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1. Myth: Affirmative action hurts Asian Americans



Fact: Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) benefit from affirmative action programs because affirmative action has helped integrate this society and has undercut the influence of racist and sexist discrimination. In fields of study and work where APAs are underrepresented, affirmative action has been directly beneficial. Discrimination against APAs persists: college educated APAs on average earn 11% less than their white counterparts, and high school-educated APAs earn 26% less than their white counterparts. The defeat of affirmative action in the University of California system led to a decrease in Filipino, Pacific Islander, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani enrollment at UC Berkeley graduate programs and also led to a dramatic increase in racist hate-crimes against APAs in the city of Berkeley.

2. The admissions process disproves discrimination against high-achieving Asians since under the state of California's Master Plan of education, or the two-Tiered system. The first Tier admits people solely on academic criteria. The top 12.5% that of California's high school graduates are guaranteed admission to a UC. The remaining percentage of students will attend Cal State universities, and another portion is accepted into community colleges. The second Tier entails the supplemental criteria for admissions such as the no longer existing race and gender, socio-economic status, special talent such as strong athletic or musical skills, disability, awesome debate skills, etc.

3. Asians have not "made it" in our society. This is a Republican divide-and-conquer strategy. The glass ceiling still exists.

4. Affirmative Action has helped us become the "model minority." Look at the Chinese Immigration Acts and Japanese internment. Look at the federal affirmative action employment policies that promote diversity in the work force.

5. Affirmative Action helps Asians

Law Professor Jerry Kang, July 1997

“Reflections of an Asian American Affirmative Action Baby”

UCLA School of Law

I am currently the youngest tenure-track law professor at UCLA. In short, I am the “model minority.” I am also a beneficiary of affirmative action.

Were it not for affirmative action, I would not be teaching law today at UCLA. It would be self-deceiving to think that my paper record alone put me on UCLA’s radar screen. Having served on the appointments committee, I know how competitive and contingent law school hiring is: Extraordinary resumes, far more impressive than mine, are a dime a dozen. Without question, UCLA took affirmative steps to hire and recruit me partly because of the “diversity” I would add to a faculty then without a single Asian American.

In crediting “diversity,” the faculty took into account the additional value that I would bring to the job given my particular experience and identity as an Asian American. We do not yet live in a color-blind society, so race matters in countless endeavors, such as teaching, mentoring, scholarship, activism, and citizenship.

Affirmative action, not just “hard work,” gave me the opportunity to pursue these worthwhile projects in the privileged capacity as a UCLA law professor. It is an opportunity I am deeply thankful for. It is an opportunity I shall not waste. But as Asian Americans, like all Americans, continue to talk seriously about the future of affirmative action, we must not accept too quickly self-flattering stereotypes of the “model minority.” If we are heartened by the increasing numbers of prominent Asian American lawyers, scholars, judges, and politicians (who are often trained in law), we must recognize two points. First, most got there despite the prejudice that marks Asian Americans as foreigners, technically proficient but unimaginative, plodders not leaders. Second, most got there—as I did—with the help of affirmative action, which recognizes the relevance of our experience, identity, and communities.

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