Build Back Better Act passes in the House but faces tougher test in Senate

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris congratulated each other prior to signing the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Friday.

In a narrow 220-213 vote, the House passed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion legislation Friday to invest in families, health care, climate change mitigation, affordable housing, small businesses, immigration, and other infrastructure.  

Passing the House was the easy part.

The Build Back Better Act that passed amid cheers and sighs of relief from Democrats but face a more severe test in the Senate where two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin of Virginia and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema have not approved the bill.

“The Build Back Better Act will make some of the largest investments in AAPI communities in our country’s history, from affordable child care and paid leave to home-based care and climate change," said Rep. Judy Chu, part of the progressive caucus that pushed for approval of the bill. 

RELATED: How the Build Back Better Act will help AAPI families

"But even as we make it easier for parents to go back to work, families are continuing to struggle with high prices and soaring healthcare costs. That’s why this landmark bill makes the Child Tax Credit permanently refundable, ensuring that the neediest families continue to receive this support over the long run," said Chu. 

"This bill provides much-needed relief to our AAPI immigrant communities by providing work permits and protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants who have been here prior to 2011, and addresses our burgeoning visa backlog by recapturing family and employment based visas.

“This bill will also make historic investments in affordable housing, small business relief, higher education, and healthcare that will have direct benefits our communities, including expanding coverage for uninsured AAPI families, address skyrocketing drug prices, and adding hearing coverage for AAPI people on Medicare," she continued.

Its fate in the Senate remains unclear. Manchin, in particular, claims to be wary of the bill's cost, even though his state, West Virginia, one of the poorest in the nation, would benefit from the programs strengthened by the bill.

Manchin and Sinema's votes are critical and Democrats might trim down the Senate version in order to secure the two senators' votes, necessary in a Senate split 50-50.

Manchin said earlier this week that he was waiting for the analysis from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which finished its study Thursday. The CBO  estimates that the measure would result in a net increase of $367 billion to the deficit between 2022 and 2031. 

The House's vote on Build Back Better comes days after passing the $1 trillion Infrastructure and Investment Act that will fund updating of the nation's crumbling roads, bridges, and rails; expand access to clean drinking water; work to ensure access to high-speed Internet throughout the Nation; and tackle the climate crisis. President Biden signed the infrastructure act Friday.

Republicans' sudden concern for the budget ring hollow considering they were silent when Trump ran the deficit up to record levels. When Trump took office in January 2017, the national debt stood at $19.9 trillion. Two months after the Trumps moved into the White House, the national debt reached a new high of $28 trillion, a 35% increase.

The White House, however, insists that the bill will be fully paid for. It says it can make up the shortfall because the bill includes funding for better enforcement of Internal Revenue Service tax collecting, specifically collecting tax payments from the top 1% income earners.

The AAPI community advocates praised the bill's passage in the House but realize the battle will heat up in the Senate.

“The Build Back Better Act includes many important provisions that invest in future technologies and the next generation of work, especially when it comes to electric vehicles," says Sandra Engle, Secretary of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance.

"We must re-invest in domestic manufacturing with union workers making the vehicles of the future," saind Engle. "This bill recognizes that union bargained-for wages and benefits are an important and valuable contribution to our communities and economy.” 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

AAPI leaders blast Trump's latest immigration ban on worker visas

Donald Trump's latest attempt to limit immigration to the US is receiving a wall of condemnation from Asian American and medical organizations. 

Trump issued an executive order on Monday (June 23) limiting legal immigration through the rest of 2020. The order restricts H-1B visas, which include specialty occupations such as tech workers and postdoctoral scholars; H-2B, temporary non-agricultural workers; certain categories of J visas, which includes international workers typically hired to temporarily fill jobs like au pairs, camp counselors, and more; and L-visas, which are used for intracompany transfers. 

The order does not include agricultural workers and makes exceptions for those who would be in the national interest, like medical professionals essential in fighting Covid-19 and caring for patients afflicted with the coronavirus. 

Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, issued the following statement:

“Once again, despite claiming that he loves immigrants and only wants to uphold the law, Donald Trump demonstrates his goal is to upend our laws in order to end all immigration," said Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, in a statement. 

The California Democrat said Trump is using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to curtail legal immigration to the United States, chipping away at decades of immigration policies that have enabled our nation to attract top talent from around the world that has bolstered the US economy until Trump was elected. 

"This will disproportionately impact high-skilled workers from Asia, who overwhelming utilize the H1-B visa system and account for over 80 percent of H1-B visa holders in the United States. It’s a purely xenophobic and bigoted agenda that actually works against our national interest. As the exceptions to this order prove, immigrants are vital to our economy. 

"Immigrants are not only needed in agriculture and medicine – two wildly divergent fields – they’re needed in business, academia, and everything in between as well. If we want to rebuild our economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot close ourselves off from immigrants. 

New American Economy launched an Immigrants and COVID-19 Portal this year to show the vital role immigrants play in the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as well as its response and recovery.

The report from NAE pointed out that in health care, AAPIs account for more than 20 percent of physicians and surgeons, about 14 percent of whom are immigrants. And 1 in 11 nurses are AAPI, about 75 percent of whom are immigrants. AAPIs also support the country’s food supply chain by as workers in agriculture, food processing plants, grocery stores and restaurants.

Adding their voice to those questioning Trump's anti-immigrant positions was a national organization of doctors. 

"We are concerned that the limited exception for physicians, nurses and other health professionals will not ensure that IMGs (International medical graduates) are able to enter the U.S. for education, training, research and medical care if it is not directly related to COVID-19," said Dr. Jacqueline W. Fincher, President of the American College of Physicians.

“Trump continues to advance his xenophobic agenda to divide the country and scapegoat immigrants. He’s used every moment of crisis, every failure of his as an opportunity to expand his nativist policies and prevent hardworking families from reunification," said Megan Essaheb, Director of Immigration Advocacy at Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC.

"Instead of building infrastructure for testing, contact tracing, and PPE that would diminish the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump Administration is going after immigrants and foreign workers in a bid to distract from its immense failures.," Alvina Yeh, Executive Director of Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO. "The Administration has already killed more than 100,000 Americans due to their inaction on COVID-19: they are seeking to bring harm upon thousands more families with this immigrant ban."

Since taking office, immigration has been one of his top issues, from building a wall in the country's southern border, a ban on travelers from certain Muslim countries, separating young children from their parents,  tightening the requirements for refugees, and trying to remove family reunification as a prioritiy for US immigration policy. 

In addition, last week, the US Supreme Court rejected his attempt to end the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that allowed those immigrants who arrived with their parents who entered the country without documents. 

Statement attributable to:

Jacqueline W. Fincher, MD, MACP

President, American College of Physicians





Washington, DC (June 23, 2020) — The American College of Physicians (ACP) is concerned that the executive order that President Trump issued yesterday to suspend immigration in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic will have a broad, negative impact on U.S. health care and calls for its immediate withdrawal.

International medical graduates (IMGs) and other non-citizens are critical members of our country’s health care delivery system. We are concerned that the limited exception for physicians, nurses and other health professionals will not ensure that IMGs are able to enter the U.S. for education, training, research and medical care if it is not directly related to COVID-19. A new class of resident physicians are scheduled to begin their training in a little more than a week, including many IMGs who are poised to arrive in the U.S. and begin treating patients.

The order could additionally hinder the ability of other scientists to enter the U.S. for teaching, research, public health collaboration and other essential activities. It would also restrict their family members from entering the U.S., placing undue stress on them at an already impossibly stressful time.

We urge the administration to withdraw this order and instead shift their focus to evidence-based efforts that can help us to mitigate the impact and spread of this virus. If the administration declines to withdraw the order, Congress should enact legislation to stop it from going into effect. Now is the time to be focusing on increasing our health system’s capacity and supporting physicians and other health care professionals.

Over 400 religious, civil rights organizations call for police reformSCREEN

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Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and over 400 other civil rights organizations Monday called on congressional leadership to swiftly rectify the legacy of white supremacy and anti-black racism that has led to police violence against Black people across the United States.

