April 19 :
Major Asian American advocacy organisations were ecstatic when the incoming Office of Management and Budget announced the addition of new racial and ethnic categories to the Census, the first such addition in 27 years.
Many more racial categories would soon be available to Asian Americans, who had previously only had the option of "Asian" when asked to identify their race. People can find out if they are originally from China, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, or any other Asian country in the next Census.
Activists argue that the "model minority myth" must be dismantled, and many Asian Americans see these developments as crucial to that end.
They argue that the myth, a collection of prejudices that portray Asians as more diligent, reserved, and accomplished than other races, presents an unfair picture of the fastest-growing racial group in America, which originates from nineteen different nations. Activists also point out that this obscures issues like poverty that Asian Americans confront, particularly among refugee communities.
The model minority type is complex, according to historian Ellen Wu of Indiana University Bloomington. Asian Americans have been able to avoid the worst forms of prejudice and violence on a daily basis, on the one hand, and In reality, though, it has had far more negative consequences.
When compared to the national average, Asian Americans tend to do really well financially. The Pew Research Centre reports that in 2019, the median annual household income for Asian American families was $85,800, which is significantly higher than the national average of $61,800.
Yet, among Asian Americans, there is a large disparity in income. The average household income for Indian Americans is $119,000, whereas it is $44,400 for Burmese Americans. The average household income in the Philippines was $90,400, whereas in Nepal it was $55,000.
One out of ten Asian Americans, or about 2.3 million people, were poor in 2022, according to a recent Pew study.
Supporters argue that data should be divided among the various groups that make up the Asian population in America so that assistance and resources can be directed to those who truly require them.
"The model minority myth is a very real thing for us," stated May yer Thao, president and chief executive of the Hmong American Partnership (HAP), a charity assisting immigrant and refugee communities in St. Paul, Minn., adding that Asian American groups need data disaggregation.
Among the many significant revisions to the 2030 Census that the OMB revealed is the need to gather more precise statistics regarding the nation's Asian population.
This is the first time that the country's MENA population has been officially acknowledged as an ethnic group.
The Census has always asked respondents to specify their ethnicity and race independently. They will now both contribute to the same inquiry. This means that people of Latino descent, for instance, won't need to choose between identifying as Latino and registering as Black or White.
Another change coming to the next Census is the substitution of "Central or East Asia" for the phrase "Far East."
Some argue that the modifications don't go far enough, despite the fact that numerous advocacy groups have praised them. According to Quyen Dinh, executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Centre, data disaggregation should also be carried out at the state and local levels.
When asked if it would be gathering adequate data, the OMB remained silent. One of the objectives of the White House policy statement on the advancement of Asian American communities for 2023 was the disaggregation of data. According to the research, government data collecting should include greater disaggregation of data in order to empower and benefit Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups as well as Asian Americans. This will help with equity assessments, surveys, and other federal programmes.
Disaggregation of racial or ethnic data is mandated by law in thirteen states currently. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights published a report in 2023 detailing the passage of four such laws: one each in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Nevada.
Alabama, Vermont, and Indiana are among the 21 states that are presently contemplating legislation on racial and ethnic data disaggregation, as reported by the leadership conference. This method, however, does not have universal acceptance. According to Asian Americans for Equal Rights' VP Helen Yang, the organisation is concerned about the potential privacy ramifications of gathering such data.
"Data is a double-edged sword," Yang made the statement. Having data is great, of course. But what will you do with that information?
During the ongoing tension between the United States and China, Yang, a Chinese American who immigrated to the United States in the 1990s to study electrical engineering, expressed her concern that law enforcement and other government entities could use more refined data to target Chinese Americans.
Yang made the statement, "When something goes wrong and people are looking for someone to blame, they are immediately going to think of us." She used the rise in hate crimes during the epidemic as an example of how Chinese Americans have recently been targeted.
Yang said that asking people about their native language would be a more effective way for the government to allocate aid to those who actually need it. Pew reports that 72% of Asians are proficient English speakers. Immigrants of Asian descent speak English at a much lower rate than native-born Asians (95% vs. 57%). Proponents argue that these variations in language acquisition can have a major impact on an individual's financial success.
