By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Among the 58 executive orders President Donald Trump rescinded on the eve of his inauguration on Jan. 20 was one creating a commission to advance equal opportunity within the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community.

The commission, called the WHAANHPI Commission—the White House Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Commission—had been established within the United States Department of Health and Human Services by a Biden administration-issued executive order in May 2021.

Immediately upon its rescission, the commission’s webpage was taken down. Trump issued a statement claiming that the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring framework within the nation’s institutions “has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy.”

Trump has also blamed DEI hiring practices for the recent fatal collision between an American Airlines commercial plane and a Black Hawk helicopter on the evening of Jan. 29. There is no evidence to support this claim, or the claim that DEI hiring practices are causing institutional corruption.

Commissioner Mia Ives-Rublee, senior director for the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, told Ethnic Media Services that Trump’s decision has removed an important bridge between government institutions and the AAPI community.

“We were able to provide information and feedback on specific issues that our community was facing, and that feedback was utilized to address barriers to obtaining services and support from the Federal Government,” she told Ethnic Media Services.

Among those supports was the creation of an AANHPI Mental Health Summit, which led to the founding of the AANHPI Mental Health Center, based in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

The commission also helped AAPI small business owners learn how federal contracting worked. 

Of all populations in the U.S., the AAPI community is among the fastest-growing, EMS’s story said. Over the past 20 years, the Asian American population has grown by 81%. The total number of Asian Americans in the U.S. is expected to reach 46 million by 2046.

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