HISTORY OF THE GEORGIA
ASIAN AMERICAN COMMISSIONS
AJC Article photos Courtesy of the Asian Pacific American Historical Society.
The first Georgia Commission on Asian-American Affairs was created by executive order of former Gov. Roy Barnes (D) on July 25, 2001. The first Commission included: Lani L. Wong (Chair, President of the National Association of Chinese Americans), Lisa E. Chang (former Chief Legal Officer of DeKalb County), Seill "Steve" Choi, Raoul "Ray" Donato (now Philippines Hon. Gen. Consul), Praya Marn, Vir A. Nanda, Roger Ozaki, Soon-Hee Paik, Radesh Patel, Mike Polak, Jayendrakumar Shah, Farooq Soomro, Mary Squires, Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (former House Rep.), Dr. Josephine Tan (Georgia Power), Horacena Tate, Rev. Oudone Thirakoune, Jerome Yeh, Rick Yi, and Bettina Yip (now in-house counsel at Del Monte Foods).
In July 2003, former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (R) created the second Asian-American Commission for a New Georgia. This Commission had 18 members, and served as an advisory board between the Governor's Office, other state government agencies and the private sector as they related to Asian affairs and initiatives. The Governor appointed Dr. Josephine K. Tan as chair of the Commission, stating that "[t]he Asian-American Commission will be an integral part of the New Georgia . . .Dr. Tan's proven commitment and extensive experience with the Asian-American community will undoubtedly serve the commission and the state of Georgia well." This second commission included Dr. Josephine Tan (Chair), BJay Pak (now a GA House Rep.), Willee Bonus, Ritesh "Rick" Desai, Jay K. Eun, Quyen Kiet, Sachi Koto, Yung Krall, Thomas Lee, Dr. Krishna Mohan, Nancy Quan-Sellers, Bharath Shah, Dr. Manoj H. Shah, Kenneth Suddeth, Dr. Sue-ling Wang, Lani Wong, Baoky Vu (Ex-officio member), and Sunny K. Park, Ex-officio member.
The Commission focused on working with community organizations, local governments, and private businesses. Its purpose was to serve in an economic advisory role to attract international business and create jobs while also helping smaller, minority-owned businesses. The consulting function of the commission was to provide valuable insight to policy making in areas such as healthcare, economic opportunity and education.
However, Governor Nathan Deal, since he took office in January 2011, has not renewed the appointment of the Commission. Now, more than ever before, Georgia needs an AAPI Commission that will have sustainability, with a written reporting requirement to meet with the Governor on a regular basis, to provide him with special insight into the needs of the AAPI populations in Georgia.
Our goal is to lobby the Georgia Legislature to legislate the creation of a new AAPI Commission with rotating appointed members, who will conduct their own independent research and meetings, create a public dialogue about the most pressing issues facing AAPIs in our State, and deliver a written report to the Governor once a year. It is imperative that reboot and re-ignite an initiative that was granted to our AAPI communities over a decade ago, as our population has now grown by over 83% since 2000.
AAPI Commissions and Initiatives Nationwide
LEGISLATION CREATING AAPI COMMISSIONS & SAMPLE REPORTS
|
|
|