Eddie Lee:
Well, welcome back to the 
afternoon session today.
I want to just kind of take
this moment to thank you all.
After kind of like listening
into each -- some of these
sessions, I know how many great
ideas that are out there and
how passionate you guys are.
And so we're very encouraged
to hear your stories and your
thoughts about these
different issues.
At this moment, what we're going
to do is invite the break-out
sessions, a representative from
each session to come up to the
front and share what their
session was about, their ideas.
And our question is, how, if
you were going to advise this
Administration and this
President about the issue that
you were talking about,
what would you say?
And we invite you to come up
here for about four minutes
each, four to five minutes, and
try to kind of put together a
briefing memo of how --
of what we've established
in each of these sessions.
Before I do that, I've asked our
White House Initiative on the
AAPI staff to come up here, as
well as our Commissioner to be
up here to just basically listen
and also to sort of give you
our thoughts on how -- our
feedback to your ideas.
And so I wanted to introduce,
or ask them to introduce
themselves, starting with Akil.
Akil Vohra:
Hi, everybody.
I'm Akil Vohra.
I work at the Initiative
with all these folks.
I focus on civil rights
issues, education,
and I work with our 20
commissioners who are
appointed by the President.
Miya Saika Chen:
Hey, everyone.
Can you hear me?
No, okay.
Speaker:
I don't think these
are on, are they?
Miya Saika Chen:
It's green. Hello.
(laughter)
Miya Saika Chen:
My name is Miya Saika Chen.
I'm a senior advisor in
the White House Initiative,
and I focus on community
engagement and economic
growth for our initiative.
So I coordinate all of our
national community engagement
events across the country.
I encourage all of you to join
our list serve in case Eddie --
Eddie, I'm sure you
mentioned it, right?
Eddie Lee:
Not yet, no.
(laughter)
Miya Saika Chen:
Oh, my gosh, that's horrible.
Eddie Lee:
I was getting to it.
Miya Saika Chen:
Okay, good.
And follow us on Facebook
or at Facebook.com,
White House AA --
slash White House AAPI.
If you want to join
our list serve,
you can write to White
House AAPI at ed.gov.
But we'll probably add all of
you to it after this event.
So thanks so much for
being here, everyone.
Sunaree Marshall:
Hi, my name is Sunaree Marshall.
And I work with the Initiative
on sustainable neighborhoods.
So a kind of
combination of housing,
community development and
other issues that have to
do with sustainability.
And also, I work with our
federal agency partners on
trying to get them to focus
more on AAPI issues and
the AAPI community.
Audrey Buehring:
Do I have to push it?
Hi, this is -- I'm
Audrey Buehring,
and I am the senior advisor
of intergovernmental affairs,
so I liaise with all the 25
different agencies that we work
with trying to get them
to put forth some agency plans
that really create some
change in our communities.
Tuyet Duong: Hi,
I'm Tuyet Duong.
I'm an advisor and I work on
civil rights and immigration and
also our commission.
Hector Vargas:
Hey, everybody.
My name is Hector Vargas.
And I am a commissioner
on the President's Advisory
Commission for AAPIs.
And in my day job, I am the
executive director of the Gay
and Lesbian Medical Association,
which works on health
policy for LGBT people.
Ramey Ko:
Hi, everyone, again,
my name is Ramey Ko.
I'm also one of the
commissioners from
Austin, Texas.
And in my day job, I am an
Associate Municipal Judge
in Austin.
I'm also a lecturer in Asian
American studies at UT.
Eddie Lee:
All right.
So at this time we
want to turn it to you.
And the way we -- I'll open it
up to any volunteers that may
be brave and bold enough
to start the session.
If not, then I'll just
start going down the lists.
Tuyet Duong:
The immigration people,
like all three of you,
can come up, since
we didn't pick one.
You can split the four minutes.
Eddie Lee:
All right.
Sunaree Marshall:
In other words,
Tuyet's volunteered
you for yourselves.
(laughter)
Eddie Lee:
You guys can come up
here to the stage.
Speaker:
I think this session
was kind of, you know,
framed towards giving
advice to our advisors.
But I think our presentation is
going to basically, you know,
going to be based on our
discussion in our session which
was basically on our individual
of our honors student levels.
So I think later on
one of our peers can
connect up back to you.
But that's what I'm
going to present.
So within our group, there were
various things that came up,
and I'm going to
try to cut it short.
And there were so many different
stories that we shared,
and I think one of our panelists
earlier had mentioned the
importance of, you know, each
and every one of our stories.
And one effective way that came
up was documenting our stories
and sharing it within
our communities.
One of my peers was planning on
showing a documentary within his
organization on campus.
Once -- I didn't say --
ARC's break-out session was
talking about immigration
and communities.
So we basically talked about
ways for us to deliver the
message that we learned today
in the AAPI briefing back to our
communities as student leaders.
So I think that's when
we come out in the scene.
And so documenting.
Our panelists told us that the
Library of Congress is document
-- collecting documentations
of Asian American stories.
And as we said, I think --
I thought that was a very
powerful and effective way of
delivering our message.
And another thing that we can
do easily is word of mouth.
Things like this opportunity
is really rare and it's a great
opportunity for us to be here.
So kind of letting the
community know that there are
opportunities like this, that
AAPI initiatives like that are
putting this effort to spread
out the message back to our
community is very
important for us.
And, yeah, I think I can pass
it along to my other peer.
Kiwi:
Hi, my name is Kiwi and
I'm from Rutgers university
representing the Asian
American Cultural Center.
Thank you, Tuyet, for just
volunteering us first.
I appreciate it.
(laughter)
Kiwi:
I guess, we had three
different groups in
our break-out session.
Our group really tried to dig
in as to defining the biggest
problem with immigration,
I guess on a very --
on a local level.
And we came up with certain
solutions as to how we can go
about trying to remedying some
of these very bigger issues that
come along with immigration.
And I guess just on -- we talked
a lot about on campus solutions
for coming -- for immigration.
And we talked about having
support groups for people
who are struggling
with similar issues.
We felt that through support
groups people can really,
you know, educate each other on
the different problems that they
face when it comes to
immigrational issues.
Also, help each other
out through connections
each other might have.
And we just pretty much defined
that the biggest problem with
immigration is a lack of
education for the AAPP --
AAPI, sorry, the AAPI --
(laughter)
Kiwi:
-- groups.
Yeah, AAPI, thank you, Eddie.
(laughter)
Kiwi:
And so, we felt that
education of the
different problems with
immigration could be a very
simple solution, such as
expired visas -- I can't read
my handwriting -- application
processes, renewals.
So, yeah, we just felt like
education was the main focus
for, you know really remedying
a lot of problems for
immigrational issues.
Thank you.
Speaker:
Hello, everybody.
Just to let you know,
Sarang and Kiwi are Korean,
and I'm a Korean,
too, so Korean pride.
(laughter)
That's how I start.
(laughter)
Kiwi:
Any Koreans?
Are we still live?
There, I see you.
(laughter)
Sarang:
It's about the community,
not about --
It's about
the community, that's right.
(laughter)
Kiwi:
As I mentioned earlier,
it's very hard to approach
or identify or outreach AAPI
undocumented students because
there's some sort of culture
stigma or social discrimination
within our community.
And as Sarang mentioned
about, you know,
having some sort
of like, you know,
collecting stories and have some
sort of documentation or movies
to, you know, bring
ideas and, you know,
outreach communities
and, you know,
how Kiwi mentioned about having
to educate our community to,
you know, understand broader
context of immigration
issues at large.
And I think we need some sort
of like compiled information
together and kind of have
toolkit guide, maybe at the,
you know, AAPI website and get
some sort of information so
that any community members
could, you know,
download with the resources
guide to, you know,
outreach AAPI undocumented youth
to, you know, provide resources,
how to go to college and pursue
our education and move on to
college and, you know, even
provide like free legal
assistance because there's
a lot of, you know,
immigrant communities
are looking for that
free legal assistance.
So I think, we thought that it
would be a great idea to have
some sort of like toolkit guide
or like resources guide on the
website so anyone could download
them and share the information.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
Give them a round of applause.
(laughter)
Eddie Lee:
I'll say,
before we bring up our next one,
I want to just to turn it
over to our Initiative staff.
I'm not sure if they have any
thoughts or questions for that.
But, you know, our initiative,
we take immigration
very seriously.
It's one of our forefront
of our huge priority for us.
And so it's really encouraging
to hear your stories,
your feedback, and with that
I'm going to turn it over to our
folks over here at the table.
Tuyet Duong:
I feel like a proud parent,
it's like.
But I think we had
a great discussion.
I feel reinvigorated
about my work.
I think there were a lot of
ideas even beyond what was
shared by our three great
representatives, too.
But I think they came up with
some great ideas at
the ground level.
They offered some ideas to the
Initiative on how we can bridge
some gaps between the student
bodies and educators and
administrators and provide
tools to the community, too.
