=1up&seq=7 Accessed 12 November from those who are ignorant of 2020. 8. California Incidents of Terrorism Involving our culture and history. Persons of Japanese Ancestry, prepared by War Relocation Authority, (Washington, DC: 1945), p. 21. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1. c004340593&view=1up&seq=7 Accessed 12 November to groups of persons of Japanese ancestry. 2020. County officials consider case closed; WRA 9. Ibid. investigators still working on it.”9 Asian Americans have long faced bigotry and false accusations from those who are ignorant of our culture and history. Like today, many were abetted by officials at the top of our government. Those officials and their agencies often lied about or covered up what they did. It is not acceptable now, and it wasn’t acceptable then. Fighting it means demand- ing transparency from our government, finding allies, and fighting bigotry with facts and reason. The policies pushed at the beginning of World War II came from rooms in which only white officials were invited. We need a truly representative administration that includes all members of society to deliberate how policies are made and carried out.

1. “Physical Examination for Iyekichi Higuchi,” War Relocation Authority, 28 May 1945. Records about Jap- anese Americans Relocated during World War II, created 1988–1989, documenting the period 1942–1946. Record Group 210, National Archives Building, Wash- ington, DC, https://www.archives.gov/research /japanese-americans/internment-intro. 2. “COVID-19 and the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes,” Medical News Today, 2 August 2020. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ covid-19-and-the-surge-in-anti-asian-hate-crimes #Tracking-anti-Asian-hate-crimes- 3. Angela R. Gover, Shannon B. Harper, and Lynn Langton, “Anti-Asian Hate Crime During the COVID- 19 Pandemic: Exploring the Reproduction of Inequal- ity,” American Journal of Criminal Justice, (7 July 2020), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/

Higuchi 79 BUILDING PATHWAYS THROUGH DISCOMFORT: NURTURING ALLYSHIP IN THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY Melody Ng

voter suppression policies, and the obstruc- 2016 to Present: The Culmination of Our tion of then-President Obama’s efforts to History With Discomfort fill over 100 lifelong federal judgeships (including one Supreme Court seat).1 Few After a year of polls predicting a land- of them interrogated the complex inter- slide victory for Hillary Clinton, late in and intragroup dynamics that may have the evening of 8 November 2016, Donald contributed to the surprising percentage Trump was declared the 45th president of of Asian American (27 percent), Latinx (28 the United States. People were shocked by percent), and educated (36 percent) vot- the degree to which the outcome diverged ers voting for Trump.2 While these figures from the polls—but I was not. I had spent are somewhat consistent with—if not an the last year wading into fetid comments improvement on—the proportion of voters sections and asking people—within and within these blocs that voted Republican outside of my circles—about their take in previous decades, many people were on the candidates and the issues. What still surprised that anyone would vote for I learned from my inquiries is that while someone so brazenly xenophobic and ill- polls are designed to capture public opin- equipped to lead.3 Four years later, more ions, they cannot illuminate the complex than 74 million people would vote to give beliefs behind opinions that would none- Trump a second term—if not in enthu- theless inform how or whether people siastic support, then at least in passive voted. The polls did not register the “dis- condonation of his agenda.4 the days after comfort”—defined here as feelings of the elections, baffled people in my circles ambivalence about individuals, groups, kept asking different versions of the same and/or situations, driven by blatant or question about those who voted for Trump latent biases—that I noticed in others’ sto- despite their disapproval of his open affil- ries, and therefore cannot illuminate the iation with white supremacists and advo- unpredictable ways that discomfort inter- cacy of policies that would endanger the acts with identity and self-interest to pro- rights and lives of others: “How could they duce surprising voting patterns. be so selfish?” Pre-election, think pieces picking apart But, I ask: “Why were you so surprised?” the presumed monolithic interests of differ- Evolutionary psychologists reason that the ent ethnic and class voting blocs prolifer- “vigilance”—heightened suspicion—that ated. Post-election, many were devoted to communities exercise when encounter- analyzing the white working class and how ing “outgroups” can explain intergroup they swung the 2016 election in Trump’s tensions. During first encounters, commu- favor—abetted by a political terrain engi- nities use “vigilance” to gauge whether neered by US Congressional Republicans “others” are a boon or threat to their over the past decade via gerrymandering, survival.5 But after the haze of the first 80 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 encounter has dissipated, whom do we crippling challenger lies closer to home: the trust? Whom do we empathize with? And bystanders within our communities who why? We are centuries into the democratic act—or abstain from acting—in service of experiment in the US, and that many of their own interests without considering us refuse to examine the discomfort that the far-reaching consequences on other communities. Over decades, Though we have expanded access to rights over the positions (or the last several decades, the fact remains that lack of one) that discomfort—whether driven by outright animus or some within the Asian American inadvertent, implicit biases—is at the foundation of community have the US’s social and political institutions; institutions taken on issues and developments of that were designed from the start to prevent importance to com- “others” from accessing basic human rights. munities of color— including affirmative action, immi- remains within our society betrays some- gration reform, police brutality, and Black thing more than just an evolutionary Lives Matter—have cemented our status as drive for self-preservation. Consider how bystanders at best and a “wedge” at worst. we have historically used our discomfort Our community is generally disinclined to with perceived differences to create out- having honest conversations about why groups—“others”—and to grant people some feel, at the very least, ambivalence unequal access to rights based on those dif- about certain issues. But bending the arc of ferences. Though we have expanded access our society toward justice requires allies— to rights over the last several decades, the and the bystanders among them—to con- fact remains that discomfort—whether template and act on this question: “What driven by outright animus or inadvertent, can and should we do with others’—and implicit biases—is at the foundation of the our—discomfort?” US’s social and political institutions; institutions that were designed from the start to prevent “others” from accessing basic (Hi)stories: A Starting Point for Allyship human rights. Within the last few years, dog whis- In some ways, I could not have devel- tling has given way to our neighbors and oped the habits required for allyship elected representatives unabashedly without my exposure to the diverse com- “saying the quiet part out loud.” White munities in California. I was born to Chi- supremacy has risen from its simmering nese American immigrants and raised in dormancy in the socio-political under- a rural, uber-conservative, majority White, ground to become a raging presence in low-income community on the fringes the streets—driven by a 55 percent rise in of the Mojave Desert. There, I negotiated white nationalist hate groups since 2017.6 the cognitive dissonance of claiming that Neo-Nazis stormed the US Capitol to over- I was “left-leaning” but “not into poli- turn the results of an election that they tics”; of wanting to signal to others that I failed to win despite the new and age-old did not share the values of my community means that were used to “rig” it in their but remaining passive in my convictions. favor.7 But while Neo-Nazis might be the I knew that hunger, homelessness, and obvious adversaries to justice and equity, people lacking the resources necessary to another less calculated but arguably just as be safe and healthy required intervention Ng 81 but had only ever witnessed the normal- strangers. If we take nothing else away ization of these injustices by the Asian from the “fake news” era, it should be that American community and, consequently, stories matter. felt powerless to change these realities. After a presidency ushered in and for- Any discomfort arising from encounters tified by “alternative facts”, people—from with injustice were brushed off with anti- the pundits to our neighbors—asked: “Are thetical platitudes about unfairness being we living in a post-fact world?”11 Many of part of the natural order of things and peo- us know of or have personally encountered ple reaping what they sow; or silence. people who give more credence to anec- After leaving the desert for college, dotes about the dangers of vaccines than I realized that the “natural order of things” to the large body of clinical science reject- was a false story that we have been told; ing accusations of such dangers. We bris- a smokescreen to obscure the fact that the tle with indignation, anger even, at their But bending the arc of our society toward justice requires allies— and the bystanders among them—to contemplate and act on this question: “What can and should we do with others’—and our— discomfort?”

