Obama shares his story, now it's your turn to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month

EARLIER THIS MONTH, President Barack Obama related how growing up among the diverse people of that island state helped shape the person he is today. 

"I think of growing up in Hawaii," he said in his weekly address, "a place enriched by people of different backgrounds -- native Hawaiians, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese and just about everything else."

Growing up in that vibrant mix helped shape the person I am today." Obama urged Americans to go to The New Americans Project website to tell their stories.

"We are a nation of immigrants. It's a source of strength and something we can take pride in," he said.The president also said, "We can't just celebrate this heritage, we have to defend it by fixing our broken immigration system."

Obama said Democrats and Republicans in the Senate did that two years ago when they passed "a common sense bill" that included a pathway to citizenship.

However, he said Republican leaders in the House of Representatives for nearly two years "have refused to even allow a vote on it." 

"In the meantime, I'm going to keep doing everything I can to make our immigration system more just and more fair," Obama said. "It's the right thing to do. And it will make America stronger."

RELATED: Growing AAPI community no longer statistically insignificant

This June marks the second annual U.S. Immigrant Heritage Month, meant to honor the accomplishments and role of immigrants in shaping U.S. history and culture.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2013 American Community Survey, the nation's immigrant population was more than 41 million, or 13 percent of the total populatio

Mexican-born immigrants are still the majority, comprising 28 percent of the 41 million total immigrant populations.

However in recent years, immigrant groups from India and China, including Hong Kong, but not Taiwan, each account for about 5 percent of the United States' total immigrant population; many moving to the country to work, study or join family members already here.

The Philippines has the fourth highest number of immigrants living in the United States at 4 percent, while residents from Vietnam, El Salvador, Cuba and Korea each make up 3 percent of the immigrant total.

Up until the mid-1960s, immigration restrictions in the United States favored the entry of people from Europe.

RELATED: 1965 immigration act changing the face of America

However, with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act – a law that made it so people would be admitted based on their occupational skills rather than their country of origin – the makeup of most immigrants also changed from Europe to Latin America and Asia.

In 1960, Europeans made up nearly 75 percent of the U.S. immigrant population, but by 2013 that number dwindled to just 11.6 percent. During the same period, immigrants from South and Central America increased from 19-to-54 percent.n of 316 million.

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AAPI community no longer "statistically insignificant;" multi-university grant for extensive survey

ASIAN/AMERICANS have long suffered as the forgotten minority, invisible on the American consciousness except for the ubiquitous Chinese restaurants found in almost every town in the U.S. That invisibility was  made even worse by the lack of data about AAPIs because pollsters and surveyors thought the community "statistically" insignificant. 

Despite their rapid growth and remarkable diversity, Asian/Americans remain an understudied group whose experiences and attitudes are not reflected in national polls.

All that is about to change.

Asian/Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, whose numbers are becoming increasingly influential in the world of politics, education and in popular culture. 

(clockwise from top left) Professors Karthick Ramakrishnan,
Jennifer Lee, Taeku Lee and Janelle Wong

To address this lack of information, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a multi-campus team of researchers a $507,132 grant to undertake the most extensive study of Asian/Americans to date.

The team includes Karthick Ramakrishnan, associate dean of the University of California, Riverside School of Public Policy and professor of public policy and political science; Jennifer Lee, professor of sociology at UC Irvine; Taeku Lee, professor of political science and law at UC Berkeley; and Janelle Wong, professor of American students and director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland.

The study will expand upon the National Asian American Survey (NAAS), which was founded in 2008 and repeated in 2012. The NAAS is a scientific and nonpartisan effort to poll the opinions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and is the only nationally representative academic survey of this population. NAAS 2016 will focus on three core themes: (1) immigrant and second-generation incorporation; (2) race and ethnic relations and attitudes; (3) civic and political participation. Findings from the survey, which will be released in 2017, will prove an accurate portrait of the Asian American population, dispel myths, and correct misconceptions about the group.

“NAAS 2016 will allow researchers to study Asian Americans, who are often ignored in research projects because of their small and statistically unreliable sample sizes in other national and longitudinal surveys,” explained Ramakrishnan, the principal investigator on the NSF-funded project. “The results also will enable us to compare Asian/Americans with three more thoroughly studied groups: African/Americans, Latinos, and non-Hispanic whites.”

