By Franco Bejarano, Elaine Glass, and Destinee Toledo

Who is Asian?o “Asian” refers to anyone who originates from Asia. Historically, the

American Census has excluded people from Russian and Middle Eastern origin from being labeled “Asian”. However, the lines are blurry. People native to Hawaii and the pacific islands are also sometimes grouped under “Asian”.

o In 2010 there were 17,320,856 Asian Americans from about 20 different groups. That’s 5.52% of the total population.

o The largest groups were Chinese at 23.5% , Indian and Filipino at 17.6%, followed by Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese

(Pew Research Center)

ASIAN GROUPS

Chinese 4,010,114

Filipino 3,416,840

Indian 3,183,063

Vietnamese 1,737,433

Korean 1,706,822

Japanese 1,304,286

Pakistan 409,163

Cambodian 276,667

Hmong 260,073

Thai 237,583

Faith & Religion

Historic timeline

o Few Asian colonies existed during colonial times, mostly Filipinos that came with the Spanish, settling in modern day California and Louisiana. Asian settlements also started popping up in Hawaii soon after being discovered. (Gomez Bora).

o The Fist Opium War was a conflict fought between China and England which ended in 1842, sending China on a economical and agricultural depression. This triggers many Chinese people to immigrating abroad (Guan 1987).

o In the 1850's masses of Chinese people immigrated to the West coast to work on gold mines, and in the 1860's many immigrated further inland to work on the first transcontinental railroad. However, after both the gold rush and railroad were finished many found themselves unemployed and discriminated and that's when we see the rise of Chinatowns ( Sucheng 2007).

o In the 1890's, Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos made up the majority in Hawaii. Soon both Hawaii and the Philippines become American territories which triggers more immigration to the continental US (Hyung-Chan 1995).

The Yellow PerilA growing fear of Asian in the United States coined “the Yellow terror”. This gave way to serious legislatives actions against their immigration

• Chinese Exclusion Act

– It restricted the immigration of Chinese workers between 1882 and 1943 (61 years).

• Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907,

– Japan would stop issuing passports for new laborers

• Immigration Act of 1924 (Oriental Exclusion Act)

– Banned most immigration from Asia. The quota for most Asian countries is zero. (Kanazawa 2005)

Internment During WWIIIn 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which excluded anyone from Japanese decent to live on the West coast. Between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese decent were relocated to housing centers throughout the nation. (Chin 2004).

Asian American MovementIn the 1960’s the Asian American Movement is created joining other civil rights movement (Wei 1993)

Modern time Immigration

o The enactment of the 1965 Immigration Act abolished all previous bans on immigration from Asia resulting an influx of diversity.

o Luce–Celler Act of 1946 gave Filipinos and Indian greater access to immigration.

o The Korean War, the Vietnam War, and a series of civil wars in Asia resulting in more immigration from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

o Today Asian Immigrants surpass any other minority in terms of incoming immigration.

Oppression and Obstacles

Historically denied rights

• Unfair Taxing:

– Early Asian workers were taxed heavily. In 1862, California imposes a tax of $2.50 a month on every Chinese man.

• Poor labor conditions and wages:

– Many miners and railroad laborers worked in extremely dangerous and toxic conditions. They also worked for longer hours and poorer wages.

• People v. Hall:

– California Supreme Court rules that Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants had no rights to testify against white citizens.

• Segregation:

– Many Asians were segregated from schools, and were not allowed to marry white Americans

• Unequal Justice

– Hate crimes were large ignored by Justice System

• Ineligible for Naturalization

– Chinese and Filipino immigrants were ruled ineligible for naturalized citizenship (Fujita-Rony 2007)

Modern Obstacles: Model Minority Myth Because Asians today have reached “success” measured in income, education, and low crime rate, they are seen as a “model minority”. This, however, is a myth. The success of the Asian population is not evenly distributed among all of its groups or generations. The model minority myth is a barrier to pan-Asian issues like poverty or gang activity. The myth also creates many additional obstacles to progress.

o People regard racism towards Asian as “softer”, not comparable to racism against Hispanics or blacks.

o It silents the voices of many advocating for change. For example, Asian American institutions are less likely to get

public funding.

o Perceived higher status can cause racial tension.

o Asian Americans are commonly stereotyped as studious and intelligent, which can have psychological backlash on

someone who does not meet the expectations.

o It does not acknowledges disparities within the Asian communities. (Alvarez, A. N., Juang, L., & Liang, C. H. 2006)

Poverty and inequality

• In 2010, 12% of Asians Americans lived under the poverty (2.2% more than whites), however when you take in considerations that 1/3 of Asian Americans live in the highest costly cities, San Francisco, New York City, LA, the poverty rate actually is higher then what published.

