In 1965, the Immigration & Nationality Act was passed; 5 decades later, it continues to change the face of America

As numbers increase Asian/Americans drawing the attention of bigots

"We are America."

ON OCTOBER 3, 1965, the Hart-Celler Immigration Act, became the law of the land and America was never the same.

Basically, the bill - also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 - created for the U.S. a more fair immigration policy that gave immigrants from all countries an equal opportunity to immigrate to the United States. Prior to 1965, the immigration policies in place favored and encouraged immigration from Europe.

"The (1965) bipartisan law ended an unfair quota system, prohibited discrimination based on country of origin, and officially recognized our immigration system's role in reuniting families and attracting skilled workers, all of whom help fuel our economy." said President Obama in a statement on the anniversary of the Immigration Act. 

Fifty years after Hart-Celler, more immigrants are coming from Mexico, China, India and the Philippines. The United States' immigration population has doubled, from 5% of the pre-1965 population to today's 14%, hardly the "flood" nativists claim is "overwhelming" America.

By 2065, no racial or ethnic group will hold a majority in the U.S. Whites will be 46% of the population, Latinos at 24%, Asians at 14% and blacks at 13%. Currently, the country is 62% white, 18% Hispanic, 12% black and 6% Asian. 

If present trends continue and barring any major geo-political events that might skew the predictions, Asians will be the largest immigrant group by 2065 according to estimates in a new study by the Pew Research Center released last month.
 

In 50 years, the percentage of foreign-born, mostly Asian and Latino, is expected to jump to 18% of the United States' projected 441 million. That will be a record, higher than the nearly 15% during the late 19th century and early 20th century wave of immigration from Europe.

Much of the United States' population growth is due to immigration, according to the Pew report. Between 1965 and 2015, new immigrants, their children and their grandchildren accounted for 55% of U.S. population growth. They added 72 million people to the nation’s population as it grew from 193 million in 1965 to 324 million in 2015.

This demographic shift caused by immigration and the number of U.S. births from the same ethnic and racial groups potentially could result with a "good news/bad news" impact.

Good news: As in the past, America will continue to benefit from the influx of immigrants, most of whom are the most adventurous, the risk-takers, the most educated, most innovative and the most optimistic and driven foreign-born. They will become our neighbors.

Democrats and Republicans passed the 1965 immigration reform because, "they understood that immigration contributes to our economic growth by allowing hard-working, entrepreneurial individuals from around the world to pursue the American dream" said President Obama.

Bad news: Expect the xenophobia from current Americans to grow and the likelihood of a backlash increases such as calling for further limits on immigration, calls for "taking back our country," and a return to the "good old days" when Euro-Americans and their descendants dominated the political, social and economic realms.

Esther Cepeda, a columnist for Washington Post, warns, "Once they (Asians) become even more of a media sensation they’ll have to endure any number of silly, poorly worded, stereotype-laden articles that will present facts about them as though they are all brand-new visitors from a far-away land."

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And if Asians become the largest immigrant group, you can expect more incidents of good, old racism directed at Asian/Americans such as the anti-Chinese graffiti that's popped up in San Francisco even though that city has a reputation of being Asian-friendly, and the beatings and slaying of immigrants - including those of us who look like immigrants - in Los Angeles, Oakland, New York, Chicago and elsewhere.

There will also be attempts to divide the immigrant/ethnic groups and pit us against each other, such as Asian/Americans vs. Latino/Americans or Asians vs. African/Americans. We see this already in play in the GOP presidential campaign when Donald Trump and Jeb Bush in their "anchor baby" remarks drawing attention to the Chinese mothers on tourist visas giving birth in America thus giving their babies' automatic U.S. citizenship. Again, those who wish to stir things up don't distinguish between regular immigrants and those mothers and their infants, who almost always return to to their home countries.

Has anyone noticed whenever Trump mentions the "Chinese" or "China," - which is pretty often - he almost spits out the words, with a hard emphasis on the first vowel, such as "Ch-iii-na."

We see the anti-Asian sentiment rising in school admissions. In some cases, there are attempts to limit Asian enrollment by the institutions themselves; in other cases, we see a new "white flight" by those parents who don't want their children attending schools where there are a great number of Asian students.

The model-minority myth doesn't do us any favors among other ethnic groups who are looked upon less favorably by the dominant power group raising the question, "Why can't you be more like the Asians?" or "Asians work hard, study hard, so why can't you?" Is that a divide-and-conquer strategy?

Generally, Americans have a negative view of immigrants. Pew asked Americans surveyed for one word to describe immigrants in the US today. Twelve per cent said “illegal”; “overpopulation” was at 5%; “legality (other than illegal)” at 4%; and “jobs”, “deportation”, “Americans” and “work ethic” at 3% each.

Forty-nine percent offered general descriptions, and of those, only 12% were positive, 11% negative and 26% neutral, according to the report. That doesn't bode well for Asian immigrants and Asian/Americans.