The researchers plan to conduct their study in 2016 and release the data to the public in summer 2017.

“The Asian American population is rapidly growing and changing, and with NAAS, we have a unique opportunity to study dynamics like intra-racial attitudes. Never before has a survey focused on how Asian ethnic groups view each other, and how they construct an Asian ethnic hierarchy,” said Jennifer Lee, co-principal investigator on the project.

Taeku Lee, another co-principal investigator, added, “Arguably the nation’s most dynamic and diverse population, the views and experiences of Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders remains largely relegated to the shadows. With data from this quadrennial project, the 2016 NAAS promises to shed critical light on the social, economic, and political life and civic engagement of AAPIs.”

Researchers will survey approximately 3,600 individuals representing the six largest U.S. Asian ethnic groups, who account for more than 80 percent of Asian/American adults – Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese. The telephone survey will be conducted in at least 11 languages, which is critical since more than 70 percent of Asian/Americans were born outside the United States.
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Participants will be asked about personal experiences and attitudes related to immigration to the United States, inter- and intragroup relations and attitudes, civic and political involvementparty affiliation, voting behavior, health and financial status, racial and ethnic identification, discrimination, stereotypes, beliefs about racial and class-based inequality, and affirmative action.

Between 2000 and 2010, the Asian/American population grew at a rate of 46 percent, compared to a 10 percent growth rate for the overall U.S. population. Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders continue to exhibit the fastest population growth rates, and now number over 20 million residents, or more than 6 percent of the U.S. population.

Fueling their growth is immigration. China and India are now the top sending countries for immigrants to the U.S., moving ahead of Mexico. By 2065, demographers estimate that Asian/Americans will comprise about 14 percent of the U.S. population. As a share of voters, Asian/Americans have been the fastest-growing electorate over the last five presidential elections, increasing from 1.7 million voters in 1996 to 3.9 million by 2012.

Accompanying their growth in numbers is their growing diversity. Asian Americans comprise more than 20 distinct ethnic groups and exhibit greater socioeconomic diversity than any other U.S. racial group.

For example, while Indians, Chinese, and Koreans exhibit higher levels of educational attainment than all U.S. groups, including native-born whites, Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong have lower rates of high school completion than African/Americans and Latinos. Immigrants from India and China make up the majority of high-skilled visa holders in the U.S., and these groups not only bring much-needed skills, but also racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity to the U.S., and its STEM and technology sectors. At the same time at the opposite end of the economic spectrum, Asian/American immigrants also constitute a significant share of low-wage workers concentrated in the restaurant and personal-service industries.

These characteristics make the study of Asian/Americans essential to gaining an understanding of social, legal, and economic processes like immigrant and second-generation incorporation, inter- and intra-group attitudes, racial formation and change, and civic and political engagement, Ramakrishnan said.

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The impact and influence of the AAPI community is fast expanding

FROM FOOD to technology to entertainment, Asian/American influence continues to rise in the U.S. and is spanning across the country.

Asian/Americans' impact and influence are shifting and growing, according to Asian Americans: Culturally Diverse and Expanding Their Footprint, a Nielsen report released today. Members of this diverse segment are starting businesses, creating jobs and contributing to the U.S. economy, with a current $825 billion in consumer buying power—which is expected to rise to $1.1 trillion by 2020.

As the fastest-growing U.S. population segment with an expanding geographic footprint in the Midwest and South – beyond traditional immigrant enclaves in the West and Northeast – the Asian/American impact on consumer preferences is rippling across mainstream America, with far-reaching implications for brands and marketers.Still the nation’s fastest-growing population segment, Asian/Americans are about 20.5 million strong and represent 6 percent of the U.S. population. 

From 2009-2014, the Asian-American population grew 25 percent. With immigration from Asian countries continuing to boost the American population, U.S. Census projections show the Asian/American population will reach 25.7 million by 2019. 

RELATED: AAPI population will surpass African/Americans by mid-century

Asian/Americans are a very diverse group, representing more than 40 countries of origin. Asians of Chinese ancestry are the largest group, comprising 20 percent of the Asian-American population in the U.S. South-Asian Indians (17 percent), Filipinos (16 percent), Vietnamese (9 percent), Koreans (9 percent) and Japanese (6 percent) are the next-largest ethnic groups. Multiracial groups are also among the most rapidly expanding segments of Asian-Americans, making up 18% of the total Asian-American population in 2014.