• There is huge inequality among Asian groups. While Indian American families make $70,000 a year, families from Cambodia, and Laos make less then $43,000. Bangladeshi families makes less than $36,000.

• Over 50% of Cambodian Americans and 38% Vietnamese Americans have less than a high school education

• High numbers of Incoming immigrants and refugees from Asia are lowering the income statistics for Asian.

(Quintiliani, Karen 2014)

MicroagressionsWhere are you really from?What are you?What type of Asian are you?Are you Chinese?You are good-looking for an Indian girlWhy are your eyes weird?

Microagressions make Asians feel powerless and alienated, sometimes developing problems like self-esteem issues, depressions, and anxiety. This promotes the feeling of “outsider” that many Asian report.

(Ong, Anthony D, et al. 2013)

Lack of identity and Political participation and representation

Because Asian Americans come from extremely diverse backgrounds, languages, cultures, faiths, ethnics, and socio-economic classes, there lacks a major definition of what the Asian American identity is. This lack of unification can be reflected in many ways.

Ironically, one of the issues is coming to a consensus of what issues should be given the priority, which can difficult in an extremely diverse population without being accused of favoritism of a certain nationality.

Secondly, Asian Americans have a history of being politically inactive and tend to shy away from politics, which just creates further barriers

Health Disparities Among Pacific Islanders

Much like native Americans, people of pacific islander decent face many health disparities. Compared to European Americans:

o 3 times more likely to develop diabetes

o 70% more likely to develop high blood pressure

o Higher rates of drug, tobacco and alcohol consumption

o 2.5 more likely to get HIV

(Center for Disease Control, 2014)

Gang ActivityStarting since the mid-20th century, many Asian American gangs have congregated in ethnic neighborhoods often involved in drug and human trafficking, burglary, theft and homicide. Since the 1970’s there has been about 13 major Asian gangs mainly operating in New york, and California. While many gangs have died out over the year, many still active today.

Tiny Rascals

Members: 10,000

Nationality: Mostly Cambodian

Areas: California and Massachusetts

Crimes: Large scale drug and human trafficking operations, weapon trafficking, prostitution and illegal gambling.

(Claire 2000)

Immigrant and refugee Life

People from Asia have historically and consistently been the largest refugee population in the United States. In fact, in 2010, 74% of al Asian Americas adults were born outside the US. Asian immigrant may experience a variety of issues such as:

o Language barrier (50% of Asian adults say they do not speak English well).

o Culture shock.

o Cultural isolation from their community/religion.

o Mental health problems like depression

o Unemployment, dependence on welfare, etc.

Strengths and Contributions

Strengths

Strengths

o 54% says having a good marriage is important, compared to 34% of the population.

o 67% says being a good parent is a priority, compared to 50% of the population.

o More likely to be caregiver to their elderly parents, and more likely to live in multi-generational households.

o More likely to get along with other racial groups.

o More likely to intermarriage.

o More likely to live in racially mixed neighborhoods.

o Adaptable to mainstream society

Contributions: Arts

Amy Tan: Multi -award winning author.

Margaret Cho: Actor and comedian

Ang lee: Film director and screen writer

Vera Wang: Fashion Designer

Contributions: Business

Asian Americans a more likely than average to be small business owners

Jerry Yang:Co-founder of Yahoo!

