GOOD AFTERNOON from the Golden State, and welcome to The Yappie’s Asian American politics and activism briefing. As always, support our work by making a donation and send tips, events, feedback, and opportunities to [email protected].
The Trump Era
?️ PROFILE — THE JUDGE WHO COULD CEMENT TRUMP’S INFLUENCE: President Donald Trump is likely to pick a woman to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court on Saturday. But Amul Roger Thapar, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit with deep ties to Asian American legal groups, remains a contender to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Read The Yappie’s deep dive on Thapar here.
- Why this matters: If chosen, Thapar would be the first Asian American formally nominated to serve on the nation’s highest court. He previously made history during the Bush administration as the country’s first federal court judge of South Asian descent.
? BREAKING — PUBLIC CHARGE IS BACK: The Trump administration moved Tuesday to reinstate its controversial “public charge” wealth test to all future and pending green card applications filed after Feb. 24, CBS News reports. The 2019 rule, which faced fierce legal opposition from Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) activists, allows immigration officers to deny green cards if an applicant used certain forms of financial or social assistance.
UPDATE — TRUMP’S WECHAT BAN IS HALTED: A federal judge in California temporarily blocked the Trump administration from banning downloads of the Chinese-owned app WeChat on Sunday, handing a victory to a group of users that said the order targeted Chinese Americans and violated their right to free speech. In her order, Judge Laurel Beeler said she was convinced that “there are no viable substitute platforms or apps for the Chinese-speaking and Chinese-American community.”
? WATCHDOG RAISES ALARM ON CENSUS ORDER: The U.S. Census Bureau was not involved in the Trump administration’s decision to cut short the 2020 census count, according to a new report from the Commerce Department’s inspector general, raising new fears of political interference from the White House. AAPI advocacy groups backed a bipartisan bill last week that extends field operations through the end of October; census results are used to shape the distribution of federal dollars and political power for the next decade.
- Meanwhile… Activists in Los Angeles are encouraging Taiwanese Americans to identify themselves as “Taiwanese” using the “other Asian” category on the census, Focus Taiwan reports.
2020 Watch
?️ NUMBER OF THE WEEK — The number of AAPI women House nominees stands at 15 this cycle (slightly short of the previous high of 17), according to a Center for American Women and Politics analysis. CAWP says the change may be due to the first-time inclusion of Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) as an option for racial self-identification.
BIDEN WOOS INDIAN AMERICAN VOTERS: An AAPIs for Biden Finance Council virtual fundraiser featuring Joe Biden (D) and top campaign healthcare adviser Vivek Murthy raised more than $3 million on Tuesday. Biden pledged to address the Indian American community’s concerns related to the Trump administration’s visa restrictions, Scroll.in reports.
? MINHAJ BOOSTS DEMS IN TEXAS: Netflix’s Hasan Minhaj will speak at the Texas Democratic Party’s annual Johnson-Jordan fundraising dinner on Thursday as the state party attempts to boost its appeal to AAPI voters, Variety reports.
DATA DIVE — Asian American voters are no longer a reliable Republican bloc and continue to trend left, according to the 2020 Asian American Voter Survey. AAPI women also hold significant but untapped voting power and might help swing Senate control to Democrats in November. Political scientist John Tures breaks down Asian Americans’ voting preferences over the last decade — and its implications for the 2020 election.
? SPOTTED — Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang (D), Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Grace Meng (D-New York), author Min Jin Lee, and actor Daniel Dae Kim headlined a virtual fundraiser hosted by Asian Americans Against Trump on Monday.
- From Business Insider’s Inyoung Choi: Yang said that a Trump defeat could be “the major political awakening that Asian Americans have been waiting for.”
AAPI Nation
ICYMI — AAPI STUDENTS FACE INCREASED HARASSMENT: A staggering 81.5% of Asian American youth reported experiencing bullying or verbal harassment during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published by the Stop AAPI Hate Youth Campaign that included nearly 1,000 interviews of young adults.
- The details: 8% reported physical assaults while 24% said they faced shunning and social isolation. About 8 out of 10 expressed anger at the country’s current anti-Asian racism. Harassment usually blamed Chinese people for the coronavirus and mocked Chinese dietary habits, and while adults were present in almost half the incidents, bystanders only intervened in about 10% of the cases.
- What’s next: Stop AAPI Hate also published key recommendations, including adding ethnic studies to secondary school curricula and training students and adults in “restorative justice” practices.
? THE VACCINE DEBATE — A Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 8–13 shows that the share of Asian American adults who say they would definitely or probably get a COVID-19 vaccine fell to 72% this month — down from 91% in May and similar to declines seen across all major demographic groups.
? FOR YOUR RADAR — A New York Times analysis of federal data reports that diversity gains in police departments across the country are often fueled by growing numbers of Asian and Hispanic officers, a decline in the number of white officers, or a combination of both.
ONE LAST THING — This year, Asian Americans made up only 1% of all Emmy nominations. That’s half the percent of Asian Americans who were nominated in the last 10 years. NBC News’ Saloni Gajjar takes a look at the history of AAPI representation and the obstacles that have hindered nominations of AAPIs at awards shows like the Emmys.
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