And so I'm really excited
to take this back,
work with our team to see what
else we can do to advance the
community and what the federal
-- and see what the federal
government can do to better
improve getting information
out there to the community.
So thank you so much for the
discussion, the questions,
challenging me, and I look
forward to talking and working
with you all in the future.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
Thank you.
I think our next
group is so ambitious,
they came up here early.
So we will invite, I think
you're from the youth
empowerment -- or empowering
AAPI students, so.
Speaker:
Hello, my name
is Sayata Shayan (phonetic).
I'm also an intern
at the Initiative.
And before I give
the action agenda,
I wanted to thank the Initiative
staff members for providing this
space and this opportunity, and
thank you students, college,
high school and administrators
who are here and hope that you
take this opportunity and
embrace it and can take
this back to your campus
and your community,
whether that's at home
or local, state and such.
And so I was with
the empowering AAPI students
through campus activism.
And in our discussion, in our
room, it was very diverse.
We had college students, a
few high school students and
administrators, as well.
We discussed about how to
build student capacity and
partnerships with the White
House and the Initiative.
And some of the few
pointers were outreach,
and particularly virtual --
being virtually connected.
I believe Kiran and Christina
had spoken earlier about how
in our generation, we have
Twitter and Facebook.
And so utilizing
that social media,
and also having some form of
virtual mentors to pair up
as advisors, either from
the federal government,
having federal representatives
on campuses, if possible.
Another would be having White
House sponsored teachants (phonetic)
for either specific
issues or trainings.
And the trainings could be
on having campus liaisons or
teachants that these students
could utilize in order to build
capacity on their campus
or have student activism.
And another is setting
-- sending out data,
whether it's reports or surveys,
for students and organizations
to use to support
in their activism.
And also using these students,
polling the students for
insights and for an example,
a student capacity survey,
so that the initiative can
get an insight on what issues
these students are facing on
their campuses and what they
think that you could do,
just as a yearly update.
Because sometimes
issues might change.
And finally, another thing
that was spoken about is
AAPI heritage month and
how to expand on that,
having more AAPI representatives
on the campuses actually
go to the campuses.
So the Initiative is hoping from
yourself, the student leaders,
for invitations to speak on
your campuses on more
of these issues.
Thank you.
(applause)
Eddie Lee:
Thank you.
Do you guys have any feedback
for that, any thoughts?
Just want to open it up.
Great.
Well, I was in that session.
And I've just got to say,
that was just a fraction of
the awesome ideas that
we got out there.
There was a lot of great
and dynamic things,
both involving the
commission and not.
So, again, thank you to all the
students who were in our session
and hopefully we can continue
to work on some of these
great ideas that we have.
I think we especially liked
the idea of having maybe the
opportunity to touch base with
students through surveys or
other ways periodically that
don't always necessarily require
a big event like this, you know.
So I think that will be --
that's a really great idea.
But, yeah, it was
a great session.
Thanks for everyone
who was in that one.
Wonderful.
I believe next we have the
LGBT and AAPI Pride session.
Joya Ahmed:
Good afternoon.
I'm Joya Ahmed (phonetic),
I'm a freshman at
Columbia University.
And first of all, I'd like to
thank everyone for having us all
here and giving us a chance
to talk about these issues.
The main issue that was brought
up in the LGBTQ AAPI group was
that we use too many alphabets.
(laughter)
Joya Ahmed:
The second big issue was that we
don't like to talk about what
these alphabets stand for,
and the fact that there's a lot
of Asian shame was a term that
came up a lot, that children and
parents often don't know how to
communicate with each other.
There's a generational gap
that has yet to be bridged.
And there's a lot of fear behind
coming out or asking for help or
searching for resources,
because the people don't
know where to start.
So a lot of our issues kind
of focused on the idea of
invisibility of the Asian
people in the LGBT community.
The idea of giving out data and
information and finding equal
ways to access this information,
whether that's through language
-- transcending the language
barrier by having translators,
by having campus involvement,
by having peer to peer mentors,
and also having the idea
of dispelling myths about
LGBT people and success.
One of the main things that was
brought up was how Asian parents
get worried when their
kids come out to them.
They say, my kid can never be
successful now that they're gay.
So you've got to choose.
You can either be gay or you
can be Asian; you can't be both.
So we want to leave that behind
and come up with a way that
Asian people, kids, parents,
elders, can come together,
bridge those generational and
cultural gaps and start to
talk about these issues
in a cohesive manner.
So our big idea was maybe a
Pan-Asian alliance to bring
together the Korean
LGBT community,
the Bangladeshi LGBT community,
the Filipino LGBT community.
Instead of leaving them
as fragmented pieces,
bringing them together
to make a cohesive whole,
and maybe that way we could
start to get real change in
the Asian community and
give ourselves a voice.
Thank you.
Eddie Lee:
Thank you.
(applause)
Eddie Lee:
Great.
Turn it over to our panelists
here to give feedback.
Ramey Ko:
Yeah, I also want to
thank the students who are --
and especially the allies
who were in our session.
It was a lively session
and great discussion.
And one of the things that the
Initiative and also the White
House Office of Public
Engagement has focused on is the
intersection of LGBT and API
communities and individuals,
and how we can ensure that
government programming addresses
these issues from those
multiple perspectives.
And that's something that we've
worked on in terms of bullying,
in terms of HIV
prevention programs,
and many different ways.
And I look forward
to continuing that.
And also, want to give a shout
out to an organization that does
try to -- that really works to
build on those intersections
and that's the National
Queer API Alliance,
which is holding its
national conference here
in D.C. in July.
And if you need more information
about that, come see me.
Tuyet Duong:
Sorry.
Go ahead.
Ramey Ko:
Follow George Takei
on Twitter and Facebook.
He does post really great
stuff about AAPI LGBTQ issues.
Sunaree Marshall:
You know, we actually
talked about George Takei
in our session.
Is this on?
Maybe I'll just talk loud.
Because, you know, there was
this idea of the generational
gap and not -- there not being
enough role models in that
generation for younger
people to look up to.
So what I just want to say is,
it sounds like we have our work
cut out for us, and
I'm excited about it.
I love that, you know, a lot of
times we go to these meetings
and we hear ideas but,
you know, a year later,
we think what happened
to those ideas.
And so, you know, I know our
session talked about forming a
group, staying in touch over
the next year and then coming
together and talking
about what progress was
made at the end of the year.
So very excited.
And I think that's
probably what's happening
in these other sessions.
So thank you all so much for
coming together with these great
ideas and can't wait
to hear back, you know,
in the November time frame.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
Thank you.
Our next session will
be from The Youth and
Entrepreneurship session.
So if there's a representative
from that office or
that session.
Yeah, yeah.
(applause)
Speaker:
Hi, everyone.
My name is (inaudible) and
I'm a freshman at Georgetown
University this year.
So today in our break-out
session, we were talking about,
you know, supporting
entrepreneurs and small
businesses in the
AAPI community.
And sort of a theme that we
developed throughout our entire
break-out session was how
supporting these, you know,
businesses really helps
to make your community,
your state and your company
stronger as a whole,
rather than just focusing
on the individual.
Just expanding it to the
community as a whole.
And we first kind
of talked about getting the
information out there.
I'm sure this came up in a
lot of break-out sessions,
how there's so many resources
for our communities,
but they just -- we just
don't know about them.
Like people don't
know where to go.
So we were talking
about, you know,
doing summits in different
states, word of mouth,
constantly expanding, having
one-on-one conversations to
really kind of open up this
forum and to make it more
accessible to people
that, unlike us,
don't have the opportunity
to come to, you know,
events like these.
And then we also talked
about how -- how can we make
entrepreneurship, you know,
accessible for the broader
public good and what is
government's role in sort
of assisting that
broader public good.
And we talked how
entrepreneurship for minorities
really makes it easier for
minorities to live in these
communities and to establish
themselves and to form
relationships and to really
make their home their home.
Because, you know, it
allows them to have a
stake in where they are.
We talked about decreasing
the stigma of taking out
loans from other people.
Because oftentimes, you know,
AAPI families often have a
stigma against, you know,
borrowing money from others and
how we need to decrease that to,
you know, make start-ups more,
you know, encourage
more start-ups, really.
We talked about having
counseling services,
allowing people to talk
one-on-one with other,
more experienced mentors and
how to develop their ideas.
Giving businesses the
opportunity to grow by
themselves rather than
keeping tabs on them,
to really encourage a
sense of independence.
Talking about sustainability.
Talked about, you know,
investing in new and
burgeoning industries.
Really just setting up presences
in big communities to
make a viable impact on
entrepreneurship as a whole
and to really make our
voices heard, you know,
in the business sector.
Thank you.
(applause)
Eddie Lee:
Thank you. Any thoughts?
Miya Saika Chen:
Thanks, Shopa (phonetic),
and thank you to everyone who
was involved in our workshop.
I wish we had more time
to talk, because I find
those recommendations so
helpful and important.
