nwasianweekly.com
April 12, 2008

Shivani Sud

Not all minorities are model

The high school winners of the 2008 Intel Corporation and Society for Science & the Public are not exactly making baking-soda-and-vinegar volcanoes or homemade sundials. They’re not even making motorized mouse-trap cars, something we would have been ecstatic to accomplish in high school.

Rather, these 16- to18-year-olds are developing new types of solar cells, geometrically analyzing the number of lattice points inside polygons with nine sides (the only part of that we understand is “nine sides”), and conducting physics research showing that Einstein’s General Relativity Theory could modify rotation curves in the absence of dark matter. (The only part of that we understand is… heck, we didn’t understand any of it!)

For her part, first-place winner Shivani Sud developed a model that analyzed the specific “molecular signatures” of tumors from patients with stage II colon cancer. She then used this information to identify those at higher risk for tumor recurrence and propose potentially effective drugs for treatment.

Sud, 18, received a $100,000 scholarship March 11 at a banquet held in Washington, D.C. The intellect and ambition gathered in that banquet hall must have been phenomenal.

And it comes as no surprise that the winner of such a competitive competition would be Asian American. Last week, on our front page, we published news of the Regional Spelling Bee — the last four finalists were all Asian American girls — and lightheartedly suggested that spelling was the new golf or classical music, fields that young Asian Americans dominate in.

Our community is right to be proud of such accomplished young students. It’s thrilling to marvel at what Sud will even further contribute to the field of medicine. It’s remarkable that immigrants are laying claim to having the best grasp of the English language.

However, there is a flip side to all these instances of bright young stars. Several weeks ago, we ran a story on a Filipino criminal who was trying to adjust to rehabilitation and life after prison. Al Sugiyama, executive director of Center for Career Alternatives, and Pam Perez, a CCA staff member, both mentioned the surprising number of Asian inmates at McNeil penitentiary.

Typically, we think of high Asian populations at science fairs, math competitions or piano recitals. And granted, Asians make up a small portion of the prison population — less than 5 percent — but how often do we think about that population at all?

According to Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, “The number of Asian Pacific Americans in the correctional system is small but growing … it is a growing population especially in the category of APA youth offenders.”

The AAPIP’s report goes on to say, “The Asian Pacific American prison population remains invisible as a public policy issue even as this population slowly grows.”

It’s time that APA prisoners stop being invisible, especially to their own community. Let’s not forget that for every scholarship winner, every perfect SAT scorer, every computer whiz we praise, there is a gang member, a victim of abuse, a high school dropout that we should be nurturing and encouraging.

Acknowledging that not all Asian Americans fit the “model minority” ideal doesn’t dull any of the sheen. Our community can only benefit from trying to provide all APA youth with opportunities and support, not just the ones holding up trophies.

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