Rafu staff report
The political mailer, distributed by the Washington, D.C.-based America First Legal Foundation, denounces affirmative action as harmful to Asian Americans.
The mailer, which did not identify any candidate or campaign event, read in part: “Biden and the left want to decide who gets hired and fired based on the color of their skin. Even pilots will be selected by skin color, not flying ability.
“Now Hiring – Requirements: College Degree, 3-5 years of experience, must be Black or Latino. Whites and Asians need not apply.
“Joe Biden and left-wing officials are engaged in widespread racist discrimination against white and Asian Americans, even though it is against the law.
“One of Biden’s first executive orders was to make racial ‘justice’ a central policy of the US government. “Equality” is a code word for EXCLUDING people from jobs, college admissions, government and financial benefits based solely on the color of their skin.
Mailing includes clippings from Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and other publications.
America First Legal Foundation Mission Statement: “We believe that all Americans deserve a government that puts their needs, their interests, and their country FIRST. This is the sacred duty of every elected leader. It’s the system our founders created. It is the priceless heritage of every American citizen.
“However, America First principles are now under attack like never before. Our security, freedom, sovereignty, and our basic rights and values are being systematically undermined by an unholy alliance of corrupt special interests, big tech titans, fake news media, and liberal Washington politicians.
“We founded America First Legal to save our country from this coordinated campaign. With your support, we will stand up against the anti-liberty, anti-faith, anti-border, anti-police and anti-American crusades of the radical left.
The group’s president is Stephen Mueller, a former senior adviser to the president during the Trump administration.
Candidate positions
Affirmative action has been raised as an issue in the battle for California’s 45thth A congressional district sandwiched between two Asian-Americans, Republican incumbent Michelle Steele, who was born in South Korea and raised in Japan, and Democratic challenger Jay Chen, whose parents immigrated from Taiwan.
In an Oct. 31 tweet, Steele said, “Jay Chen has spent the last 12 years working to bring the Chinese Communist Party’s Confucius Institutes into American classrooms, but when it comes to getting Asian Americans into college classrooms, he’s not so helpful.
“As well as his support of KI, Chen has been involved across the country advocating for racial selection at universities across the country, which has resulted in discrimination against Asian Americans.
“Chen’s advocacy of affirmative action is so entrenched that he went on Tucker Carlson, where he effectively denied that students were being punished because of their race.
“Chen’s push for affirmative action disproportionately affects Asian Americans. Michelle Steele has spent decades advocating for Asian Americans and fighting against affirmative action. She has:
“Led an amicus brief with Sen. Ted Cruz and 80 of her congressional colleagues in support of the plaintiffs SFFA vs. Harvard.
“Introduced the Helping Applicants to Make Valid and Reasonable Decisions (HARVARD) Act, which would promote transparency in universities by requiring the use of personality traits to be accounted for in admissions decisions. If they don’t, they won’t be eligible for Title 4 federal funding.
“Questioned U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardón during an Education and Labor Committee hearing about this discriminatory policy. He said, “I believe students should be able to apply and get into colleges based on their merit.”
“In 1996 supported and campaigned for California’s Proposition 209, which banned racial discrimination in public employment, education and contracting. After that, minority graduation rates improved dramatically. In 2020, California Democrats introduced Proposition 16 to restore racial preferences in hiring, contracting and our education system. She fought against this discrimination and was again rejected.
“Testified before the House Judiciary Committee about AAPI discrimination and how affirmative action hurts students in schools across the country.”
After a 2016 appearance on Carlson’s show, Chen said, “The whole premise of his questioning was invalid, which was, ‘If you’re an Asian with high test scores and you don’t get into Harvard, it’s because of your race.'” It could just as easily be that you’re not heritage, you’re not playing lacrosse or sailing, didn’t go to a private boarding school, or your dad didn’t donate $2.5 million to Harvard as the son of the president-elect.-law Getting into Harvard isn’t just about SAT scores.