So when we follow
up with you all,
we'll all -- I'm volunteering
all of us to give you all our
contact information so you can
follow up with us directly about
any other kind of questions
or recommendations or
comments that you might have.
Thank you so much.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
And on that note, as a
follow-up to this briefing,
we'll be sending all of you
e-mails with resources as well
as e-mails of all of the
folks that were up here today,
just so that you keep in touch
with them and follow up with any
questions or thoughts
that you might have.
So with that, we come to
our last break-out session,
and that is the maximizing
educational opportunities.
And so with that, I'll
invite our representative up.
Jennifer Brionus:
Hi, everyone.
My name is
Jennifer Brionus (phonetic),
I am a senior at Loyola
University in Maryland.
And I just wanted to first thank
the White House and the AAPI
initiative for having
all of us here today.
As Eddie said, I was in the
education break-out session.
We first, part one focused
on big group discussion,
which was basically a continuing
the panel discussion that
we had earlier this morning.
And in that discussion, we
talked about the big issues that
came up this morning, such as
the tuition hikes and people's
concerns about quality of
education and defining
that and what that means.
And basically, we were given
advice that the best way to get
our voices out there was
to reach out to your local
administrators, school
administrators and state
government, as well.
And that eventually maybe it
will go to a federal level,
as well.
Afterwards in our
second portion,
we separated into smaller groups
in which we discussed more
issues and then came back
together and picked the most
important ones in our opinion.
The first one was sometimes
there is a misunderstanding
between professors
and AAPI students.
This could entail sometimes
professors do, you know,
have issues with students who
have English as their second
language, or some AAPI students
tend to be more shy and
therefore do not get that
participation grade that
is a huge aspect
of many college grades.
And the solution to this
would be encouraging cultural
competency in public
universities by the federal
government and that would come
through such things as cultural
competency training, which
could be funded by grants.
A second issue we discussed
were -- was transparency.
So a lot of people want to know,
where exactly are
my tuition dollars going.
Now, the federal government
is becoming more and more
transparent, so we focused
more on state government.
We want to encourage them as
our main concern to be more
available, to be
more transparent.
You know, why should we have
to fill out FOYA forms and
wait forever to figure out
where our money is going.
We had a great idea from one of
our students that perhaps there
should be a website for all
universities that can be
accessed in which there could be
a list of all of the grants and
scholarships that are available
by all of the schools.
And that way, there would be
somewhere where we could all see
where -- at which schools we
could get which scholarships.
A third issue we
discussed is, you know,
after school program
availability.
And we talked about how,
what we can do instead
of asking for funds.
And what we can do instead of
that is leverage our resources
such as, you know, promoting
community advocacy,
promoting these programs,
partnering with nonprofit
organizations and getting
the word out there, saying,
you know, these programs are
out there, they're available,
so take advantage of them.
And finally, we talked --
someone brought up maybe we
should have a program for
students who are being
interested in becoming teachers,
where we could train them and
have them teach and mentor
younger AAPI students or
ESL students.
And apparently, there is
already a program that exists.
So that just brought up the
issue again of promotion and
getting the word out there
and having our voice heard.
Thank you.
(applause)
Akil Vohra:
Well, thanks for saving
the best for last.
I mean, I was --
(laughter)
Akil Vohra:
My bias.
No.
But I was very,
very much impressed,
and I think all of us here
are in terms of the ideas,
the passion, and just the
insight that all of you have.
And, you know,
especially for our group,
talking about education
issues, you know,
there are a lot of things that
I think sometimes when we're in
D.C. we become disconnected with
what's happening on the ground.
And we -- our office tends to
be pretty sharp on these things.
But, again, I learned
a lot from all of you.
And I thought a lot of you
had a lot of smart ideas.
Folks said that we're not
going to ask for more money,
because we know we're not
going to get anymore money.
So let's talk about
leveraging our resources.
Let's talk about
leveraging our programs.
And when I informed
them that, you know,
this program already
exists, you know,
they said why don't
we know about it?
And that's our responsibility,
to make sure that we're getting
these programs and resources
out to you much better.
So I wanted to thank all of
you for that insight and
that feedback.
Question?
Audience Member:
What's the program called?
Akil Vohra:
Trio.
Yes.
There's actually a lot of
programs from the Department of
Education that provides funding
for ELLs on different levels.
So sometimes it's
given to the state.
It's always given to the state,
but it's tied in to
some other program.
So there's Trio, there's Race to
the Top, there's actually, yeah,
there's probably eight
to ten different
programs that provide funding.
Eddie Lee:
Well, thanks to the
Initiative staff for coming
up here, and for all of you
for presenting your ideas.
I know that there's a lot of
things that were talked about
all day and a lot of
opportunities for you to engage.
And this brings us to the last
opportunity for you to do that.
And so what we want to do is
for the next 15 minutes or so,
we want to open up the floor
to you in a town hall session,
all right.
So this is our chance to really
engage the Initiative staff,
so the folks that are the
eyes and the ears of
the AAPI community.
And we want to just hear from
you what are your thoughts.
If there are any things that
were not said for this portion
or for any of the
portions here today,
we just want to open it up
broadly for all of you to speak.
And I also want to encourage
you to come speak on the
microphones, just so that the
folks that are watching on the
live stream can hear you.
So you can start making your
way over to the microphones.
All right.
Go ahead.
Audience Member:
Hi.
A lot of these problems that
have been brought up and have to
be addressed, it seems like
there are already programs
that are in place.
And, at least in our discussion
with empowering the community,
a lot of the solutions
that we tried to think of,
they're already there.
It's just that nobody
knows about it.
So it's this idea of
promotion that's a problem.
Would it be difficult to kind
of mandate that, you know,
school multicultural centers,
you know, have to, you know,
distribute this information,
that they would have it?
Because I know mine doesn't.
And, you know, if -- you would
have to go on your own to look
through it and they're pretty
much just as in the dark as
I am and the students.
So how would you address that?
Eddie Lee:
It's a good question.
Is anyone brave
enough to answer that?
Ramey Ko:
Well, let me throw
this out there first.
So I mentioned this to a couple
of the break-out sessions.
But I want to make sure
everybody here knows, right.
Our website, www.AAPI.gov.
And if you go to that website,
we have a lot of downloadable
documents on there that
not only can address some of
these issues y'all have, but
you can start immediately
disseminating this information.
For example, we
developed -- actually,
not -- I don't want to take
too much credit for this.
Commissioners.
It's really the staff
who did this work.
A comprehensive federal agency
resource guide specifically for
the AAPI community that
goes through all the federal
agencies, how to access them,
what services they provide,
you know, et cetera.
So that's already
available out there.
And we also have some other
documents that sort of overview
a lot of the programs
that we've been doing.
So at least in terms like those
resources that we can provide
that can probably provide
information on what's already
out there, that maybe
people haven't heard of,
we need your help to get that
out there and disseminate it.
And follow us, you know, join
the mailing list, AAPI.gov,
et cetera.
And then when we --
you guys get, you know,
our notifications from us, we
need you to echo that, right.
It needs to be like
a constant web,
like it goes to you and that
goes to your networks and hubs
and other hubs send out to
more and more, right, like the,
you know, you've seen the
diagram, flow charts, right.
We want it to look like these
sunbursts that go out to all
these different communities.
So that's one thing
that we can do.
I'm going to stop there and not
-- leave someone else to
discuss the actual mandating.
Tuyet Duong:
I want to ask the question back, is, you know,
obviously a lot here are
trying to absorb your question.
But I want to ask you, who are
the usual multicultural offices
accountable to, right?
They're accountable
usually to their funders,
their constituents, some of
the administrators and schools.
And so maybe you can
find out where the
accountability points are.
And if it comes back to the
federal government and there's
some federal funding tied, then
obviously there's a link for us
to have a lever here to push
that accountability lever.
And so we're definitely
interested in pushing those
accountability levers.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
Miya, do you want to talk about
the resource guide, real quick?
Miya Saika Chen:
Yeah.
So Ramey mentioned that we have
this AAPI federal resource guide
that has, you know, most of
you should have gotten it,
but I think we have more
copies in the lobby.
But it basically describes a lot
of different programs and gives
a snapshot of grants and
resources available from 17
different federal agencies.
And it gives examples of
community organizations or
individuals who have
successfully leveraged these
grants, who have received
federal funding or different
resources in that way.
And so they kind of give
people advice on how to
access those resources.
But I also wanted to mention --
and we can send this to you all,
too, if you just let us
know that you want it.
If you want to have a round
table or a forum or some kind of
event in your local community,
and if you want us to bring
speakers from the Department of
Education or the Department of
Health and Human Resources or
different agencies there to
explain what their resources
are and explain, you know,
how to access them,
then we would be more
than happy to do that.
We've held events
across the country.
This year we have a very
ambitious community engagement
schedule and we're focusing
on the midwest and the south.
But we're really, really open
to kind of bringing the federal
resources out to the community.
So if you are willing to host
an event or a round table,
organize your other students or
other members of your community
to come together, we
would be glad to bring
those speakers out to you.
