Margaret Huang
Margaret Huang works for the Rights Working Group.[1]
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander History in Schools
May 11, 2023, as New York and the nation continue to mark Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) announced today that they introduced legislation to promote the teaching of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history in schools.
Throughout America’s history, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have made immeasurable contributions to our nation, helping to make the United States the country that it is today. However, AANHPI history has been ignored or poorly represented in our K-12 education system and social studies textbooks.
“Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history IS American history,” said Congresswoman Meng, the First Vice Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “From the heights we’ve reached to the struggles we have faced, future generations must know and understand all that the AANHPI community has given to our country. For too long, our schools have ignored or diminished this vital part of our nation’s past, and it is finally time for that to change. A greater understanding of our story would also help address anti-Asian hate and discrimination at its roots, and combat the stereotypes and negative perceptions that for generations have existed about Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. I thank Senator Hirono for partnering with me on this important legislation and look forward to our bills moving through Congress.”
“Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is an opportunity to recognize AANHPI individuals and communities that have contributed to the development and enhancement of American life and culture,” said Senator Hirono. “But too often, the teaching of AANHPI history has been limited to passing references or minor footnotes that barely scratch the surface of our diverse and resilient communities. I am proud to join Representative Meng in reintroducing the Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act so that public school students across the U.S. can better understand the racism and prejudice that members of the AANHPI community have endured, as well as the many achievements and contributions they have made to our communities.”
“The inclusion of AAPI histories in education is crucial as it allows AAPI students to see themselves and their communities represented in the curriculum, while promoting mutual learning between students of all backgrounds, and helping to dismantle harmful stereotypes by exposing all students to the richness of all the contributions the AAPI community has had to our country,” said Soukprida Phetmisy, Senior Managing Director of Teach For America’s Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Alliances. “The anti-Asian violence that escalated since the pandemic began illustrates how harmful believing these stereotypes can be. To fight back against this prejudice and violence, it is essential to understand and acknowledge the inextricable role of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in shaping the nation's story and identity. By teaching this full history, and celebrating it, we dispel the harmful narrative that suggests Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are not an integral part of the United States.”
“Now, more than at any time in recent memory, it is crucial that students have the opportunity to learn the rich history of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities,” said Margaret Huang, President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund. “The SPLC applauds Rep. Meng and Senator Hirono for their leadership in introducing the Teaching Asian Pacific American History Act. The United States has a long and shameful history of discrimination against people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent — and just this year, the FBI documented record levels of hate violence against our communities. Hate crime laws must be enforced, but equally important are prevention and education. We look forward to working together to enact this important legislation and to center and celebrate the many contributions of Asian and Pacific Islanders to our nation.”
"The teaching of Asian Pacific American History in our education system is critical for the progress of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities,” said Gregg Orton, National Director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA). “The consistent neglect of APA history in our curriculum has led to the erasure of many generations of our communities. This bill would allow our students nationwide to be seen and feel empowered, while educating others in understanding our roots and cultural history. We thank Sen. Hirono and Rep. Meng's commitment to advancing this bill and look forward to seeing its passage."
"This bill represents a historic step in prioritizing Asian American and Pacific Islander histories in our education system," said John C. Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC. "Recent events have shown that teaching diverse curricula is ever more important to building a more inclusive future, and public education of AAPI histories will play a crucial role in ensuring that we can move forward as a country."
"National ACE is proud to endorse this bill to expand education on AA and NHPI history in our country’s K-12 education system,” said Chiling Tong, President and CEO of the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE). “Invisibility and misrepresentation are a serious barrier for AA and NHPI communities. We appreciate all the work Representative Meng and Senator Hirono are doing to tackle these harmful patterns."
The bill, which Meng previously introduced in 2020 and 2021, would also encourage the inclusion of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history in national and state tests administered through the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and promote collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's Asian Pacific American Center to develop innovative programming regarding Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history.
The measure comes after Meng passed legislation into law last year to create the first National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture, a facility that would provide the physical space for more Americans to learn about the vast contributions that AANHPIs have made to America.