“People in Minnesota and around the country are rightfully angered and devastated by the police killing of George Floyd. The problem of state violence against communities of color, particularly Black people, has a long history in this country that we have not fully confronted or addressed," said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

In the Obama administration, Gupta headed up civil rights enforcement for the Department of Justice.

The list of supporting groups included almost two dozen AAPI organization: the Japanese American Citizens League, the oldest AAPI civil rights group,Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

"Federal statutory reforms are urgently needed on a range of policing issues, including use of force, police accountability, racial profiling, militarization, data collection, and training," said the letter's signers.

“Now is the time for Congress to pass meaningful police reform legislation. While we appreciate hearings and resolutions, we need comprehensive measures to happen. We need Congress to truly step up to the plate and protect Black communities from the systemic perils of over policing, police brutality, misconduct, and harassment, and end the impunity in which officers operate in taking the lives of Black people. It is your moral and ethical duty to ensure Black people and communities are free from the harm and threats from law enforcement and to curtail state sanctioned police violence and militarized police responses,” the groups said in the letter.

The signers requested a meeting with congressional leadership to discuss urgently needed reforms that ensure police officers live up to their oath to protect and serve all people in the United States.

The federal reforms addressed in the letter include: 

• Require a federal standard that use of force be reserved for only when necessary as a last resort after exhausting reasonable options, and incentivize states to implement this standard; require the use of de-escalation techniques, and the duty to intervene; ban the use of force as a punitive measure or means of retaliation against individuals who only verbally confront officers, or against individuals who pose a danger only to themselves; and require all officers to accurately report all uses of force;
• Prohibit all maneuvers that restrict the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain, including neck holds, chokeholds, and similar excessive force, deeming the use of such force a federal civil rights violation;
• Prohibit racial profiling with robust data collection on police-community encounters and law enforcement activities. Data should capture all demographic categories and be disaggregated;
• Eliminate federal programs that provide military equipment to law enforcement;
• Prohibit the use of no-knock warrants, especially for drug searches;
• Change the 18 U.S.C. Sec. 242 mens rea requirement from willfulness to recklessness, permitting prosecutors to successfully hold law enforcement accountable for the deprivation of civil rights and civil liberties;
• Develop a national public database that would cover all police agencies in the United States and its territories; and,
• End the qualified immunity doctrine that prevents police from being held legally accountable when they break the law.

The complete letter and list of signatories are available here.

Blacks and AAPIs forming new alliances in the struggle for equality

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AAPI protestors in Seattle Saturday night before violence broke out.

The incremental changes in race relations that have occurred since Rodney King was beaten in Los Angeles are barely noticeable. 

Not much has changed since Eric Garner gasped, "I can't breathe!" the same words uttered six years later in Minnesota when George Floyd was pinned to the ground with a knee to his neck.

If we had smart phones around during the Jim Crow era when lynchings of black men were commonplace, cities would have been burnt to the ground.

Black and AAPI groups are quietly forging an alliance even though the convergence is barely reported in mainstream media that prefers to focus on the more sensational differences between the communities. 

When video of Floyd's last breath was splattered all over social media, AAPI organizations were quick to condemn the police tactics that resulted in the black Minnesotan's death.

Filipino American author Carlos Bulosan recognized the link between the black Americans' struggle for equality and the unbreachable wall of discrimination Asian Americans encounter while seeking economic and social opportunities, when he wrote in his classic novel "America Is In the Heart:"

Marchers wear Hawaiian leis crossing the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma.

"America is ... the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling from a tree. America is the illiterate immigrant who is ashamed that the world of books and intellectual opportunities is closed to him. We are that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrant and that lynched black body. All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate — We are America!"

Since Floyd's death, the wheels of justice moved too slowly before Eric Chauvin, the officer who put the full weight of his body with a knee to Floyd's neck, was arrested. Even after his arrest, he was only charged with 3rd degree murder, or manslaughter.