“natural order” is a product of choices—to refusal to “look at the facts.” “Why would accept inequities as given and to dismiss you believe one story from So-and-So from the possibility of anything more. But this work over all this independent data?”— was only possible after spending years we ask. But we forget that stories, whether acclimating to different communities for they are rigorously fact-checked or irre- school and work, encountering and then sponsibly decontextualized, can be data, coming to know others and the world in too—deeply charismatic qualitative data. ways that I could not have known had In a way, stories were the first kind of data I stayed in the desert. Many people take that we had access to as a species after it for granted that everyone has the priv- we began developing language. Many ilege of mobility beyond their immediate cultures have long used stories to teach communities. However, opportunities for people about civic duty, history, science, exposure to others’ stories are afforded to and to remind people of where they people as much by privilege as by chance.8 come from and who they are expected Over the past several decades, our to become. While this seems archaic in communities have become increasingly our industrial public education complex, segregated along partisan and cultural there is some wisdom in recognizing sto- fault lines—resulting in pockets of rural ries as a teaching tool for the modern and urban communities with their own age—since they clearly resonate with insular social and political identities.9 people who might otherwise “ignore the Despite living in an increasingly hyper- (quantitative) data.” connected world, people tend to affiliate My exposure to others—and their sto- primarily with those within their imme- ries—taught me that power is situational. diate communities—a practice extending Ethically navigating its confusing ebbs even to virtual spaces.10 Our echo cham- and flows requires interrogating your bers are fortified by the stories of those relationships with others—in particular, that we identify with most closely—seal- the interpersonal dynamics and the larger ing out the stories of even the nearest socio-political forces that shape those 82 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 relationships and, consequently, the con- the research confirms such a strong - cor tours of the communities in which we all relation between class and race. However, live. Recognizing the nature of “power” I don’t quite understand the rejection of has allowed me to unpack memories of this proposal by some of my peers (and discomfort and deconstruct new encoun- would not for some time). ters with more clarity and accountability: . . . I am co-facilitating a participatory . . . I am around five years old. I am with policy seminar at an at-risk youth center my mother and aunt running errands, and that serves mostly Black and Brown youth we pause in the parking lot where they during grad school. They share with us become distracted in conversation. I walk the problems in their communities that toward a ragged homeless man sitting are most important to them, and we teach outside a storefront several yards away. them ways to integrate research into their He slowly raises the disposable cup in his advocacy efforts. Engaging with these hand to me. My mother and aunt pull me young people in this way is how I believe away suddenly, clucking in disapproval, policy research and advocacy needs to be and rush to the car. I am confused by their undertaken, but I still wonder what right reaction to this defeated looking stranger. I—and my other White and Asian Amer- At the time, I wonder whether they are so ican co-facilitators—have to be “leading” mean because he is dirty, has no money, this seminar. or is Black. The fact that I articulated the I often revisit these encounters armed last reason for their reaction at that age is with new information (e.g., the epigenetics revealing. of intergenerational trauma) that allows . . . I am part of an Asian American me to register previously overlooked majority for the first time as an undergrad- details and draw from them more nuanced uate student, and struggle to transition conclusions. None of us are “done” from my conservative rural hometown to with our encounters after we have lived one of the wealthiest liberal urban centers through them. They become stories we tell in the US For the first time, I see aspects ourselves; touchstones we use to form our of my physical self in many of my peers, personalities and worldviews. As my sto- but still feel distinctly disconnected from ries accumulated, I felt increasingly alien- them. I cannot relate to their casual griev- ated from the Asian American community. ances about being inundated with “enrichment” My exposure to others—and their stories—taught activities as chil- me that power is situational. Ethically navigating its dren/adolescents. I clumsily decipher confusing ebbs and flows requires interrogating your other class-related relationships with—in particular, the interpersonal social cues around dynamics and the larger socio-political forces that food, pop culture, and “taste” that shape those relationships and, consequently, the they exchange contours of the communities in which we all live. with dexterity. . . . I am in a class lecture where a professor claims It became clearer to me the ways in which that it may be possible to reconcile the their “keep your head down and protect need to address racial inequities with your own” mentality contributes to the opposition to affirmative action by using policy problems that occupy my time, and socioeconomic status as a proxy for race. to the inequities afflicting communities. At the time, it seems reasonable to me since I was disappointed in their passive refusal Ng 83 to look beyond their fear of losing their unwilling—to recognize in the present. Their slice of the political and economic pie, or to inability—or refusal—to acknowledge question the costs to others of the slice they trauma may limit their ability—or will- first came to possess. ingness—to recognize the traumas and injustices that groups outside of Their inability—or refusal—to acknowledge trauma their communi- may limit their ability—or willingness—to recognize ties have experienced. While some the traumas and injustices that groups outside of within our ranks their communities have experienced. knowingly disen- gage with injustice because they can At the same time, I understand how afford to ignore it, it is crucial to- under our diverse political and cultural heri- stand how our community processes their tages impact our ability and willingness traumas, because engaging with discom- to engage with injustice. We cannot ignore fort requires us to be able and willing to that some members of the South and confront trauma both in ourselves and Southeast Asian American community face others. systemic challenges similar to other Black and Brown communities. At the same time, how Asian Americans manage their “Wuhan Flu” & “I Can’t Breathe”: A relationships with others varies widely Difference in Degree But Not in Kind between subgroups, and the sources of those differences may illuminate why Just over 10 weeks into the COVID-19 some of us fail to act on others’ and our pandemic, George Floyd was murdered own behalf in the face of injustice. Many of by Derek Chauvin, abetted by three other us come from shame-based, “face saving” officers; the latest name on a long scroll of cultures in which the admission of struggle lives snuffed out by police brutality. I was is an admission of personal failure. jolted from the months-long stupor of lock- Previous