Eddie Lee:
Great. Thanks.
Go to our next question.
Sophia Cho:
Hi, My name is Sophia Cho.
I'm from Rutgers University.
I don't know -- and I know
the panelist is more for
like specific questions
relating to your fields.
This might be just more
for Kiran and Chris,
who I don't think
are here right now.
But I wanted to ask
about this before.
And someone briefly brought up
the issue of with bullying and
the Army and the soldiers, the
recent light of -- in recent
light of like Danny Chen, who
was a Chinese American from New
York who recently committed
suicide on base in Afghanistan.
And we touched upon a lot with
bullying within schools and
colleges within
the United States.
But I was wondering if the
AAPI community initiative has
anything that helps Asian
American soldiers and people who
are considering going into ROTC.
And it's strange, because I have
a lot of friends at Rutgers who
are a part of this ROTC program.
So if there's anything that
will be happening or if there's
already things that are
already happening with that.
Tuyet Duong:
Actually, we have
been engaged on the
Private Danny Chen issue.
We've been in conversations
with Lisu Yang (phonetic),
who's been an
amazing leader, right.
And we helped -- help her meet
with the Secretary of Army's
folks.
So we're glad that she's able to
-- we were glad we were able
to facilitate that dialogue,
because we do want to
facilitate leaders' access to
federal agency leaders.
And I think what we have is,
coming up is a round table with
Department of Veterans Affairs,
which is those who are coming
out of active duty and with the
veteran affairs leadership with
the veterans communities on
the supports they can provide.
But we are in touch with the
Department of Defense and
their kind of diversity
inclusion shop.
And so if you think that's a
good idea to have a round table,
I'd be interested in talking to
you more about that in terms of
understanding what supports
there are for those in
active duty for AAPI.
So thank you for your idea.
Eddie Lee:
Sure.
And on that note, I think it
would be appropriate for Akil,
if you want to talk about our
efforts on the bullying front,
as well.
Akil Vohra:
Sure.
So the Initiative has been
working on harassment and
bullying issues for
the AAPI community.
And in terms of getting the
information about how to
file a federal claim when
these issues come up,
dealing with the issues of
making sure that parents
are understanding what
students are going through,
making sure that students are
communicating those issues to
their teachers and parents.
And we put on a bullying
prevention summit in New York
where we actually bussed in
students from Philadelphia,
from New Jersey and
New York, as well.
So we're going to continue
with our outreach.
There's also a federal
interagency team that we sit on
that focuses on harassment,
and Department of Defense
is part of that, as well.
So we make sure our voice is
to go back and say, you know,
we know HHS or DOD, you're
doing a great job on this issue.
What's the AAPI
component to that?
Are you making sure that
materials are translated?
Are you making sure
you're reaching our
specific communities?
Are you taking into
consideration the unique
needs of our community?
So that's continuously what
we're doing on a day-to-day
basis when we're
interacting with the
federal government folks.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
Just as a show of hands, who
here knows someone or has been
bullied themselves over
the last year or so?
Right.
So I mean we mentioned this
earlier in our conversation
that, you know, AAPI communities
are more -- are affected just as
much, if not more, on bullying
than any other community.
And so it's a huge priority for
us and we need to make sure that
we're not only, you know,
talking about this issue here
in the Beltway, but we're
hearing from all of you
on your campuses.
You know, Miya mentioned
having round tables
on conference calls.
I think that's a very effective
way for us to hear from you guys
on, you know, what are the
appropriate ways for us
to address this issue.
How can we better serve you
at this administration level.
And what are the ways that we
can solve this moving forward.
So we want to keep this
conversation going and I want to
thank you so much
for your question.
Who do we have next?
Up there, yeah.
>>Speaker:
Hi there.
This is more of a question that
relates to the first panel that
we were discussing, and
talking about the AAPI
population as a community.
And in the first panel we
spoke about how a lot of our
communities view themselves
as microcommunities.
For example, the Indian
population doesn't necessarily
place itself in the
larger Asian community.
What I wanted to know,
especially in terms of students
being active on campuses, how
we can show that we can have an
amalgamation of communities
without necessarily having
assimilation to a
larger population.
So how can you retain the
idea of being an Indian,
being Chinese, being
Filipino, being Hawaiian,
and still be a part of
the larger community,
and how that can foster a sense
of community so we can move
forward with a lot
of these initiatives.
Ramey Ko:
Sure.
I work a lot on coalition
building on student -- in
student activism and organizing.
And I think, let's take this
question even bigger, right.
Like there's also the issue of
how do we work in coalition with
other communities of color, with
other marginalized communities,
with women's groups, with LGBTQ
communities, with, you know,
people with disabilities and
mental health and, you know,
all of these kinds
of things, right.
It's not just about coalitions
within the AAPI community.
It's about broader coalitions
in order to get things achieved
that maybe we can't
do on our own,
or because it affects more
than just our community.
But at the same time, I don't
think it's necessary for us to
necessarily sacrifice, you know,
some of our individual heritage,
as well.
I think there's examples
in certain campuses,
you can look at
some best practices.
And, you know, the culture and
history of different campuses
and areas means that this
develops differently.
But some campuses have been very
successful at having umbrella
organizations, like an Asian
American student union or
student association that does
a lot of coordination between
groups while each individual
group still has its own
independence, its own
programming, its own work.
At the University of Texas, in
response to this concern about
Balkanization between the
different AAPI groups,
they founded a couple of
years ago the Asian American
Leadership Council.
And so now once every two
weeks or something like that,
the president of every AAPI
student organization on campus,
the presidents all meet in
order to discuss their
issues and things like that.
So I think it's, you know,
perfectly capable of doing that.
I actually think with college
students and young people,
it's easier to make
the AAPI sell, right.
Like let me just ask
this question out here.
How many of you here would
say you primarily identify
as Asian American?
00:40:13.300,00:40:12.467
Okay.
I'm going to raise my
hand myself on that, okay.
How many people's parents
primarily identify
as Asian American?
Right.
A lot fewer, a lot fewer, right.
But it only takes,
as we can see,
probably for most of
the people in this room,
one generation here in the
United States to recognize
that larger Pan-Asian identity.
And I've even seen
in my parents, right,
my parents have been here now
for over 40 -- over 30 years.
And before, I never really saw
them or heard them talk about
Asian Americans or
Asian experiences,
as Asians we need to work
together on this or that.
And surprisingly
starting a few years ago,
I started hearing it
more and more from them.
And I think part of it is
because when you're here in the
United States, you recognize
that regardless of, you know,
where our family is really
from or things like that,
we're going to be treated
certain ways based on
perceptions.
We're going to deal with
stereotypes and discrimination
based just on how
people lump us together,
or choose to lump
us together, right.
And at the same -- so that
forces us in many ways
to be coalition.
But at the same time, there's
a lot of great strengths that
I draw from different
groups, right.
I love seeing, for example, the
passion of the Korean American
community for their identity
and their strength, right,
the unity on campus, right.
I really like the grassroots
activism I see a lot in the
Vietnamese American
community, for example.
I love the fact that the South
Asian community is really
good at fund raising,
for example, right.
And these are different pieces
that we all have strengths at.
And different communities
haven't necessarily learned
how to do it on their own.
And if we can work together
to bring those strengths
to each other, right.
I mean, I know it sounds kind
of crude, but it's true, right.
We don't all do the same things
and have the same strengths
because we all have
different histories.
So if you can build those and
bring those strengths to each
other and share those abilities,
then we have a lot better deal,
especially when we start to
recognize that our fates
are interlinked, right.
The Japanese Americans
recognized that with 9-11,
that they needed to reach out to
South Asians and Middle Eastern
and Muslim and Arab
Americans, right.
They needed to be
solidarity with that.
The very -- one of the first
examples we know is Vincent
Chin, back in the early
'80s, right, 1982.
Everyone should see a
documentary called Vincent Who,
and who killed Vincent
Chin, those two movies,
because they really focus on how
the AAPI identity developed
out of national tragedies
that brought people
together in certain ways.
I think it's a perfect case
study if you want to see how
different groups like Chinese,
Indians, Japanese Americans,
Pacific Islanders, et cetera,
saw this one guy who got killed
because he was Chinese
American, but mistaken for
Japanese American, right.
It really showed people that
we're all part of one community
at the end of the day.
And so I think that's really
important that we do
build that coalition.
But it doesn't I think
entail sacrifice of our
individual identities.
Eddie Lee:
Thank you.
We have about ten minutes left,
so we're going to rapid fire and
I want to ask the panelists
to keep their answers
short for this part.
So over here.
Andrew Ye:
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Andrew Ye.
I'm from the University
of Colorado, Denver.
And we talk a lot about
community but we kind of haven't
addressed any like
local nonprofits,
target programs that have ESL
programs or target leadership
programs towards high
schoolers or middle schoolers.
What can the AAPI
Initiative do for those?
