#sca 5

As individuals and organizations across the United States that serve and represent Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities, we believe that equal opportunity is a cherished principle in American society that must be protected. Our universities should reflect our diverse democracy and expand opportunities for those students who have overcome significant barriers. Rather than letting ourselves be divided, we must come together to ensure increased opportunities and success for all students.

Unfortunately, there have been attempts by some to engage in divisive wedge politics by using misguided, misleading tactics to attack equal opportunity by calling for an end to race sensitive admissions policies at educational institutions such as Harvard University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Opponents of affirmative action have wrongfully and disingenuously equated affirmative action with quotas.

This is not true. Affirmative action does not constitute quotas.

Affirmative action policies help to level the playing field and promote diverse university learning environments that are essential in our multiracial and multicultural society. Our democracy benefits from a diverse and educated populace and workforce.

Those who are truly committed to equal educational opportunity should demonstrate real leadership and reinvest in higher education throughout the nation to expand access, affordability, equity, and student success. Decades of disinvestment in higher education across the country have made college less accessible for all students, especially students of color. We call for unity in standing up for the future of our youth and realizing the promise of equal opportunity for all in the United States.

To the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community and Community Members:

Since it's relevant to recent asks -

"It is tempting to think that Asian-American success depends only on our efforts. As a graduate of UCLA and Yale, I can explain my own educational trajectory with reference to my grandparents' sacrifices and their deep belief in the value of education. After immigrating from China, my grandfather worked as a janitor and my grandmother worked in a garment factory. My father attended a segregated Chinatown school but eventually graduated from San Francisco State.

But this "hardworking immigrants" narrative is only a small part of the story. The opportunities my parents and I had were only possible because of the long fight for civil rights and political recognition led by black Americans. The university doors that I so easily walked through in 1995 were opened by civil rights activists who demanded access for all Americans, not just their own group. Yet many of the anti-affirmative action activists in the Asian-American community seem to have forgotten this important history."

One recent development in CA state legislature has been the proposal of SCA 5--an amendment under the guise of "equal opportunity" that basically subverts its own principles. SCA 5, if passed, will repeal Prop 209, which bans affirmative action (prohibits discrimination on the basis of unchangeable identities, i.e. race, ethnicity, sex, etc.) 

And wow, two sentences into this blog post, this amendment already sounds like a big ol' ball of hypocrisy and contradiction.

While universities in America already have a history of discriminating high-achieving students and favoring others on the basis of race and ethnicity, this amendment will legalize these practices in Californian public institutions. Proponents of this amendment are mainly concerned with maintaining diversity on campus, which in the past years have been flooded with Asian-American students. 

Yes, this amendment hits a particularly sore spot of mine since the main target of SCA 5 is the Asian community. I don't doubt Sen. Hernandez's good, albeit misguided, intentions, but this amendment basically champions one cause (diversity) by suppressing another (equality). 

News flash: students get good grades because they actually work hard for it, not because of their race/ethnicity offers them some inherent advantage. (There are probably some more cultural differences at play here, but I won't get into that). 

So no, I will not apologize for sounding bitter. I will not apologize for lashing out when the discriminatory clause in SCA 5 is as clear as the nose on Mr. Hernandez's face. 

On a side note: the passive response to what I considered to be a blatantly biased state constitutional amendment makes me wonder if there would've been more of an uproar had it disfavored another race? But that's another can of worms. 

OH MY GOD!!!1!!1!!!!!1! YOU’RE RIGHT WE’RE BEING STRIPPED OF OUR SPECIAL RIGHTS THAT DON’T EVEN EXIST HOLY SHIT WHAT I HAVE DONE OMG I WAS COMPLETELY WRONG

Fuck you.

Asians are discriminated against, too, it’s just not as familiar as the discrimination against blacks or native americans, because history doesn’t like to talk about it.

So if history barely gives any information about Asians, then how the hell are we discriminated against?

Yes, Asians don’t need to live in fear of dying in white hands, but we’re still pretty damn tired of them.

And I will give examples.

1882- Chinese Exclusion Act. Asians could not immigrate into America until 1965. Every Asian who lived in any of the 50 states had to face high taxes and rents.

1982- Chinese American bludgeoned to death. His killers were free, with only a fine of $3000, “with the judge ruling that they were ‘not a threat to society’ by virtue of their being gainfully employed citizens at the time of the murder.”

1995- US Federal Glass Ceiling Commission discovered that Asian Americans were paid less than whites in their occupations. 

2009- A study showed that Asian Americans had to score 140 points higher than white people on their standardized tests just to qualify for top universities.

Source: http://www.zakkeith.com/articles,blogs,forums/anti-Chinese-persecution-in-the-USA-history-timeline.htm

On top of that, moving your eyes to reduce the height of it, aka “chinky eyes”, is labeled as funny. We’re rarely expected to speak any English, and white people think they have to speak slowly to even the adolescents, who are mostly fluent in the language.

And yet, to the people who already know I can speak English perfectly well, whenever I say, “I hate learning Chinese, it’s so hard,” I always have to hear, “But aren’t you Chinese?” Chinese has been regarded as a very hard language to learn, so don’t you tell me I should know it already when I was born and raised in California. 

People saying “ching chong” and “ni hao” to us doesn’t exactly help either. We’re always asked, “Oh, where are you from?” They automatically expect a random country in Asia, and when we say that we’re from a certain state within America, they have to ask again.

Not only that, we’re fucking fetishized by white people. White males seem to think that Asian females owe their vaginas to them for “letting us into this country” or some shit. No, just no.

Want proof? Check out this site.

In conclusion, we may not be as discriminated against as other minority groups, but that doesn't mean we're fucking "special" to white people.