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This special Tenth Anniversary Issue of the Asian American Policy Review is truly historic, as it marks a decade of giving voice to the Asian Pacific American community. When the AAPR began, the students looked to just a few prominent leaders of our community for leadership, a vision, and more practically, their written perspectives to comprise our unique publication. As our community has grown in size, diversity, and political prominence, the AAPR has remained dedicated to serving as a national vehicle for advancing our community’s political and policy interests. Although still a young organization, the Asian American Policy Review now embodies both the vision and strength, and the diversity and dynamism of our great APA community. Our Tenth Anniversary Issue is unique in that it serves not only as a commemoration of our accomplishments, but also as a stepping stone to our future. While we continue to reflect our multitude of perspectives and identities within our community, we also encapsulate the momentum and energy that drives us forward. We bring together both familiar voices and new perspectives. We look both at from where we have come, and to where we are headed. Brant Lee first reminds us that that which is personal is also political. As was the case for Dr. Wen Ho Lee, we are all products of a long history of racism and discrimination against Asian Americans in the United States. Brant Lee shares with us a piece of his family’s struggles, and helps to set the stage for our many accomplishments and the continuing challenges we face. Strongly challenging the assumption that systematic racial discrimination in the labor market continues to harm Asian Americans, however, Arthur Sakamoto provides compelling new research that compares the wages of whites and Asian Americans at the end of the twentieth century. The future of our community nonetheless lies with our children, and it is Peter Nien-chu Kiang who brings us to the twenty-first century by exploring the dynamics of race, class, and power within K-12 education. Analyzing case studies of Lowell High School, Peter Kiang sets forth an agenda for the APA community to focus on our greatest hope for the future. In our Tenth Anniversary Issue, we also present to you our Forum, “Political Power for APAs.” Bringing together a collection of our some of our most prominent leaders, we discuss our increasingly complex political identity, the unique tensions in our strategies to gain political power, and the powerful impact we will have on the polity of this nation. The father of the 80-20 Initiative, our very own S.B. Woo, begins our Forum by setting forth one mechanism by which he believes we can increase the political prominence of the Asian American community: the swing bloc vote. We quickly remember the diversity of perspectives within our community as Paul Watanabe then offers an alternative view of the efforts of the 80-20 Initiative, suggesting a different measure of the initiative’s effectiveness. Our growth in political prominence, however, must be considered in light of our political leaders themselves. Daphne Kwok stresses the importance of APAs securing a permanent seat at the “political table” when trying to influence policy, while Pei-te Lien points to the shifts in style, involvement, and domain of political participation among leaders of our Asian American organizations. Both of these women help us better understand the implications our changing agendas will have on the future of community politics. Concluding our Forum, Angelo Ancheta, Steven Hill, and Robert Richie look directly at prospects for increasing political participation of the APA community. Angelo Ancheta first analyzes the empirical findings and legal rights affecting our political participation, and sets forth a common research and advocacy agenda that he believes will advance our means of participation. Steven Hill and Robert Richie examine the electoral prospects for increasing APA participation and representation, specifically by proposing alternatives of proportional and semi-proportional voting systems. As Steven Hill and Robert Richie put it, such alternatives are “simply too compelling to be ignored.” A greater recognition of our community’s unique history and identity has not come easy, but we must not be discouraged. In a special interview, Martha Choe and Shamina Singh of the President’s Commission on Asian Pacific Islanders and the White House Initiative on Asian Pacific Islanders spoke to Namju Cho and Jacinta Ma about this formal endeavor to improve Asian American and Pacific Islander access to federal health, education, housing, labor, economic, and community development programs. Given the dramatically changing nature of the APA community, nevertheless, we must not forget the very mechanism by which our community continues to be one of the fastest growing communities in the United States: immigration. And as Frank Wu suggests, perhaps we must first look at immigration rights before we can begin to discuss our very rights as immigrants within this great nation. Finally, we, the students of the Asian American Policy Review, would like to dedicate this Tenth Anniversary Issue to all of our supporters through the years. We are truly indebted to you for your passion, enthusiasm, and tireless commitment to the community. It is because of you that we are able to publish today; it is to you whom we owe all that the AAPR has given to us. We simply would not be here today were it not for your dedication and hard work, your constancy and strength. Thank you for a wonderful ten years, we welcome |