Miya Saika Chen:
I was just going to
say that that's the
focus of most of our work.
And so that's who we rely on.
We really rely on local
community leaders and local
community orgs as the experts.
And they really guide and
dictate a lot of the
work that we do here.
And the guide that we put
together is really focused on
them and getting them resources.
Because we know that they're
really helping our community.
So we're really targeting
and reaching out to them.
Akil Vohra:
Yeah.
Just as an example of what
Miya for this harassment and
bullying conference that we
put on in New York.
We really partnered with the
organizations on the ground in
Philadelphia and New York and
New Jersey to reach out to their
communities, to find out their
stories and really bringing
folks who, we actually had
interpreters who were there at
the event to make sure that they
took advantage of resources that
were desperately needed.
So that's just one example of
the community engagement efforts
that we're doing.
Eddie Lee:
Great. Next question.
Richard:
Richard from Columbia
once again.
You guys talked a lot today
about getting involved -- Asian
-- AAPIs getting involved
with public service,
kind of following our
passions, getting engaged.
So I guess one of the first,
easiest ways to get engaged,
kind of the first door into
public service is
working on campaigns.
So what roles do you see in
terms of like Asian American
voter outreach, kind of what
role do you think AAPIs can play
in campaigns, what
specific skills do we have,
such as fund raising that could
make us -- give us a comparative
advantage and make us
an asset to a campaign?
Ramey Ko:
Well, I guess we have to
be somewhat careful in
how we talk about this,
because, you know,
we are an executive
branch agency,
we're not doing politics here.
But I can talk a little bit
about politics, I think,
generally.
I worked on campaigns
a lot of my life.
I think it's a very great
way to get involved.
One way out there is I think was
it 75% of Asian American Pacific
Islanders are online every day.
So that means that when it comes
to things like social networking
and outreach and doing
that type of organizing,
AAPIs are particularly well
positioned with some
competitive advantages.
But again, you know, sometimes
it really is not necessarily
about our community, right.
Like all of us have
strengths as individuals.
And being out there in whatever
thing that we have to offer
helps AAPIs in general, right.
Because since there
are so few of us,
if you are out there being
involved in campaigns or civic
engagement, there's also ways
to be involved on issues,
not individual candidates
and things like that,
if you're not
comfortable with that.
Then, you know, it shows, it
reminds people, right, aha,
there are Asian American
Pacific Islanders,
and they're citizens and they're
part of our communities and
they care about the same
things that we care about.
They care about our government.
They care about our future.
And they're working with us.
So whatever you do,
whatever you offer,
you're already making a
difference simply by showing up,
simply by being there.
Eddie Lee:
Yeah.
Just to add on to that,
and to kind of speak very
carefully about this.
You know, I've never been
someone interested in government
or politics throughout my life.
I was always a science
and math geek at school.
I was captain of my chest team,
you know, I was part of our,
you know, math
and science class.
I started it in my school,
that's how geeky I was.
(laughter)
Eddie Lee:
We didn't have it,
I brought it in.
And so, you know, my parents
are both professors in
computer science and pharmacy.
I never really got involved and
I never felt like I needed to,
like I was saying earlier today.
I kept my head down and I
got my good grades, you know,
went to the college
that I wanted to.
But there was a moment, again,
in college when I realized
that that's not enough.
That we as a community,
as young people,
have to really stand up
and make our voices known.
And this is what this whole
briefing and this summit is
all about is that you
all are chosen,
you've been brought here,
because you are -- people will
listen to you when you
go back to your campuses.
You are a leader on your campus.
And so when you
go back, you know,
we're asking you to be a partner
to this White House and to speak
with the authority of
having come here and being
a partner here.
The moment where I, you know,
decided I wanted to be --
to speak out was when I
dropped out of college,
joined the Barack
Obama campaign,
went to New Hampshire as an
intern knocking on doors and
making phone calls,
for about four months,
with no pay, nothing.
I slept on couches.
I got hives all over my body
after not sleeping for weeks,
you know.
What else?
(laughter)
Eddie Lee:
I'm sorry, this is --
Speaker:
I think that's enough.
Thank you, Eddie.
Next question.
Eddie Lee:
Bringing back some bad memories.
My parents told me it's not
-- that wasn't the way to go.
But the reality is, you know,
look how far we've come
and look how far this
administration has come.
And I think that for all of us,
young Asian American Americans,
we have to buck the trend,
go against convention,
and do what's risky,
do what's unorthodox.
Because it's only when we
decide to take those risks that
we can really make an
impact in the world.
So that's my
encouragement to you all.
Yes.
Claire Sa:
Hi, my name is Claire Sa(phonetic),
and I'm from the
University of Richmond.
And I just wanted to touch base
with something we had kind of
addressed earlier in terms
of the whole thing with how
we identify on our
college applications.
I'm currently in college but I'm
going through the process again.
And I can testify for myself
that I understand that there's
a lot of mystique behind
college admissions.
But what the AAPI community
at large has probably come to
realize is that it's detrimental
to your application to
identify as Asian American.
And I was wondering how is AAPI
going to address that in terms
of affirmative action or
dispelling doubts and
things like that.
Ramey Ko:
Hey, I have a question
for you on that issue.
So I saw the article
that talked about that but
it didn't provide any data.
It just said that people
think or perceive that it's
a disadvantage to
identify as AAPI.
Do you know if there's actual
data out there that shows that
it actually disadvantages you?
Claire Sa:
Well, I mean,
that's exactly what
I'm trying to say.
Like I don't know personally,
but from you know all the
folklore and everything
that's happened with college
admissions, it's been
going on forever.
People don't really
know what the truth is.
And I feel like it's either the
responsibility to dispel those
beliefs or to address them and
make it so that it's something
that we don't need to feel
that we can identify
with our culture.
Ramey Ko:
I think that what you
just proposed is perfect.
And I think that's something
we should take into mind and
talk to the Department
of Ed and say, hey,
let's do some research
into this issue.
Let's find out the truth
and what we can do.
Claire Sa:
Okay.
Thank you.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
So we're going to take
these four questions and
then wrap up here.
Audience Member:
Hi, everyone, my name is Happy 
(phonetic) from San Francisco.
First of all, I just want to
tell you guys I just feel really
inspired that I'm here today
and I can learn about what your
office is doing and also know
what other leaders throughout
our country are doing.
And then my question is
say like after this event,
so then how can we keep you guys
accountable making sure that you
are picking out advice.
For example,
are you going to like --
(laughter)
Happy:
Oh, all right.
(laughter)
Happy:
Yeah.
So like for example, are you
going to like invite people to
sit on a commission or maybe
like have a like yearly report
back to every one of us,
or just how specifically?
Or like if we think, no, your
office or some speaker are not
doing enough on certain issue,
like maybe undocumented youth.
So how can we make sure that we
can follow and tell you again.
Sunaree Marshall:
Give Ramey a call.
(laughter)
Eddie Lee:
Well, actually,
we're going to talk about that
at the end of this briefing.
Claire Saw:
Oh.
Eddie Lee:
There are someaction
items that we'll talk
about, how to take all the
information you took in today
and transport that back to all
the states that you came from.
So we'll talk more
about that later.
Tuyet Duong:
But you should e-mail us
and tell us when
you think that we didn't
follow through.
That's why we handed
you our business card.
So we appreciate that.
Ramey Ko:
And we did a two-year
published report for
the first two years and I
anticipate we'll do more of
those progress reports, as well.
So keep an eye out
on what we're doing.
Sunaree Marshall:
Right.
And get on our mailing list
and we have weekly standard,
you know, not weekly, sorry.
We have regular
community outreach calls,
web-based options, you know, you
can post on our Facebook wall,
all these sorts of things
that say, hey, by the way,
we talked about this, and
what's the progress on that.
There's lots of ways to
interact with the Initiative.
Audrey Buehring:
On that note,
I did want to mention that we
will be -- this is just between
us for right now,
the smaller room.
We will be.
Tuyet Duong:
We're live streaming.
Audrey Buehring
and the live stream.
Nobody out there tell anyone.
No.
We'll see the announcement that
we're going to be starting a
series of webly -- webly
-- weekly web chats.
So we hope that you
join us on these.
We'll send out an announcement
soon that lets you know the
topic for each week.
So we hope you, you
know, that's an easy,
quick way that you can join
us, shoot us your questions,
give us your e-mail
addresses and we can be in
touch directly that way.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
So with these last
three questions,
we'll just have you
ask the questions and then
we'll answer it all together.
So why don't we
start right here.
Speaker:
Okay.
I'll just like keep
it really short.
But basically, it's just
something that I saw that we
didn't really address today.
Or maybe you guys did in
a smaller focus group,
but obviously I was not in it.
Basically, I was wondering how
feminism plays into the
AAPI realm and like what
you guys can do,
what resources can you provide.
And I want to make sure to
differentiate not as like the
typical American feminism but as
feminism as an Asian American,
regardless of gender
and sexuality.
