Our Time to Get Woke

Transcription

1 Our Time to Get Woke The Power of Civic Engagement and Coalition Building Karthick Ramakrishnan Associate Dean, UC Riverside

2 What is AAPI Data?

3 Main Takeaways Growing Importance of Asian Americans But, there is a big gap in leadership and civic engagement Integrated Voter Engagement Means Organizing Coalition Building

4 Growing Importance of Asian Americans

5 Rapid Population Growth 2000 to to 2015 Asian 43% Asian 18% Latino 43% Latino 12% NHPI 36% NHPI 4% Black 11% Black 5% White 1% White 0%

6 Sharp Changes in Migration Flows o First in legal permanent residents (2004) o First in foreign born inflows (2007) o Rapid growth in Asian unauthorized since 2000 o Dominance in H1B visa category o Silicon Valley, but also universities, medicine

7 Growing Share of Foreign Born Source: Pew Research Center Asian Latino

8 Important Part of Immigrant Vote National California 1% 2% 1% 11% 25% White Latino 20% 30% Asian Black 44% 33% All other 33% Share of Registered Voters Who Are Foreign Born Survey

9 Purchasing Power in millions

10 Wealth Generation Net worth relative to Whites Asian Am Latino Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve

11 Business Formation 1,103,587 Total 1,549,559 49,636 1,917, Over $1 million 78, ,621 Source: U.S. Census Brueau

12 So What s The Problem?

13 Problem #1: Model Minority Myth o People assume that our community doesn t need help or support o Data disaggregation is vital o Without data, we cannot make our case

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18 Protest in Rhode Island

19 Protest in Rhode Island

20 Lessons on Data Disaggregation o We have to continually engage and educate o Internally o Externally o We have to fight o We need learn from others

21 Lessons on Data Disaggregation Judge Mike Kwan (UT): Truth is the greatest casualty of the current times. Don't like the facts? Just call them fake and ignore them. Don't like the messenger? Call them stupid liars. The simple truth that every community advocate who has ever sought funding for the community knows is that DATA = DOLLARS. If you cannot demonstrate through data that a particular group is in need of assistance, they won't get any.

22 Problem #2: Low Civic Engagement Consequences o Our economic contributions not recognized o Perpetual foreigner o Leadership and talent hit bamboo ceiling

23 Making Economic Contributions Transcontinental railroad depended on Chinese immigrants

24 Written Out of History

25 U.S. Immigration Law was Built on Asian Exclusion o o Anti-Coolie Act (CA tax) Page Act (Asia) o California Constitution revision (Article 19) o o o o o o Chinese Exclusion Act Gentleman s Agreement (Japan) Alien Land Law (CA, more states later) Asiatic Barred Zone Filipino Repatriation Act Exec Order 9066 (Japanese Am internment)

26 Economic Anxiety + Scapegoating = Anti-Asian Violence Anti-Chinese riots (Denver, 1880) Srinivas Kuchibhotla (Kansas, 2017) Vincent Chin (Detroit, 1982)

27 White Supremacy Hurts Us Directly When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think... A country is more than an economy. We re a civic society.

28 Hate Crimes Early 2017

29 Family Visas Under Attack

30 Low Participation Means Less Influence, Less Respect

31 The AAPI community is the fastest-growing minority in America, but it s still -- (applause) -- well, that's good to cheer about, but it's still significantly underrepresented at the ballot box. In 2012, just 56 percent of eligible AAPI voters were registered to vote.

32 Participation is Key To Building Power Fighting Racism Being Seen As American

33 We ve Got a LOT of Work to Do

34 Racial Gaps in Voting 2016 Election White 65 Black 59 Asian Am 49 Latino 48 Pacific Islander 48 Source: 2016 Current Population Survey

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36 How Do We Get to Parity? Registration is 2x the Effect 27% 24% Citizenship Registration Turnout 49% Source: 2016 Current Population Survey

37 Not Just Voting

38 Contacting Public Officials White 26% Japanese 19% Pac Islander 18% Indian Chinese 9% 13% Black 18% Filipino 9% Overall 17% Vietnamese 8% Asian American 9% Korean Hmong 5% 6% Latino 7% Cambodian 4% Source: 2016 National Asian Am Survey

39 Campaign Donations White 33% Indian 22% Black 27% Filipino Japanese 14% 16% Pac Islander 26% Vietnamese 12% Overall 21% Cambodian 9% Asian Am 13% Chinese Korean 7% 9% Latino 9% Hmong 5% Source: 2016 National Asian Am Survey

40 Consumer Activism White 31% Vietnamese 28% Black 25% Indian Cambodian 16% 18% Overall 24% Filipino 15% Pacific Islander 22% Japanese 13% Asian Am 16% Korean Chinese 3% 11% Latino 13% Hmong 3% Source: 2016 National Asian Am Survey

41 Attending Public Meetings Pacific Islander 35% Cambodian 30% Black 30% Indian Japanese 16% 27% White 26% Vietnamese 16% Overall 24% Hmong 15% Latino 24% Filipino Korean 11% 14% Asian Am 14% Chinese 7% Source: 2016 National Asian Am Survey

42 Protest Activity Black 14% Vietnamese 18% Latino 14% Cambodian Hmong 12% 11% Overall 12% Indian 8% White 12% Chinese 8% Pac Islander 11% Filipino Japanese 6% 6% Asian Am 8% Korean 3% Source: 2016 National Asian Am Survey

43 @ucrspp

44 #AAPIAction

45 #AAPIAction

46 #AAPIAction

47 How Do We Improve Coalition Possibilities?

48 Part of It is Tactical o Get on radar screens o State Voices o Strategic investment in state tables, issue-specific tables o Voting is important, but need to go beyond voting o Campaign contributions o Attending public hearings o Volunteering, public service

49 Many Areas of Convergence o Presidential voting (exit polls) o Universal health care (NAAS 2008, 2012) o Preserving social safety net (Pew, NAAS 2012) o Support higher taxation (NAAS 2012) o Support pathway to citizenship (NAAS 2012*) o Support affirmative action (NAAS12, Field14, APIAVote/AAJC14)

50 Growth of Eligible Voters Nevada, 14% Share of Eligible Voters Washington, 11% New Jersey, 10% Maryland, 7% Virginia, 7% Oregon, 6% Minnesota, 5%

51 Focus on our civic responsibility o AAPIs get 1% of philanthropy dollars o But, we need to step in giving, too Asian Americans 32% of pop in SF and SM counties 28% of those with incomes > $100, % of major donors; about 1% of giving

52 Focus on our civic responsibility o We need to step up in giving, too o Charitable giving (56% for AA vs. 70% for whites) o Outreach by mainstream philanthropy would help o But we need to motivate, hold ourselves accountable o Culture and values o How do parents define success? o Discussion of politics in household o Youth o Learn from groups that are well organized

53 Redefine Asian Success

54 Success Means Recognition, Influence Political Participation Civic Participation Philanthropy Success of our community AND larger society depends on it

55 Civic Engagement Pioneers Wong Kim Ark, 1898 Established birthright citizenship Congressman Saund, 1956 First AAPI elected to Congress

56 Heroes from all communities Grace Lee Boggs Fred Korematsu Kawaipuna Prejean Larry Itliong Bhagat Singh Thind

57 The Power of Coalitions

58 Democracy is not a spectator sport

59 Ultimately, our job is not just to fight for our own rights, but to fight for the rights of all people, everywhere And that means we have to be well-informed, we have to engage with our government, and we have to vote -- not just when it s time to elect a president, every single election. School boards matter. County offices matter. State attorneys races matter. State legislative races matter.

60 Thank You!