By Connie Chung Joe
AJSOCAL

Hi, my name is Connie Chung Joe, and I’m the CEO of AJSOCAL.

AJSOCAL is the nation’s largest civil rights and legal service organization dedicated to AAPI community. We have almost 100 staff working out of DTLA, OC, and Sacramento. We serve over 15,000 clients and community orgs annually and operate the most robust Asian American legal helpline in the country with bilingual legal advocates operating in 8 Asian languages & dialects.

AJSOCAL is are part of a national affiliation of Asian American civil rights organization who use the umbrella name Asian Americans Advancing Justice, but you can tell us apart by what comes after that name. So we have AJ Chicago, AJ Atlanta and AJ AAJC in DC.

What I want to talk about today is embracing the power of our Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Asian Americans make up 7% of the US population and PIs another 1%. We’re the fastest growing racial group in the country and grew by 40% between 2010 – 2020. We’re also the most diverse racial group as far as languages spoken, religions practiced, and with the biggest gap as far as wealth and educational attainment rates within our racial group.

During the pandemic, we saw our Asian American community targeted by anti-Asian hate. There were 11,000 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate but we know of, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Community surveys by Pew Research, AJSOCAL, and others showed that it was closer to 1:3 Asian Americans who said they felt like they experienced some kind of discrimination or differential treatment during the pandemic. We have 24 million Asian Americans in this country – so you do the math.

We saw this mistreatment because we were being scapegoated and blamed for Covid-19. But the blaming of Asian Americans in this country is not new. In fact, history shows us time and time again that when America feels threatened, whether by disease, economic competition, or by national security, this country often blames Asian Americans because we are seen as the forever foreigner, not truly American and therefore not to be trusted. You
look at US history with the 1875 Page Act and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WW2, the killing of Vincent Chin in 1982 by Detroit autoworkers who blamed the economic challenges on the Japanese automobile industry, and the Islamophobia after 9/11. This is our country’s pattern and practice in times of trouble, the US shifts blame onto Asian Americans.

So we saw this happen again to our community during the pandemic, where terms like China Virus and Kung Flu certainly didn’t help. But Asian Americans did something different this time. In 2020, we came out to the polls and voted in record numbers. Our votes cast in 2020 increased by over 45% compared to the previous election, the largest increase by any racial group.

And we learned that the AAPI vote played a decisive role in elections all over the country. It was like suddenly, we went from being the last kid picked for the PE team to discovering we were the sole player on the dodgeball court and we saved our entire team with our epic throw.

So my first call to action is this: Vote in November if you are a citizen because this is our power. Our power to gain the attention of electeds who finally realized it was our political voice that was determining the outcomes of elections. We enjoyed the success of meaningful policies that benefited our communities, like CA legislature passing the $166.5 MM API Equity Budget, the first of its kind financial investment into our AAPI communities.

In 2022, I worked with some KA community leaders like James An from KAFLA to get LA City to take Koreatown which used to be split into 4 separate city councils and combine it all into one single district. Let me tell you how much more power it gives Koreatown for the 100K residents to all have 1 city CM who they can go to for their issues and to hold accountable rather than having to chase down 4 separate City Councilmembers, none of who really care about the Ktown community because it used to be such a small
portion of their total district.

Now where we are today is that AJSOCAL, KAFLA and AAPI organizations across the country are calling on our community members to vote. But this time, the drive is not because we should be afraid — but because we feel empowered.

We have the self-confidence to know that when we go out to vote and exert our political will, electeds must listen and be accountable to policies that benefit us. We are in a place that we can demand a policy agenda that help us on issues like immigration, language access, education, safety, gun control, and racial justice.

We know how sweet it tastes to have power, but we also remember the bitterness of racism and scapegoating that sits in the back of our throats. Because anti-Asian hate may not be at the height it was 4 years ago, but it still very much lives in America today.

We see it in the way over half the states in the US have introduced Alien land laws to prohibit certain Asians from purchasing land. If you are Chinese American and live in Florida right now, it’s quite possible that you may be prohibited from purchasing land in that state.

We see it in the way last week in OC, a lawn sign for an Asian American candidate running for office was vandalized with a racial slur.

The fact is, Asian hate is cyclical and it simmers on the surface until something happens in this country that makes it erupt.

This is why I’m asking you to go out there and vote. I don’t care who you vote for or in whatever federal, state or local race, but you have to cast that vote because it sends the message all over the country that Asian Americans are gaining our political voice — and we’re not going to be overlooked any longer.

My second message to you is to use your money to make an impact. Don’t give it away without getting something back for our community in return. What we learned during the pandemic was that only .2% of philanthropic dollars were going to Asian American causes. That’s 20 cents for every $100 being donated to charities by major private foundations even though we make up 7% of the population.

This happens in part because there’s the model minority myth that makes Americans think Asians have no needs. The stereotype that many Americans hold is that all Asians are so wealthy and exceeding as doctors that we don’t need support. Even though Korean Americans have some of the highest uninsurance rates in the country. Even though Cambodians have 29% who haven’t graduated high school. Even though Vietnamese have 44% limited English proficiency.

It also happens because sometimes we don’t speak out and demand enough. In Japan, there’s the saying the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. But in America, we have the opposite saying. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you’re not speaking up and demanding your fair share of attention, resources and power in this country, it’s not going to just be handed over to you.

Now this is where you come in. If you are giving philanthropically, be smart about it. Use donor advised funds and family foundations to your tax advantage to maximize the size of your gifts. But then make sure those you donate strategically those charitable causes know you’re an Asian American contributor. The recipient of your gift should be able to articulate how your generosity will benefit the Asian American community. Or before you give a
large donation to your alma mater or your local hospital, when they’re giving you their undivided attention because their hands are open to take your donation, ask them first, how many Asian Americans are on their board of directors? What are they doing specifically to benefit Asian Americans? If they can’t give you this information right away, they will learn quickly that they need to start doing this for Asian American donors.

If you are engaging in business, same thing, make sure your hard earned money has a benefit to our community. Next time you give a bank your business, you ask them what’s their charitable giving policy and what Asian organizations or causes do they support because every bank is required to reinvest in communities.

One lesson I’ve heard from high net worth Black business leaders is that they openly ask vendors they do business with, why don’t you have Black leadership or employees working on my account? You let corporate leadership know it’s important to you to see Asian representation to make sure those companies keep investing in Asian American workforce. Even if it doesn’t change the way you do business, just asking these questions tells the company or organization who wants your money that you’re paying attention to how they treat our community and they need to as well.

So I’m asking you to think about ways to be a little more squeaky of a wheel so our Asian American community gets the oil. We as Asian Americans have tremendous power, whether that’s voting power, financial power, and advocacy power. Whether we use it to fight against racism and anti-Asian hate, ensure better representation in all sectors, or ensure our community is not overlooked or ignored any further. Let’s not forget, we are the fastest
growing racial group in this country and it’s time we demand justice, equity,
and empowerment.

This speech was originally presented at the Equitable Advisor’s Empower and Thrive: Elevating Asian American Business Excellence event at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) on October 17, 2024.