In a YouGov poll of 5,600 Americans taken before Eric Chauvin's arrest found 60% of Asian Americans used excessive force resulting in Floyd's death. In the same survey, 80% of black Americans say too much force was used; Latino Americans (58%), mixed-race Americans (57% and 54% of Native Americans agreed.

In contrast, only 46% of white Americans say that police officers tend to use too much force. 

The fact that almost two-thirds of AAPI agreed with black respondents is noteworthy. The historically socially conservative Asian Americans have been used as a wedge to shame other minorities. The stereotype of the "model minority" myth which characterizes Asian Americans as a polite, law-abiding group who have achieved a higher level of economic success than the general population through some combination of innate talent and pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps immigrant initiative.

CAPAC

Congressional caucuses support each other in Washington, DC.

Asian Americans have been held up by the dominant culture as an example what a racial minority can accomplish inspite of the racism that is deeply embedded in US institutions. In other words, to other people of color, the model minority myth is used to minimize the reality of racism in American culture.

The Minnesota flashpoint was quickly condemned by Asian Americans as AAPI organizations began issuing statements placing their sympathies with the Floyd family and the black community. The Minneapolis-based Coalition of Asian American Leaders said, "Today and every day we support #BlackLivesMatter and stand with George Floyd's family and community to demand justice."

Other AAPI groups across the nation joined in support of those demanding justice in the Floyd homicide.

The unequivocal reaction supporting justice for Floyd from AAPI advocacy organizations and politicians is in contrast to perceived reluctance to whole-heartedly join the #BlackLivesMatter movement as painted by mainstream media.

In reality, away from the parachuting journalists making quick analyses, bridges were being built by activists who knew that they could be more effective if they were joined in a common cause.

As far back as Bloody Sunday, as black civil rights activists were marching across the Edmund Pettis Bridge In Selma, Ala., some of them in the front line were wore Hawaiian leis sent to them by the Rev. Abraham Akaka, the brother of future U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka. For the reverend, it was a symbolic gesture that affirmed Asian American support for the civil rights movement.

Even before Selma, Detroit's Grace Lee Boggs and Los Angeles' Yuri Kochciyama were working with black activists for social justice and for human rights.

Asian American student organizations were in the middle of the organizing of the Third World Liberation Front in  the late 1960s and 1970s at San Francisco State University uniting with black and Latino organizations for an unprecedented student strike that ultimately leading to the creation of ethnic studies departments across the nation.

Asians4BlackLives began in Oakland, CA in late 2014 after the non-indictment of the police officer who killed Eric Garner. The advocacy group recognizes that AAPI activism was greatly influenced by Black struggles for liberation, A4BL returns to the roots of the Asian American social formation and its debt to Black liberation movements. 

In 2016, over 100 AAPI civil rights advocates made it clear to #BlackLivesMatter where they stood in a joint statement: "While words cannot bring back Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Renisha McBride, Akai Gurley and many more whose stories go unrecognized, we join together with Black organizers in a movement ignited to fight for Black liberation, human dignity and transformative justice. We, as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, stand firmly with #BlackLivesMatter and the movement for Black lives."

This past year, the joining of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus in issuing joint statements in support of anti-Asian hate resolutions and the treatment of immigrants.

Part of the problem is that in this Twitterverse and Tic Toc-crazy world, no leader of the stature of Martin Luther King has emerged in either community. With almost everybody having a smart phone and easy access to Youtube and tanyone has the ability create an online persona it is difficult for a voice to rise above the social media din. 

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Filipino Americans in Las Vegas express their sentiments Saturday night.

The quick response of AAPI organizations to the death of George Floyd could be a sign that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are rejecting the mainstream media belief that AAPI don't sympathize with Black issues and see the common struggles of the two groups.

"As refugees and descendants of refugees, as survivors of war and genocide, our communities also know the devastating impacts of police force.," said a statement from South East Asian Resource Action Center. 

