#280 Xenophobic Legislation; 9/9 Meeting; Mixed Enrollment; USSTA; AA History in States; +

In This Issue #280

·       CAPAC and Community Condemn U.S.-China Legislation Rooted in Xenophobia

·       2024/09/09 APA Justice Monthly Meeting/APIAVote

·       Mixed Results In Enrollment After End of Affirmative Action

·       US-China Science and Technology Agreement

·       Asian American History Entering States

·       News and Activities for the Communities

CAPAC and Community Condemn U.S.-China Legislation Rooted in Xenophobia

On September 11, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed on a vote of 237-180, H.R. 1398 Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act of 2024, a bill to reinstate the Trump-era China Initiative program.  It also passed H.R. 9456, Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024, a bill to require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review agricultural land purchases solely by immigrants from China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran.Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) issued the following statement:“With precious little time remaining to fund our government, House Republicans could have worked on a bipartisan basis this week to do so—supporting our veterans and protecting our homeland. Instead, they launched a partisan ‘China week’ that does nothing to improve our competitive advantages to the Chinese Community Party or seriously address national security interests. I am outraged by today’s passage of deceptively-named bills that would undermine our nation’s security and racially profile immigrants and Americans of Chinese and Asian descent.

“The devastating H.R. 1398 would revive the Trump-era China Initiative, a program that purported to prosecute and curb cases of economic espionage but instead targeted innocent Asian American scientists for investigation and arrest because of their Chinese descent. This McCarthy-esque witch hunt, carried out by our own government, irreversibly ruined so many lives and careers while casting a chilling effect on our academic community that continues to damage our country’s global competitive edge and ability to stay on the cutting edge of scientific advancements. Ripped out of Trump’s Project 2025, this bill is an egregious outcome of xenophobic and fear-mongering rhetoric from Republicans who so prioritize the appearance of being ‘tough on China’ that they fail—or willfully ignore—to see or care about the havoc the China Initiative has wreaked on Asian American communities. So let me be clear: while we all want to stop American secrets from being stolen, investigations should be based on evidence of criminal activity, not race, ethnicity, or national origin.“H.R. 9456 is a call-back to the alien land laws of ugly parts of American history, and its dangerously broad language means that every legal immigrant and refugee from targeted countries, including China, Iran, and Russia, who want to pursue an American dream of owning a farm are treated as national security threats. It’s that kind of reasoning that directly led to the deprival of property rights for Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries, and eventually the unjust incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in World War II—none of whom were ever found to be spies for Japan.“I vehemently condemn the passage of these bills today, and commit to stopping any further consideration of them in Congress. We should always aim to pass legislation based on evidence it will lift us up—not tear us down based on our race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

The fight is not over... 

On September 9, 2024, a coalition of over 70 organizations sent a joint letter to Congressional leaders, urging them not to revive the China Initiative. On September 10, 2024, the White House issued a policy statement strongly opposing H.R. 1398, warning that the bill would undermine the Department of Justice's ability to investigate and prosecute trade secret theft and economic espionage, especially by making it harder to secure cooperation from victims and witnesses. "The bill also could give rise to incorrect and harmful public perceptions that DOJ applies a different standard to investigate and prosecute criminal conduct related to the Chinese people or to American citizens of Chinese descent," the statement said.On September 11, 2024, at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, Professors Gang Chen, Anming Hu, and Franklin Tao—targeted victims of the China Initiative who had their charges dismissed or were acquitted—called on lawmakers to stop efforts to relaunch the program.Community organizations, including Advancing Justice | AAJC, the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), the Committee of 100 (C100), the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), and Stop AAPI Hate, issued strong condemnations of U.S.-China legislation rooted in xenophobia. These groups noted that the China Initiative had been dismantled due to its discriminatory practices and ineffectiveness, which destroyed the lives and careers of many scholars and researchers. It also contributed to a chilling effect on academic research and hindered the U.S. from attracting diverse talent.  A joint statement called on the Senate to reject its further advancement.The community organizations condemned both H.R. 1398 and H.R. 9456, stating in a joint statement that,

“The U.S. has a long history of anti-Asian scapegoating — of blaming everyday Asian people for the actions of foreign governments via inflammatory rhetoric and discriminatory policies. It’s a long-standing political tactic used by those in power to unfairly ‘other’ Asian people, manufacture suspicion and fear against them, and leverage that fear to manipulate Americans into supporting their agenda. Anti-Asian scapegoating has led to devastating consequences, as we saw with the Immigration Act of 1924 that banned all immigrants from Asia, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and more recently, the backlash against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Most Americans can agree that national security and economic security are important issues, and there are indeed responsible ways for our elected leaders to tackle them. However, we believe ‘China Week’ is being executed in bad faith and goes against our shared American values of freedom and equality for all. Rather than focusing solely on the actions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government, multiple pieces of legislation also seek to target everyday Americans and immigrant families who have done nothing wrong, simply because of their race, ethnicity, or national origin. “Today, we are once again witnessing an alarming rise in anti-Asian political rhetoric and legislation that is threatening the safety and rights of millions of Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S. As the policies of ‘China Week’ and the harmful rhetoric surrounding it have demonstrated, it is clearly part of the anti-Asian scapegoating playbook. ‘China Week’ is rooted in xenophobia and unless we hold our leaders accountable for it, our nation is bound to repeat the same horrific mistakes of the past.”

