UPDATE TO ORIGINAL POST BELOW: The bill was signed by Governor Brown.  See story HERE.

A bill is currently moving through the California legislature known as AB1726 also known as Accounting for Health and Education in API Demographics Act (AHEAD).  The basic purpose of this bill is to require racial demographic data collection in California to include detailed collection of Asian nationalities (such as Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, etc.) as part of the larger Asian data collection. This is known as “disaggregation” of Asian data.  For an interesting recorded discussion on this bill please visit the site HERE.

One of the purposes of this bill is to dispel the myth of the “Model Minority” that, while seemingly complimentary of Asians (hard working, high achieving, non-combative, etc.), is actually quite damaging to the Asian community.  It rationalizes biases against Asians, stereotyping, education and work tracking, and misses the fact that not all Asian sub-set populations are performing the same.

Some definitions would be helpful.  Aggregation can be thought of as a Venn diagram where the largest circle represents all people in the United States.  Within that circle can be imagined a smaller circle that represents all Asians in the country.  Then within that circle several small circles that represent all kinds of Asians: recent immigrants vs. later generations, different nationalities, mixed race Asians. Aggregating the data is like erasing the circles that represent these smaller groups within the larger group, essentially rendering these groups invisible.

In this way aggregation is much like colorblindness.  Colorblindness, in racial terms, refers to the willful denial of different racial categories and in so doing, the inability to see examples of systemic discrimination.  When race is removed from the field of view, then discrimination becomes individualistic and patterns disappear.  Common phrases that reflect colorblindness include the obvious “I don’t see race.” But it also appears in the misinterpretation of Martin Luther King, Jr’s quote “…[to] not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” as a set of instructions rather than a vision of the future.  Or more recently, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts’s quote, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

We shouldn’t be afraid to acknowledge the diversity that exists in our society.  This diversity is a source of strength and innovation for our nation.  It is not diversity that causes division among our people; it is the context in which it exists that is the problem.  When inequality intersects with diversity, then diversity takes on a negative connotation.  We will never be able to end inequality if we choose not to see it.

Lawmakers would be well served to have a vetted advisory committee to provide insight on legislation. And the general public would also be served to hear the same advice.  In the absence of such a committee, the shadow of special interests and conspiracy taint the process.  Yet another reason why we advocate for the State of California to convene such a body of advisers.

Thomas Lopez, MASC President