The U.S. Supreme Court will decide in April whether or not to
ban universities across the nation from considering race and
ethnicity in their admissions process.
For Asian American and Pacific Islanders, this debate on
affirmative action is a defining moment for our communities. Where
will we stand on this landmark decision, and what will we do to
ensure that our voices are heard across this nation?
To begin, we must make an informed decision based on the history
of our diverse communities. As APIs, we all have experiences unique
to our culture and ethnic identities, but we cannot forget our
common struggle to resist the long legacy of discrimination and
racism here in the United States.
On a personal level, we all know the hurt felt from racist
taunts and slurs on the playground, from the insensitive designs of
Abercrombie T-shirts, or even from the ignorant remarks of a local
basketball star. We also understand how these seemingly harmless
stereotypes transcend the personal and have become imbedded in
American institutions.
We realize that we live in an American society that is eager to
paint an image of us as perpetual foreigners, unworthy of our
citizenship rights. We remember the Japanese Americans who suffered
through internment camps, and more than 50 years later, we are
outraged by the wrongful imprisonment of scientist Wen Ho Lee.
But we must also remember and recognize our fighting spirit.
Throughout American history, we have stood in solidarity with
progressive brothers and sisters in order to protect the human
rights of the poor and communities of color.
We have fought to reject sexism and homophobia in our own
communities. We have fought and we will continue to fight for
exploited workers, an end to hate crimes and equal opportunities
for everyone to pursue higher education. And we must never forget
that other communities have fought for us. We owe much respect and
gratitude to progressive blacks and Latinos who have helped pave
the way for our own self-empowerment. This is our rich history, and
we have a responsibility to carry on this tradition.
In this current debate over affirmative action, we must remember
that these programs were created to combat the historical forces of
racism, not to promote them. Quite often, observers from outside of
our communities try to confuse us and tell us that APIs would be
victims of reverse discrimination under affirmative action. They
point to our high enrollment numbers in University of California
schools as an example of our merit-based achievements, but they
forget to mention that without affirmative action and other gains
from the civil rights movement, we would not be here in the first
place.
And the fight on college campuses is not over. We still have
black, American Indian, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Latino, Pacific
Islander, Pilipino, and poor white brothers and sisters who are
still struggling for equal access to education.
Granted, affirmative action is not a perfect system; it needs to
include a critical discussion on the intersection of race and
class. But as Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, we
must remember our history and engage in this national debate on
access to education. We must voice our support for affirmative
action and combat all other attacks on our educational rights.
For those of us who are in California, it is our duty to speak
out against the injustices of our state. We must show the entire
nation that California has failed in its promise of democracy and
quality public education.
And, in a time when our government prioritizes guns over schools
and bombs over books, we must resist their attempts to raise our
student fees. We must let our government know that they have no
right to prioritize the interests of American and British oil
companies over our education. Students should not have to bear the
cost of funding this probable war on Iraq.
For Asian and Pacific Islander communities, the time has come to
make some noise. Let’s demand for our government to
prioritize education, save affirmative action, and stop the
war!