Despite the increase in Asian immigrants, Latinos will still make up a larger number inside the United States. Latino/Americans' birth rate will be the main reason for that growth, said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew’s director of Hispanic research. “It is really U.S. births that are now the driver of Hispanic population growth, and that’s a recent change from what we saw in the 80s and 90s.” 

“We have a diverse group of immigrants coming from Asian countries that are at different points of readiness to contribute to this country," said Mee Moua, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told the recent National Immigration Forum.  "They’re more highly educated, they come with ready skill sets and they’re coming prepared and ready to contribute to the progress of this country. And isn’t that the whole point of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965?”

50th ANNIVERSARY: Asian/American's benefit from the Voting Rights Act

President Lyndon B. Jonson shakes Martin Luther King Jr.'s hand after signing the Voting Rights Act, August 6, 1965. (Yoichi R. Okamoto/LBJ Library)

AUGUST 6, 1965 marks the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. The watershed legislation came a year after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, two remarkable pieces of law that basically corrected our country's path towards the America-That-Ought-To-Be.

In commeration of the Voting Rights Act, (VRA) anniversary, Asian Americans Advancing Justice released a report "50 Years of the Voting Rights Act: An Asian American Perspective." The report details how the historic law has had on Asian/Americans' ability to access the ballot. 

“Voting rights and accessing the ballot is a critical concern for the Asian/American community. But without the VRA, many Asian Americans wouldn’t be able to vote,” said Mee Moua, president and executive director of Advancing Justice | AAJC. 

Many new immigrants believe that the rights that we, as minorities in America, enjoy today have always been there. They don't know the history behind the law and the struggle it took to get it codified.

The report dispels what many new Americans mistakenly believe - that the Voting Rights Act was passed to give only African/Americans the right to vote and doesn't apply to Asian/Americans. 

“Most Asians weren’t able to naturalize and become U.S. citizens until 1952, meaning they couldn’t vote. Since then, Asian Americans have often been questioned about their citizenship as an added hurdle to accessing the ballot box," said Moua. "In addition, almost half of Asian American adults are limited English proficient, and without language assistance at the polls, would be unable to cast their ballot.”

Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the country and are naturalizing and registering to vote – expecting to make up 10 percent of the electorate by 2044. With this increase in population, comes the opportunity to shape future elections and the future direction of the country. The VRA was intended to ensure that all Americans are able to freely and equally participate in our democracy without discrimination.

Unfortunately, with the rapid growth and higher visibility of the Asian American population, come the fear-mongerers and far-right, status-quo protectors who are passing new restrictions to stem the influence of Asian American voters.

Yet, the VRA is currently under fire following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby v. Holder that effectively gutted the Act’s powerful pre-clearance regime. 

Tactics to restrict voting rights might have changed from 50 years ago – there are no longer literacy tests or oaths of allegiance. Rather, the tactics are in more sophisticated and institutionalized forms such as laws limiting early voting, eliminating same-day and automatic registration, and requiring qualified identification. Sadly, these modern-day tactics still affect the same groups of Americans – racial, ethnic and language minorities – that the Voting Rights Act set out to protect in 1965.

“What’s most concerning is that states in which we are seeing the most rapidly growing Asian American population are also passing the most harmful attacks on voting in state legislatures,” said Terry Ao Minnis, director of census and voting for Advancing Justice | AAJC and author of the report. 

“For example, immediately after the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision, North Carolina, which has the third-fastest growing Asian American population in the country, passed a multitude of strict voting restrictions."

Just a few examples of suppression of Asian/American votes (there are more in the report):

• When an Alabama-born Vietnamese/American ran for Bayou La Batre city council in Alabama, many Asian/Americans were spurred to register to vote. When they arrived at the polls in the primary, they were challenged and rejected because of their limited ability to speak English correctly. A Department of Justice investigation found the challenges to be racially violated. This caused the DOJ to oversee the general election during which the spurious challenges were not allowed. The Asian candidate won.

• In New York there were cases where Asian/American voters were asked to present their naturalization papers.

• In Minnesota, Hmong/Americans were asked for proof of ID when white voters were not asked for identification papers.

So you see, dear reader, as long as we are perceived as "foreigners" because of the color of our skin, our eyes or accent we will always need legislation like the Voting Rights Act to protect our ballot: our say in the future of our community, our preference of candidates and our eligibility to run for office.

As long as the powers that exist in this country continue to hold on to their status and influence by using, by-any-means-necessary, any strategy to restrict our vote - anybody's  vote - it is clear that we have not yet achieved the America-That-Ought-To-Be.

On this 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, write your congressional representative, to defend the right to vote, restore the VRA and preserve the ability of all Americans to participate in our democracy. (See video below of Christine Chen of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote interviewed by Comcast.)

The AAAJ report concludes, "Voting discrimination and suppression are still very real and very current. Even the Chief Justice John Roberts notes that 'voting discrimination still exists; no one doubts that.'”

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