What's next for AAPIs, the least politically represented group in the U.S.?

NBC

Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus met with
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

A recent report by Reflective Democracy Campaign finds that despite a dramatic increase in voting participation by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the rapid rise in population, when compared with other ethnic groups, AAPI are extremely underrepresented in political office.

Speaking at the AAPI Victory Alliance's unity summit about the alarming increase in anti-Asian hate and violence, Vice President Kamala Harris said, "As a member of this community, I share in that outrage and grief, and I believe we have an opportunity now to turn that pain into action."

Even as we (in the U.S.) appear to getting the upper hand in our struggle against the coronavirus, we're starting to see beyond recovery to whatever lies ahead. What's next? How do we turn the gains of visibility and activism generated by the twin viruses of COVID-19 and hate into something that will change our country in its thinking about Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Even in states with high AAPI concentrations like New York, Nevada, and California, the AAPI community is drastically under-represented in office. In fact, Hawaii is the only state whose share of AAPI elected leaders is nearly equivalent to its AAPI population share, the report states.

AAPI erasure is especially stark in the criminal justice sector. While over-policing and excessive deportation are major issues for segments of the AAPI community, the total number of AAPI elected prosecutors across the country is six, and of more than 3,000 county sheriffs, only two are AAPI.

Despite their extreme under-representation, the data shows AAPI elected officials are highly electable. And their impact is greater than their small numbers might suggest. 

The first AAPI members of Congress were non-voting members from the Philippines in 1907, when that country was still a colony of the U.S. Today, there is only one Congressman of Filipino descent, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia.

Today’s AAPI leaders represent a wider swath of the AAPI communities, including influential figures like Senator Mazie Hirono (HI), Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL), Congressman Ted Lieu (CA), and Harris, America’s first AAPI Vice President.  

Not to anyone's surprise, on the flip side, the group with overrepresentation are white office holders. Although they make up only a third of the country's population, they hold 62% of the political offices, which translates into a 46% overrepresentation.

“Political power has been concentrated in the hands of white men in the United States since the very beginning. And I think we are seeing the limitations of that.” Politico quotes Brenda Choresi Carter, the director of the Campaign, which tracks the diversity of elected officials. “Voters, regardless of party identification, really want to see reflective leadership.”

Through aggressive voter education and registration in the AAPI community, voters of this ethnic group increased by almost any measure. In key states such as Nevada, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the AAPI propensity for Democrats proved to be the winning margin for Democratic candidates and Joe Biden.

An analysis by AAPI Data found that voter turnout among Asian American citizens grew from 49% in 2016 to 60% in 2020. Among Pacific Islanders, turnout increased from 41% in 2016 to 55% in 2020. But the increases, the largest of any ethnic group, was still below the national 67% turnout.

The political parties and pollsters have noted this upward trend among AAPI, the fastest growing electorate and demographic in the U.S. They predict the AAPI vote will only gain in political influence this century.

During this same period, immigrants from Asia continued to come in at a higher rate than those coming from Latin America creating a rich pool of potential voters. However, because of the five-year waiting period to become naturalized, thus, eligible to vote, there is a lag between arriving on U.S. soil to becoming full-fledged citizens, thus eligible to vote. In the meantime, the children of both immigrants and those AAPI who are already citizens, are also growing up and becoming old enough to vote.

"This second generation is coming of political age and especially during this moment of COVID and the increase in anti-Asian racism and hate incidents, you are seeing a kind of political consciousness that's forming that will likely last a generation," said Karthick Ramakrishnan, the director of AAPI Data. 

"So I think looking ahead, we're going to see a lot more civic engagement, political activism among the younger Asian American population, and especially given the circumstances of the past year."

With this new-found acknowledgement of the growing power of the AAPI vote, the next logical progression should be getting more AAPI running for office. But, first, there are some obstacles to achieving this goal.

Madalene Mielke, president of the Asian Pacific Institute for Congressional Studies, told NPR that part of the reason there have been fewer Asian elected officials is due to historic barriers.

