Francey Lim Youngberg, founding executive director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Institute (CAPACI), was the featured speaker at an Oct. 29 lecture sponsored by the Library's Asian American Association.
CAPACI was established by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus as a nonpartisan, nonprofit, educational corporation with the goal of increasing the participation of Asian Pacific Americans in national public policy.
After graduating from law school, Ms. Youngberg, who lived in the Philippines until she was 11, said that although it was easy for her to enter the corporate world, she discovered a different scenario for many of her fellow Asian Americans. She came to realize how unprepared they were to deal with institutions and how great the need was for Asian Americans to have mentors and other advisers.
The number of Americans of Asian descent has doubled during the past two decades, to the present 9.75 million, becoming the fastest growing minority today. By 2050, one out of 10 Americans will be of Asian ancestry. Evenly divided politically, they are concentrated in five states with large electoral votes, notably California. In more than 60 congressional districts, Asian Americans can be a powerful swing vote.
Yet in 1994, of the 2.8 million Asian Americans eligible to vote, only 1.2 million registered and only 1 million actually cast ballots. While pollsters and major newspapers discuss and track the votes of other minorities, those of Asian Americans go unnoticed, according to Ms. Youngberg. She exhorted Asian Americans to educate the media on the importance of this ethnic group to U.S. politics.
A problem for Asian Americans seeking common ground is that they are from so many different nations, said Ms. Youngberg. For example, while Japanese Americans were 46 percent of all Asian Americans in 1960, by 1990 their share had fallen to 12 percent. The 1990 Census shows that 23 percent were Chinese, 19 percent Filipino, 11 percent Asian Indian, 11 percent Korean and 8 percent Vietnamese. The remaining were split among 21 places of origin.
Although their ancestors were not so fortunate, today's Asian Americans are better educated and have the nation's highest household income of all ethnic groups. These factors sometimes contribute to the "model minority" myth, which has allowed Asian Americans to excel, but only to a certain degree. There are "glass ceilings" in the government as well as the private sector, said Ms. Youngberg. For example, only .03 percent of senior U.S. executives are of Asian descent. Statistics show that whites with the same qualifications make more than Asian Americans.
"We have come to realize that we lack the networking, the advocacy skills to influence legislation, the mentoring to advance in our chosen careers. All these are obstacles to political empowerment, so how can we change the situation?" she asked.
The cultural and language barriers of earlier immigrants are disappearing, Ms. Youngberg added, "and we have to encourage people to have more of a stake in America." She hoped that newspapers aimed at Asian Americans would begin to focus less on home countries and more on U.S. politics. And she has noticed that traditional animosities and factionalism between Asian American groups are being overcome.
Currently there are seven Asian Americans in Congress. Gary Locke of Washington has become the nation's only Asian American governor. "We need to cultivate new pipelines, with organizations such as the Organization of Chinese Americans and other such groups, who are tracking legislation and getting the news out to the community. We must encourage political activism, make political contributions," said Ms. Youngberg.
For its part, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Institute sponsors fellowships and internships for Asian American students. "We need to strengthen ties between the national advocacy groups and the grass root organizations. We must cultivate relationships and friendships in the media, law and business. We must develop a core of people who can come out forcefully and draw media attention to ourselves," she said.