“If this conservative attack on affirmative action was really about protecting Asian Americans, why are they glossing over the fact that white students, who are 60% of the student body, also have significantly lower test scores than Asian American students? Statistically, and by their own logic, much more white students unfairly place asians than latinos or african americans so where is the lawsuit?
“No, their focus is on affirmative action and the minorities who might benefit from it. Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric, Asian Americans are only being used as a wedge in this debate.
Arguments of the Supreme Court
On Monday, the issue went before the Supreme Court, which will look at whether colleges and universities can continue to consider race as a factor in the admissions process. Opponents of affirmative action argued that Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated equal protection principles, undermined the promise of the colorblind community, and discriminated against Asian Americans.
One of those opponents is Students for Fair Admissions, which describes itself as “a nonprofit membership group of more than 20,000 students, parents and others who believe that racial classification and preferences in college admissions are unfair, unnecessary and unconstitutional .Our mission is to support and participate in litigation that will restore the founding principles of our nation’s civil rights movement: that a student’s race and ethnicity should not be factors that harm or help a student’s admission to a competitive university.
The New York-based Asian American Legal Defense and Education Foundation rejects claims that race-based admissions policies discriminate against Asian Americans or perpetuate harmful stereotypes against them.
“The Asian American community is large and diverse, including first-generation college students and children whose parents’ occupations led to their immigration; children of working-class refugees and multigenerational Americans; more than 300 language speakers; budding entrepreneurs, artists, teachers and others,” AALDEF said.
According to AALDEF, SFFA is relying on a “manipulated date” to try to prove that Asian Americans with high test scores are admitted at a lower rate than other racial groups.
ECAASU (East Coast Association of Asian American Students) said in an Oct. 31 statement: “Today, the Supreme Court hears two cases involving racially biased admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Opponents seek to use Asian Americans as a wedge against other communities of color.
“But that’s not what we’re here for. We’re #StandingForDiversity. We stand with a coalition of more than 121 Asian American organizations and activists advocating for race-informed admissions in higher education.
“Contrary to what anti-affirmative action activists claim, Asian Americans benefit from an admissions process that allows us to show our full selves in the college application process.
More than two-thirds of Asian Americans support affirmative action, according to @AAPIData poll conducted in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese.
Melinda Samaratunga, a policy intern at OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and a Sri Lankan American graduate of Columbia University, wrote in an opinion piece: “Affirmative action has divided the Asian American community: some support the challengers in the Harvard case, while others have joined. organizations such as OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, which advocates for affirmative action…
“As Asian Americans, it’s easy to fall into the trap of opposing affirmative action because we think it’s bad for us. However, it is critical to reconcile America’s racist history with the need for restorative programs such as affirmative action. As Asian Americans, we must stand up for affirmative action to reject the exploitation of our identity and demand justice for America’s most marginalized populations.
“For us Asian Americans, it can often be confusing to determine how affirmative action can affect us because affirmative action is sometimes thought to take away opportunities from Asian Americans and other racial groups. However, in reality, it is very important for our racial group to support these policies; if Asian Americans oppose affirmative action, we fall into the trap of allowing our identity to be exploited by white supremacy.
“Asian Americans have historically been used to implement anti-black politics, dating back to the disenfranchisement of Chinese immigrants in the 1860s… For example, a model minority myth is the idea that Asian Americans have achieved independent success only to be held back. with black inclusion; it’s a white construct that allowed white decision makers to oppose racist agendas without looking racist…
“Asian Americans have become pawns to advance the interests of white individuals against blacks. For example, the Harvard Supreme Court case was brought by Students for Fair Admissions, founded by the white conservative strategist Edward Bloom… Does Bloom really care about the well-being of Asian Americans? Or he’s just using us to promote the exclusion of blacks from higher education?
“Like black Americans, Asian Americans have benefited and continue to benefit from affirmative action… Such race-conscious programs level the playing field for white Americans and people of color… To oppose policies that disenfranchise and benefit one’s own community. is simply irrational.
“Asian Americans must actively support affirmative action to benefit our own people and resist exploitation by white decision makers.”