"It is incumbent on us as Southeast Asian Americans to show up for the Black community. We must acknowledge that our own paths to equity are a direct product of their historic civil rights wins and struggles, that they continue to build, as well as to endure, to this day. We must name the systems that have benefitted from having communities of color pitted against one another, and we must boldly resist them."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Asian Americans rail against police for the death of George Floyd

Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao stands guard as Officer Derek Chauvin keeps his  knee on George Floyd's neck. 

UPDATED 1:30 p.m., May 28, 2020.

George Floyd's horrible death Monday gasping for air as a policeman's knee pressed down on his neck was captured on video drawing condemnations from Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

"This hits home for us as we close out Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a time when so many of us reflect on our Asian American identity and how it had emerged from the Black liberation movement," said Alvina Yeh, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance.

"We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again because the work continues; we all have a role in responding to atrocious acts of violence," she said. "As Asian American and Pacific Islander working people, we commit to leveraging our power to dismantle oppressive systems, addressing anti-blackness in the AAPI community, and loving and fighting for our black siblings.”

Floyd, a 46-year old Black man, died after being violently arrested and pinned to the ground in Minneapolis, Minnesota as onlookers pleaded to the police to let him breathe. Floyd, a bouncer at a nightclub, was heard saying, "I can't breathe."

Police responded to a call that a man was trying to pass a forged check. Four officers arrived. Although the police report claimed that Floyd was resisting arrest, a security camera taping the scene didn't show any resistance by Floyd before he was thrown to the ground and his neck pinned to the ground.  Officer Derek Chauvin continued to kneel into his neck, even after Floyd stopped struggling and fell unconscious.

As this was going on Officer Tou Thao stood between his fellow officer and a gathering crowd.

The Minneapolis AAPI community was quick to express their support for Black Lives Matter and to condemn Floyd's death.

"Today and every day we support #BlackLivesMatter and stand with George Floyd's family and community to demand justice," said the Coalition of Asian American Leaders in a statement.

African American adults are nearly six times as likely to be imprisoned or jailed than white adults, according to the Sentencing Project watchdog group.

Minnesota law enforcement authorities have come under heavy criticism in recent years. Protests erupted in the state in 2016, after 32-year-old Philando Castile, who was black, was shot and killed by a St Anthony police officer during a traffic stop. Footage of the incident also went viral online.

The CAAL statement went on to say: "We also know our work to dismantle harmful systems and build just alternatives must include addressing anti-Blackness within our own communities. We must show up in solidarity for Black lives not only when lives are lost. but in everyday recognition that our liberation is tied together."

The remarkable admission of the Asian American leaders touches on a little-talked about topic in the AAPI community -- a bias against African Americans among many AAPI. 

South Asian Americans Leading Together made a similar statement confronting the anti-Black sentiment within the AAPI communities. “As South Asians and Asian Americans, we must acknowledge, confront, and dismantle anti-Blackness in our own communities,” said SAALT’s Executive Director, Lakshmi Sridaran.

SAALT went a step further and created a toolkit with steps people can take to express their outrage at the poliice behavior during the arrest and death of FLoyd.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, California Sen. Kamala Harris spoke out against the incident, just the latest example of injustice towards members of the African American community.

“We send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of George Floyd. Deaths like Mr. Floyd’s, which remind us of the police killings of Eric Garner and other Black individuals, point to the systemic racism behind individual and structural hate crimes,” said Rita Pin Ahrens, national executive director of the OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates.

“The fact that Hmong American Officer Tou Thao stood to defend his colleague, and antagonized the bystanders who called for compassion, is not lost upon us. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders must stand up for Black communities by calling out institutional racism and the anti-Blackness within our own communities,” the OCA statement continued.

“We are equally enraged and ashamed to learn that an Asian American police officer, Tou Thao, just stood watch as his co-worker treated George Floyd inhumanely.," stated APALA's Yeh.

"As refugees and descendants of refugees, as survivors of war and genocide, our communities also know the devastating impacts of police force.," said a statement from South East Asian Resource Action Center.

"It is incumbant on us as Southeast Asian Americans to show up for the Black community. We must acknowledge that our own paths to equity are a direct product of their historic civil rights wins and struggles, that they continue to build, as well as to endure, to this day. We must name the systems that have benefitted from having communities of color pitted against one another, and we must boldly resist them."