And then also the stereotypes
that come with gender and
sexuality, such as like the
China doll thing or like the
dragon lady thing
or like -- sorry,
I have a lot of --
Eddie Lee:
Sure. Thank you.
(laughter)
Eddie Lee:
Over here.
Audience:
Hi, this is a question that
kept lingering in my mind before
this conference and
still, until now,
I guess I think it's not -- it
wasn't sufficiently answered.
My question is more
opportunities for non-U.S.
citizens and
students in the U.S.
government, or even with AAPI,
just to go back to the
federal resource guide
that you mentioned.
I looked into it and it doesn't
have Department of State or
Department of
Defense on the list.
And also, AAPI on the website,
it states that AAPI internships
are also requiring the U.S.
citizenship.
So it was kind of a
disheartening factor for me,
who is, you know,
very interested,
very much interested in
getting involved with the
U.S. government or the
foreign service,
and for people who came to the
states to pursue a career in
that area.
So if you have any advice on
that, I would appreciate it.
Eddie Lee:
Thank you.
Keenan:
Hi, thanks for having us here.
My name is Keenan.
I'm currently attending Seattle
University but I'm from Hawaii.
What my question would be, is
there a way to bridge the gap
between -- for people who
identify with more than
one ethnic background,
I am Filipino,
Japanese and Portuguese.
So for me, I mean,
I am an AAPI, but I'm --
I identify with more than one.
So is there a way,
especially in Hawaii,
when it's really commonplace to
be a multicultural in a sense
that you have a lot
of family backgrounds.
Is there a way to bridge
that gap and, you know,
have a way to -- it's not
necessarily be just grouped as
you know Asian, but just kind
of just getting the community
together and figuring out a
way to be heard in that sense.
Eddie Lee:
Great.
Keenan:
Thanks.
Eddie Lee:
Thank you.
So let's open it up to our
panelists to answer
those three questions.
Tuyet Duong:
I can talk about the --
Eddie Lee:
Sure.
Tuyet Duong:
The federal government
does hire people who
are not citizens in
special circumstances.
There is an Office of
Personnel Management,
OPM.gov directive
about our policy,
memo memorandum about hiring
those who are noncitizens.
There are special circumstances,
especially in special positions
of security are requiring
certain skills like
interpretation, which is why
there are cases in which DOD,
National Institutes of Health
and some other agencies will
hire a noncitizen.
But you have to, you're directed
to call the agency specifically
in order to do that.
And maybe that's something
we should assist in as maybe
getting those offices out
there to the community,
if there are certain positions.
But I know a while
back, for instance,
DOD was out there recruiting
Vietnamese fluent speakers
because they needed interpreters
badly and they were willing
to take noncitizens.
So I think it comes in cycles
and it's kind of a word of mouth
thing, because the security
clearance required for those
type of positions
are extremely high.
So that's why they're
not publicized.
Audrey Buehring:
And to chime in about internship
opportunities for
noncitizens, and especially,
we have heard this issue come up
recently with Pacific Islander
students who mate
not be citizens.
It is something that our
office is aware of acutely,
and we are investigating it
right now and trying to see if
we can change that policy or get
some guidance and try to get,
you know, noncitizens to at
least come intern at our agency.
So keep an eye out for that.
Ramey Ko:
I mean, a lot of these 
limitations are federal
law and there's nothing
the executive branch
can do about that.
So, I mean, one thing is
to think about, you know,
maybe there needs to
be legislative change,
and that's something you
guys maybe need to work on.
Sunaree Marshall:
In answer to the multiculturalism
question, I think,
you know, it is tough.
My background is English, German
and Thai/Chinese American.
And I think, you know, one of
the places for me at my school
there was a Huppa club, there
was a Huppa initiative -- issues
forum that gave that venue
to discuss that part of the
identity and how you actually
become in one person sort of a
bridge between different places.
So if I go into a room like this
one that's predominantly Asian
American, I feel more white.
And if I go into a room that's
predominantly Caucasian,
I feel more Asian.
And to understand, you know,
sort of looking within that to
how do you then translate that
part of the other community and
the other half of yourself
to each community.
You know, I think it becomes
sort of a personal challenge.
But I think also looking
for their venues,
there are I know MIT
has a Huppa club.
I know there are a number of
different places that have them.
And then also
just, I don't know,
looking -- I think to some
degree one of the reasons I
joined the Initiative was
because I didn't have to
self-select into one
category or another.
And I think that, you
know, in some ways,
those Pan-Asian groups can
be helpful in that respect.
Eddie Lee:
Sure.
Miya Saika Chen:
And just a quick note
about how we
incorporate feminism
in our work.
Our director, Kiran Ahuja, is
a fierce NAPAWF leader in the
National APA Women's Forum.
And that's -- yeah, I see
some NAPAWFers back there.
And so we try to incorporate
the women and girls issues
in all of our work.
We partner with the White House
Council on Women and Girls on a
number of different projects,
including a report on
AAPI women's issues.
Our former colleague, Amanda,
did round tables across the
country assessing issues that
AAPI women and girls are dealing
with every day.
And we're submitting a
report to the White House in
the next couple of months.
So that's our work
on AAPI women.
Eddie Lee:
Well, let's give our
Initiative staff
a round of applause.
(applause)
Eddie Lee:
Thank you so much.
Great.
And I'm going to dismiss them
back to their seats as we close.
Ramey Ko:
Can I leave everyone with two-- 
just like two words of --
I always give this
to every group I speak to,
especially young people.
Two sort of catch phrases I
always keep in mind, all right.
Number one, is the best ideas
are stolen ideas, right.
Don't reinvent the wheel.
You have a room here
full of resources.
If somebody else has a great
program that works, copy it.
Copy it.
Half of my, you know, stuff that
I have developed or that I have
in my hard drive is stuff I've
stolen from other conferences
and groups I've gone to, right.
(laughter)
Ramey Ko:
Second thing is my
political mentor,
Glen Maxey, who was the first
openly gay state representative
in the state of Texas,
always has this saying about
challenging yourself
to rise to the occasion when
you identify a need.
If you ever find
yourself saying,
"someone really ought
to," that someone is you.
If you ever find
yourself saying,
"someone really ought
to," that someone is you.
Speaker:
Thanks, Ramey.
Eddie Lee
Wow.
(applause)
Eddie Lee:
Thank you.
Ramey always has
a way of making me speechless
at the end of his talks.
I don't really know how
to, you know, breathless.
With that, we are going to
move into our last part of this
program, which is
our closing remarks.
And when we were thinking about
how to set up our program,
the person that came to mind the
most was this next gentleman who
I'm going to invite up here.
He is someone that I have
absolute respect for,
someone that epitomizes
the word passion,
someone who's been a tireless
fighter for the community,
the young Americans
across this country.
It's his portfolio.
I'm a co-worker of his in the
Office of Public Engagement.
It's his portfolio to reach out
to young Americans across this
country, and he has been kind of
leading the way in making -- in
filling some big feet in terms
of really setting the standard
high as to how we engage our
communities and really make sure
that this Administration's
policies are moving forward.
And so with that, I have
the honor of welcoming up
Mr. Ronnie Cho.
(applause)
Ronnie Cho:
Well, thanks, Eddie,
that's awfully
nice of you to say.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Ronnie Cho, and I
am an associate director at the
Office of Public Engagement,
along with my colleague,
Eddie Lee.
Ramey, good to see you.
It's been a long time,
since Austin, Texas.
So I want to talk a little bit
about what we do at the Office
of Public Engagement.
I think you spent most of the
day learning about the federal
government and kind of what we
work on here as relates to the
300 plus million Americans, but
specifically the AAPI community.
But to describe a little bit
about what we do at the Office
of Public Engagement, this
office of initially the
Office of Public Liaison.
It was rebranded when President
Obama became -- when he came
into office in 2009.
Generally, this office was a
place where the White House
senior administration officials
could interact with the business
community, VIPs, elected
officials, sort of, you know,
fancy people like that.
That has been the case for the
last few decades until President
Obama came in the
office said, you know,
we ought to extend that
same opportunity to ordinary
Americans, communities
all across this country,
different stakeholders
from all over.
I think it's important to
illustrate that these kind of
forums were not
happening five years ago,
were not happening 12 years
ago, and it's an important
distinction to be made that this
is a President that understands
the value and the need for
an accessible and responsive
government, a place where you
can say you guys are doing a
great job, or you guys are
really blowing it, you know.
That's an important discussion
and conversation to have.
The President has had a special
relationship with young people
for his entire career, since he
was a community organizer in the
south side of Chicago, to when
he was a law professor at the
University of Chicago.
Certainly, his political career
has been influenced and shaped
and propelled by the
power of young people.
And I think the designation
that I have as his liaison
illustrates his commitment
continuing to advocate on behalf
of young people, whether that's
from student loan debt to
healthcare for 2.5 million
Americans that -- young
Americans that were
previously uninsured.
There's tremendous
accomplishments here that we
should be proud of.