Steve ChenCo-founder of You Tube

Contributions: Science

Min Chueh Chang: Co inventor ofbirth control

Chien-Shiung Wu : "First Lady of Physics"

Roger Y. Tsien:Chemistry Noble prize winner

Social Justice Plan

Macro PlanSince a low number of Asian Americans are vote or get involved in political events many of them choose to stay silent and not let

their voices be heard. Getting Asian Americans involved in political movements can make a big difference in creating the legislature. Many people view Asian Americans as more wealthy which may be true but there are also other Asian American descents that

struggle and because of this many Asian Americans are denied public assistance.

Create a network of Asian individuals, organizations, community centers, businesses, schools, religious institutions, and non-profits and publish a newsletter in which we expose the ongoing issues facing Asians of all groups in Georgia. This will help unify the Asian community, and make

those small groups feel as part of the community.

We could use this network to help advocate to further teach diversity within

racial groups in public schools, and promote further voicing of issues.

The newsletter could also help as guide to resources like English classes,

interpreters, etc.

We can additionally promote political action within the Asian community, like setting up help registering to vote.

Micro PlanMany Asian Americans are discriminated against when it comes to education. Although Asian Americans are more likely to

be interested in science expertise, this creates barrier from them getting excepted into top schools. Policies and education funds are created today to help support Asian Americans in getting a fair education system.

Becoming culturally competent with Asian Americans is very important as a human service worker. Having the ability to identify someone who is at risk in the Asian American community is important.

• Become aware of the different Asian populations in your community.

• Become educated about the United States immigration and refugee system

• Become aware of cultural barrier that might prevent someone from seeking help, like being less likely to seek help, or speak out in cases of abuse or injustice.

• Be aware of your biases and stereotypes

• Become aware of individual vs collective culture. Asian American tend to have more collective mentality

• Do not confuse cultural behavior for deviant behavior.

• Become aware of the different languages spoken in your community, and having recourses available for their speakers.

Interviews

Interview: Prakash Kancho

Prakash is a 24 year old refugee from Bhutan. He belongs to the Lhotshampa which is a ethnic group in Bhutan of Nepalese origins . In the 1980’s, the Bhutanese government started expelling, and revoking the citizenship of the Lhotshampa, often raiding towns and villages with military action.

Though he was born in Bhutan in 1991, when he was 2 years old his family fled to Nepal with thousands of others Lhotshampa people fearing ethnic cleansing. Him and his family lived in a refugee camp in Nepal for 14 years until they were given the chance to immigrate to the United States

He was surprised that he is actually considered Asian America. He said he doesn’t identify as Asian, and does not think that their problems are reflective of the Bhutanese refugee community.

Interview: Prakash Kancho

Since the 1980’s about 75,000 refugees from Bhutan have come to America, many of whom are here in Atlanta.

Prakash mentions that of the major problems his community faces are poverty as well as high suicide rates. Many young refugees also drop out of high school.

He says that because they are very small ethnic group they have trouble finding support. The number 1 source of support outside government agencies are Hindu temples, which don’t get very much funding in comparison to Christian and Jewish agencies

Because he is not part of a mainstream racial group he and his community feel invisible.

Interview: Heesoon Jnyego

I had the opportunity to interview with a classmate who is Asian American in my Global Issues course. His name is Heesoon Jnyego and his parents are from China but he was born an American citizen. As a senior at Georgia State University I wanted to know were there any disadvantages that he’s faced recently.

He mentioned that as a political science major it was very uncommon for an Asian American to take up this major simply because many Asians are apolitical.

One of his main key points were that not all Asians and Pacific Islanders were interested in mathematics and science degrees, and not all Asians made straight A’s which raises a discrimination against other Asian students who are not as smart. He noted this stereotype as a rising issue because this label pressures many Asian students when they don’t live up to this stereotype.

Conclusion

Franco’s Conclusion

I generalized Asian Americans as a group that didn’t encounter many problems today. I was a bit surprised to find out about pan-Asian issues which pretty much deals with the disparity among groups and generations. In fact, before this project my idea of an Asian person was pretty much that of a traditional Chinese and Japanese person. That’s not the case anymore.

Destinee’s Conclusion

In conclusion from researching and educating myself on Asian American

issues I noticed how important it is to be culturally competent and

knowledgeable in all ethnicities. Becoming aware and adapting to

diverse situations can help you better

understand a clients issue.

Elaine’s Conclusion

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