Related Media Reports and Statements

2024/09/13 NBC News: During ‘China Week,’ House GOP revived surveillance program. Asian Americans are slamming it2024/09/13 Northwest Asian Weekly: Civil rights groups criticize recent House votes on China legislation2024/09/12 C100: Committee of 100 Strongly Condemns the Passing of China Initiative and Alien Land Law Bills by the U.S. House of Representatives2024/09/12 NAPABA: NAPABA Condemns Passage of Bills That Would Reinstate the “China Initiative”2024/09/12 AsAmNews: Asian American groups condemn house passage of China Initiative2024/09/12 AAJC: Stop AAPI Hate, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Asian American Scholar Forum Condemn U.S.-China Legislation Rooted in Xenophobia2024/09/11 AASF: Stop AAPI Hate, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Asian American Scholar Forum Condemn U.S.-China Legislation Rooted in Xenophobia2024/09/11 CAPAC: CAPAC Chair Condemns House Votes Undermining National Security, Violating Civil Rights of Asian American Communities2024/09/10 Executive Office of The President: State of Administration Policy2024/09/09 Coalition Letter to Congress: Do Not Revive the China InitiativeWatch the video recording of the proceedings: https://live.house.gov/?date=2024-09-11 (10:05:54)

2024/09/09 APA Justice Monthly Meeting/APIAVote

We thank the following speakers for sharing their thoughts and insights at the APA Justice monthly meeting held on September 9, 2024:

·       Nisha Ramachandran, Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC)

·       Joanna YangQing Derman, Director, Advancing Justice | AAJC

·       Gisela Perez Kusakawa, Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF)

·       Christine Chen, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) Vote

·       Jane Shim, Director, Stop Asian Hate Project, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)

·       Tori Bateman, Director of Advocacy, Quincy Institute

·       Sandy Shan, Director, Justice Is Global

A meeting summary is being prepared and will be posted at https://www.apajustice.org/ after review by the speakers.  Past monthly meeting summaries are available at https://bit.ly/3kxkqxP

During the monthly meeting, Christine Chen emphasized the importance of voter turnout to demonstrate the political power of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and influence legislation.  September 17 is National Voter Registration Day, APIAVote has released the 2024 Civic Holidays Toolkit as a guide to helping to promote voting in our community through any and all social media platforms.  APIAVote has also put out a call for volunteers with Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Urdu, Hindi, or Bengali language speaking abilities to help answer voters' calls for assistance with their ballots, voting rights, and more. APIAVote is also looking for phone bankers and text bankers to help communicate directly with millions of AAPIs across the country to get them educated, prepared and motivated to vote, participate in the political process, and get vaccinated.

Mixed Results In Enrollment After End of Affirmative Action

According to NBC News and multiple media reports, in the first college admissions process since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action last year, Asian American enrollment at the most prestigious U.S. schools paints a mixed, uneven picture. Some Ivy League schools, including Columbia and Brown universities, showed an increase in Asian Americans for the class of 2028, while others, like Yale and Princeton, showed a decrease. Harvard, the most selective of the group, did not see a change at all.  Experts said that it may take years to see the definitive impact of the decision, which restricted the consideration of race in college admissions. But it did not have the effect that many who opposed the policy had expected, they said. “The big takeaway is that folks who supported the lawsuit were saying, this would be such a big win for Asian Americans, that race-based admissions was some type of barrier to our upward mobility,” said OiYan Poon, faculty affiliate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign office of community college research and leadership. “What we’re seeing is that that’s not really bearing out,” Poon added.Columbia University — which, unlike the other Ivies, groups Pacific Islanders with Asian Americans — saw an increase of nine percentage points in its enrollment of Asian American applicants, while Brown saw an increase of four percentage points. At Yale, the racial group dropped by six points. And at Princeton, it decreased by 2.2 percentage points. Asian Americans remained 37% of Harvard’s freshman class. Read the NBC News report: https://nbcnews.to/4d931GX.  

According to the New York Times on September 13, 2024, a tracker of about 50 selective schools developed by the organization Education Reform Now showed that the percentage of Black enrollment is down at three-quarters of the schools, with some campuses more affected than others.The list of schools that have experienced declines in Black enrollment ranges from prestigious smaller colleges such as Amherst College, in Massachusetts, to highly selective Ivy League schools, like Brown and Columbia.Even as some schools saw big changes, others saw little change, or the numbers went in the opposite direction than was expected. Many of the schools are reporting stagnation or decline in Asian American enrollment, which may be attributed to the increase in students not reporting their race or ethnicity.  “Asian Americans know they’re the target.”Read the New York Times report: https://nyti.ms/3Xu9beO.  AsAmNews also reported on Asian Am enrollment drops at Yale & Princeton and No change in Asian American enrollment at Harvard 

US-China Science and Technology Agreement

According to Nature on September 10, 2024, the United States and China have missed the deadline to renew a pact that governs their cooperation in science and technology. But they are close to agreeing on a way forwards.

Over the past year, the two nations have been negotiating the terms and conditions of a decades-old pact, normally renewed every five years, that expired on 27 August 2023. The pact is symbolic in that it doesn’t provide any funding. But researchers in the United States and China say it is crucial because it lays the groundwork for building strong research collaborations between the two nations, which have so far announced two 6-month extensions to complete negotiations. But the latest deadline, August 27, has come and gone without them taking any action.

A spokesperson for the US Department of State said in a statement to Nature that the agency is negotiating on behalf of the US government to “modernize” the agreement “to reflect the current status of the bilateral relationship”.

“An agreement is getting near. They are working out the final language,” says Denis Simon, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a foreign policy think-tank in Washington DC.“China is willing to renew the US–China pact to facilitate bilateral collaboration,” says Tang Li, a science- and innovation-policy researcher at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.Sources who spoke to Nature think that any announcement about the pact probably will not come until after the upcoming US presidential election in November.Read the Nature report: https://go.nature.com/47ooNFc

Asian American History Entering States

According to the Christian Science Monitor on September 4, 2024, as students return to classrooms in the United States, a quiet revolution is underway. More states nationwide have passed laws to teach Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in public schools. In July, Delaware became the latest state to pass such a mandate, joining Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Florida, and Wisconsin. In Connecticut, where the AAPI population has surged by more than 31% in the past decade, the push to include Asian American history is not just about education – it’s also about being neighborly. “These changes bring us all together to create and foster more understanding,” says Swaranjit Singh Khalsa a Norwich, Connecticut, councilman who contributed to the passage of his state’s mandate. “The curriculum is not only going to educate our kids but our teachers, our professors, and our parents. So I think we are creating a much more educated society. It’s not just limited to schools.” Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up one of the fastest-growing populations in the U.S. Yet their longstanding history in America is largely omitted from the classroom, says Jason Chang, director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut and a co-founder of the state’s first Make Us Visible chapter.Some 18 states had no content on Asians in their K-12 history curriculum standards, a national study published in 2022 found.  When textbooks did include parts of AAPI history, according to the study, by Kennesaw State University Professor Sohyun An, it was mainly about the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, or the Chinese Exclusion Act in the 19th century. Yet 22 million Asian Americans trace their roots to more than 20 countries. 

Read the Christian Science Monitor report: https://bit.ly/3MDmdlq

News and Activities for the Communities

1.  APA Justice Community Calendar

Upcoming Events:2024/09/19 1990 Teachers Workshop: Asian American Identity2024/09/19 AASF Public Forum with the National Institutes of Health2024/09/19-20 AANHPI Unity Summit2024/09/22 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2024/09/25 C100: State of Chinese American Survey 2024 2024/09/26 White House Initiative AA& NHPI Policy Summit2024/09/27 The War for Chinese Talent in America: The Politics of Technology and Knowledge in Sino-U.S. Relations2024/09/29 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2024/10/02 C100: Asian American Career Ceiling Initiative2024/10/06 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2024/10/07 APA Justice Monthly MeetingThe Community Calendar has moved.  Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details.

2.  APA Justice is Looking for a Communications Intern

We are looking for a Communications Intern who has strong concerns about the challenges faced by Chinese Americans and Chinese in America today. The candidate should demonstrate an interest in learning more about the history and struggles of Chinese Americans in the U.S., and is familiar with social media platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. Knowledge of WeChat and ability to read Chinese are desired, but not required  Strong writing, oral communication, and modern digital communication skills are highly desired.The Communications Intern is responsible for management and expansion of APA Justice's social media presence and to curate and extract relevant content from APA Justice Newsletters and other sources to share across social media and the APA Justice website, in collaboration with one or more partner organizations.  Working hours are flexible, averaging about 5-10 hours per week.  Compensation is $15-20 per hour depending on qualifications.  No additional benefits are provided.Qualified candidates should contact Professor Steven Pei at peiuh8@gmail.com or contact@apajustice.org.