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<\/p>\nThe fight against racism in America is also a fight for representation in the rooms where decisions are being made. Racism is about exclusion. It is about devaluing communities of color. The only way to combat efforts to marginalize our voices is to ensure we play prominent roles in shaping and executing our national agenda. And that is why President Joe Biden\u2019s personnel choices have exasperated the Asian American community and two Asian American senators\u00a0in particular.<\/p>\n
Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in America, according to the Pew Research Center, and\u00a0represented nearly 5% of the eligible voting-age population in 2020. That’s double what it was in 2000, and a 139% rise.<\/p>\n
Exit polls show a similar spike in election participation. Asian Americans made up\u00a04% of voters in 2020\u00a0(twice as high as in 2008)\u00a0and 61% of them voted for Biden.<\/p>\n
The 117th Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse in history. Asian Americans account for about 6% of the population\u00a0but only 3% of the House. Contrast that with\u00a0our friends in the Black community, who make up 13.4% of the population and\u00a013% of House members.<\/p>\n
As violence against Asian Americans has skyrocketed and precipitated a long overdue national conversation about racism against our community, a parallel conversation about lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in government has begun.<\/p>\n
While Biden named\u00a0Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative,\u00a0a Cabinet-level appointment, it\u00a0did not go unnoticed within the AAPI community that he\u00a0picked a zero Asian American Cabinet secretaries and just one deputy secretary. According to the Asian Pacific American Institute of Congressional Studies,\u00a0this is the first time in more than 20 years that no Asian American or Pacific Islander is serving as a Cabinet secretary.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, not one\u00a0of the three formal White House Policy Councils is\u00a0headed by an AAPI, nor are there any Asian Americans among the ranks of chief of staff, deputy chiefs of staff, senior advisers, communications director, press secretary or deputy press secretary.<\/p>\n
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Sen. Tammy Duckworth on May 6, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Greg Nash\/AP)<\/span><\/p>\n A common rebuttal to this criticism is to point to Vice President\u00a0Kamala Harris,\u00a0whose mother was Indian American,\u00a0or Neera Tanden, Biden\u2019s failed nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, whose parents\u00a0were from India.<\/p>\n This is where the nuance of racial context is so important, as evidenced by the interaction Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii had with senior White House officials on Monday night. Duckworth told reporters Tuesday\u00a0that\u00a0\u201cto be told that \u2018Well, you have Kamala Harris, we\u2019re very proud of her, you don\u2019t need anybody else,\u2019 is insulting.\u201d<\/p>\n Atlanta shootings: <\/strong>Atlanta-area spa killings were not about sexual addiction<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Things escalated\u00a0Tuesday afternoon as Hirono and Duckworth threatened to vote against Biden\u2019s white nominees before ultimately withdrawing the threat Tuesday night after several productive conversations with White House senior officials. Hirono tweeted:\u00a0“I welcome the appointment of a senior level White House liaison to the AAPI community to further strengthen our voice.”<\/p>\n Interestingly enough, the White House already has a liaison to the AAPI community, Howard Ou, whose first day was Monday.\u00a0Will this new “senior level” appointee be different? Will he or she have a direct line to the president? Will the job include more than\u00a0AAPI outreach and AAPI issues?<\/p>\n Ultimately, our community is looking for representation that goes beyond the symbolic. Of course it is important and valuable for the White House to be able to dispatch an actual Asian American to engage and interact with the AAPI community. But that\u2019s not enough. That\u2019s literally doing the least amount possible.<\/p>\n Asian American racism: <\/strong>Anti-Asian hate could get me killed, something I never worried about until Atlanta killings<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The real mark of progress is when people\u00a0of color are named to substantive roles that aren\u2019t focused on outreach to their own communities, that have true influence on the administration\u2019s agenda extending\u00a0far beyond their racial\/ethnic group\u2019s priorities. We don\u2019t want to just see Asian American faces when there is a crisis within the Asian American community. We want to see Asian American faces when there isn\u2019t a situation specific to our community. We want to see them shaping the policies that affect all of us, from gun reform to climate change, transportation and infrastructure to education.<\/p>\n The point is we have as much of a stake in the broader agenda as everybody else. We aren\u2019t looking for a token seat at the table. We want more. That\u2019s the point Sens. Duckworth and Hirono were making. And the message may be getting through. As Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday during an interview with CBS This Morning, \u201cRepresentation matters.\u201d<\/p>\nGoing beyond AAPI outreach\u00a0<\/h2>\n