generations that lived through down by the sense that a fissure in our col- the Cultural Revolution in China or the lective consciousness had finally cracked Khmer Rouge in Cambodia survived like a dam splitting open; the proverbial harsh government-inflicted political and straw that broke the camel’s back. I knew cultural conditioning meant to ensure the response to George Floyd would be unconditional subservience to their different from the responses to the others authoritarian governments—which con- that fell before him. Soon after, I watched spired to systematically dismantle any news feeds flood with images of protesters personal allegiances that could foster a braving the streets during a pandemic as sense of self not solely invested in prop- a bone-deep frustration with the perpetual ping up the regime.12 The legacy that silence that came in answer to questions remains is an unquestioning deference to that people had been asking for decades the institutions that governments use to set in: “Why don’t you understand? How regulate our lives and a self-preserving do I get you to care?” disinterest toward how they are designed Many of us have asked these questions of or what role they might play in our strug- ardent non-mask wearers during the pan- gles. Individuals from these communities demic. Was it thinkable four years ago that have undergone tremendous trauma that wearing a mask would become a “political” they were never allowed to acknowledge issue? In some ways, the pageantry of non- in the past and are possibly unable—or mask wearing is a visual accomplice to the 84 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 dog whistle rhetoric surrounding COVID- to my safety than wearing a mask, which 19. Both convey and mask—so to speak— could expose me to harassment or assault. the discomfort that a largely conservative A mask would mark me as “other” in a base of non-mask wearers feel in response world that has been more primed than ever to reminders of their collective responsi- in the last few years to mark, ostracize, and bility to a community of “others” during punish the “other.” More than 2,100 anti- the pandemic. A thorough audit of our Asian American hate incidents related to history—revealing the degree to which we COVID-19 were reported across the coun- have failed to meet our collective respon- try over a three-month period between sibilities toward others—can make us feel March and June alone.16 This spike was no like villains, and most people would rather doubt facilitated by the Trump adminis- be the hero of their own stories. So, they tration’s relentless peddling of the “Kung sublimate the discomfort driving their flu” narrative—shamelessly capitalizing choices and “preferences” by rewriting on a global health crisis to weaponize both history (e.g. the Civil War and opposition the unambiguous animosity of bigots, and to the Civil Rights Movement were about the unarticulated biases of latent bigotry, “states’ rights”) and through rhetorical in service of his reelection campaign.17 Dis- gymnastics (e.g. staying maskless in pub- comfort lies on a spectrum that starts with lic is exercising “freedom”)—effectively unarticulated bias and ends with outright denying their sometimes villainous role in violence. other communities’ (hi)stories.13 COVID-19 has become a symbol for the People can be more than one thing—an inequities of the US healthcare system but empowering but also destabilizing truth. also of our systems in general, given how Many of us assume that people who have it has compounded (and thrown into even been denied their rights and their human- sharper relief) the burdens that commu- ity will remember their history and not nities of color already face. Black Ameri- go on—actively or passively—to deny the cans, who have long faced insurmountable rights and the humanity of others. But the barriers to medical care, are dying from oppressed can also oppress. Asian Amer- COVID-19 at twice the rate of White Amer- icans—who endured immigration laws icans.18 In May, the Navajo Nation had throughout the late-19th and early-20th a higher per capita COVID-19 death rate centuries designed to prevent them from than any state in the US—a problem exac- “taking” opportunities reserved for “real erbated, like in many Native communities, Americans,” lynchings (including a mass by generations-long water shortages that lynching in 1871 that killed up to 20 peo- have left up to 40 percent of Native house- ple), and imprisonment in concentration holds without access to piped water in camps during World War II—still refuse to their homes.19 Unemployment rates during reflect on practices and policies that have the height of lockdowns in late May/early and continue to threaten the rights and June were the highest among Latino and humanity of other groups of color.14 Black Americans—who now also occupy Long before COVID-19, Asian and Asian the epicenter of a looming nationwide American communities had adopted the eviction crisis due to a long history of dis- use of masks as a public health practice criminatory housing and lending practices during times of illness. But, as the Cen- that have burdened them with debilitating ters for Disease Control waffled between housing costs and generational housing alternating recommendations in the instability.20 early months of the pandemic, I put off Long before the day Derek Chauvin wearing a mask for as long as possible.15 pressed his knee onto his neck, George I made a gamble that maskless exposure Floyd’s life expectancy had already been to COVID-19 would pose less of a danger whittled away by risk factors—lack of Ng 85 stable housing, educational and employ- that has never meaningfully accepted or ment opportunities, and access to health- made space for difference. Even so, it care. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Floyd had may be possible to harness habits of cog- tested positive for COVID-19 two months nition from double consciousness to work before his death.21 But, arguably, George through our own and others’ discomfort, Floyd’s death had another proximate and to establish pipelines to others’ stories cause—discomfort. George Floyd fell vic- so we can better situate ourselves in their tim to a society that has never honestly histories and empathize with their present questioned its discomfort with Black realities. America (and Americans of color gener- My experiences with discomfort are ally); discomfort animating their choices— mostly productive. Each engagement and support of choices—to extract human constitutes a kind of fracturing—double and other capital from Black and Brown consciousness doubled ad infinitum—as communities while preventing necessary I become acquainted with the different resources from being invested in those same facets of my “self” refracted from the per- communities. Let there be no confusion— spectives of others. Contrary to misgivings the discomfort that factored into George about dissolving into a soup of dissonant Floyd’s death and the discomfort stoking fragments under the strain of constant COVID-related xenophobia against Asians self-interrogation, I have emerged a more and Asian Americans hail from the same fully-realized person with a fuller under- place. Allies must recognize that dis- standing of the inescapable mutuality of missing racism inflicted upon any one living—how my circumstances inform group enables racism against all other and are informed by the lives and circum- groups. stances of others. Let there be no confusion—the discomfort that factored into George Floyd’s death and the discomfort stoking COVID-related xenophobia against Asians and Asian Americans hail from the same place.