The four officers detaining Floyd were subsequently placed on administrative leave but before the day ended, they were fired after an outcry from politicians and community members.

“They need be charged with murder because what they did was murder” said Rodney Floyd, George Floyd’s brother in an interview.  The FBI is reportedly investigating the incident.

“At my request, the FBI and the Department of Justice are already well into an investigation as to the very sad and tragic death in Minnesota of George Floyd,” Donald Trump tweeted late Wednesday.

“I have asked for this investigation to be expedited and greatly appreciate all of the work done by local law enforcement," Trump added. "My heart goes out to George’s family and friends. Justice will be served!”

Both Chauvin and Thao have several complaints against them for use of unreasonable force in their history, according to police records.

A peaceful protest against Floyd's death later Tuesday was broken up by police using tear gas.

Protests on Wednesday grew more violent as looting was reported and several buildings were set on fire. One person, who was shot by a pawnshop owner, died at a hospital. 

“I’ve wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Wednesday, Frey called for his District Attorney to file charges against the former police officer Chauvin.

He later added: “I saw no threat. I saw nothing that would signal that this kind of force was necessary.”

Voices from the coronavirus frontline: Nicanora Montenegro

By Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance

Nicanora Montenegro is a Filipina American in home support services (IHHS) provider in San Diego, California and the district chair of United Domestic Workers of America (UDW) - AFSCME local 3930. As an IHSS provider, she takes care of the most vulnerable folks in our community who are also the most at-risk of COVID-19. 

This pandemic has illustrated just how essential the often invisibilized and undervalued work that caregivers like Nicanora provide. Without them, frontline workers who are parents or have other family responsibilities wouldn’t be able to go to work and seniors and people with chronic illnesses would not be able to shelter in place. 

Nicanora and her union have been fighting for the rights and respect that home care workers deserve like better wages, access to health care, paid sick days, and more. It's well past time that we all recognize domestic workers as essential workers! 

Join our calls to Congress to ensure ALL essential workers have the protections they need, the rights they are entitled to, and the compensation they deserve in the next COVID-19 package. 

Take Action to support domestic workers like Nicanora!

• Call your Senator at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to pass the HEROES Act including the full Essential Worker Bill of Rights.

• Share Nicanora's story on Facebook
• Share Nicanora's story on Twitter​

Voices from the Frontline: EVS technician shares her COVID19 story on International Workers Day

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Today (May 1) is International Workers Day, 2020 and in this coronavirus-dominated environment we're in right now, the workers deemed essential in battling the pandemic are the same workers that three months ago, were barely noticed.

The staff cleaning and sanitizing the hospital rooms, the farm workers picking produce and packing the meat, the clerks stocking the shelves, the folks delivering the mail  packages or supplies ordered online. Their work was taken for granted, barely seen as fellow human beings by most consumers and customers.

The video below is courtesy of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance featuring one such worker, a Filipina American, Angel Sherburne, an EVS tech at  the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. 

Angel is an EVS technician who keeps patients safe by disinfecting hospital rooms. Her work is critical to stop the spread of infection but the hospital is not providing sufficient PPE. Without protection for workers, both patients and workers suffer.
If there is one good thing to come out of this medical crisis and I hope will be part of our national consciousness, it is the newfound respect for these workers and a reevaluation of their importance and how "essential" they are to our society.

At the very least, raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and provide healthcare for all. Personal Protective Equipment for healthcare workers would be nice, too.

AAPI workers need protection vs. COVID-19 and xenophobia, says organized labor

In light of the outbreak of the coronavirus, cases emerging in the US, American workers are speaking up on how xenophobia and racism interact with America’s inadequate healthcare system and outdated labor laws to endanger workers and hinder disease prevention. 

Over 2 million AAPIs work in healthcare, transportation and service industries -- these workers are facing xenophobic and racial discrimination in the workplace in addition to increased exposure to communicable diseases, according to the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA). 

