In Orange County, California, home to Little Saigon and the largest Vietnamese American population outside of Vietnam, a whopping 19 Vietnamese American candidates are vying for 20 open seats this November. For the community, ethnic loyalties are helping to galvanize an electorate largely ignored by Republicans and Democrats alike. It’s a pattern playing out in […]
C(API)TOL CORRESPONDENT: New year equals new political challenges for AAPIs
January 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
As 2013 comes to a close, 2014 promises to bring another political test for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The new year brings an election cycle that highlights the continuing political growing pains that all emerging communities face. In addition to the typical match-ups, this year AAPI candidates will be facing other AAPI candidates […]
New report details the changing demographics of the AAPI community
February 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Asian American Center for Advancing Justice released a new demographic report, “A Community of Contrasts: Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in California,” Feb. 4. The report provides data on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, other minorities and the general population of California, with respect to topics including health, income, education […]
Older gay APIs bond over dinner
February 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The entryway of the Twin Peaks-area apartment is cluttered with various pairs of shoes. In the kitchen is a potluck collection of Asian-inspired dishes. Chairs are set up in the living room. Nametags are distributed. Conversations fill the home. On this Sunday night in early January roughly 20 gay Asian and Pacific Islander men have […]
Polls show Asian Americans reflect a range of political leanings
January 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund published a report Jan. 17, detailing the results of a multilingual exit poll of 9,096 Asian Americans in 14 states during last year’s presidential elections. AALDEF said in a statement that Asian Americans vary in political beliefs on policies across ethnic lines and by geographic locations. The […]
ENTERTAINMENT REORIENTED: APIs IN THE MEDIA, A YEAR IN REVIEW
January 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
When I set about writing my retrospective of Asian Pacific Islanders in the media in 2012, I thought of it like explaining a diagnosis to a patient. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” If it were me, I’d almost always want the bad first, but I quickly realized that getting […]
C(API)TOL CORRESPONDENT: What does the 2012 election mean for AAPIs?
January 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The recent election was nothing short of historic for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). When the dust settled on the morning after the election, the first openly gay AAPI, the first Hindu and the first Chinese American to represent New York were elected to Congress. It was also when the first AAPI woman was […]
TO VOTE TODAY: ‘All the Koreans, over here!’
November 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The failure of state election officials to ensure a level playing field for all voters was amplified on November 6 when Korean Americans at one voting precinct site in Virginia were ordered by poll workers to form a separate line so as not to slow down the process for white voters. The lines were re-integrated […]
C(API)TOL CORRESPONDENT: AAPIs make historic gains on Election Day
November 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Editor’s Note: A version of this column was originally posted on Bill Wong’s blog, http://thesunfire.blogspot.com. It was a historic day for Asian American Pacific Islanders throughout the nation. In California, the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus held their position as the second largest ethnic caucus in the state legislature, with 11 members, by winning four […]
Asian Americans respond to Pew: We’re not your model minority
June 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It’s not every day that deep and rigorous research about Asian Americans is released to the public. So when the well-respected Pew Research Center released “The Rise of Asian Americans,” a comprehensive report on the community on June 19, it should have been reason enough to celebrate. Instead, the report, which hailed Asians as the […]
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