Unwedging Ourselves We are all “others” to each other in the beginning. Coming to truly know other Successfully navigating our multicultural people is an experience that can often start society requires developing a literacy with discomfort—with yourself, with the around others’ needs, fears, and prefer- situation, or with both. Striving to achieve ences. Politically disempowered social a more uncomplicated sense of self will groups have used this literacy to assim- not bring forth solidarity, given that it ilate into a political and social “main- may in fact obstruct the honesty required stream” that has been largely determined for meaningful allyship. The absence of by more powerful groups. Arguably, this tension does not constitute the presence literacy is a byproduct of “double con- of justice. Perhaps, only by accepting the sciousness.” People experience double sense of internal dissonance that comes consciousness as a kind of “fracturing” from engaging with discomfort as a nat- of the self—always seeing oneself simul- ural state of living in a diverse society taneously through one’s own as well as can we make space for opportunities to others’ eyes. Some might assert that dou- reckon with the factors that have shaped ble consciousness is evidence of a society our shared and divergent histories and 86 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 present realities, and to become more way, and our institutions lack sufficient empathetic neighbors and more effective scaffolding to afford our diverse commu- allies. nities’ real agency in decision-making processes. We expect our institutions’ leaders to prioritize engagement with the commu- Civic education is not built into nities that they are meant to serve, even the US public education system though they often have not, cannot, or in some cases will not do so. This responsi- in any meaningful way, and bility has thus fallen on us as neighbors, our institutions lack sufficient voters, and decision-makers. Building scaffolding to afford our diverse Pathways intends to provide opportunities for people to talk about policy issues communities’ real agency in in an accessible way so that their decision decision-making processes. making—as would-be allies embedded in civic organizations, businesses, government agencies, and other institutions—is In the hopes of creating space for peo- informed by self-awareness about the ple to engage with their discomfort, I am power they wield and comprehension of bringing to the Asian Pacific American their role in others’ hi(stories). Dispute Resolution Center a community-building conversations series called Building Pathways to Understanding. The Meet Your Discomfort series aims to encourage people to unpack the beliefs and values that drive how we Let this be clear—pointing out how the build our communities and to examine unexamined discomfort within communi- the stories we tell ourselves about the way ties of color and their would-be allies con- society “has to be.” tributes to the severe inequities within our Effective public policies identify how communities is not an absolution of the to optimally distribute resources to serve leading role that white supremacy plays the welfare of the various communities in engineering those inequities. However, that make up our society—with attention it does ask us to question the proximity to how our political institutions shape and of our nebulous discomfort to the defined can be shaped by the distribution. That we ideologies and practices at the heart of design policy without knowing the stories white supremacy—which does not belong of those whom the policies are meant to only to white supremacists. Foremost, serve seems ridiculous. But every day, peo- white supremacy is an ideology, founded ple, voters, and decision-makers decide upon colorism and nationalism, that has who will get what, when, how, and why impacted the design of all social and polit- for people they do not know or fully under- ical systems worldwide. stand. Fundamentally, allyship requires us “Ally” is not a special category of per- to acknowledge the unflattering, inconve- son belonging only to those formally nient, and discomforting truths about our involved in social movements. Allyship, roles in shaping past and present policies in its obvious forms, can involve showing and their disparate impacts on specific, up in the streets or using your platforms often vulnerable communities. This can- to amplify voices that need to be heard. not be done without first examining our But it is also refusing to look away from discomfort and the underlying biases that situations that are unjust; refusing to psy- inform it. chologically and politically isolate yourself Civic education is not built into the US from your discomfort with it, even when public education system in any meaningful the circumstances of your life allow you Ng 87 to do so. At minimum, allyship requires with my discomfort and invite you to sit you to pay attention and listen; to make awhile with yours. the effort to really see the “other”; to have the humanity to recognize that which is similar to you in others, the humility 1. Alex Tausanovitch and Danielle Root, "How Partisan Gerrymandering Limits Voting Rights," to acknowledge that which is different, Center for American Progress, 8 July 2020, https:// and—especially—the courage to ask why