The Inadequacy of the Term “Asian American”
Sarath Suong has often felt like the term “Asian American” doesn’t really serve him.
A Cambodian refugee who immigrated to the US as a child, Suong prefers to identify as Southeast Asian instead.
“I was told that I am Asian American when we came here,” he says. “But I faced a lot of colorism, a lot of classism, and not a lot of understanding about who Southeast Asians are and how we fit into the Asian American context.”
Suong’s family was among tens of thousands of refugees who fled during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, eventually settling in the Boston area. When he arrived in the US, he struggled to find his footing in a country where everyone from teachers to neighbors made him feel unwelcome.
The Inadequacy of the Term “Asian American” Details
MEDIA WATCH-Sarath Suong has often felt like the term “Asian American” doesn’t really serve him.
“I was told that I am Asian American when we came here,” says Suong, a Cambodian refugee who immigrated to the US as a child. “But I faced a lot of colorism, a lot of classism, and not a lot of understanding about who Southeast Asians are and how we fit into the Asian American context.”
Suong and his family were among tens of thousands of refugees who fled during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, eventually settling in the Boston area. When he arrived in the US, he struggled to find where exactly he fit in a country where everyone from teachers to neighbors made him feel unwanted.
Communications & Development Manager
OVERALL ROLE
The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) seeks a dynamic full-time Communications & Development Manager to support our vibrant communications and fundraising strategies to amplify SEARAC’s presence and build organizational capacity to expand and sustain SEARAC’s work.
The ideal candidate will have a proven ability to produce exceptional communications materials for diverse audiences, and to execute a growing fundraising strategy, including foundation, corporate, and grassroots fundraising efforts. They will also have experience developing long- and short-term strategic goals and objectives, exceptional written and verbal communication skills, attention to detail, and organizational skills.
The Communications & Development Manager works closely with all staff members (from administrative staff to policy staff) on intersecting areas of communications and fundraising. This position reports to the Director of Communicat
Where Limited English Skills Mean Limited Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine
Our analysis finds that many states are not meeting their legal obligations to make information accessible.
Ty O Neil / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via AP
A Fire department health worker administering the COVID-19 vaccine. The Reno Fire department, City of Reno, and Mexican Consulate of Las Vegas partnered up to hold a COVID-19 vaccine event to engage the Mexican and Hispanic community and encourage people to get immunized.
In New York City’s Chinatown, a city-run vaccination site with no signage or intake questions in Chinese. In California, non-English speakers handed COVID-19 vaccination cards without information on what they mean. In Pennsylvania, people who speak Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese unable to make vaccine appointments due to a lack of interpreters at hospital call centers.
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April 25, 2021
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joined Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI) in the reintroduction of the Debt-Free College Act, legislation that will reverse the growing student debt crisis in the United States. The bill restores a path to affordable college by providing states incentives through matching grants to increase investments in public higher education and provide students with debt-free college.
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The Debt-Free College Act would establish a state-federal partnership that provides a dollar-for-dollar federal match to state higher education appropriations in exchange for a commitment to help students pay for the full cost of attendance without having to take on debt. The bicameral legislation, first introduced in 2018, was the first proposal to go beyond free tuition, and ensure that students leave college without the financial burden of student loan debt.