APALA is asking employers in various fields where AAPI workers are common to put in place procedures to protect their employees.

Without federal policies guaranteeing paid sick leave and adequate health insurance coverage for all workers, many working people are effectively prevented from following the CDC’s guidance to stay home when they are sick, said APALA in a press statement.

 “As flight attendants, we are well trained with regard to health and safety protocols because we have been on the frontlines of deadly viruses such as SARS, Ebola, swine flu (H1N1) and avian flu (H5N1)," states APALA National executive board member and Association of Flight Attendants - CWA Local 29011 member Stan Kiino. "We face higher risks of exposure to illnesses through travelers’ coughing and sneezing in enclosed spaces. 

"As we escalate precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we must prioritize protecting workers by informing them with facts, providing protective gear, and creating contingency plans as our workplaces are closed or scaled back; cancelled flights impact our ability to pay bills,” says Kiino.

Filiipino nurses throughout the US hospital system are being tasked to care for people who may or may not have contact with people infected with the coronavirus. 

“Healthcare workers are the ones who care for us when we are sick, but as workers on the frontlines they face an increased exposure to illness," says APALA National Executive Board Member Ligaya Domingo and SEIU 1199NW Education Director. 

"That is why we need to ensure that hospitals and healthcare facilities have sufficient staffing levels, well informed workers, personal protective equipment for all workers, and screening protocols that are based on likely exposure to the virus, not anyone’s language, skin color, or country of origin. COVID-19 is preventable and treatable, but only if we ensure working people are informed and protected.”

APALA National Executive Board and UTLA/ AFT/NEA member Arlene Inouye states: 

“As a proud product of California’s public education system and as Secretary for UTLA, the second largest teachers’ local in the country, I know very well how educators are often left to figure out how to support sick students who come to school because their parents are not able to take a day off work. During times of heightened xenophobia and racialized discrimination, we are also left responsible for protecting all students and creating safe environments for them to learn and thrive. Right now, with widespread misinformation related to COVID-19, we are ready to protect our Asian American students, who already face some of the highest rates of bullying in this nation.”

Employers must include a protocol against racial discrimination in their responses to COVID-19. APALA issues the following guidance to protect Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers:

Study: California dream elusive for a quarter of AAPI struggling with poverty

APALA.NET

Sen. Mazie Herono with the AsianPacific American Labor Alliance of the AFL-CIO.

Now, can we just bury the model minority myth once and for all? A landmark survey released today by PRRI and AAPI Data finds almost a quarter of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in California are working but find themselves struggling with poverty. 

The survey finds a state of “two Californias” among AAPIs—one where some AAPI workers report a great deal of financial stability that nurtures the model minority myth in contrast with the underreported and neglected  AAPI workers report significant financial insecurity and struggle where the California Dream is more elusive.

This survey is the first to provide a comprehensive portrait of the working lives and struggles of AAPI California residents, including their economic concerns and aspirations, as well as their certainty in—and doubts about—the American Dream. The survey also provides a close examination of the struggles of some AAPI ethnic groups to cover basic housing and healthcare expenses.

“All AAPI groups have significant minorities of workers within their population who are struggling, including Chinese, Filipino, and Indian Americans,” notes Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor and Founding Director of AAPI Data. “Despite the dominant images of Silicon Valley riches and well-to-do health professionals, these relatively more economically stable AAPI groups nonetheless make up a majority of the millions of struggling AAPI Californian workers.”

Almost one-third (31%) of all Californians are working and struggling with poverty. In comparison, nearly one in four (23%) AAPIs in California are working but struggling with poverty, 37% are working but not struggling with poverty, and 40% are retired, students, or otherwise not working. Among AAPI workers in California, 38% are struggling with poverty, while 62% are not.

The survey shows that there are significant differences among AAPI ethnic groups:

• Hmong (44%) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (36%) Californians have the highest proportions of their populations who are working and struggling with poverty.

• One in five or more Cambodian (26%), Vietnamese (26%), Chinese (23%), Filipino (22%), Japanese (22%), and Indian (20%) Californians are working and struggling with poverty, with Korean Americans (15%) least likely to be working and struggling with poverty.