If current birth rates and immigration rates continue, Asian/Americans will outnumber U.S. Latinos by 2055 according to U.S. Census Bureau projections.

"If marketers and companies want to be successful, it is imperative they develop growth strategies that account for Asian Americans' diverse ethnicities to better resonate with the cultural nuances of this unique multicultural community," said Betty Lo, vice president, Community Alliances & Consumer Engagement, Nielsen. 

"This segment not only has culturally specific tastes and preferences, but also buying behaviors that are unique to geographic regions. In addition, U.S. Census projections show that Asian Americans are on track to become the largest immigrant group in the nation by 2055. As entrepreneurs, tech titans and digital content consumers, Asian Americans' cultural identities will play a unique role in impacting the U.S. economy and marketplace.b

NEILSEN HIGHLIGHTS

Geographic Expansion

• The majority of recent Asian immigrants migrated to large cities; 63 percent live in 15 U.S. cities. The top five destination metro areas for recent Asian immigrants are New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA; San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-VA-MD; and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA.
• Between 2009 and 2014, immigration, relocations, and new births have led to a population increase of 33 percent (over 1.1 million) in the South and 29 percent (538,000) in the Midwest.
• The South saw the highest growth in Asian-American buying power (43 percent) between 2010 and 2015 and is projected to continue to see the highest growth in the next five year
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Entrepreneurial Economic Drivers

• Of the 87 U.S. startup companies valued at over $1 billion with the potential to become publicly traded on the stock market, 19 were founded by Asian/American immigrants.
• In the U.S. Census' recently released Survey of Business Owners, the number of Asian/American-owned businesses grew by 24 percent between 2007 and 2012 and claimed the highest percent sales increase (38 percent) of any racial or ethnic group.
• Of the 11.6 million Asian/Americans in the workforce, about 70 percent are employees of for-profit businesses, 12 percent are government employees, 7 percent work for nonprofits, and 9 percent are self-employed, while 1 percent are unemployed.

Unique Culinary Tastemakers and Environmentally Sustainable Consumers

• Seventy-nine percent of Asian/Americans agree they prefer cooking with fresh food rather than canned or frozen food. On average, Asian/Americans purchase 69 percent more fresh seafood, 72 percent purchase more fresh vegetables, and 29 percent purchase more fresh fruits than the general population. Asian/American shoppers say they are more likely to buy and pay more for recyclable and eco-friendly products than the general population.

• More and more consumers of other races and ethnicities are adopting Asian/American cooking styles and habits. Items such as soy milk, seaweed, Asian curries and many others are entering mainstream markets.

Tech Titans and Content Consumers

• Nearly half of Asian/Americans watching English TV also watch TV in an Asian language (dual-language viewers).
• Asian/Americans outpace the general population in ownership of all three major Internet personal devices: smartphones, household computers and tablets. Online purchasing sentiment outpaces the general market, as well.
• Asian Americans take the lead in using multimedia devices, averaging almost twice the minutes per day of the general population; they spend half the time on live TV as the general population. Additionally, Asian/American households have a much lower rate of DVR usage (43 percent) than the general population (62 percent). Sixty-eight percent of Asian/American households have subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, a 21 percent higher rate than the general population.

"Nielsen has been a longtime partner to Asian/American and Pacific Islander-serving organizations by providing culturally sensitive data about our multifaceted community," said Nita Song, co-chair, Nielsen Asian Pacific American External Advisory Council and President, IW Group. 

Producers in Hollywood who are resistant to casting Asian/Americans in significant roles should take note of the report. The market for movies and television programs featuring more diverse casts is obviously there if the decision-makers in the entertainment industry could overcome their inherent biases.

"Without these diverse insights, we would not be aware of the tremendous buying power and cultural influence that Asian/Americans have on the mainstream market."

For more details and insights, download Asian Americans: Culturally Diverse and Expanding Their Footprint.

To learn more about Nielsen's Diverse Intelligence research series, visit www.nielsencommunity.com.

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.