"There wasn't a lot of Asian Americans running in the past because when you think about immigration, being U.S. citizens, having that opportunity to actually be a part of that electorate, there have been many public policies in the past that have excluded Asian Americans," Mielke said. "You start to think about how these types of public policies discriminated and excluded the community itself and how the community then basically had to turn around and catch up."

In the 2020 primaries, there were three AAPI candidates running for the Democratic nomination for President: Senator Harris, Andrew Yang and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, giving the AAPI a much higher profile than in previous elections. What their candidacies also did was give the younger AAPIs candidates who looked like themselves and opened the dialogues within families about career choices, a cultural barrier that prevented some from bringing attention to themselves by seeking office.

"In many Asian American families with resources, parents typically are encouraging their children to become doctors or engineers; becoming an elected official isn't even on the radar," said Stephanie Chang, Michigan State Senator and the first Asian American woman to serve in the Michigan Legislature. "I needed a lot of encouragement to decide to run for office. I shadowed Rashida (Congresswoman Rashida Talib from the 13th District in Michigan) at the State Capital so I could visualize myself doing the job."

Asian Americans must also overcome stereotypes such as the model minority myth. Part of that stereotype is that if you put your head down and work hard, you will eventually achieve success. The troubling aspect of that myth is that one does not make waves or draw attention to ones self and although AAPI make good worker drones, they don't make good leaders.

One finding in a recent survey by  Leading Asian Americans to Unite for Change (LAAUNCH) may point to a hurdle baked into America's perception of AAPI: 92% of Americans polled said they were comfortable with Asian Americans as doctors or friends, but only 85% said they were comfortable with an Asian American as a boss and 73% as a president of the United States.

The same survey validates the feeling among AAPI that they are invisible in American society and institutions. Despite the upsurge of hate-based attacks on AAPI and the media coverage that generated, most Americans believe that Asian Americans do not suffer discrimination.

Four out of 10 Americans could name one Asian American of prominence despite Kamala Harris being their Vice President. The most common response was "Don't Know" followed by Jackie Chan, who is not even an American.

All this points to the importance of having AAPI politicians in the room when policies are hammered out affecting education, health care, justice reform and the economy.

There are AAPI in the pipeline working on politicians' staffs, the state and federal bureaucracy gaining the experience needed to take that next step into the limelight. After decades of grassroots organizing, registering and educating voters, organizations and nonprofits have been training scores of young AAPIs to work in public service.

Andrew Yang is one of the leading candidates for New York City mayor.

In 2020, there was a record number of AAPI candidates from local city councils to the federal level.

Filipino American Gloria T. Caoile is a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), where she currently serves as the Director of Civic Engagement in Nevada. She described in an email interview with Fortune, said of the AAPIs' intensity and determination in the 2020 campaigns. APALA teams registered voters and mobilized voter turn-out across the country. She said during the campaign period, “We’re in every state of the country – gearing up for the fight of our lives!”

Riding the wave of activism generated by fighting hate and political success, there are signs that a new generation of activists in the AAPI community are no longer satisfied sitting on the sidelines and see the benefits being more active participants.

If New York is an example of this new energy and wish to take the leap, 2022 should see a repeat. So far, Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies has listed a total of 45 Asian American and Pacific Islander candidates.

AAPI candidates in New York's June 22 primary are led by Andrew Yang, who is running for mayor of New York City (NYC). Reshma Patel is running for New York City Comptroller. 

Several candidates aspire to be NYC Councilmember. They are: Whitney Hu, Shahana Hanif, Julie Won, Mohammed Mujumder, Jaslin Kaur, Neeta Jain, Moumita Ahmed, Soma Syed, Deepti Sharma, Mohammed S. Uddin, Dilip Nath, Felicia Singh, Fatima Baryab; Shekar Krishnan, Suraj Jaswal, Misba Abdin, Jenny Low, Gigi Li, Hailing Chen, Richard Lee, Tricia Shimamura, Neng Wang, John Choe, Heajin “Hailie” Kim, Edwin Wong, Donghui Zang, Yu Lin, April Somboun, Linda Lee, Amit Singh Bagga, and Steven Raga.

“This will be a pivotal moment in Asian American political participation for decades to come, where you’re seeing a community getting politically activated in a way they never have been before,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of the research group AAPI Data.