www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/ reports/2020/07/08/487426/partisan-gerrymandering and how those similarities and/or differ- -limits-voting-rights/.; Russell Wheeler, "Senate ences came to be. Being an ally is utilizing obstructionism handed a raft of judicial vacancies to Trump—what has he done with them?" Brookings Insti- the power you have in your capacity as a tute, 4 June 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/ decision-maker, voter, and/or neighbor fixgov/2018/06/04/senate-obstructionism-handed -judicial-vacancies-to-trump;Jon Greenberg, "Fact- to support equity in both decision-mak- check: Why Barack Obama failed to fill over 100 judgeships," PolitiFact, The Poynter Institute, 2 October ing processes and outcomes -- which 2020, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/ requires us to look beyond our day-to- oct/02/donald-trump/fact-check-why-barack-obama- day decisions to the individual and insti- failed-fill-over-100-j/. 2. Hansi Lo Wang, “Trump Lost More Of The tutional power dynamics that shape the Asian-American Vote Than The National Exit Polls terrain on which we act. This kind of Showed,” NPR, 18 April 2017, https://www.npr. org/2017/04/18/524371847/trump-lost-more- self-awareness and accountability are not of-the-asian-american-vote-than-the-national possible if we avoid engaging with our -exit-polls-showed.; “An examination of the 2016 electorate, based on validated voters,” Pew Research discomfort. Center, 9 August 2018, https://www.pewresearch.org The discomfort of some groups has /politics/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validat ed-voters/. always mattered much more than others in 3. Asma Khalid, "How Asian-American Vot- the decision-making processes shaping our ers Went From Republican To Democratic," NPR, 16 September 2015, https://www.npr.org institutions—3 November 2016 made that /sections/itsallpolitics/2015/09/16/439574726/ undeniably clear. As 20 January 2017 drew how-asian-american-voters-went-from-republican -to-democratic.; Mark Hugo Lopez and Paul Tay- near, I renewed a commitment that I had lor, "Latino Voters in the 2012 Election," Pew Research made to myself in the previous decade: Center, 7 November 2012, https://www.pewresearch. org/hispanic/2012/11/07/latino-voters-in-the-2012 I would never look away from the carnage. -election/. I would work through the conflicts and 4. Kate Sullivan and Jennifer Agiesta, "Biden's pop- misunderstandings that might arise from ular vote margin over Trump tops 7 million," CNN, 4 December 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/04/ engaging with my discomfort, and try to politics/biden-popular-vote-margin-7-million/index. move others to do the same. I discourage html. 5. Martie G. Haselton, Daniel Nettle, and Damian you from seeking comfort—definitive res- R. Murray, "The Evolution of Cognitive Bias," in The olutions to your questions and crises of Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, ed. David M. Buss (John Wiley & Sons, Inc: 18 November 2015), conscience. Life will always bring us to 724–746. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ new people, places, and/or concepts that abs/10.1002/9781119125563.evpsych241. will trigger the discomfort that comes with 6. "The Year in Hate and Extremism 2019," Southern Poverty Law Center, 18 March 2020, https://www. first encounters and learning to acclimate splcenter.org/news/2020/03/18/year-hate-and ourselves to new information, environ- -extremism-2019. 7. Jim Rutenberg and Nick Corasaniti, "Republicans ments, and dynamics -- and we must culti- Rewrite an Old Playbook on Disenfranchising Black vate our gardens. Elie Wiesel wrote—“The Americans," The New York Times, 22 November 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/22/us/politics/ opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference [. trump-republicans-black-voters.html.; Perry Bacon Jr., . .] And the opposite of life is not death, it's "Five Ways Trump And GOP Officials Are Undermin- ing The Election Process," FiveThirtyEight, 11 August indifference.”—words from a complex per- 2020, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/five-ways- son who exemplifies that people can be trump-and-gop-officials-are-undermining-the-election -process/.;Matt DeRienzo, "Analysis: New and age-old simultaneously victims, heroes, and vic- voter suppression tactics at the heart of the 2020 power timizers. I posit that the opposite of dis- struggle," The Center for Public Integrity, 28 October 2020, https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/ comfort is also indifference, and that in ballotboxbarriers/analysis-voter-suppression-never some circumstances, the pursuit of comfort -went-away-tactics-changed/. is the pursuit of a kind of indifference. I sit 8. Aaron Williams and Armand Emamdjomeh, 88 Asian American Policy Review, Volume 31 "America is more diverse than ever—but still segregated," Library Blog (blog), 19 May 2017, https://www.lapl.org The Washington Post, 2 May 2018, https://www.wash /collections-resources/blogs/lapl/chinese-massacre ingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/segregation -1871. -us-cities/. 