Searching for coherence Asian Am

• Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population
•             1. The Asian population quite diverse
• a.      Some 22 million trace roots to 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and India
•                                                                i.      Each unique culturally and physically
• b. The 10 largest Asian origin groups account for 97% of the Asian population
• c.      1960, the first time census allowed respondents to choose their own race
•                                                                i.      In 2060, we anticipate having 46 million Asians in the country
•                                                              ii.      In 1870, roughly 63,000 were counted
•                                                            iii.      Asian population: 11.9 million in 2000
•                                                            iv.      Population nearly doubled from 2000 to 2018, going from 11.9 million in 2000 to  22.4 million in 2019
• d. The largest group of Asians is single-race non-Hispanics
•                                                                i.      Three percent are Hispanic
• 1. Asians and White make up 70%
• e.      Multiracial and Hispanic Asians comprise, respectively, 14 % and 3 % of the Asian population
• 1.      Japanese Americans are most likely to identify as multiracial non-Hispanics (32%)
• 2.      1 in 5 Filipinas (18%) and 15% of Koreans identify as multiracial non-Hispanics
•                                                              ii.       
• f.        They grew 81 percent (between 2000 and 2019
•                                                                i.      Compared to 70.5 for Hispanics
•                                                              ii.      And 20 % for Blacks
•                                                            iii.      Virtually no change among Whites during the same period
•       2. Chinese Americans are the largest Asian origin group in the U.S.
• a.      24% of the Asian population
•        4.      The second largest group is Indian Americans, making up 21% or 4.6 million. The third is Filipinos, at 19% or 4.2 million.
•                6 .      Vietnam 2.2 million, Korea 1.9 million, and Japan 1.5 million
• a.      47% Asian population lives in the West,
• b.      24% live in South
• c.      19% In Northeast
• d.      12% in Midwest
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•                  7. The majority (55%) live in five states
• a.      close 30 % in California
• b.      New York 1.9 million
• c.      Texas 1.6 million
• d.      New Jersey 958,000
• e.      Washington 852,000.
•       8.      States with the highest percentage of Asian population 
•           a.   Hawaii =57%, California =17%, Washington = 11 %, New Jersey =11%, Nevada = 11%
•           9.      Asians projected to be the largest immigrant group by the middle of the century
• a.      14% of 10.5 unauthorized immigrants in 017
• b.      Of the 15 top countries of birth               
•                                                                i.      India (525,000, China (375,000), the Philippines (160,000) and Korea (150,000) make up the top 4 nations
•     10.  Substantially younger than in the US. Born
• a.      Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) are part of Generation Z
• 1    1.  72 percent proficient in English
• 1    2.  Nearly all U.S.-born Asians are proficient (95%)
• 1    3.  ¼ live in multigenerational households
• a.      Very similar to all immigrants, where 28% live in multi-generational households
• 1    4.  Have lower homeownership when compared to the U.S. overall (59% vs. 64%)
• a.      Immigrant Asians are slightly more likely than U.S.-born Asians to own homes (5=60% vs.. 56%)
• 1    5.  Asian Americans have higher median household incomes than US households ($85,800 compared to $61,800)
• a.      Burmese significantly lower at $44, 4000
• b.      While Indian Americans (119,000) and Filipino Americans (90,000 led the pack.
• c.      Less likely to live in poverty
• 1     6.  Over half (54%) aged 25 and older have a bachelor’s or higher education
• II. Searching for Coherence in Asian Americans
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•  n   1.           What is meant by the incoherence of Asian American identity
• a.      The reality that Asian identity in America is not a monolith
•                                                                i.      One pole sees Asian American politics as parochial = having a narrow view...and conservative
• 1.      Focusing on American meritocracy
• 2.      Seeking worthiness =cultural prestige, historical significance, and representation in a highly educated multiracial elite
•            2. The Asian American term emerged from the 1960 civil rights movements in San Francisco State College and the University of California Berkeley
• a.      Modeled after Black and Latinx liberation movements
• b.      Seeking to create a pan-Asian coalition
•                                                                i.      International struggle against empire and capitalism
•                                                              ii.      Comes out of the black and Latinx liberation movement
• 1.      The opposite sees just the opposite, liberal
• 2.      Attempting to assimilate
•       3.      1965 Johnson signed the Hart-Celler Immigration Act
• a.      Overturned restrictive immigration based on the country of origin
• b. Created a new era of mass immigration to the U.S.
