Speech #1030040920

While many have achieved educational and economic success. most AsianPacific Americans are not in the upper rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. This myth of the model minority does not take into account that most AsianPacific Americans are newcomers to our Nation and face countless language. social. cultural. and economic barriers. Of the 9 million Americans of Asian and Pacific Island ancestry over 65 percent are foreign born. This myth does not take into account the large differences among AsianPacific American subgroups. Though we are grouped together under the AsianPacific American heading. this population is really a collection of communities across this country with origins from a wide variety of places. including Malaysia.