15. Holly Yan, "Top health officials have changed 9. Corey Lang and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, "Parti- their minds about face mask guidance—but for san sorting is a very recent phenomenon, and has been good reason," CNN, 20 July 2020, https://www.cnn. driven by the Southern realignment," United States com/2020/07/19/health/face-masks-us-guidance/ Politics and Policy, American Politics and Policy (blog), index.html. London School of Economics US Centre, 10 November 16. Erin Donaghue, "2,120 hate incidents against Asian 2015, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2015/11/10/ Americans reported during coronavirus pandemic," partisan-sorting-is-a-very-recent-phenomenon-and- CBS News, 2 July 2020, https://www.cbsnews.com/ has-been-driven-by-the-southern-realignment/.; Xi news/anti-asian-american-hate-incidents-up-racism/. Liu, Clio Andris, and Bruce A. Desmarais, "Migration and political polarization in the U.S.: An analysis of the 17. Kimmy Yan, "Trump can't claim 'Kung Flu' doesn't county-level migration network," PLoS ONE 14, no. 11 affect Asian Americans in this climate, experts say," (November 2019), https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ NBC News, 22 June 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/ article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0225405.; Ian McDon- news/asian-america/trump-can-t-claim-kung-flu- ald, "Migration and Sorting in the American Electorate: doesn-t-affect-asian-n1231812. Evidence From the 2006 Cooperative Congressional 18. Scott Neuman, "COVID-19 Death Rate For Black Election Study," American Politics Research 39, no. 3 Americans Twice That For Whites, New Report Says," (April 2011): 512-533, https://journals.sagepub.com/ NPR, 13 August 2020, https://www.npr.org/sections/ doi/10.1177/1532673X10396303.; Cameron Brick and coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/13/902261618/ Sander van der Linden, "How Identity, Not Issues, covid-19-death-rate-for-bla ck-americans-twice-that- Explains the Partisan Divide," Scientific American, 19 for-whites-new-report-says. June 2018, https://www.scientificamerican.com/ article/how-identity-not-issues-explains-the-partisan 19. Hollie Silverman et al.,, "Navajo Nation surpasses -divide/. New York state for the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the US," CNN, 18 May 2020, https://www. 10. Kartik Hosanagar, "Blame the Echo Chamber cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/navajo-nation-infection on Facebook. But Blame Yourself, Too," Wired, 25 -rate-trnd/index.html.; Laurel Morales, "For Many November 2016, https://www.wired.com/2016/11/ Navajos, Getting Hooked Up To The Power Grid Can Be facebook-echo-chamber/.; Gregory Eady et al., "How Life-Changing," NPR, 29 May 2019, https://www.npr. Many People Live in Political Bubbles on Social Media? org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/29/726615238/ Evidence From Linked Survey and Twitter Data," SAGE for-many-navajos-getting-hooked-up-to-the-power- Open (January 2019), https://journals.sagepub.com/ grid-can-be-life-changing. doi/full/10.1177/2158244019832705.; Matteo Cinelli et al., "Echo Chambers on Social Media: A comparative 20. "Unemployment rate during COVID-19 highest analysis," Physics and Society. ArXiv. (20 April 2020), among Hispanic and Black Americans," USAFacts, 2 June https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.09603. 2020, https://usafacts.org/articles/unemployment -rate-during-covid-19-highest-among-hispanic-and- 11. Matthew d'Ancona, "Ten alternative facts for the post black-ameri cans/. truth world," The Guardian, 12 May 2017, https://www. theguardian.com/books/2017/may/12/post-truth- 21. Scott Neuman, "Medical Examiner's Autopsy worst-of-best-donald-trump-sean-spicer-kellyanne Reveals George Floyd Had Positive Test For Coro- NPR -conway.; Anne Applebaum, "Fact-checking in a ‘post- navirus," , 4 June 2020, https://www.npr.org/ fact world’," The Washington Post, 19 May 2016, https:// sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fact-checking- /2020/06/04/869278494/medical-examiners-autopsy in-a-post-fact-world/2016/05/19/d37434e2-1d0f- -reveals-george-floyd-had-positive-test-for-coronavirus. 11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html. 12. Tania Branigan, "China's Cultural Revolution: portraits of accuser and accused," The Guardian, 24 Feb- ruary 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/artand design/2012/feb/24/cultural-revolution-portraits -xu-weixin.; Tania Branigan, "China's Cultural Revolu- tion: son's guilt over the mother he sent to her death," The Guardian, 27 March 2013, https://www.theguardian .com/world/2013/mar/27/china-cultural-revolution -sons-guilt-zhang-hongping.; Dith Pran and Kim DePaul, Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997). 13. James W. Loewen, "Five myths about why the South seceded," The Washington Post, 26 February, 2011, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five- myths-about-why-the-south-seceded/2011/01/03/ ABHr6jD_story.html.; John Coski, "Myths & Misun- derstandings: What Caused the Civil War," The Amer- ican Civil War Museum Blog, The American Civil War Museum, 24 July 2017, https://acwm.org/blog/ myths-misunderstandings-what-caused-civil-war/.; Rick Perlstein, "Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy," The Nation, 13 November 2012, https://www.thenation.com/article /archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview -southern-strategy/. 14. Kelly Wallace, "Forgotten Los Angeles History: The Chinese Massacre of 1871," Los Angeles Public