•                                                                i.      Focused on skilled professionals and reuniting families
• c.      Millions of Asians immigrated
•                                                                i.      Many with degrees
•                                                              ii.      Represented a seismic demographic shift, creating a mainstream within Asian America
• 1.      Many claimed it killed the radical potential of the moment
• 2.      Many of those of the 60s came from families that had been in the U.S. for decades
• 3.      Some were subjugated under Japanese internment or Chinese exclusion
• 4.      Those who arrived later had no experience with American racism or oppression.
• a.      Thus died the idea of a united Asian America
• 5.      The children of Hart-Celler are attempting to revive the vision
• a.      While many of the parents are content to be Koreans, Chinese, Indians, or Vietnamese Americans
• b.      Their children are not content, they want to create a hyphenated 
•   i. The problem is that there is no one identity
• 6.      But anti-Asian violence , especially during the pandemic, is altering this
• a.      Shooting of six Asian women in Atlanta massage parlors
•                 i.      Sparked national attention
• 1.      Companies attempting to forge alliances with the Asian community
• a.      Curricula and reading lists have appeared
• b.      Amidst the call to stop Asian Hate
• c.      Op ed pages and cable news helped spread the news about anti-Asian hate and violen e 
• 2. History-making =drawing links between incidents of violence against different Asian ethnic groups across the decades
• 3.      Seemed less about coalition building than satisfying the needs of a race-explainer 
• ii.      Missed opportunities as it failed to do what Black movements did -place present-day racism in the history starting with slavery to Civil War, to Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and civil rights
• b.      Asian Americans lack this lineage. Most only cite Japanese internment, or Chinese exclusion, or the murder of Vincent Chin
• c. What’s needed is to use these traumas to nation-build something different than someone from the continent of Africa, but to make meaningful connections between and among the various Asian ethnic groups.
• 7.      What is the Black-White binary 
• a.      Although Asians are a fast-growing demographic, they view America as one that revolves around the Black white binary 
• b.      In some ways, Asian Americans, because of their gains in assimilation
•                         i.      High levels of education, economic security
• 1.      Are increasingly set apart from other non-white group
• a.      Produces desperation of how Asians operate at the margins
• b.      Neither White nor Black
• 8.      How the Irish became white -poor minorities who came to be viewed as white by aligning themselves with white capitalists to oppress black workers -Ignatiev 1995 book
• a.      Similarly, upwardly mobile Asians -living in middle-class neighborhoods, attain whiteness that matters while millions of Asian workers sing further out of sight
•                                                                                                                                        i.      Thus, some are working toward becoming white, many more are poor and vulnerable
• b.      What to do -drop neuroses of microaggressions
• c.      Fully align with forgotten Asian America
•                                                                                                                                        i.      The refugees, undocumented and working class
• 9.      The problem with some, such as Kiang, is that there is friction between radicalism and tethering themselves to a specific working class
• a.      But there is a certain skepticism of elite Asians who would rather be white than Asian, hence the issue some see with assimilation
•                                                                                                                                        i.      One such idea looks at those traitorous Asian women who are conspiring to castrate them
•                                                                                                                                      ii.      And breed with whites
• b.      But there is a problem with those who segregate themselves, only hanging out with other Asians
• c.      Or those who get giddy of being the token Asian
• 10.  This comes to a head as some Asians view their children 
• a.      Particularly of mixed couples
•                                                                                                                                      
• i.      Who do they identify with? Who are they
•                                                                                                                                      
• ii.      Are they Asian, mixed, white or somewhere unknown
•                                                                                                                                    
• iii.      The paradox of being an immigrant, assimilation,
• 1.      Do we work to destroy the identity of who we are so that Our children will become the spoiled children we despise
•                                                                                                                                    
• iv.      In the end…who are the Asian Americans, how should they think about their identity how American are they , how asian are they who are they…