Massachusetts State Representative Tackey Chan proposed Bill H.3361 in January, 2017.
It requires “all state agencies, [and] quasi-state agencies” to identify Asian American in “all data collected as part any and all types of data collection, reporting or verification.”
It requires the reporting of disaggregated data on the five largest Asian American ethnic groups including Chinese, Indian, “Other Asian”, Vietnamese and Korean according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
Why is H.3361 a BAD Bill？
By singling out Asian Americans for government scrutiny, it violates “equal protection of the laws” of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
It reinforces a stereotype that Asian Americans are perpetual foreigners. Members of this minority group are permanently labeled with his/her ANCESTOR’s country of origin even if they are American citizens.
Collecting the data seriously undermines an individual’s privacy. Potential misuse of such data to make discriminatory policies against a specific ethnic group would be even more disastrous.
It is a wrong solution and a confusing system to implement. Heterogeneity exists in all ethnic groups and racial profiling is not the way to identify and help those in need.
A video made by Lexington volunteers:
Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, US Senate candidate, speech on 8/27 protest:
