Checking the "Other Asian" box

Do people realize that there's a census going on this year?

An exciting realization came to me this week when multiple individuals emailed/facebooked/messaged me, all separately and unrelated persons, with the video on this website. I am now of an age where my friends and I who are Taiwanese can be plugged into the greater movement for Taiwanese recognition.

And it starts by making sure the U.S. government knows we exist as a substantial community in this country.

I remember in 2000, my parents and relatives were heavily involved in getting this same message out. But the final tally fell far, far short of the 250,000 boxes with "Taiwanese" written in the community was aiming for. 145,000 is fairly meager and for most people, the fact that it is dwarfed by the 2,735,000 Chinese in this country as of the year 2000 means our cause is of little concern.

But let's consider the facts that as a group, from the 2000 census data, Taiwanese individuals and households are at a higher level of economic status than the average American and even the average Chinese. This is easily explained by the selection of immigrants that could have left Taiwan versus the influx of immigrants from the mainland. Different starting statuses leads to different statuses here in the States, and this could lead to a whole another post on its own if not a full length book.

The point is, however, that as a group, our community is of some importance for the U.S. This (old) Businessweek article illustrates the impact of Taiwan in an international sense, but even in the U.S. we are well represented for our population size.

Elaine Chao was the first Asian American woman appointed to a Cabinet position, under the second Bush administration.

Jeremy Lin is challenging to become the first drafted Asian-American in NBA history this summer.

California politics is a battleground for many Taiwanese-Americans; John Chiang, the state controller; Ted Lieu, running for state Attorney General; Jay Chen, school board member and rising political star (and my cousin).

And in a nod to the greater, and more significant, movement of Asian-American politics, I will note and congratulate Judy Chu on becoming the first Chinese-American Congressman last year after the seat was vacated by the appointment of Hilda Solis to Secretary of Labor. Let's not forget that in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first and only ban in our nation's history on immigration due to ethnicity/nationality.

Formosa Betrayed, a movie just released in limited cities last weekend, is a tweaked, fictionalized account of true events regarding Taiwanese independence and its relation to the U.S., produced and co-written by Will Tiao, a Taiwanese-American.

Sites like TaiwaneseAmerican.org highlight many more prominent and growing in prominence individuals.

Getting our own little box on the Census form may not seem like much, but it's the next step. So for those of us who "Ai Daiwan" and support the proliferation of Taiwanese culture, such as boba/bubble tea, let's check that "Other Asian" and write in what we really are.

Taiwanese.