Organizations that have endorsed the Meng-Hirono legislation include the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Action Fund, American Federation of Teachers, Teach for America, Educators for Excellence, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Asian American Federation (AAF), Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), [[National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum[[ (NAPAWF), National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), Chinese Historical Society of America, Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Council of Korean Americans, Indian Diaspora Council,National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE), Committee of 100, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and the Fred Korematsu Institute.[2]
Working with Terri Sewell
March 23, 2021. With voting rights under attack across the country, the Alabama congresswoman at the center of efforts to restore critically needed ballot protections recently laid out a confident roadmap for action on legislation that would implement federal oversight of elections in some states.
Speaking at a briefing hosted virtually by the Southern Poverty Law Center to mark the launch of its landmark report on voter suppression and the impact of the pandemic on voting across the Deep South in 2020, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, predicted that HR 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, could come to a vote in September. Sewell said she believes the Senate will take whatever action is needed to ensure its passage.
The comprehensive SPLC report, “Overcoming the Unprecedented: Southern Voters’ Battle Against Voter Suppression, Intimidation, and a Virus,” provides clear evidence of the need for congressional action, Sewell said at the March 18 briefing. She pledged to work with the SPLC, Fair Fight Action, and other organizations across the South that have been instrumental in battling for voting rights in communities and in the courts.
“We are seeing state legislatures prove the point that federal oversight is still needed,” Sewell said at the briefing, praising the SPLC report for detailing so thoroughly the urgency of congressional action.
“We have bad actors. There are certain states that are just not going to follow the rules,” Sewell said. “Something so fundamental as the right to vote, yes, it resides with the states, but the states have shown themselves not to be great guardians of that right.”
The report is being released at a key juncture. Since the 2020 election, legislation designed to suppress the vote has swept the country, adding force to a dark wave of such laws passed over the past decade. As of March, more than 250 bills restricting the vote in the name of tackling election fraud were pending in 43 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Courts have found no evidence of systemic voter fraud during the 2020 election cycle.
Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the SPLC and the SPLC Action Fund, said at the briefing that the effort to cast the recent wave of proposed restrictions on voting as a way of preventing fraud is “a dangerous, deadly lie.”
“The reality is that these bills are being introduced for one reason only,” Huang said. “To prevent voters of color, young voters and members of other historically disenfranchised communities from maximizing their political voices and power.”
“That,” Huang said, “is the exact opposite policy reaction to what communities here in the Deep South need following the 2020 election cycle.”
In contrast, the bill introduced by Sewell, along with companion legislation, H R 1, the For the People Act, which passed the House this month, provide real policy solutions, Huang said. H R 4 would restore key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act gutted in 2013 by developing a process to determine which states must pre-clear election changes to voting systems and practices with the U.S. Department of Justice. It would also mandate nationwide pre-clearance of known discriminatory practices, including the creation of at-large districts, inadequate multilingual voting materials and cuts to polling places.
A version of the legislation sponsored by Sewell, whose Alabama district includes Selma’s infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge, passed the House of Representatives in 2019. But today, with Democratic majorities in both chambers, prospects for making the bill law are far stronger than they were two years ago.
The SPLC report provides powerful justification for legislative action. In Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida – states with long histories of voter suppression – the report found that significant barriers had been erected by local and state officials in recent years against Black voters, high-risk voters and voters with disabilities. The majority of the obstacles to voting were implemented after the Supreme Court struck down a key requirement of the Voting Rights Act that required jurisdictions with long histories of voter suppression to receive approval from the Department of Justice before implementing new voting laws and procedures.
“We recognized that the 2020 election and the 2021 runoff were really happening in the middle of a perfect storm,” Nancy Abudu, deputy legal director for the SPLC and SPLC Action Fund, said at the briefing, explaining the urgency of the report.
“We not only were dealing with an unprecedented heath pandemic ... but we were dealing with a time of severe racial unrest and discontent,” Abudu said. “... We had a severe, and continue to face a political divide, often trumpeted by our former President Trump, and we were in a situation where we did not have the protections of Section Five of the Voting Rights Act, which had for decades provided the necessary protections for communities of color and other politically vulnerable populations from regressive voting practices and procedures that in many ways were designed to limit, deny or definitely hinder their access to the ballot box.”[3]
U.S. Human Rights Network
Huang serves on the Board of Directors for the U.S. Human Rights Network at its Treasurer.[4]
National Leading From the Inside Out Alum
Margaret Huang, Executive Director, Rights Working Group, was a 2011 Rockwood Leadership Institute National Leading From the Inside Out Alum.[5]