obama's blueprint for change to solve issues affecting the AAPI community

by annie kim noguchi

Election Day is just around the corner, and apparently Barack Obama is Asian American and/or Pacific Islander now. Or at least, he considers himself as one: “I have often said that I consider myself to be an honorary AAPI member. So I understand and am committed to the issues that are important to the AAPI communities.” In his newly released Blueprint For the Change We Need, he goes on to say that growing up in Hawaii, rooming with an Indian and a Pakistani in college, and having a sister who is half Indonesian and married to a Chinese Canadian makes him an honorary Asian American.

While I have to admit that I can appreciate that Obama has had such a strong Asian American presence in his life, his reasons for how Asian American he is made me giggle just a little… Come on, an Indian roommate in college? Is that detail really necessary? Oh wait, he had a Pakistani roommate too. That seals it! Obama is an honorary Asian! And that makes me an honorary half-Polish, quarter-Irish, quarter-German from Chicago, by way of my roommate.

All jokes aside, Obama’s “Barack Obama’s Blueprint For The Change We Need for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders” is pretty dang awesome. While I’m sure he had a bunch of help from a team of analysts and his Pakistani roommate (and maybe a few Chinese Canadians too), Obama’s Blueprint definitely shows that he is aware of AAPI issues and has plans to create policy addressing these issues if he is elected.

In short, Obama’s Blueprint might have just convinced me that Obama not only understands some of the major issues facing the AAPI community but is committed to working to resolve them.

Here is my take on some aspects of the document, which is really a very comprehensive and truthful analysis of many of the issues facing AAPIs today.

Released on October 9, Obama’s “Blueprint for the Change We Need for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders” is the most comprehensive planning document for Asian Americans ever released by a presidential nominee. The 53-page Blueprint details the issues that AAPI communities face, as well as policies to address these issues. The document is split into categories including economic opportunity, education, immigration, health care, home ownership, seniors, women, civil rights, foreign policy, veterans, and faith.

In his introduction of the Blueprint, Obama says, “I will work with AAPI communities to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, accessible health care for all by reducing the language and cultural barriers…[I will] make college affordable through an annual $4,000 tax credit in exchange for community service. [I will] do more to support small businesses, including strengthening programs that provide capital to minority-owned businesses. By reaching out directly to the AAPI communities, we can ensure that AAPIs are well represented in this national conversation about our future and the movement to write our destiny.”

Am I sensing a warm fuzzy feeling growing inside of me? (And by fuzzy I mean the fuzzies I get when I think about civil liberties and social justice before I go to sleep at night.)

Obama goes on: “Beyond acknowledging the contributions of the AAPI communities, we also recognize the challenges we still face. Our nation is at war, our planet is in peril and for increasing numbers of Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, the American dream is in danger of slipping away. As President, I will restore the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and direct that office to work towards the original goal of helping the federal government meet the underserved needs of Asian American and Pacific Islanders.”

Yes, I think they are fuzzies! Because Obama’s next quote reads like the synopsis to a hardboiled article. (Albeit one lacking in our usual wit and sarcasm. Understandable—we can’t all be take-no-prisoners paramilitary journalistic juggernauts living under self-imposed martial law to bring you the best in political rabblerousing, community muckraking, and pop culture machinations—do you want to battle me?!)

Obama says: “Many AAPIS face barriers to good-paying jobs and lack the training necessary to achieve greater job opportunities. Less than half of Cambodian Americans participate in the labor force and less than a third of Hmong Americans do so. Many AAPIS work in sweatshops and other hard conditions, often in violation of wage, hour, health, safety and other labor laws. On the other end of the labor market, AAPIS often encounter a ‘glass ceiling’ to promotion and professional advancement. AAPIS are less than one percent of all Fortune 500 companies, are only one percent of higher education administrators and have one of the lowest tenure rates among university faculty.”

Definitely fuzzies: “AAPIs are not universally successful in academics and face unique cultural and linguistic challenges as basic as just learning English. The ‘model minority’ myth about AAPIs is misleading and inaccurate which has resulted in policy makers focusing less attention on their needs and the disparities in the educational services provided to them.”

The Blueprint also details Obama’s past record on addressing issues within the Asian American community, proving that he is not all talk and warm fuzzies, but in fact has a history of commitment to the Asian American community.

So in short, Obama’s Blueprint has not only succeeded in giving me at least three cases of the fuzzies and causing a passionate outburst of hardboiled pride, but also in creating a document that simply speaks for itself. While Obama’s Blueprint For Change can’t save the nation, the analysis and perspective Obama shows is hope that, for the first time, a presidential candidate actually understands, cares about, and is ready to address the issues that affect our diverse community of AAPIs today.

For Obama’s complete “Blueprint for the Change We Need for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,” visit http://my.barackobama.com/aapiblueprint.