• More than eight in ten (82%) Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders report that they experienced at least one of ten possible economic hardships, like being unable to pay a monthly bill or having to use food stamps, as have about seven in ten Hmong (76%), Cambodians (71%), and Vietnamese (70%).

• The San Joaquin Valley (50%) and Inland Empire (37%) regions have the highest proportion of AAPIs who are working and struggling with poverty.

Despite the findings showing a side of the AAPI communities rarely acknowledged by the broader world, a majority of AAPI Californians (62%) still believe in the American Dream: that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead. AAPI Californians born outside of the U.S. are more likely than those born in the U.S. to believe the American Dream still holds true (69% vs. 43%).

At the same time, 55% of AAPI Californians question the “bootstrap” narrative that “hard work and determination alone” guarantees success for most people. About two-thirds of AAPI Californians (64%) working and struggling with poverty, compared to a smaller majority (54%) of AAPI workers who are not struggling with poverty disagree with this bootstrap narrative.

“Recent AAPI immigrants come to California with an optimistic vision of achieving the American Dream,” notes PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones. “While they are still more optimistic than Californians overall, the longer they’re here, the more their real-life struggles and hardships erode this optimism and the sense that the American Dream is possible.”

Regarding the California Dream (the idea that Californians are more likely to experience the rewards of their efforts in the state than elsewhere in the country), AAPI Californians are somewhat more optimistic than Californians overall. A majority (55%) of all Californians, compared to only 39% of AAPI Californians, say the American Dream is harder to achieve in California.

Facing Economic Insecurity 

Almost one in five AAPI Californians (18%) say that it would be either very difficult or nearly impossible to pay a $400 emergency expense. AAPI Californians are virtually as likely as all Californians (17%) to experience this level of economic insecurity.

These difficulties cut across all AAPI ethnic subgroups. One-third or more of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (37%), Cambodians (34%), and Hmong (33%) say it would be very difficult or nearly impossible to pay a $400 emergency expense. Nearly one in four Vietnamese (24%), one in five Filipino (19%) and Indian (19%), one in six Japanese (16%), and one in ten Chinese (12%) and Korean (10%) Californians also report that paying a $400 emergency expense would be very difficult or nearly impossible.

Almost one in five AAPI Californians say that they or someone in their household had to put off seeing their doctor or purchasing medication for financial reasons (19%), had difficulty paying their rent or mortgage (19%), or were not able to pay their monthly bill (17%).

Notably, more than eight in ten (82%) Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Californians report that they experienced at least one of ten possible economic hardships, such as being unable to pay a monthly bill or having to use food stamps, as have about seven in ten Hmong (76%), Cambodians (71%), and Vietnamese (70%) Californians.

Other Notable Findings

• Challenging Workplace Conditions: AAPI workers who are struggling with poverty are more likely than non-struggling workers to have been required to work overtime without being paid for it (25% vs. 16%), to be paid less than the minimum wage (20% vs. 5%), or to have had their wages withheld by their employer (14% vs. 5%). More than six in ten (63%) say that employers generally see people like them as replaceable.

• Workplace Organizing: AAPI Californians working and struggling with poverty recognize the value of organizing to safeguard their rights. Almost seven in ten (69%) AAPI Californians and 76% of AAPI workers struggling with poverty agree that it is important for workers to organize.

• Gig Economy Participation: More than one in ten (14%) AAPI Californians worked in the gig economy over the last year, including performing miscellaneous tasks or providing services for others, such as shopping, delivering household items, assisting with childcare, or driving for a ride-hailing app. AAPI workers struggling with poverty were almost twice as likely as those not struggling to participate in the gig economy (24% vs. 15%).

• Difficulty Finding Better Jobs Due to Distance: Among AAPI workers who are struggling with poverty, a majority (55%) say that most jobs are too far away from where they live, as do nearly half of AAPI workers who are not struggling with poverty (48%).

READ the entire AAPI/PRRI survey here.

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