Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Floor Speech

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Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, the month of May is recognized as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, an important time to celebrate our Nation's rich cultural diversity as well as the many accomplishments and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders all across our country.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are now the fastest growing racial group in the country, and today more immigrants come from Asia than from any other region in the world.

As chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, or CAPAC, I have seen these growing numbers reflected here in Congress, where we now have 14 Asian American and Pacific Islander Members of Congress, which is a historic high.

We have also seen these numbers reflected in the diversity of our Federal workforce as well as in the Federal judiciary, where we have more than tripled the number of Asian Pacific American judges who serve on the Federal bench.

This includes the historic nomination of Sri Srinivasan to the U.S. District Court of Appeals, which is extremely notable because it is the court from which many U.S. Supreme Court Justices have risen, and we know that it is only a matter of time before we have our first Asian American Supreme Court Justice.

In addition to working to diversify our Federal workforce, we in CAPAC have the privilege to advocate for the priorities and concerns of Asian Pacific Americans on a broad range of issues, from combating racial profiling, to keeping immigrant families together through comprehensive immigration reform, to ensuring that all Americans can access the ballot box and have a voice in our democracy.

Today far too many in the Asian Pacific American community are being profiled because of the way they look or the religion they practice, and whether they are Chinese Americans who are being singled out for economic espionage or are Muslim or Sikh Americans who are wrongfully perceived as terrorists, we know that profiling creates a culture of suspicion that not only breeds mistrust, but that also endangers the lives and livelihoods of innocent Americans.

Take the recent case of a Chinese American scientist who was wrongly targeted as a spy for China. One terrible morning, Professor Xiaoxing Xi woke up to see guns pointed at him and 12 FBI agents arresting him in front of his wife, two daughters, and the whole neighborhood. They dragged him off to jail, accused him of being a spy for China, and threatened him with 80 years in jail. It turned out that the FBI agents were wrong. So they dropped all charges, but not before ruining Professor Xi's life.

We have also seen this happen in the case of Sherry Chen, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service of Ohio, who was arrested in front of her coworkers and was accused of being a spy for China, only to have her case dismissed.

Asian American scientists and engineers, who have worked hard to get their advanced degrees and be successful in their careers, now live in fear that they, too, may be next.

As CAPAC's chair, I have made it a priority to fight back against these injustices. We have met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to demand answers to these cases. We have held press conferences, have written letters, and have questioned the FBI and the Department of Justice during congressional hearings. We know we must speak up.

In fact, we need only to look at the horrors of what happened to innocent Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War II to know what can happen when we remain silent. That is why it is so important for diverse communities to have a voice in our democracy.

Today the ability for us to make a difference is enormous, and we in CAPAC are working hard to ensure that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have access to the ballot box through our efforts to restore the Voting Rights Act.

Nationally, Asian Pacific Americans have doubled our voter registration numbers over the last decade from 2 million to 4 million people, and, by 2040, we will have doubled even those numbers. We are the sleeping giant. In fact, Asian Pacific Americans have gone from being marginalized to being the margin of victory.

As we celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this May, let us remember not only the many contributions of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, but also the challenges that we must continue to confront in order to ensure that all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or language ability, can achieve the American Dream.

Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

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