Ng 89 CONTRIBUTOR BIOGRAPHIES

QUYEN DINH, MPP is the executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), a civil rights organization representing the largest refugee community ever resettled in America. As executive director, Quyen has advocated for Southeast Asian Americans on key civil rights issues including education, immigration, criminal justice, health, and aging. Under Quyen’s leadership, SEARAC has authored and passed legislation calling for transparent, disaggregated data for the Asian American community. Born to Vietnamese refugees, Quyen identifies as a second-generation Vietnamese American. She holds a master’s in public policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in Washington, DC.

JENNA MCDAVID, BS is the communications consultant for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC). She supports SEARAC’s mission of empowering Southeast Asian American communities through grant writing, media and community outreach, and technical assistance. Previously, Jenna served as the national director of the Diverse Elders Coalition, advocating for the rights of older Americans to age with dignity. Jenna holds a bachelor of science in business administration and communications from SUNY Brockport. She lives in Rochester, NY.

KATRINA DIZON MARIATEGUE, MPP is the deputy director of policy and field at SEARAC. In this role, she oversees the organization’s programmatic work to ensure alignment and coordination among their policy and advocacy, leadership development, and community engagement and mobilization work. Prior to this role, she served as SEARAC’s director of national policy from 2018-2020 and immigration policy manager from 2015-2018, during which she advocated on Southeast Asian American civil rights issues. She holds a master’s in public policy from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an under- graduate degree from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.

MAHNOOR HUSSAIN is the policy & partnerships manag er at SAALT. She advocates for just and equitable policies by center ing the voices of South Asian immigrants and commu ni ties of color. Previously, she worked at the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and APIAVote. She is currently an organiz ing fellow with Justice for Muslim’s Collective supporting with racial justice and civic engagement campaigns for Muslims in the DMV region. Mahnoor is a first-gener ation immigrant and gradu ated from American Universi- ty’s School of International Service.

SOPHIA QURESHI is a senior communications specialist who most recently served as director of communications at SAALT. Before joining SAALT, she held positions at The Center for Public Integrity, Al Jazeera, and the UN where she has worked on strategic communications and media production. She is a founder of Subcontinental Drift—a nationwide South Asian American collective that creates spaces for artistic expres- sion and positive social change. In 2017-18, she was a Nieman affiliate fellow at Har- vard University. She has an MA from Georgetown University in international development and communications and a BA in political science from the University of Georgia.

LAKSH MI SRIDARAN current ly serves as the executive director of South Asians Leading Together (SAALT). Since 2014, she was SAALT’s Director of National Policy and Advo cacy where she led the organization’s external engagement and developed SAALT’s pol icy and legislative agenda, which primarily focuses on immigra tion, racial profil ing, and combating hate violence. Prior to that she served as the policy director for The Praxis Project. Before moving to D.C., Lakshmi complet ed six years of work in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Lakshmi holds a masters in city planning from Massa chusetts Institute of Technol ogy and a BA in ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

SRUTI SURYANARAYAN is SAALT’s commu nications and research associate. Sruti is a re- searcher and artist who thinks about and responds to contem porary cultures of teach ing, learning, and knowledge sharing, as well as their entanglements with colonial hege mony, trauma, and inheritance. Sruti is current ly an Educa tion Fellow at the Dia Art Foundation, where they are building a digital landscape and archive. View their work at ssuryana.com.

SINA UIPI leads EPIC's national policy and advocacy efforts towards the organization's mission to advance social justice and increase the political power of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. She represents EPIC at the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans in Washington, DC, and supports its coalition’s work. Sheis thrilled to bring greater awareness to Pacific Islander needs at the national level. As a proud product of the California public education system, Sina earned her BA at SFSU in Political Science, including two minors in counseling and women and gender studies. She was raised in the LA area, specifically Tongva Territory, and is a first-generation Tongan American daughter to her parents and a community who has helped shape the advocate she is today.

WAYNE HO is the president and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council. He received his BA from UC Berkeley and his master’s in public policy from Harvard Uni- versity’s Kennedy School of Government. Born in Singapore and raised in California, Wayne lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

CURTIS CHIN is an award-winning writer/producer and community activist. A co-founder of the Asian American Writers Workshop, his films, "Vincent Who?" and "Tested" have been screened at over 500 venues in fifteen countries. He is currently working on his memoir about growing up in his family's Chinese restaurant and coming out, entitled, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant." For more information, please check out his website at CurtisfromDetroit.com

PHIL TAJITSU NASH teaches Asian Pacific American history, art, and public policy courses at the University of Maryland, and has served as founding executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), weekly columnist at the N.Y. Nichibei and Asian Week newspapers, and curator of the Asian Pacific American Program at the Smithsonian Institu- tion's 2010 Folklife Festival. Nash also is affiliated with the U.M. Latin American Studies Center, based on his decades of work with Native Americans in North America and Brazil on human rights, culture, and language issues.

R. VARISA PATRAPORN is an associate professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach. Her research focuses on understanding Asian American economic inequality and the practices utilized by nonprofits to address such differences. Her research has appeared in Community Development, Economic Development Quarterly, AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community, and Asian American Policy Review. Prior to academia, she worked for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the U.S. Department of Treasury, White House Office of Management and Budget and the Los Angeles County Commis- sion on Children and Families.

PAUL M. ONG is a professor at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. He is currently the director of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, founding editor of AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice, and Community, and founding director of the UC AAPI Policy Multi Campus Research Program. He has conducted research on immigration, civic, and political participation, economic status of minorities, welfare-to-work, health workers, urban spatial inequality, and environmental inequality.

CHHANDARA PECH is the assistant director at the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowl- edge and his expertise is in spatial and statistical analysis. He earned his masters degree in urban and regional planning from UCLA. As an urban planner, he recognizes the crucial role of place in determining the range of opportunities available to people. He specializes in the application of quantitative methods and geographic information systems to analyze patterns of inequity across neighborhoods. He has conducted research on neighborhood change, gentrification, wealth/income inequality, land-use developments and sustainability, and transportation disparity.

HARVEY GEE is an attorney in San Francisco. Mr. Gee previously served as an attorney with the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, the Federal Defenders of the Middle District of Georgia, and the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. Mr. Gee received his BA in political science from Sonoma State University, his JD from St. Mary’s School of Law, and his LLM in Litigation and Dispute Resolution from The George Washington Law School. He was a U.S. Supreme Court Fellows Program Finalist in 2012.

DR. RUSSELL JEUNG is professor of AAS at San Francisco State University. He’s the author of Family Sacrifices: the Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans and Mountain Movers: Student Activism and the Emergence of Asian American Studies. He co-founded SAH in March 2020.

