White House Initiative on AAPI faces questions from community leaders

INSTAGRAM / WHIAAPI
Holly Ham, left, visits with Mike Nguyen, of VN TeamWork, which offers youth after-school programs, senior social programs for the AAPI community in Houston. 

ASAM NEWS

HOLLY HAM, the new executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPIs), is conducting a national meet and greet tour to connect with local AAPI organizations. 

Ham kicked off her tour last month in Chicago. This month, she met with AAPI leaders in her hometown of Houston, Texas. 

“The regions may share common challenges. However, we will also find unique characteristics about different Asian subgroups across the country and islands,” Ham said in an interview with AsAmNews. “It would be difficult for me to understand AAPI issues solely from D.C.” 

The main focus of Ham’s tour will be on higher education and tax reform. She believes the Tax Cuts and Job Act will bring benefits to all Americans, especially small business owners. 

“The average corporate tax rate among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations is 24 percent. Our small business owners can face a federal tax rate as high as 44 percent,” said Ham. “The reduced tax rate will help small businesses tremendously.” 

Not all AAPI leaders agree. Representative Judy Chu, D-CA, the first Chinese/American woman elected to Congress, questioned the focus of Ham’s tour. 

“Is the Commission a tool of Trump’s to support his tax reform?” she asked.

“In reality, many Asian Americans are actually harmed by the tax reform bill,” Chu continued. “There are high numbers of Asian/Americans living in California, New Jersey, and New York, where the state and local tax deductions have been capped drastically. Economically, they will be very hard hit.” 

Chu is supportive of current White House AAPI initiatives to increase AAPI success in higher education.  A part of her efforts have been dedicated to expelling the model minority myth. 

While there are AAPIs being accepted into selective four-year universities, 50 percent of AAPIs attend community college. Additionally, the AAPI community has seen a 38 percent increase in those living in poverty from 2007 to 2011. 

“We have Asian Pacific Islanders that have high secondary school dropout rates, low rates of college participation, and low college completion rates,” said Chu. “Many of them are Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders. This is why it’s important to disaggregate data on Asian Americans and not lump everybody into the same category.”

Ham, on the other hand, argues that there has been too much emphasis on pushing young people to obtain four-year degrees. Instead, she encourages prospective students to look at alternative options such as industry-recognized certificates, credentials, licenses, badges, micro-degrees, apprenticeships, and two-year degrees.  

Courtesy of WHIAAPI

Executive Director Holly Ham visits the culinary training
program of the Chinese American Service League in Chicago

“There is a supply and demand disconnect with 6 million unfilled jobs in the U.S. due to a lack of skilled workers,” said Ham. “We need a higher education system that looks at the demand for skills and puts programs in place to supply that need.”

This tour is helping to fulfill one of Ham’s two immediate goals for the WHIAAPIs, the other being to fill the vacated positions in the Commission. 

Chu spoke warily on the current state of the WHIAAPIs, “I was wondering how one could conduct such a Commission, which is so important, in the face of a President who would like to tear down family immigration and make America white again. How is it even possible to operate a Commission such as that?” 

“I believe that is why those sixteen commissioners resigned,” Chu added. 

“The resignations should have been expected,” reasoned David S. Chang, former Chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party. “Whenever you have a big switch in parties, you’re going to see an outflow from organizations because of the differing opinions on party platforms.”

“A new Administration deserves a new Commission,” said Ham. “It is such an honor to serve as the executive director of WHIAAPI. I have had the pleasure of meeting so many stellar AAPI leaders and look forward to meeting and hearing more of what’s top-of-mind for them.”

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What happened to the White House Initiative for AAPI? President Obama's legacy

President Barack Obama's White House Initiative for AAPI gave Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders access
 to the highest levels of government.

IN President Barack Obama's first year in office, he reinstated the White House Initiative for AAPI that was first created by President Bill Clinton but had lain moribund  during George W. Bush's two terms.

As President Donald Trump took office, the White House website was redesigned within a hour of his swearing in. Gone are any mentions of civil rights, environmental protections and climate change. It their places are jobs and law and order. Unfortunately, the Initiative appears to be another casualty in the change of leadership. The link to the Initiative has been taken off the White House website, a pretty good indication that the Initiative is no longer in existence.

Obama did more than any other president to ensure AAPI had a voice and was represented in his government. The AAPI community has benefited from Obama's two terms in office as outlined in President Obama's Record With the Asian American Pacific Islander Community.

Staff of the White House Initiative for AAP

Some of the actions that impacted the AAPI community during Obama's eight years, many under the purview of the Initiative, include:

-President Obama has appointed more AAPI judges than all Presidents in history combined. He has appointed more than four times as many women of AAPI descent to the Federal judiciary as all Presidents in history combined, including the first woman of AAPI descent to ever serve as a federal appellate judge.

-The Department of Justice successfully recommended the addition of an “Anti-Sikh” category, an “Anti-Hindu” category, and an “Anti-Arab/Anti-Middle Eastern” category to the hate crime reporting in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Form. 

-The same executive order that created the Initiatives also created the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs, which is also housed at the Department of Education and is comprised of community and business leaders representing the diverse AAPI community.

-In November 2014, the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services launched the AAPI Bullying Prevention Task Force. The purpose of the Task Force is to increase awareness of federal resources and remedies within the AAPI community, analyze data to better understand the prevalence of bullying among AAPI students, and explore and recommend effective policies to address the community’s concerns. 

-Data.gov/AAPI launchedthe most comprehensive hub of government data on AAPIs.

The data collected by all government agencies will help the AAPI community write grants, and develop programs and services for years to come.

-During his administration, great strides were made to recognize the contributions and heroism of the Filipino veterans of World War II culminating with his signing the bill awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal.

-His executive orders creating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) programs allowing undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the U.S. affected the approximately 18,000 undocumented Asian/American immigrants who registered.

With the apparent demise of the White House Initiative for AAPI, which provided a presence of our community in the highest circles of government, the question arises: What happens next during the Trump presidency?

We might not see another U.S. President as sympathetic to AAPI causes and issues again in our lifetimes. Obama's eight years as POTUS coinciding with the increased rate of immigration from Asian countries has given the AAPI community the momentum step up to the plate of our republic. In the inclusive environment that he fostered, the AAPI community realized our potential.

With Obama no longer in office, it will be up to us - especially the young people who were brought up during the last eight years - students and parents, community activists and leaders and our elected officials and business community - to continue carrying that torch of progress. We must not and we cannot return to being the forgotten minority. We have come too far to go back.