December 12, 2018: Watch KAPA Member Megan Rha confront NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and schools Chancellor Richard Carranza about “making Asian Americans the enemy” at the NYC’s Mayor’s Town Hall.

January 23, 2019: Watch Mayor de Blasio defend his SHSAT bill in the state legislature. He does not utter the word “Asian” during his entire speech. Asian Americans make up a majority of students at the specialized high schools.

January 23, 2019: Watch Mayor de Blasio, at the same meeting, conduct a “straw poll” of participants about his SHSAT proposal. Many hands raised in support. Can you spot a single Asian American parent in the room?

Racial Division Is Not Progressive

KAPA is joining a widening coalition of parents, alumni, and organizations who oppose Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wholesale changes to the admissions policies of New York City’s Specialized High Schools.

These changes, according to the NYC Department of Education’s own projections, would result in a dramatic 75% reduction of Korean-speaking students.

Without consulting a single Asian American leader or organization, Mayor de Blasio announced and is pursuing a plan that will significantly harm the educational opportunities of our community.

Our concern: this issue may spark divisions within the NYC minority and immigrant community, who are important stakeholders in the city’s public education.

Keep Politics Out of Our Children’s Education

We support diversity and believe in its value for our children’s education. But we will not be pitted in a zero-sum game against other minorities.

We acknowledge the deep-rooted problems in New York’s educational system and welcome the opportunity to discuss real solutions to them.

But when Asian Americans are hurt by policies that devalue us, we will not sit silently and be bullied.

Learn more about KAPA’s thoughts on education and the SHSAT.

Media

Donate

To support our communication and grassroots lobbying efforts, please consider donating to our “Keep Politics Out” fund by December 31, 2018. A generous donor will match every donation we receive, dollar for dollar, if we can raise $100,000. As of January 10, 2019, we were 70% of the way there, with 30% to go.

Click here to donate.

Here’s why our voice matters:

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[milestone heading_inherit=”default” subject_padding=”0″ color=”Accent-Color” effect=”count” milestone_alignment=”default” number=”413,000″ subject=”American jobs, $60 billion worth of US exports to South Korea at stake, as part of one of the United States’ most important trade deals (KORUS)”]
[milestone heading_inherit=”default” subject_padding=”0″ color=”Accent-Color” effect=”count” milestone_alignment=”default” number=”75,000,000″ subject=”Koreans on the peninsula, seven million in the Korean diaspora impacted by talks on nuclear security, economic development, and peace”]
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