MEGAN DELA CRUZ is a MA candidate in AAS at SF State University. She received her BA in Gender, Ethnicity, and Multicultural Studies at Cal Poly Pomona. She is a teacher with Pin@y Educational Partnership and teaches juniors and seniors in San Francisco. She has been a member in various Filipinx American community organizations in Southern California, including FAHNS OC/IE, Kabataang maka-Bayan: Pro-People Youth LA, Lakas Mentorship Program, and CPP Barkada’s Advisory Board. KRYSTY SHEN is a MA candidate in AAS at San Francisco State University and the youth intern coordinator for SAH Youth Campaign. She is a first-generation student and second-generation Chinese American from Bay Area, CA. After receiving her bachelor's at Middlebury College, she worked at an education-access nonprofit supporting first-generation, low-income families in San Francisco.

RICHARD LIM is a MA candidate in AAS at San Francisco State University. Richard served as a coordinator for Reading Partners, an education non-profit dedicated to supporting literacy programs in Title I schools across Oakland and San Francisco. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in Asian American and Asian diasporic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

BOAZ TANG is a MA candidate in AAS at San Francisco State University. He serves as a facilitator with the Lenses Institute, a cultural fluency development platform, works in Asian American Christian ministry, and holds a BA in psychology from SUNY Buffalo.

SHIRLEY ANN HIGUCHI is a Washington, D.C., attorney and past president of the District of Columbia Bar. She chairs the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (www.heartmoun- tain.org), which runs an interpretive center at the site of the camp where her parents were imprisoned. She is the author of “Setsuko’s Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration,” was published this year by the University of Wiscon- sin Press. Follow her on Twitter at @HiguchiJD.

MELODY NG is working with the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center to develop a new community dialogues series, Building Pathways to Understanding. She has previously researched and planned and implemented programs for various organizations addressing public policy issues ranging from criminal legal reform, youth services, and environmental justice and has a longstanding interest in integrating more rigorous equity analysis and community-informed research into policy and program planning. She received her MPP degree from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In this 31st edition, the AAPR team would like to acknowledge and extend our gratitude for the continued support of the following individuals: MEMBERS OF THE AAPR ADVISORY BOARD: ► Jane Hyun, founder and president of Hyun & Associates and author of Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling ► Joseph (Joe) Lumarda, senior vice president and investment counselor for Capital Group Private Client Services ► Floyd Mori, retired, former president and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) ► Indra Sen, consultant at the Bridgespan Group, HKS MPP ‘13 ► Dr. Shao-Chee Sim, vice president for Applied Research at the Episcopal Health Foundation, HKS MPA ‘92 ► Preeti Sriratana, partner and managing director of MN Design Professional Corporation and Co-Founder of Sweeten, HKS MC/MPA ‘12 ► Frederick (Fred) A. Wang, Boston philanthropist and executive director of the Wang Foundation, HKS MPA ‘92 The Wang Foundation Library and Knowledge Services, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Richard Parker, faculty advisor Martha Foley, publisher Tanner Jensen, copy editor Amanda F. Gutierrez, layout and cover designer Douglas Elmendorf, Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University ABOUT THE REVIEW The Asian American Policy Review is a student-run journal published annually at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. SUBSCRIPTIONS Current volumes are available at $40 per copy for libraries and other institutions, $20 for individuals, and $10 for students. Back issues are also available for purchase. SUPPORT THE REVIEW As an independent journal, we rely on the generosity of subscribers and donors like you. Donations in support of the Asian American Policy Review are tax-deductible as a gift under the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s nonprofit IRS 501(c)3 status. Grants and other contributory assistance should specify intent for use by the Asian American Policy Review in order to facilitate processing.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Print Journal Deadline: November 2021 Articles are also accepted for the online journal on a rolling basis

The Asian American Policy Review (AAPR) at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government is now accepting submissions for its 32nd print edition, to be published in the spring of 2022. The AAPR is the oldest journal in the United States dedicated to analyzing public policy issues facing the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

We are dedicated to publishing a wide range of work that explores AAPI communities and identities and examines the role of public policy in the lives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. We aim to publish a journal that captures a broad range of AAPI experiences, movements, and identities and makes this work accessible to policymakers and the broader public.

We welcome a wide range of submissions and are eager to publish work that broadens the boundaries of what constitutes public policy. Past editions have published photo essays, poetry, and personal essays that explore the intersection of culture, identity, and politics. We also encourage submissions that directly address public policy, including research articles and case studies on how different policies have affected the AAPI community, from the local to the federal level.

We strongly encourage submissions from authors of all backgrounds, including scholars, policy makers, civil servants, advocates, organizers, and artists.

Please reach out if you have questions about the journal or our submissions process. We are eager to talk with potential authors about submission ideas and the journal process. SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES ► We prefer submissions that have not been previously published. All submissions must be based on original work; ► Recommended formatting: ► Original articles: includes research articles, case studies, and other work examining issues facing AAPI communities and individuals (1,500 to 5,000 words) ► Commentaries: (750 to 1,500 words) ► Media, film, and book reviews: (750 to 1,500 words) ► Artwork: includes graphic design, installation pieces, photography, and paintings. ► Creative writing pieces: includes short stories, poetry, and excerpts from larger works of all genres. (500 to 5,000 words) in length. ► Short films and documentaries to be featured on our website. ► Abstracts for proposed pieces will also be accepted. Final acceptance will be based upon production of a full submission. ► Submissions must be formatted according to The Chicago Manual of Style. ► All submissions should include a cover page with (1) the author’s name, (2) mail- ing address, (3) email address, (4) phone number, and (5) a brief biography of no more than 100 words. ► All figures, tables, and charts must be clear, easy to understand, and submitted as separate files. ► Authors are required to collaborate with editing and fact-checking and to com- ply with AAPR’s mandated deadlines.

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THE ASIAN AMERICAN POLICY REVIEW ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF VOLUME 31

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