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👋 Good morning and welcome to Power Shift, The Yappie’s weekly guide to the politics, policy news, and activism affecting Asian American + Pacific Islander communities. Email me at [email protected] to share tips, comments, or questions. And support our work by making a donation.
– Edited by Shawna Chen
THE BIG STORY
The clock is ticking on a Bay Area archive of Asian American history
Designed by Andrew Peng/The Yappie. Photos: National Archives
Do you remember the first time you encountered a piece of Asian American history in a museum? Maybe it was a sign protesting the gentrification of San Francisco’s Manilatown. Or a letter from a Japanese American soldier deployed overseas with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II.
These types of archival materials, each a timestamp for key periods in Asian American history, could soon be lost forever, AAPI advocates warn.
What’s happening: The National Archives’ (NARA) move to close its Bay Area facility, located in San Bruno, has sparked alarm that the more than 100,000 cubic feet of records housed there will become damaged, destroyed, or inaccessible.
An email to staff obtained by KQED said the agency plans to redistribute the materials across six other NARA facilities within two to three years in an effort to improve “efficiency and effectiveness,” but Democratic lawmakers and historians say it will significantly hamper public access to one-of-a-kind records.
The San Bruno building is home to collections spanning the Chinese Exclusion Act, Angel Island immigration, and Japanese American incarceration.
“For so many of our constituents, it holds the story of their family’s history,” states a letter from 37 Congress members urging NARA to reconsider.
It also houses “precious records that tell AANHPI stories that are often overlooked,” Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who co-led the letter with Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), said in an X post.
Prominent documents include court records for United States v. Wong Kim Ark, a landmark Supreme Court case that established birthright citizenship.
The context: Though it’s not the first time NARA has closed a facility, in this case, there were no public hearings before the decision was announced, NBC News reports.
“They did this with no public input and no transparency … and no congressional oversight,” Mullin said at an August rally.
NARA did not respond to The Yappie’s request for comment.
While it’s unclear if NARA will respond to their concerns, Chu and several other lawmakers, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), have in the meantime introduced legislation requiring congressional approval before NARA can shutter or restrict access to regional facilities.
The agency is set to begin transporting records “within the next few months,” according to the email to NARA staff.
Our Take
In an era when people are trying to either erase or reposition the uglier parts of American history, preserving primary sources has become more vital than ever—especially when digitizing is often an expensive and years-long endeavor.
The reality is that key parts of Asian American history could simply be lost to time as this process rolls out.
POLICY TRACKER
Trump claws back nearly $600M from minority-serving programs
Photo: White House
AAPI health, immigration, and business outcomes could worsen under a new Trump proposal aimed at eliminating “wasteful and harmful spending.”
The directive would rescind:
$567 million from refugee and entrant assistance, including funds for the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
$10 million from the Minority Business Development Agency, which was created in 1969 to drive economic equity and address the racial wealth gap in America.
$15 million from Biden-era grant programs that fund legal aid and mental health services for asylum seekers and immigrants.
$5 million from Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health, which focuses on addressing health disparities and expanding culturally competent services.
The fine print: The legality of such pocket rescissions—where a presidential administration requests the cancellation of congressionally appropriated funds—has been heavily debated as an issue of potential executive overreach.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has previously deemed such maneuvers illegal since they bypass the legislative branch’s “power of the purse.”
Our Take
The White House claims funding for many of these measures is unconstitutional because they primarily support members of minority populations.
Though Trump’s proposal could face legal disputes, that reasoning could easily expand to future restrictions on other programs that benefit AAPIs at large.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Our communities should not be forced to fight over scraps when the federal government should be investing in all of them.
The statement comes after the Trump administration diverted $47.2 million from programs bolstering Hispanic-serving institutions; Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian–serving institutions; Asian American– and Native American Pacific Islander–serving institutions; and Native American–serving nontribal institutions, per Inside Higher Education.
The funding was reallocated to historically Black colleges and universities as well as tribal colleges.
While the Tri-Caucus chairs affirmed that these institutions deserve more support, they called the diversion “a cynical ploy to pit minority communities against each other.”
Our Take
It’s unclear whether the colleges that will benefit from the funding—many of which lauded the move—were aware that it’s coming at the cost of other minority-serving institutions.
It nevertheless continues an increasingly aggressive trend of cutting federal support for designated minority-serving institutions and plays into long-standing tropes of forcing communities of color to compete against each other.
ON OUR RADAR
Designed by Andrew Peng/The Yappie
Min Jin Lee, author of National Book Award Finalist Pachinko, has published another novel—“American Hagwon,” the third installment of a planned quartet exploring the Korean diaspora.
The book explores the cost of submitting to the Korean cultural belief that a grinding education will eventually give rise to success.
As a fellow Korean immigrant, I have long been waiting for Lee’s next book. She is proof that Asian American fiction writers can succeed and achieve massive literary success in this country.
Like what you’ve read?
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Founded in 2018, The Yappie is an independent, nonprofit news organization reporting on Asian American + Pacific Islander power, politics, and influence. Learn more.
