DNC Revamp: Terry McAuliffe Sets Goals to Attract APAs. (in National News) SF General Calls for More Funding (in Bay Area News) Does China Deserve the Olympics? (in Business) API Filmmakers Make Strong Showing in Queer Film Fest (in A&E)

Asian Americans Show Up

You may have seen this wire story from Reuters that boldly stated, “Survey Finds U.S. Discrimination Persists.” As if we really needed confirmation. Whatever your ethnic background, did this not elicit a great big universal “DUH”?

The survey was conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University, three names that add up to instant credibility.

But here’s what’s newsworthy: how many surveys worth their fish sauce really ever look at all of us?

This race survey even looked at whites! And guess what? They were victims of discrimination too. Yes, Virginia, it is really one big, bad, universally racist society after all. One out of every three whites said they sometimes face racial slurs, bad service or disrespectful behavior.

Now there’s a thought. Whites who get treated just like us.

Of course, most media stuck with the poll’s main finding that more than half of all African American men reported being victims of racial profiling, the au courant grievance of choice.

The poll’s inclusiveness gave it an even newsier twist. One in five Latino and Asian men surveyed also said they had been victims of racially motivated police stops.

Now that’s impressive. It’s always been one of my major complaints — how pollsters have seemed mired in the black/white paradigm.

The New America has really rocked poll-dom. To get an accurate sense of American opinion, any poll needs to include all of us. Without that, how can a pollster discount 1/3 of America and claim to have any validity? And yet that’s what happens.

This Kaiser/Post/Harvard poll, however, seems different, and represents a new benchmark for how future polls on public matters should be taken.

The poll’s national sample of 1,709, included 779 whites, 323 African Americans, 315 Hispanics and 254 Asians. 254 Asians. You get that many in one 30 Stockton bus any rush hour through San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Whites were roughly 46 percent of the pie. Blacks were at 19 percent. Hispanics made up 18.4 percent. And Asian Americans were nearly 15 percent. That’s more than our national population figure. We got a bonus.

Usually, a pollster casts a net and if there are no Asians, so be it. We are “insignificant.” But this poll was different. To assure a representative sample that included an Asian American voice, this poll over-sampled for all minorities.

The bad news is that it still came up with a margin of error for us that’s almost double that of whites.

For example, whites at 779 had a respectable sampling error of minus four. For African Americans, it was six. Hispanics were seven. Asians were at nine. Whenever I hear a poll has a margin of error of nine, the numbers can really mean almost anything. In other words, it’s still not perfect. But at least Asians are on the radar.

So what did the survey say, given it talked to just 254 Asian Americans and had a margin of error of plus or minus nine?

In answer to the question, “Have you experienced discrimination because of your racial or ethnic background, or not?” Asians were right in line. Forty-six percent of African Americans said yes. Hispanics were 40 percent yes. Asians were 39 percent “yes.” Whites were at 18 percent.

Except for the white numbers, it’s pretty uniform.

An optimist might point to the numbers in the majority. Hispanics were at 60 percent “no.” Even the majority of African Americans (53 percent) said no. And 58 percent of Asians said no. A majority of ethnic Americans? So why aren’t we all happy? Well, we presume an equal society. A majority of us getting good treatment isn’t enough. Equal should be closer to 100 percent.

Still, I bet you’ll see some right wing spin from the colorblind — like Ward Connerly — on this one. Equality achieved, or some such nonsense.

The Asian numbers are particularly interesting. We don’t get stopped by police as much as blacks or Hispanics. And when asked if we have ever not been hired for a job or promoted because of race or ethnicity, our experience is in line with Hispanics at 18 percent. Blacks are nearly twice our number.

But here’s where we are in the money. People like to beat us up. Blacks who say they have been physically threatened are at 17 percent. Hispanics are at 13 percent. We’re right up there at 15 percent. Let’s make karate compulsory please. We should live up to the stereotype. It could come in handy.

A second set of questions asked, “In your day-to-day life, how often do any of the following things happen to you because of your racial or ethnic background?” The choices were: very often, fairly often, once in a while, or never.

From the poll, only 7 percent of Asians said they were treated with less respect than others either “very often, or fairly often.” Blacks and Hispanics were more than twice as likely to say they’ve been dissed.

People are definitely less fearful of us. Only 3 percent say people acted fearful of them. But Hispanics are at 11 percent. And blacks are at 17 percent. Our xenophobia is not as bad as we think.

It’s in restaurants and stores where we show solidarity with most groups. Asians say poor service occurs “very often” or “fairly often” 5 percent of the time. That’s low, but still twice the number whites gave. Hispanics said 15 percent. African Americans said 17 percent.

Still, when the discrimination is occasional and occurs “once in a while,” our numbers shoot way up to 35 percent, second to blacks at 53 percent.

Our real problem is that people not only like to beat us. They like to call us names.

We lead in name calling with 8 percent saying it happens very often or fairly often and 29 percent of us saying it happens occasionally. That’s more than Blacks and Hispanics and whites.

Two suggestions come to mind: ear plugs, and don’t forget the karate.