Issue 82 • JULY 9, 2024
Good morning, and welcome to The Yappie’s AAPI politics briefing — your guide to the policy news and activism affecting Asian Americans + Pacific Islanders. On our radar: Vice President Kamala Harris touches down in Las Vegas today to speak at a festival honoring Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.Another note: We’ll be mostly on break this month to give our writers time to rest and take advantage of summer. Look for us in your inbox again in August!S
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— Edited by Shawna Chen and Samson Zhang
THE BIG STORY
Freedivers work to remove marine debris as part of a clean-up expedition in Papahānaumokuākea. Photo: Andrew Sullivan-Haskins courtesy of Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project
Thousands of pounds of trash and debris removed from Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
In just 19 days, a Hawaiʻi-based nonprofit organization cleaned over 70,000 pounds of marine debris from the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, which stretches across 583,000 square miles of ocean waters.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Conducted from April 15 to May 3, the mission is the first of three marine debris clean-ups planned for 2024.
The 12-people expedition cleared nearly 11 miles of shoreline. Debris included 35,100 pounds of derelict fishing nets and nearly 33,000 pounds of plastic marine debris, such as fishing gear, buoys, and floats.
How it happened: The Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) sends a team to the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands every year to rid the area of run-down fishing nets, plastic pollution, and other forms of marine debris.
Roughly 52 metric tons—or 114,640 pounds—of debris pile up on the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands every year, according to estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
PMDP, a nonprofit, aims to protect and preserve the wildlife and ecosystems of the monument. Kuaihelani—also known as the Midway Atoll—is an important habitat for several endangered species, including Hawaiian monk seals and Laysan ducks, Paula Dobbyn of Honolulu Civil Beat reports.
Footage shows its dispatch team examining degraded marine items like a guitar and sandal; untangling fishing nets from metal, wire, and cement; and shuttling large loads of trash on boats.
The NOAA Marine Debris Program is contributing roughly $5.8 million to the project through a five-year grant to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The Papahānaumokuākea monument is one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. It covers more than 580,000 square miles—larger than the size of all of the country’s national parks combined.
PMDP says it has removed more than 785,000 pounds of marine debris from within the marine monument over the last four years.
A total of at least 2.4 million pounds of debris have been removed from the national monument since in-water marine debris removal began 1996, according to the University of Hawaiʻi.
The work done by the PMDP parallels other local organizations in Hawaiʻi fighting to preserve the islands’ local ecosystems and protect the environment from pollution.
The Hawaiʻi Nei Marine Debris Removal Project—a joint effort between the Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund, Surfrider Foundation, and Pūlama Lānaʻi—removed close to 400,000 pounds of pollution from Hawai‘i, Maui, Kauaʻi, and Lānaʻi between 2018 and 2021.
Because of where Hawaiʻi is located, permanent ocean currents that are essentially giant whirlpools—also known as gyres—cause disproportionately large amounts of marine debris buildup along the islands’ shores.
Abandoned fishing nets can get caught on coral reefs and trap threatened and endangered local wildlife. Marine debris can also harm humans, as plastic gets into the seafood people consume.
What to watch: PDMP has set a target goal to remove an additional 215,000 pounds of debris later this year.
Still, the sheer amount of plastic debris flowing into the ocean accumulates “at a rate far faster than any feasible cleanup,” scientist Richard Thompson told USA TODAY’s Doyle Rice last November.
Meanwhile: Native Hawaiians continue to experience outsized impacts of pollution and climate change, including rising sea levels, increased drought, less access to fresh water, and more.
Case in point: Maui residents are likely to face long-term health consequences from the Lahaina wildfires, which were in part caused by invasive, non-native grasses originally brought over by European colonizers.
— By
Katrina Pham
AAPI NATION
NUMBER OF THE WEEK
19 million
That’s the amount of money Hawai‘i is receiving from the U.S. Department of the Interior to create a desalination establishment in Kalaeloa that will serve as a new, sustainable drinking water source, Honolulu Civil Beat’s Marcel Honore writes. The facility will convert seawater into proper drinking water for local residents and is expected to produce 1.7 million gallons of potable water every day. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) called the move an important step to ensure Hawai‘i’s resilience in the face of climate change.
The inside of a desalination plant treating water. Photo: Roplant via Flickr
👉 Here’s what else is happening across America...
🖊️ Gov. Jim Pillen (R) signed a law to establish the Nebraska Commission on Asian American Affairs, Nebraska Public Media’s Kassidy Arena reports. It will join other ethnic minority commissions already established in the state.
🩻 Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco got a $12.45 million boost from the National Cancer Institute to spearhead the first long-term study of cancer among Asian Americans.
Of note: Asian Americans are the first racial/ethnic group for whom cancer is the leading cause of death, according to UCSF.
🇻🇳 Vietnamese is now one of San Francisco’s official languages after the Board of Supervisors voted to lower the requirement that determines whether a language is eligible for translation services, NBC Asian America’s Isabel Yip writes. Vietnamese is the fourth largest language population in the city, after Spanish, Chinese, and Filipino.
Why it matters: “Recognizing our diversity is fundamental to ensuring that public services cater to the needs of all residents,” Jorge Rivas Jr., then-executive director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, wrote in the city’s 2024 language access compliance report.
📖 The first cohort of Hmong language teachers in Minnesota were accredited from the Concordia masters program, which was created from a Hmong teaching curriculum developed by Hmong advocacy organization Minnesota Zej Zog (MZZ). Graduates are now approved for a Tier 3 teaching license, making them eligible for tenure in schools, MinnPost’s Deanna Pistono reports.
In their words: “In order for these teachers to stay in the long haul, they need the license,” Pang Yang, MZZ executive director, told MinnPost. “They need to be able to make a living and they need to be able to have the credentials and the background knowledge, because a lot of our Hmong elders are leaving us.”
🔍 A woman in Plano, Texas has been convicted on hate crime charges related to a 2022 incident in which police say she physically and verbally attacked several Asian Americans,
What happened: Esmeralda Upton pleaded guilty after being accused of assaulting four South Asian women outside a restaurant and making racist comments such as “go back to India,” NBC Asian America’s Kimmy Yam writes.
🌏 Guam and American Samoa are a step closer to attaining seats at the table with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), which serves as the region’s main political decision-making body.
PIF representatives visited the two U.S. territories after the U.S. government modified an old policy to allow them to join the forum as non-voting associate members, Eleisha Foon reports for RNZ.
😷 Pacific Islanders and Hispanics are most adversely impacted by dust from the receding Great Salt Lake’s exposed bed, new research from the University of Utah shows.
The study raises concerns around ongoing racial disparities as well as broader implications for environmental justice, Deseret News’ Amy Joi O'Donoghue writes.
🎥 Catherine Laga‘aia is set to star as the lead in Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Moana,” which is slated for a summer 2026 release, Variety’s Angelique Jackson writes.
In her words: “I’m honored to have an opportunity to celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me,” said 17-year-old Laga‘aia.
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— By
Rachel Lee
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Preston Lieu
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Shawna Chen