Asian American and Pacific Islander 2004 Platform Priorities
July 23, 2004
Inclusion for APAs
Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) are the fastest growing racial minority group in the U.S. With heavy concentrations in some states, APIAs (APAs or Asian Pacific Americans) are present in all regions. Yet APAs are often not included in government programs or at the table of policy making. Moreover, stereotypes create an image of a “model minority,” a community without problems and needs. Significant portions of the community have much higher poverty rates than the majority of the nation. The needs of APAs are neither being addressed nor understood by the current administration.
• Support equal access by APAs to all public programs and services.
• Strengthen the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and adequately fund ($3 million minimum is needed) the Initiative as a tool to overcome government’s neglect of APA communities and their needs.
• Develop an accurate view of the complexities of APA communities and their needs. Urge the Office of Management and Budget and all federal agencies to support federal mandates on racial and ethnic data collection, analyses and dissemination and to disaggregate ethnic data among Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
Education: America’s Present & Future
Stereotypes of APAs as a “model minority” paint a picture of academic superstars. These stereotypes lead to APA students in need being invisible and missed by programs that could assist them. Many APAs, both adults and children, speak English less than well, which will hinder their education generally and limit their job possibilities. There are also APAs who are economically disadvantaged and who lack access to educational opportunities. Programs that promise to “leave no children behind” are doing just that as education has not received the support it needs to keep America strong.
• Support legislation authorizing federal designation of Asian American and Pacific Islander Higher Education Serving Institutions. This would provide resources for institutions serving significant pockets of APA students and their particular needs.
• Support efforts for immigrants to become full participating members of society through English as a Second Language programs. These programs must be prioritized for funding to overcome a significant cause of APA poverty.
Health and Social Services
APAs under utilize most government programs. Language and cultural barriers prevent many in need from knowing of these programs or understanding how to seek assistance. These barriers are especially dangerous for APA immigrant women facing domestic violence. Community needs have been compromised by inadequate funding from an administration that has prioritized war over domestic as well as true national security priorities.
• Support legislation that reauthorizes the Office of Minority Health and addresses health disparities and access issues for minority populations.
• Support the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
• Support legislation to provide grants for Public Education campaigns to educate racial and ethnic communities and immigrant communities about domestic violence.
• Support legislation providing better protections against domestic violence for individuals affected by those seeking foreign spouses.
• Support legislation reauthorizing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) that recognizes and addresses domestic violence as a major barrier to economic security.
• Support legislation ensuring that battered immigrant women with pending immigration relief applications are able to access public benefits, food stamps, SSI and housing.
• Support legislation providing better protections against domestic violence and information for immigrant spouses.
• Support the restoration of SSI eligibility for post-August 22,1996 immigrants, and limit sponsor liability to a five-year deeming period.
Civil Rights
APAs have always faced discrimination as minorities, but particularly because they are viewed as “perpetual foreigners.” This discrimination becomes more intense, and has often involved government violations of APA rights as well, when there are international tensions. Following the attacks of 9/11, South Asians, Muslims and Arab Americans have faced hate crimes, workplace harassment and immigration restrictions. The backlash is reminiscent of the scapegoating of Japanese Americans during World War II. Just as competition with Japanese autos led to the Vincent Chin murder, we must not allow the controversy in outsourcing of jobs to foreign locations to lead to a scapegoating of South or other Asian Pacific Americans.
APAs also face discrimination in the form of the glass ceiling that limits possible promotions based on stereotypes and subjective preferences for managers that “fit in” with the existing management team. Affirmative action and diversity efforts are needed to break that ceiling.
Promises made to Filipino and Hmong veterans for benefits and redress to native Hawaiians for self-determination remain unfulfilled. Justice demands that they be addressed.
The current administration has violated the rights of many immigrant Americans and others in the wake of 9/11. The administration has failed to adequately enforce the existing civil rights laws and it continues to oppose affirmative action programs to help this country make use of its greatest economic advantage, its diversity.
Racial Profiling: Support federal legislation prohibiting racial, ethnic or religious profiling by federal agencies and federally funded state and local law enforcement agencies.
Hate Crimes: Support legislation that would strengthen the nation’s commitment against hate crimes based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or gender.
