Issue 67 • DECEMBER 5, 2023
👋 Good morning, and welcome back to The Yappie’s AAPI politics briefing — your guide to the policy news and activism affecting Asian Americans + Pacific Islanders. S
end tips and feedback to [email protected] and support our work by making a donation.
— Edited by Shawna Chen
THE BIG STORY
Shanlyn Park testifies at her confirmation hearing. Photo: C-SPAN
Senate confirms first Native Hawaiian woman to federal judiciary
👉
Native Hawaiians have long been disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system—especially in Hawai‘i. Park’s appointment, alongside greater Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander representation at the federal level, could change that.
📃 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Shanlyn Park will be the first Native Hawaiian woman to serve as a federal judge after the Senate voted 53-45 last week to confirm her for lifetime tenure as a U.S. district judge for the District of Hawai‘i.
The newly-appointed Park was born and raised in Hawai‘i and worked as a state court judge in Oahu before serving in the district court. In her new role, Park will judge federal trials in Hawai‘i, including civil and criminal cases.
District judges handle a variety of responsibilities, including overseeing the selection of juries, ruling on the admissibility of evidence, hearing pleas in criminal cases, and determining the sentence of a defendant if they are convicted.
Park has over 20 years of experience as a federal public defender for the District of Hawai‘i. She will be the only judge currently serving a lifetime tenure in the District of Hawai‘i’s courts system to have had prior public defender experience.
Before Park, only four other Native Hawaiians had served as federal judges—all of whom were men, The 19th’s Candice Norwood notes.
“For most of our nation’s history, being considered a ‘fair-minded, neutral judge’ has meant being White and male and having a very specific type of legal background,” Lena Zwarensteyn, a senior director at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights told The 19th.
“To strengthen public trust in the judiciary, our courts should reflect the communities they serve,” the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in an October statement supporting Park’s confirmation.
“Diversity of experience, both personal and professional, helps improve judicial decision-making. The confirmation of Judge Park would be an important step towards ensuring that our federal courts reflect and represent the diversity of our nation.”
State of play: Native Hawaiians are “much more likely to get a prison sentence than almost all other groups, except for Native Americans,” according to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Justice Policy Institute.
Almost half of the incarcerated women in Hawai‘i are Native Hawaiian. Yet only a fifth of the general population of women in Hawai’i identify as Native Hawaiian.
Like many other Indigenous groups in the U.S., Native Hawaiians have high addiction and school dropout rates—in part due to cultural identity loss and Western education systems that promote assimilation to white culture, Charlotte West writes for Honolulu Civil Beat and Open Campus.
Lack of social and emotional support can further contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.
What we’re watching: A majority of federal judges appointed by the Biden administration have been women or racial or ethnic minorities—a first for any president, per an analysis of federal judicial data by Pew Research Center.
Of the 145 judges President Joe Biden has appointed to the federal courts, roughly two-thirds are people of color, the analysis found.
— By
Katrina Pham
AAPI NATION
The U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. Photo: Ken Lund via Flickr
👉 Here’s what else is happening across America…
🇮🇳 The Department of Justice announced charges against a man who prosecutors say participated in a conspiracy plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader residing in New York City, Associated Press’ Ashok Sharma and Larry Neumeister report.
Pannun, an immigration lawyer and dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, is known for his advocacy for a sovereign Sikh state and has a large following on social media, where he often posts videos that include language described as threatening towards Indian leaders, Al Jazeera notes. He is considered a terrorist by the Indian government, which has denied involvement in the plot.
😷 When it comes to health coverage, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders who reside outside of Hawai‘i are two times more likely to be uninsured compared to those who live in Hawai‘i, according to a new policy brief published by the nonprofit KFF. That’s largely due to the state’s mandate that employers provide insurance for employees who work at least 20 hours per week.
Meanwhile: Medicaid coverage rates range from 17% among Chamorro people to 29% among Samoan and Marshallese people, the analysis shows—the result of disparities among noncitizen NHPI subgroups who face restrictions on eligibility for Medicaid.
🔎 A new Pew Research Center survey shows that 57% of Asian adults say discrimination against Asians living in the U.S. is a major problem. 63% believe that too little attention is paid to racial issues regarding Asians. ⛰️ Leaders of the Pacific Islands are increasingly turning to climate solutions beyond COP28, where they are at the forefront of negotiations for the pending Loss and Damage Fund. They have long emphasized the need to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. 🗳️ AAPI voters continue to demonstrate their increasing political strength in New York elections, leading party candidates to strategize on how to capture their votes, New York Times’ Jeffery C. Mays reports. 🌺 Native Hawaiians are working to restore the sacred island Moku‘ula after the deadly Lahaina wildfires, AsAmNews’ Nigel Whan writes. The land is a spiritual center for the community and serves as a burial site for several Hawaiian royals. ✏️ New research finds that Asian American educators face microaggressions at extremely high rates. Unlike more explicit acts of discrimination, microaggressions are more subtle everyday interactions that invalidate a marginalized group’s experiences—intentional or not.
“People are often unaware of how their internal biases bleed out in everyday conversations with others, so one strategy for responding to microaggressions is rooted in a simple goal: Call attention to what’s not being said,” Diana Lee writes in a column for EdSurge. “Make the underlying assumptions visible by pointing it out.”
🎨 Springdale, Alaska has unveiled a new mural celebrating Marshallese culture by local Marshallese artist Helmar Anitok. Springdale is said to have the largest Marshallese population in the continental U.S.🗾 The recent fatal crash of a U.S. military Osprey airplane in Japan has reignited safety concerns and sparked fear regarding its impact on the status of the U.S.-Japan alliance, Kyodo News’ Keita Nakamura writes. Experts are encouraging the U.S. to halt all Osprey flights in response to demands for better operational management of military bases in Asia and Tokyo.🥰 Enjoying The Yappie? Make a donation, forward this briefing to a friend or subscribe here. You can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
— By
Rachel Lee
+
Preston Lieu