July 4th, 2017: Founding Fathers' descendants are a statement on America's diversity

Closing image of the Ancestry.com commercial.

A TV COMMERCIAL debuted last week, just in time for America's Independence Day on July 4th, is causing a stir in Trump's America.

The television ad for Ancestry.com, a company that provides services to help one track one's genealogy, spotlight's the diversity of today's America by recreating the famous John Trumbull portrait of our nation's founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence and using descendants of those men to recite the famous moving preamble.

The 29 descendants - men, women and children from different ethnicities - spotlights the diversity that makes up the United States of America

Although the commercial is for Ancestry.com, the underlying message is that our country is already diverse whether you like it or not, and its history is a lot more complex than what's depicted in high school history texts.

RELATED: America's challenge is learning to live with itself

"We're all much more similar than you think," said Ancestry Chief Marketing Officer Vineet Mehra in an interview. "And we're using facts and data to prove it. This is not fluffy marketing. These are facts."

The weakness of Ancestry.com and their competitors is that when it comes to tracing Asian/American roots, there is a lack of data in their files.

That situation will undoubtedly change as these genealogy companies try to attract the increasingly diverse clientele of the United States, especially the lucrative Asian/American market which is more economically powerful than its comparatively small (but rapidly growing) population.

Mehta, who is of South Asian lineage, continued to say, “The Fourth of July is a time of great national pride, and our new campaign is a portrait of how America has evolved. Diversity isn't just something we value as Americans; it's quite literally part of who we are.” 

How we as a country have arrived at this point in time -- July 4th, 2017 -- is a complex one. The Founding Fathers were most likely not thinking about the impact of diversifying the country when they took advantage of their privileged status over their slaves.

Vineet Mehta

The United States' genealogical history, from the time when Asian traversed the ice bridge to new hunting grounds, to when Spanish explorers came upon established civilizations in North and South American, to when Native Americans encountered the European newcomers upon their shores, to the anti-misegenation laws, to the Asian bachelor societies created by immigration restrictions, is not something commonly taught in our schools, but, nevertheless, we see its affects every day. 

(Even the whitest state of all, Maine, where whites make up 95.7 of its population, has Chinese restaurants, Taco Bell's and yoga studios.)

What the commercial implicitly says, we can't move backwards, we are what we are. That's a message that runs counter to the growing white supremacist and anti-immigrant movements emboldened by a president that they believe represents their beliefs when he promises to "Make America great again."

“We are living in a time when many people feel disconnected from one another, and one of the most powerful things we can do is to show how connected we really are. Fundamentally, we all share an inherent need to know who we are and how we’re related – it can change how we view the world and how we view our future.”

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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.

The number of AAPIs will surpass African Americans by mid-century

PSST! Don't tell anyone, but the number of Asian/Americans will surpass African Americans by the middle of this century.

A recent report from Pew Research Center, 10 Demographic Trends Shaping the U.S., glossed over this hugely significant shift but in one of their graphs accompanying the report, it showed that by 2065, the AAPI community will make up 14 percent of the U.S. population and the African/American population at 13 percent.

This might not have been worthy enough to mention in the Pew report, but it is BIG NEWS in the AAPI community, which has been struggling to get out from under this cloak of invisibility in order to get the attention of demographers, marketers, politicians and anybody else interested in the growing diversity of America.


At the root of the growth, says the Pew report, is immigration where immigrants from Asian countries has risen to the point of overtaking the immigration coming from Latin American countries, including Mexico.

So while this year's presidential contenders focus their attention on whether or not to build a wall on our southern border - thankfully - no one is talking about building a wall along the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii. Never mind that that feat is eve less feasible than the wall on the our border with Mexico, with the quality of some candidates' rhetoric this political season, I'm surprised that someone like GOP frontrunner Donald Trump hasn't proposed it.

That's why I wouldn't trumpet the growth of the Asian population too loudly (no pun intended), otherwise AAPIs might be more front and center in the Presidential race conversation.

RELATED: America's challenge is learning to live with itself

The same report shows that the U.S. will become more racially and ethnically diverse as the century marches on. The Latino American population will surge to make up 24 percent while the so-called white (Euro American) population will drop to 46 percent. The African/American population will remain constant, around 13 to 14 percent up to 2065.

No race or ethnic group will make up the majority of the country by 2055. Much of this change has been (and will be) driven by immigration. Nearly 59 million immigrants have arrived in the U.S. in the past 50 years, mostly from Latin America and Asia, says the report. 

Today, a near-record 14 percent of the country’s population is foreign born compared with just 5 percent in 1965. Over the next five decades, the majority of U.S. population growth is projected to be linked to new Asian and Hispanic immigration. 

American attitudes about immigration and diversity are supportive of these changes for the most part. More Americans say immigrants strengthen the country than say they burden it, and most say the U.S.’s increasing ethnic diversity makes it a better place to live.

In a reversal of one of the largest mass migrations in modern history, net migration flows from Mexico to the U.S. turned negative between 2009 and 2014, as more Mexicans went home than arrived in the U.S., notes the Pew report. And after rising steadily since 1990, the unauthorized immigrant population has leveled off in recent years, falling to 11.3 million in 2014 from a high of 12.2 million in 2007. 

Meanwhile, Asians are now the only major racial or ethnic group whose numbers are rising mainly because of immigration. 

The implications of the racial shift are enormous although they will not have much impact in this year's political free-for-all even though the 2016 electorate will be the most diverse in U.S. history due to strong growth among Latino/American eligible voters, particularly U.S.-born youth. 

There are also wide gaps opening up between the generations on many social and political issues, most evident in the Democratic contest featuring the generally youthful supporters of Bernie Sanders and the older generations leaning towards Hillary Clinton. Young adults tend to hold liberal views on many political and social issues, though they are also less likely to identify with either political party: 50 percent call themselves political independents, who may be the deciding factor in November during the general elections.

READ the full report here.

In order to take full political advantage of the increased numbers, Asian/Americans will have to do a much better job in registering to vote. As the graphs show in 2015, although Euro/Americans made up only 60 percent of the U.S. population, they made up 69 percent of voters and AAPI voters made up only 4 percent of the registered voters even though they made up 6 to 7 percent of the population in 2015.

The demographic trend could create a domino effect of changes in other fields: more AAPI politicians; an increase of marketing of products directed at the AAPI consumers; schools might teach more Asian languages and Asian/American history; more of a presence in motion pictures and TV; and maybe even, the standard of beauty will change.

RELATED: The American story - immigration, innovation, opportunity

Hopefully, by 2065, a couple of generations will have passed and today's immigrants'  children and their children's children will increase the poll of registered voters.

One of the unfortunate possibilities of becoming more visible is that AAPIs will become more of a target of hate mongers. As a community, Asian/Americans will have to gird themselves for this likely outcome and prepare themselves to take a more prominent role in this century when the face of America will no longer be the blond, blue-eyed Euro/American.

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