There are currently 17.3 million APIs living in the United
States; 5.6 million of that total number are living in California.[1] APIs are one of the largest growing
ethnic groups in the US; according to the 2010 Census, the Asian population in
the United States has grown by nearly 50 percent over the past 10 years.
Although Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic group in the US, states such as
Texas, New Jersey, and Missouri show higher API growth. Additionally, it is
estimated that the API community will grow 150 percent by the year 2050. However, even with all of these
optimistic numbers, it won’t mean a damn thing if there isn’t a comparable
number of API elected officials to represent them.
According to UCLA's Asian American Studies
Center, there are more Asian Pacific Americans currently holding
public office in the United States than at any other time in U.S. history. From the current roster of API
electeds, we have two state governors, three U.S. senators, 10 members of the
U.S. House of Representatives, two Obama administration cabinet members, two
California statewide elected officials, four members of the California State
Supreme Court (including the chief justice) and three of the five members of
the California State Board of Equalization. It also includes the majority of
Hawaii's Legislature, three California state senators, eight California
Assembly members and 44 mayors of cities, including San Francisco, Oakland and
Irvine.[2] However, when you compare the
proportion of congressional members to population size between APIs and
Caucasians, the disparity becomes much more apparent. The API vote is simply not being effectively leveraged. More APIs need to run for office, and
more APIs need to vote for them.
2012 will be a significant election because of the
presidential race, as well as the large number of congressional seats that will
be in play. Up to 4 million APIs
are expected to vote this year, making this the most-voted election by the APIs
ever. An additional 600,000 votes will be cast by APIs, a dramatic improvement
from the 2008 presidential election.
Although APIs have made great strides in local
representation, it needs to expand at a federal level. Policy that can address the needs of
the larger API community can only be implemented through congressional
authority, which we are sorely lacking in. It doesn’t help that we recently lost a congressional seat
in Oregon due to a high-profile scandal. API candidates need to support each
other and not fight over the same seats and funders. API voters need to be apprised of the issues and the
candidates and must vote based on informed opinions. With an 85 percent high school graduation rate and a 50
percent college graduation rate, the only thing holding API voters back is
their lack of interest or commitment to political public discourse. The pressure is now on to maintain this
trend of ever-increasing API representation, which can only be accomplished
through regular participation by API voters.
We cannot become complacent within the electorate, even if
we are being accepted with open arms into the middle class. When you have an economy coming out of
a recession, simply having corporations declaring record profits doesn’t mean a
thing if a growth in job numbers fails to follow. This just means that the rich are getting richer. This same disparity can and will happen
within the API population if we do not change our voting habits. As the API population grows, we must
vote in our best interest and encourage ambitious and progressive APIs to run
for office, or else our voices will go unheard. Non-API officials consolidate their power over us when we refuse
to show up to the polls. If our
numbers increase and our level of representation doesn’t keep pace, then we
will continue to be ignored by the old guard and never get our seat at the
table. One vote cast in support of
an API issue can do so much more for our community than we give it credit
for. June is just around the
corner and November isn’t far out either.
Remember to vote early and regularly. Get Involved!
First, register to vote and vote! It is the first and most important step to get our voices heard.
Second, get involved with some local activist groups or political groups. See what your own representatives are doing. Do they represent Asian American community needs? If you are even more motivated:
Here are a few cool groups to look into:
AACI, Asian Americans for Community Involvement
SBFT, South Bay First Thursdays
VNA, Vision New America
ALC, Asian Law Caucus
OCA, Organization of Chinese Americans
CAPAL, Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership
These are just a few resources. I encourage you to find your own interests and get involved!
You forgot about the fine men. Lets try not to be sexist here.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right! Sorry about that gaffe, I was trying to make a point about how the average American citizen views the strengths of the Asian American community. Unfortunately, there isn't enough love in mainstream media for the Asian American male beyond Harry Shum Jr., and we hope that will change in the coming years. Thanks for the heads up!
DeleteOut of curiosity, do those numbers about gains in the Asian population include those who marked Asian and some other race or just Asian alone?
ReplyDeleteI believe marking Asian on the census was enough of a criterion for them to be considered Asian. There isn't enough disaggregation of data when it comes to the census, but there are efforts being made in this endeavor: http://www.searac.org/blog-post/disaggregated-data-collection-looking-bigger-picture
DeleteGood stuff bro.
ReplyDelete