President Reestablishes AAPI Initiative

October 15, 2009

Furthermore, the Executive Order is committed to taking on several
issues. Working with 23 agencies and departments in the government, the
initiative is rather comprehensive in scope:

It's the impact of a Small Business Administration that offers loans
to Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs whose small
businesses sustain so many communities around the country. It's the
impact of a Department of Health and Human Services that funds research
on the diseases that disproportionately affect Asian American and
Pacific Islander families. It's the impact of a Justice Department that
upholds the Voting Rights Act and its promise of language assistance
and equal access to the polls. And it's the impact of evidence-based
research and data collection and analysis on AAPI communities -- so
that no one is invisible to their government.

Finally, Obama highlighted the diversity (in every sense of the
word) within the AAPI community as shout-outs were given to singer Penn
Masala, Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu and Wat Misaka, the first
non-white basketball player in the NBA -- all present for the signing.
Emphasizing that the term AAPI includes Americans with ancestry in East
Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, Obama
signed off by lighting what is apparently the official White House
Diya, wishing all a Happy Diwali.

And not once did he use the phrase "East Meets West."

A copy of the Order can be read here.
A transcript of Obama's signing remarks can be read here.

Categories: 
Contributor: 

Comments

Comments

Whoo hoo!