Welcome to AAFEN + OCA's briefing dedicated to dispelling the myth of Asian American disloyalty and amplifying the need for engagement in security.

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Asian Americans Standing Strong, Shaping the Future
Issue #1 — By Aryani Ong, Michael Nguyen, and Andrew Peng
A Note From Our Editors
👋 Welcome to the inaugural edition of “Reimagining National Security,” a quarterly briefing from Asian American Federal Employees for Non-Discrimination (AAFEN) ([link removed]) and OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates ([link removed]) dedicated to dispelling the myth of Asian American disloyalty and amplifying the need for Asian American engagement in security.
* Our purpose: We hope to make the case for the need to interrupt the cycle of government discrimination against Asians Americans and to reform national security through racial equity policies and practices. National security ([link removed]) is a community that is led predominantly by white men ([link removed]) . It also lacks transparency and inclusion yet wields a powerful and influential impact over all Americans.
* What to expect: Each briefing will unpack the problem of racial targeting, piece by piece. We’ll share the latest updates on our advocacy work, spotlight key changemakers, and amplify op-eds. By creating an informed community that can learn together, we can more effectively support each other in the future. We look forward to sharing this journey together with you.

— Aryani Ong and Michael Nguyen

💡 DIGITS
84.5% whites/15.5% minorities and 68.7% men/31.3% women occupy senior executive service levels in national security agencies.
THE ISSUE
How Toxic Stereotypes Harm Asian Americans in Government
Thousands participate in a community rally against anti-Asian hate crimes in San Jose, California in March 2021. Photo courtesy of Jason Leung via Unsplash.
🏛️ In the last two years, Asian Americans have faced the perpetual foreigner stereotype in full display in public streets, parks, schools, and the workplace. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 10,905 hate incidents targeting Asian Americans ([link removed]) were reported between March 2020 and the end of 2021. Many of these incidents were delivered with the familiar centuries old “Go Back to China” exhortation, regardless of the target’s background.

At the same time, Asian Americans find themselves confronted with this stereotype across the federal government...
* As diplomats, they have difficulty getting hired, promoted, or assigned to diplomatic posts ([link removed]) in countries from where their families immigrated.
* As employees, they are scrutinized more closely ([link removed]) and lose their jobs. ([link removed])
* As scholarship winners, they are told to pay back their tuition.
* As contractors, they are denied contracts at higher rates. ([link removed])
* As military service personnel, they are pulled off assignments or denied ranks.
* And as grantees, they are placed under investigation ([link removed]

🤔 Why? Foreign connections. To the 71% of Asian Americans who are foreign born, foreign connections include family abroad, travel, businesses, inherited property, cultural interests and activities. To the government, such connections are viewed as national security risks. ([link removed])
An exclusion order directing the removal of persons of Japanese ancestry is posted in San Francisco, California on April 11, 1942. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
💔 Asian Americans have been cast as outsiders for decades. They’ve been named the “Yellow Peril” (Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882), the “Fifth Column” ([link removed]) accused of signaling enemy forces to shore (Japanese American incarceration), the “Red Scare” (Chinatown Files ([link removed]) ), terrorists (post 9/11 profiling and surveillance, and Muslim bans), and spies (see the Dr. Wen Ho Lee case ([link removed]) and China Initiative probes ([link removed]) ).
* A closed culture, the federal government is not a place where people can easily speak out. Some Asian American tell their stories, but incognito. Asian Americans whom we talk to fear losing their security clearances, jobs, careers. Data is scarce. Yet, the impact is no less traumatizing. The affected parties need support from the community—stories, funds, advocacy.

Advocates within AAFEN and OCA have spoken out to challenge the disloyalty myth. We’ve listened to stories by the people impacted. We’ve organized community events. And we’ve engaged high level officials in the federal government. But more needs to be done. We need to interrupt this cycle of discrimination.
* To do this, we need allies. Together, let’s reimagine national security: a time where people of all backgrounds, particularly immigrants, are not automatically regarded as threats, but as assets. Where Asian Americans are at the table when sweeping decisions are being made that affect our community. Where we challenge the exclusion of loyal Americans based on the majority’s perception of “foreignness.” Where we can strengthen America from within.

GO DEEPER
Confronting the “Loyalty” Question
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Graphic via LAAUNCH STAATUS Index, 2021 Survey Data ([link removed]) .
🔎 In 2021, Leading Asian Americans to Unite for Change (LAAUNCH) ([link removed]) reported findings from a survey of 2,766 American adults...
* The results: Although 48% of respondents disagreed with the statement that Asian Americans as a group “are more loyal to their countries of origin than to the U.S.,” roughly 1 in 5 Americans ([link removed]) agreed with it.
* Why this matters: This national survey was the first in two decades to assess public attitudes toward Asian Americans, according to NBC News ([link removed]) , and shows our communities are continually seen as perpetual foreigners.

✍️ OUR TAKE
While national concerns need to be addressed seriously, history has taught Asian Americans that they must remain vigilant to protect civil rights and civil liberties.
* Despite widespread repudiation of the Japanese American incarceration ([link removed]) , the government retains the legal authority ([link removed]) to rely on “military necessity” to restrict the rights of a group.
* Fear can drive government decisions without evidence of national security risks and cast suspicion of disloyalty of an entire group based on race, ethnicity and national origin.
* Vigilance is needed, especially in times of heightened national security concerns, like the present U.S.-China conflict.

SPOTLIGHT
Meet Civil Rights Icon Dale Minami
Photo courtesy of the Rebellious Lawyering Institute.
⚖️ Dale Minami is a nationally recognized attorney and Asian American civil rights vanguard ([link removed]) who represented Fred Korematsu in a case challenging a World War II conviction under Executive Order 9066. ([link removed])
* Minami served as lead attorney defending Korematsu before the U.S. District Court ([link removed]) for the Northern District of California in 1984, seeking to overturn Korematsu’s conviction for defying an order to report to an incarceration camp.
* Context: Over 120,000 Japanese Americans—two-thirds of them U.S. citizens—were incarcerated during World War II based on their ethnic background alone by the U.S. government.
* The U.S. Supreme Court, which heard Korematsu’s case in 1944, upheld the conviction ([link removed]) in a landmark court ruling that has since been denounced.

Minami also represented Korematsu’s descendants with the filing of an amicus brief ([link removed]) in the high court’s review of the government’s Muslim travel ban.
* Last month, he participated in a webinar called “Asian Americans and Loyalty: What Can We Learn from the Japanese American Incarceration Experience?” 🎧 Watch it now. ([link removed])

🗣️ QUOTED
“Our government institutions are fragile. We need to fight to keep our civil rights. They not gifts… It’s our duty to dissent because that’s what the Constitution demands.”

— DALE MINAMI ([link removed]) on March 30, 2022
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Have questions or feedback? Email OCA's Associate Manager of Policy & Advocacy Michael Nguyen at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Reimagining%20National%20Security) and AAFEN Co-Founder Aryani Ong at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Reimagining%20National%20Security) ,

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