Who is speaking for you in Congress? Not many, it turns out

CAPAC

Most of the 18 elected AAPI members of Congress and some associate members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus are in this picture taken from the CAPAC webpage.

ANALYSIS

A recent study of Congress members' emails gives a broad picture of how much  AAPI interests are being mentioned or discussed in the electronic halls of Congress.

The results from a Pew Research Center analysis give some indication of which ethnic groups get the attention of the lawmakers. Not surprisingly, the Congressmembers seem to demonstrate a proclivity towards the issues affecting their own ethnic group. 

It is not  surprising that White concerns are overwhelmingly addressed because77% of the 535 members of the House and Senate are white. (That's a matter that should be a  topic for another column.) The Pew study finds that AAPI members of Congress, only 3% of the lawmakers, also follow the same tendency of paying attention to matters concerning their own particular ethnic group.

The four Korean American members of Congress make up 22% of the AAPI lawmakers. That could explain that why Korean American matters are mentioned in 23% of AAPI social media postings despite making only 8% of the AAPI population.

The apparent favoritism may be because of human nature: the tendency to pay attention to groups you are familiar with, give access to, or identify with and not a bias towards other ethnicities.

In contrast, Rep. Bobby Scott -- and in 2018-2020, TJ Cox, a California Democrat --  were the only members of Congress of Filipino descent. Social media postings of Filipino American issues actually dropped during the period of study from 10% to 7% even though Filipino Americans account for 18% of the AAPI population, the third largest group under the AAPI umbrella designation. 

After Cox's narrow defeat in 2020, that leaves Scott as the only remaining Congressmember with Filipino American heritage. Scott, who also has African American lineage, represents a diverse district with many competing interest groups. It is likely that Filipino American interests such as whittling down the long waiting list of Filipinos seeking U.S. visas, or naming a Navy ship after a Filipino American medal of honor winner, will get less attention in the 117th Congress.

That doesn't necessarily mean Filipino Americans are lacking champions in Congress. Sen. Hirano has championed the plight of Filipino WWII veterans for years and, thankfully, members of CAPAC seem to rally around AAPI causes no matter what ethnic group they benefit.

Following is Pew's a portion of the report on the social media tendencies of Congressmembers:

"Six major origin groups – Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese Americans – comprise the vast majority of Asians in the United States. And these same six groups also account for the overwhelming majority of references to Asian American origin groups by lawmakers on social media.

"But certain origin groups are mentioned disproportionately by lawmakers on social media relative to their share of the Asian American population. In particular, Japanese and Korean Americans have been overrepresented by this metric.

"From Jan. 1. 2016, to April 5, 2021, Japanese Americans were mentioned in 20% of posts that referenced Asian American origin groups, more than three times their share of the Asian American population (6%). And references to Korean Americans accounted for 23% of lawmaker mentions of Asian American origin groups, despite this group making up just 8% of the Asian American population.

"Notably, Korean and Japanese Americans are overrepresented in Congress itself in relation to their respective population sizes. Of the 24 Asian or Pacific Islander members who served over the entire time period, 10 of them are of either Korean or Japanese descent. And when Asian American lawmakers mention specific origin groups in their posts, they tend to reference their own more than any other.

"Some origin groups have grown more or less prominent in lawmaker mentions over time. Dating back to 2016, mentions of Chinese Americans have accounted for 20% of lawmaker mentions of Asian origin groups – a figure that is roughly in line with their share of the population. But in 2020 and 2021, mentions of Chinese Americans have made up nearly one-third (34%) of lawmaker origin group references. Conversely, since 2020 mentions of Indian Americans have made up a smaller share of lawmaker references to Asian origin groups than in the four years prior."

Following is the ethnic breakdown of AAPI voting members of Congress. There are 21 Members (16 Representatives, 2 Senators and 3 non-voting Delegates representing Guam, American Samoa and Northern Marianas) who are Asian Americans or Pacific Islander Americans. Except for California's Young Kim and Michelle Steele, they are all Democrats. 

• Chinese: Judy Chu, CA; *Grace Meng, NY; Ted Lieu, CA.
• Filipino: Bobby Scott, VA.
• Indian: Ami Bera, CA; Pramila Jayapal, WA; Raja  Krishnamoorthi, Ill; and Ro Khanna, CA.
• Japanese: Senator Mazie Hirano, HI; Doris Matsui, CA; and Mark Tanaka, CA
• Korean: Young Kim, CA; Andrew Kim, NJ; Yvonne Steele, CA and Marilyn Strickland, WA. 
• Native Hawaiian: Kai Kahele, HI.
• Thai: Sen. Tammy Duckwork, Ill.
• Vietnamese: Stephanie Murphy, FL.

* Meng's parents are from Taiwan, technically part of the People's Republic of China.

The Pew study also shows that Congress' social media postings increase every year during May, which is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

During the era of the pandemic, AAPI mentions spiked dramatically in 2020 and continues into 2021, the result of the surge of acts of hate and violence directed against Asian Americans that has spurred a new era of AAPI activism and awareness as all sectors -- political, educational, religious, business, labor and entertainment -- speaking out against the racist attacks coming predominantly from Whites.

With only 18 members of Congress, or 3% of the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is clear that AAPIs, 23 million strong, according to the Census, needs more representation.

There are signs that the Congressional representation will change in the coming elections resulting in more conversations -- electronic and in person -- about AAPI concerns will occur.

The AAPI community, the majority of whom are first-generation immigrants, will only grow in influence as they become naturalized and become citizen activists. The results of the 2018 Midterms and 2020 presidential elections demonstrate that AAPI voters can influence outcomes. 

A slate of AAPI politicians gaining experience and expertise in the local and state legislatures has been steadily growing providing a bench of leadership who could take the next step in their political careers.

The silver lining of the current pandemic of hate has given a renewed interest in activism in the AAPI communities, especially among the Gen Z and Millennial generations, who are doing their best to destroy the model minority myth that has kept many preceding generations in line. 

Finally, the long AAPI history of fighting injustices and the heroes who dared stand up against oppression and speak out against inequality are being spotlighted giving lies to the stereotype that AAPI -- no matter the ethnicity -- won't rock the boat. Hopefully, the many activists, celebrities, business people, journalists and politicians who have dared to step into the public square, pick up a megaphone, question an employer, or tap "send" on a keyboard, will produce a new generation of leaders unhampered by the stereotypes of the past.  

Editor's Caution: This is an opinion piece. Readers are encouraged to seek out multiple sources of information to form their own opinions.