The other thing that I want to
mention that maybe you folks
don't talk about is that the
AAPI community is very close to
the President
himself personally.
We know his background.
We know that his cultural
influences come from
the AAPI experience.
And I think that's a special
relationship that he has with
our community and that sort
of has informed a lot of the
initiatives that we have here
that are truly historic in
nature and the level of robust
interaction that we have.
And it's an important thing to
understand that we have -- you
have a fighter in the
White House who's
addressing these issues.
And if not completely solving
them and mitigating them,
addressing them, bringing
people who know these
issues better than us.
Now, there are a lot of smart
people at the White House.
Some of the smartest people
you'll ever meet anywhere.
But we don't have
all the answers.
We can't do all of the work.
And I think very humbly we come
to the American people and say,
we need your help.
We need your assistance.
We need your communication.
We need your network.
So when someone asked about
the accountability piece of it,
right, what are you guys
to do when this thing ends?
I think that's a
good question, it's an
important question to ask.
But the question I think is
applicable to everybody here and
everyone paying
attention online.
What are we going to do?
What accountability do we
have to our own communities,
to our own families, our own
neighborhoods and
towns and cities?
Now, the journey that
brought you to this room,
obviously a lot of impressive
young leaders in this space.
But you don't get to come to
the White House because simply
you're that great and you're
that brilliant, or attractive.
There are a lot of good-looking
Asian people in this room.
(laughter)
Ronnie Cho:
You got here because there was a
community that supported you, a
community that gave you values
of education, work ethic, the
things that have informed and
gave me an opportunity
in this country.
You know, I'm sure I'm not alone
when I say that I'm a first
generation Asian American.
And that you come to this
country with really nothing,
not a fancy last name
that anyone can
even pronounce correctly.
Certainly the only Asian
family in Phoenix, Arizona,
as you can probably imagine.
But the things that got me to
where I am was a community of
other families, people who
shared a value of hard work,
education, opportunity.
That our parents would never
have an opportunity to come to
the White House and interact
with people who can make
policy and shape and change
people's lives the
way that you guys have.
So while this is a tremendous
honor for all of us to have you
here, I'm sure a piece of pride
that your family hold that
you got a chance to come
to the White House,
I think it's an
obligation for us here,
for the folks out in the
audience and at home who are
watching, to do something
with this opportunity.
That you are in front of people
who are making a difference.
You are one of those people
who are making a difference.
And what are we going to do to
make things a little bit easier
for our own kids, our own
families, our own communities,
that perhaps was not the
case when we came up.
It was not the case when our
parents and our grandparents
were around.
That is the responsibility, that
is the charge that we all have,
not only from this presidency to
the next presidency and beyond.
I think there's an opportunities
for the AAPI community to really
emerge and assert itself as
a community that cares about
politics, that cares
about the process,
that cares about being engaged,
holding people accountable.
And that is something that I
think we're just now
kind of taking grasp of.
And it's an important
thing for us to continue.
So I wanted to keep
my remarks real short,
because I really wanted to get a
chance to answer any questions.
I know being the last speaker of
the day is tough in that regard,
but if you have any thoughts
or questions about how we're
engaging folks on
college campuses,
I work a lot with
college students.
But young professionals,
high school students,
all these things, I think it's
important for us to
keep staying involved.
In 2008, I think our generation
kind of came to age politically.
Not talking about
politics explicitly,
but young people came out in a
way that shaped the end result
of the election in
2009 -- 2008, rather.
And you know, I think there's
a sense of literally and
figuratively checking
the box on election day.
And maybe some of us thought,
well, that was all we had to do.
We had to vote and that's the
extent of my responsibility as a
citizen of this country.
Well, I think there's an
opportunity and a challenge
and obligation to change
that attitude.
That citizenship, the things
that our family came to this
country for, was not only
economic opportunity,
but social justice,
fairness, and education.
All these things that we
value in this country,
we need to stake some
ownership of that.
And are we going to be a
part of that discussion.
We have an opportunity as young
people to really mold
that in our own vision.
It's a tough time for a lot
of Americans out there with,
you know, student loan debt,
unemployment at
unacceptably high levels.
But those are sort of --
it's a diagnosis of our
state as a generation.
It's not a -- it's not a death
sentence for us, you know,
we can shape the destiny
that we have ahead of us,
just what is that destiny
going to look like.
And I think with the faces we
have here and the people I heard
speak earlier, you know,
I wouldn't count us out,
not one bit.
Any questions?
I'd love to answer some.
Anyone from Arizona, by chance?
You're from Arizona.
Audience Member:
Yeah.
Ronnie Cho:
Where?
Audience Member:
Scottsdale.
Ronnie Cho:
Scottsdale.
Boy, nice.
She said it in a knowing way.
She and only I -- she and I
know what that really means,
the way she said it.
(laughter)
Ronnie Cho:
Any other thoughts?
Yes.
Audience Member:
Hi.
I'm Bell, I go to Columbia.
I was wondering what is the
Office of Public Engagement
doing to encourage AAPI voters
to vote in the next election?
And also, is the Office of
Public Engagement doing anything
about the upcoming elections in
terms of voter ID photo fraud --
photo ID fraud.
Ronnie Cho:
So those are great questions.
I want to be clear, and I think
this is a hard thing for
a lot of people to discern.
I think the lines
can be blurred,
at least on the perception side.
We don't do anything in terms
of getting people out to vote,
to campaign for anybody.
That's just not our job.
It's actually illegal,
to be perfectly clear.
But what I will talk about is,
you know, what this White House,
what this President is doing to
engage AAPI community at large.
I think you spent most of
the day with Eddie Lee.
That's his job, his whole
life, what is left of one,
with the hours that he spends,
is dedicated to this very thing.
My whole life, such as it were,
dedicated to making sure that
young people understand that
there's an opportunity
for engagement here.
The issues that you
have brought up,
everyone in this
room have brought up,
it has been -- it is live
streamed, it is on record.
We have let the sun shine in.
People can listen and
see what we talked about.
And if there is policy that runs
contrast to what the general
consensus, or what is reflective
of what this community cares
about, we can be held
accountable very easily,
in a way that is
historic, really.
And that's the other thing
that I want to mention.
We don't market democracy
particularly well, right.
So, for instance, the Harry
Potter movie comes out,
you know exactly when, where to
go, how much it's going to cost,
what time you've got to
show up, all that stuff,
months and months in advance.
Maybe even a year in advance.
When there's a zoning
hearing, for instance,
if there's a liquor
store or a, you know,
strip club that's going to
open up in your neighborhood,
where the heck do you
find that information out?
Why isn't -- I mean, those are
things that impact our lives,
at least not to put a
value of good or bad,
but those are things that impact
our life in a way that maybe we
as citizens of this neighborhood
ought to know about, right.
So those are sort of, that's a
small example of why we need to
create opportunities where
people can understand the
impact a zoning law could
have on someone,
a healthcare law
can have on people.
That's our job, to make sure
that you have an opportunity to
understand what you can do,
how you can be a part of it.
And, you know, over the
last two and a half years,
I think we've done about as
good a job as you possibly can.
But we're not
getting it all right.
Again, we don't have
all the answers.
So if you have a suggestion
of how we can better,
most effectively talk to the
people in your community,
folks out in the audience,
places that you guys hang out
and care about, you
have his e-mail address,
I'll give you mine.
I'd be happy to chat to
you about a way that
we can collaborate.
I'd be delighted to.
Audience Member:
Thank you.
Ronnie Cho:
Thank you.
Yes, sir?
You can just shout it out,
just come on, you know.
Tommy:
Having learned this
today's great things and
(inaudible)
AAPI community,
I have learned a lot in depth
(inaudible).
And while we have now kind of
or kind of mission to spread
the word of mouth and to
our Asian community.
But at the same time, this
briefing and this kind of
event is very important.
So if you are
planning any upcoming,
it's not a good idea to
just finish one time event.
So if you have any
comment (inaudible).
Do you plan some sort of,
this kind of briefing
in other cities?
Ronnie Cho:
That's a good question.
We do plan on having a series of
different regional conferences
out of the Office of
Public Engagement.
Myself, in the work that
I do with young people,
also plan on doing a similar
kind of convening that we can
sort of talk about
these issues and really
kind of get out of D.C.
I know many of you
probably don't live here,
but it is what it
is in this town.
It can be stifling creatively,
intellectually, to be honest.
We want to get out of this --
get out of D.C. and get out to
the communities.
And so I will ask you to stay
tuned for those announcements.
Again, I'll share
my information.
And if you want to sign
up for a newsletter,
if I can do a shameless plug
here of what things I work on,
on behalf of young people,
which approximately 75 million
Americans are under the age
of 75 -- I'm sorry -- 35.
(laughter)
Ronnie Cho:
35.
I was never good at math.
Stereotypes be damned,
I was not good at math.
So it's
WhiteHouse.gov/YoungAmericans,
and you can find out
everything that I'm doing on
behalf of our generation here.
