Beyond Self-Interest: Asian Pacific Americans Toward a Community of Justice

Abstract

In this policy analysis, four Asian Pacific American law professors make the case for affirmative action, with a special focus on Asian Pacific Americans ("APAs"). The authors believe that affirmative action produces many benefits, such as reducing the harm of racism, promoting equal opportunity, and advancing racial justice. While affirmative action has costs, many of them are misconceived or exaggerated. Those genuine costs that do exist are ones that all Americans should bear in order to move America toward a more just society.

Keywords: affirmative action, negative action, asian americans, proposition 209