Affirmative Action: Support affirmative action in all government funded programs and the full inclusion of APAs where there is under-representation.
• Include APAs in minority contracting programs at all levels.
• Support the promotion of APAs in federal government service, including civil service and senior executive service jobs, presidential appointments and the judiciary.
Patriot Act Concerns: Support the repeal of the Patriot Act or, at a minimum, those provisions that clearly threaten privacy, civil liberties or judicial oversight.
Equity for Filipino WWII veterans: Support full equity for Filipino World War II veterans who fought alongside U.S. troops, including those living in the Philippines.
Extension of the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act: Support federal legislation extending the time for applications under the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act
Self-determination for Native Hawaiians: Support legislation establishing a self-determination process for Native Hawaiians that leads to federal recognition, and the authority of a Native Hawaiian governing entity to negotiate with the State of Hawai’i and the federal government on the disposition of lands, natural resources and assets.
Language Rights & Access
Large numbers of APAs do not speak English or have limited English proficiency (LEP). This barrier has limited the community’s access to government services and benefits, jobs and full educational opportunity. The law requires that language barrier be overcome by government, but, for the most part, this has not been even approached. This has been exacerbated by current national priorities that de-fund domestic human needs. At the same time, laws and rules have been pursued that would further isolate immigrant Americans by barring languages other than English in a variety of environments. This discriminates and only hurts legitimate government programs. Instead, America should be seeking greater language diversity to provide increased economic opportunity for all.
• Improve accessibility by LEP individuals to all federal programs and services by fully implementing Executive Order 13166 and enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
• Oppose English Only legislation.
Fairness at America’s Door: Immigration & the Rights of Immigrants
The majority of APA communities are made up of immigrants. Most ethnic groups have a steady flow of new Americans coming to the U.S., many seeking to be united with their families already here. U.S. policies must remain committed to family unity as a core principle of American immigration.
Immigrants come to the U.S. for myriad reasons — to reunify with their families, as refugees fleeing oppression or to seek economic and educational opportunities. Immigrant workers, including those that are undocumented, toil to make America economically competitive. Yet the Bush administration’s immigration proposal seeks only to exploit that labor without providing an opportunity of becoming full citizens or residents of our country. Immigration reform is desperately needed and it must do more to recognize that America, the nation of immigrants, can only continue to thrive if our doors are not shut.
In the wake of 9/11, immigrants have suffered, as has our nation’s flow of new labor, talent and diversity. Airport security staff, many of whom are APA, lost their jobs because of the new requirement that they must be citizens, a standard that certainly is not required for our armed forces.
• Support meaningful immigration reform with an avenue to legal residency for working people in America without documentation.
• Support legislation providing the same hiring requirements for military personnel for federal airport security personnel.
• Support the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act/Student Adjustment Act, which will provide immigrant children without documentation who grow up in the U.S. the opportunity to go to college, to serve in the military and to become lawful residents.
• Support the elimination of the requirement of “special registration” under the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS).
• Support legislation repealing the effect of the Hoffman Plastics v. Castro case, which conditioned the protection of labor, and possibly anti-discrimination, laws on immigration status.
• Preserve the emphasis on family unity in immigration priorities, including legislation that effectively reduces the immigration backlog.
• Oppose legislation to require local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws.
• Support English Plus laws and programs, bilingual programs and indigenous language programs.
Business and Technology
• Ensure the inclusion of APAs in federal minority contracting opportunities, including Small Business and Entrepreneurship programs.
• Support broadband investment and deployment that serves to include a greater number of minority communities in America’s technological and business culture and will increase the competitiveness of small and medium businesses.
• Continue building a world-class educational system and provide scholarships in math and science programs for economically disadvantaged and minority students to participate in a global technological society.
This document was prepared by a committee of APAs working on the national Democratic Party platform. The document was also prepared to advise delegates of the APA community issue priorities before the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The document was based on the committee’s understanding of community concerns and drawn from a platform by a coalition of APA nonprofit groups released this year.
AsianWeek does not endorse or oppose any provisions of this document and thanks Paul M. Igasaki of Alexandra, VA for sharing this document with AsianWeek’s readers.
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