Other questions?
Going once.
Yes, yes, sir.
And what was your name again?
Tommy:
Tommy.
Ronnie Cho:
Tommy, Good to meet you.
Yes?
Vincent:
I am Vincent.
Ronnie Cho:
Vincent.
Vincent:
So my question, it seems
like you are holding us to
cooperate with AAPI.
And most -- I'm from Columbia,
and we have student associations
and we have website and I know
other Asians -- (inaudible).
Do you give any kind of
consultants or resources to put
on website and other members
(inaudible) get resources to the
people who it is intended for.
Ronnie Cho:
Yes, I think that's an 
outstanding idea.
In fact, you know, I run
-- we all run a blog.
We have our own little
websites, young Americans or
WhiteHouse.gov/YoungAmericans,
the AAPI has its own website.
I would connect with them about
specific issues that you have.
Maybe there's an opportunity
for you to author a blog that
identifies an issue
that you need -- you think
needs to be elevated.
I think those are relatively
easy things for us to do.
I think beyond that, you know,
certainly we want to be in touch
with you about specific issues.
But, again, you
can't wait for us necessarily
to reach out to you.
There are, again, 300 million
Americans in this country,
and we're only getting
to a tiny sliver of them.
So be proactive.
Get ahold of us and, you
know, until we answer,
and typically I think we're
pretty good about that.
We want to work on those things.
Audience Member:
Your question
will be the last one.
Ronnie Cho:
Last question.
Someone raised their hand?
No.
Oh, yes.
Olivia Chow:
Hi, my name is Olivia Chow.
I'm with the Asian
American Justice Center.
Ronnie Cho:
Hi, Olivia.
Olivia Chow:
I'm not in college anymore,
I'm sorry.
Ronnie Cho:
Neither am I.
Olivia Chow:
I just wanted to thank you
all and everyone that
helped put this event together.
You are doing a lot of amazing
work in the Asian community on
the ground in bringing them
into the White House in D.C.
My question is more how
can we get college age,
high school youth integrated
into some of the issue briefings
and the other events
that you host.
How to do some intergenerational
conversations and having more of
like college students that are
here that are Asian to then
speak on the panel.
Ronnie Cho:
You know, that's a great idea.
I think those opportunities will
present themselves both this
spring as we do these
regional conferences,
and as they are
relevant locally.
I think, you know, as we have
these conferences across the
country, you know,
for me anyway,
and I would love -- Olivia,
I'd love to exchange contact
information if you and
your network has, you know,
a desire to be a part of this
and in a programmatic sense,
and to be on a
panel that we host,
I would love to explore
a way for that to happen.
I think it's an
important thing to do.
So I just want to close, want
to say thank you very much.
I know it's been a
long day for everyone.
I hope that you had
a good time here.
I do want to say that it's,
you know, for us, and for me,
to be perfectly honest, if I
were able to come to an event
like this as a college student,
or a high school student,
and see people who look
a little bit like me,
who maybe had the same
experience that I did,
how much that would
have meant to me.
And how much that
does mean to me now,
where I can say that is true.
And this White House, and
across this government,
across this administration,
that we are truly becoming more
representative of the
country, populationwise,
and virtually every demographic.
And I think that's an
important measure of progress,
we should all take a deep
-- a great deal of pride in.
And so with that,
I want to say thank you so
much for being here.
We believe in you.
The President's proud of you.
I certainly am.
And I hope to see you
guys again real soon.
(applause)
Eddie Lee:
All right.
How are you guys feeling?
Good?
You guys have made it through
the whole day here
at the White House.
And I can't tell you how
tremendously proud I am of
all of you, how amazed
by all of you,
and how inspired I am just kind
of listening to your stories,
seeing your energy, feeling
that community vibe
here in this room.
If I could just get your
attention for about six or seven
more minutes, and then
we'll wrap up from there.
You guys are getting handouts.
And those handouts was made
specifically for you all.
As you go back to your
campuses, your communities,
your neighborhoods, and you
think about how you want to
talk about this experience.
And I basically laid
out, I don't know,
seven or eight different
brainstorming ideas.
This isn't, you know, limited to
this day's, you could do more.
But the opportunities I want to
lay out for you all as you think
about this is on this page.
And I'll just go
over them real quick.
One is if you want to hold a
conference call with your fellow
students and you want to invite
myself or someone from the
White House that you've heard
today to the call,
my challenge is if you're able
to bring 50 people to that call,
we'll jump on that call and
we'll be on it for however
long you want us to talk
for, all right.
So 50 people across your
campus, your neighborhoods,
whatever it might be, let me
know and we'll set that up.
Convene a round table on your
campus to discuss the issues
and the topics that are
important to you.
Right.
Just like we did this afternoon.
If you want to bring that to
your campuses, make it happen.
Stay engaged with the White
House through social media,
and you'll see some
websites on there that
will allow you to do so.
Hold targeted onsite meetings
here at the White House.
So I know, you know, it's a
huge privilege to come here.
And we want
to open up these doors to
as many folks as possible.
If you're able to
bring 50 students,
50 advocates to the table,
bring them all here for a day,
for an hour or two, I'll set up
a meeting with you all with key
officials and we can talk about
these issues in more depth.
Apply for a White House or
White House Initiative
on AAPI internship.
The deadline for the Initiative
internship is March 19th.
Sign up at WhiteHouse.gov/AAPI.
The White House internship, I
believe the deadline is
January 19th or 20th.
So it's coming -- 22nd.
So please get on
the ball on that.
So it's less than ten days away.
So if you want to start thinking
about how you can get more
plugged in with what we're doing
over here, it's a tremendous,
tremendous opportunity.
I think the folks that made
this event possible are interns,
including Ernie over here,
who was pretty much pulling
everything together last
night at 2:00 in the morning,
just to make this
all possible for you.
But to be a part
of this experience,
even though it's unpaid, even
though a lot of your work goes
unrecognized, I can guarantee
you that you will come away from
this experience so inspired
and so plugged in that
you will never forget it.
Organize an event on your
campus, that's self-explanatory.
Sign up for a White House
AAPI e-mail list serve.
All of you that are here today
will be signed up automatically
so you can't get
out of that one.
But if you're able to get
your friends and your networks
engaged as well, you could do
so at White House.gov/AAPI.
Write an op ed in
your school newspaper.
This is often overlooked,
especially in our generation.
But it goes a huge
-- a long ways.
And so I think it can
really have an impact.
Talk about your experience
coming to the White House.
Talk about the issues
that are important to you
and why it matters.
Write a blog post.
We'll try our best to submit
it and post it on our blog.
But there's plenty of blogs out
there where you can submit your
own stories, too.
And I'm sure people
will want to hear it.
And the final thing I want
to say is share your story.
You know, as I said earlier,
change happens and real
difference happens
here in the Beltway.
But it doesn't stop here.
It also happens in
your cafeterias.
It happens as you walk to
class with your classmate.
It happens in your classrooms.
It happens, you know,
as you're, you know,
doing these round tables.
Whatever it might
be, share your story,
talk to folks about what
you experienced here.
Talk to your friends about
your immigration story.
Talk to your friends about your
education story or, you know,
civil rights.
Whatever it might be.
The more you're able to be a
voice and an advocate, you know,
the better off our community
will be as a whole.
And so with that, let me just
close by saying that, you know,
this has been, as
I said earlier,
probably the event that I have
been most proud of, you know.
As I thought the first day I
came here and walked through
these hallways,
I said to myself,
I wanted to put together an
event that will bring together
young people across this country
and bring them into a room where
we could talk about ideas, where
we could construct solutions for
the problems that we face
on a day-to-day basis.
I want to think about how we can
work with other communities to
move forward as a country.
Because this is our moment and
our opportunity to really make
an impact on our communities.
It's very easy for us to be
selfish, to live our own lives,
kind of stay within the lines
and do what we normally do
without thinking about
the people around us.
But the fact
that you guys are all out
here today really says a lot.
And it says that you want to
really be a vocal champion.
You know, I see myself, as I
said earlier, in your seats,
not too long ago.
And because of that decision to
actually take action and step up
and stand up, you know, I'm able
to be here and I'm so honored
to be your liaison
here in the White House
for the AAPI community.
And I can guarantee you that I
will work hard every single day
to make you proud of that.
So please take this with you.
Please use my -- use me
as a resource, you know.
You could feel free to say that
you talked to the White House
today because you did.
You spoke with this
administration.
And you have that authority to
go back to your campuses and
make that fire
and make that magic
happen on your own campuses.
The last thing I want to say is
that we have put together these
executive orders for all of
you, signed by the President.
I know we couldn't get
the President out here,
but hopefully this will
appease that to some extent.
So we've got one for
every single one of you.
So on your way out, feel
free to take one, frame it,
put it up on your
wall, and, you know,
hopefully use this
as a way to commemorate
your experience here.
And so with that, thank you all
so much for coming to the first
ever White House AAPI
Briefing for Young Americans.
(applause)
