The Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight held a public hearing at the State House on Wednesday afternoon to hear testimony on a number of bills, including House Bill 3361, which would require state agencies to collect disaggregated data on Asian-Americans.
More than 1,000 people from around Massachusetts came to the Garner Auditorium to testify and hear testimonies on this controversial bill. The auditorium reached capacity before the allotted start time. State Troopers had to call in backup to assist with crowd control, including a line of over 100 people who waited to file in as seats opened.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tackey Chan, summarized this bill as the result of a 30-year conversation by Asian-Americans around the country. Chan, who was brought up as a Chinese-American from immigrant parents from Hong Kong, said he believes “Asian” is a term that was created for their group of people. Chan said he believes this bill is an important first step in creating more effective policy.
“On the state level, we collect a lot of data and information and a lot of policy making revolves around the data collected,” Chan said in an interview before the hearing. “Asian-Americans are not also connected and given the large diversity of 4.5 billion people on the planet, being looked as a single entity, being looked as a single people is a great disservice to us all.”
Along with Chan’s testimony, several nonprofit organizations, including Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network and Asian-American Resource Workshop, gave testimonies in favor of the bill.
Currently, when racial data is collected in Massachusetts, people are not required to identify themselves by which countries their ancestors came from, Chan said. Asian subgroups are combined into one category — Asian-American. This aggregated data includes persons from over 20 different countries.
Chan said supporters of his bill believe the disaggregation of this data will allow for more effective policy and resource allocation for Asian-American communities.
Newton City Councilor, Amy Mah Sangiolo, said during the hearing this legislation would help ensure resources are targeted to those who need them most.
“Many needs within the Asian-American community go unmet because the need is not reflected in the data that we currently collect,” Sangiolo said. “The Asian-American community in MA is very diverse, as well are its needs. There are great disparities in areas such as educational attainment and poverty level, access to health care services and housing.”
The idea of more accurate preventative health care and screening came up frequently over the proceedings. George King, chief scientific officer at Joslin Diabetes, shared a personal story of a relative that died from liver cancer.
“One of our very close relatives developed liver cancer because South Chinese have heightened [rates] … you have high Hepatitis rate and have higher rates of liver cancer,” King said. “By the time they diagnosed him, it was too late and he died within two years of that.”
King said many Asian groups are more susceptible to some diseases than other demographics, and that while Asians may not appear overweight compared to their white counterparts, they are actually more susceptible to diabetes. He stressed the importance disaggregated data will have in studies and in the treatment of illnesses for these groups.
The opposition to the bill said it unfairly targets Asians, and fears this data could be used against them, citing the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese internment camps as examples. Rep. James Lyons spoke on behalf of his constituents who oppose the bill, stating that over 100 people gathered in his backyard to share their concerns.
“One thing I found so inspiring, the one issue these folks kept talking about [is] how great it was to be an American and have the freedoms we have,” Lyons said. “Their view of this bill is completely contrary to what they believe freedom is all about.”
Many testified that this bill requires them to label themselves as something other than American and helps further ideas of them being “other.” Jian Teng, 46, of Belmont, said he came to the hearing because he was worried about how this bill would affect his American-born children.
“This bill is total nonsense,” Tung said after the hearing. “I know many people are here because they would be forced to choose which country you are from. The whole country is already so divided right now, we should not do anything to further divided our population.”
Mabel Amar, 71, of Lexington, said she has lived in the United States for 55 years, and in that time, now has family members from various countries.
“That debunks the myth that we assume that Koreans will marry Koreans,” Amar said after the hearing. “I cannot say my grandchildren or my nieces are Korean-Chinese or completely Koreans. I am proud to say that I am American and that I am Asian-American.”
