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The Most Typical Vs. Desired Face in the World

Twenty-eight years old, Male, and Chinese.  That’s the profile of the most typical person in the world according to research from the National Geographic Magazine.  Of course, it’s also nice of them to render a composite image of that person’s face based on thousands of photographs. ^[1]

As Arte Johnson would exclaim, “Very interesting!”  Even more interesting perhaps would be a composite of what the most aspired face in this planet might be.  Of course, the cop-out would be, “It depends.”  But, let’s stretch our imagination here for a second.  And, feel free leaping to the similarly sensational conclusions as the publication has done.  If you can change your face, what will that face look like? 

Many have taken this interest to greater—and more serious—lengths, altering their own face via cosmetic surgery.  According to the New York Times, having the extreme makeover is highly in demand especially among the immigrant communities here.  The motive varies but assimilation seems to be the pervading theme, the need to look “more American”. ^[2]

Very interesting, indeed!

^[1] Liz Goodman, “The Most Typical Face in the Planet”, The Lookout, Yahoo! News, Mar. 3, 2011
^[2] Sam Dolnick, “Ethnic Differences Emerge in Plastic Surgery”, The New York Times, Feb. 18, 2011

 

The Fear of Immigrants

An analysis of recent survey data links economic growth with the influx of immigrant workers.^[1]

The data belie a common perception in the nation’s hard-fought debate over immigration — articulated by lawmakers, pundits and advocates on all sides of the issue — that the surge in immigration in the last two decades has overwhelmed the United States with low-wage foreign laborers.

Phoenix tops the list of the fastest growing metro areas. Its economic growth of over a hundred fold in the past few years coincides with its 13% rise in immigrant share of the labor force.^[2] And, yes, it's in the same state of Arizona, which most recently enacted a law on immigration that seems to defy the logic behind this data.

True, some residents have a more rationale view of immigration in support of the new law, saying they have nothing against immigration if done legally.  Others simply outrightly decry the presence of immigrants to begin with, a feeling that may have weighed more heavily in pushing the bill for approval—sadly enough.^[3]

This law might kick some of these immigrants out,” said Mr. Lowis, 76, a retiree who has lived here for more than 30 years and does not like all the change. “They vandalize the golf course, throwing flags in the ponds. Burglaries. There are too many immigrants. I get tired of seeing all these people standing on the corner.

This has become emblematic of the more recent debates on national issues.  One side calls us to reason; another side says, “No, I don’t like it, and just because I don’t.”

^[1]Julia Preston, “Work Force Fueled by Highly Skilled Immigrants”, The New York Times, April 15, 2010
^[2]Immigrants and Growth, The New York Times, April 15, 2010
^[3]Randal C. Archibold, “Growing Split in Arizona Over Immigration”, The New York Times, April 25, 2010

Happy (Mixed) Valentine’s Day

Asked what the country may look like with the increasing acceptance of mixed-race marriages, Henry Louis Gates Jr. responded: ^[1]

I’m looking forward to the time when we all look like Polynesians.

***

Indeed Americans have become more open in embracing interracial marriages of late.  A recent Pew Research Center survey says that, in fact, more than one in five American adults have a close relative who is married to someone of another race. Moreover, most in the younger set (18-to-29 year olds) accept the concept of interracial dating and marriage. ^[2]
 

***

Visiting a chef/restaurateur friend running a Valentine’s dinner special, I noticed a proud gleam in the young faces of a mixed couple as they walked in and looked at each other while waiting to be escorted to their table.  Yes, they evidently sparkled of the romance fluttering between them.  But also they shone of peace and comfort, knowing that the other couples there will not cast a judging eye on them.

But, wait, I noticed a gay couple also partaking of the celebration.  They seem to be quite relaxed and enjoying the evening as well.  Were there harsh looks from anyone?  I couldn’t tell.  (At least they’re not in Malawi.  Who knows someday, Mr. Gates, Polynesia?)

^[1] Deborah Solomon, “Questions for Henry Louis Gates Jr.: After the Beer Summit”, The New York Times Magazine, Feb. 14, 2010
^[2] Pew Research Center

Fat and Asian

Asian Americans have the lowest obesity rate (39%) across racial/ethnic groups.  A hefty 63% of the total US population is obese or overweight. ^[1] Still, additional statistics among specific Asian Americans do not auger well for me.  Filipino Americans are 70% more likely to be obese than the overall Asian American population. ^[2]

***

I recall how my mother’s face flushed with disappointment the day I began refusing extra helpings from her dinner table.  I imagine that putting together a meal worthy of praise and appreciation had become the culmination of each day.  It is lonely enough for anyone separated from one’s extended family and circle of friends.  It must have been tougher for my mom who had immigrated to this country in her senior years.  But, coming home from work that fateful evening, I held my ground; I refused a second helping.

I repeated this pattern of rejection in the days to come.  It wasn’t that I disliked the dishes that she put together.  In fact, five years after my mom passed away, I still very much miss her cooking.  I know everyone would say the same of his or her mother’s cooking—that it’s the best in the world—and really mean it.  But, I miss my mom and her daily expressions of love, including her devotion in preparing a sumptuous meal for us each night.

It was particularly difficult for me that first night because my favorite dish was on her menu.  The scent of pork adobo greeted me from the very doorstep.  Adobo?  Chunks of pork are browned in oil and garlic, then braised patiently in coconut vinegar, soy sauce, crushed pepper, and bay leaves until tender.  Sometimes, it is finished off in thickened with coconut milk and/or shrimp fry.  Fragrant jasmine rice is served directly from the steamer.  As a side dish, munggo beans are boiled ‘til soft then sautéed with shrimp, garlic, onion, tomatoes and fish sauce.  Mmm!

But sorry, mom, no second serving for me!  My work-stressed, travel-weary and over-compensating poundage needed a makeover.  I have to lose weight, the doctor said, to control my high-blood pressure like you and dad, like brother and sis, already suffer with. That doesn’t mean that I can’t get enough of your gracious servings of love, just not at the dinner table.  Looking back, I really wish I could have said it better.

But, mothers know everything anyway, don’t they?

[1] statehealthfacts.org
[2] U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

International Students in the USA: Asia Dominates (but at a Steeper Price)

A total of 671,616 international students studied in the U.S.A. in the most recent academic term (2008-2009), according to a recent study by the Institute of International Education.^[1]

• India tops the list of countries from which international students originate.  China ranks second in the list.  India and China, combined, account for thirty percent of the total population of international students.
• South Korea ranks third in the list.
• Half of the total international student population in this country comes from only five countries.  Four of those five countries are in Asia, with only Japan ranking lower, fifth in the list below Canada.

In fact, Asian countries dominate the top 25 places of origin of international students.

With the dramatic increases in the cost of education, will this trend continue?  Consider the recent fee hikes that elicited recent student protests in one of our country’s most prestigious universities.^[2]

That would bring the basic UC education fees to about $10,300, plus about another $1,000 for campus-based charges, for a total that would be about triple the UC cost a decade ago. Room, board and books can add another $16,000.

Never mind the laptop!  Twenty-seven grand and change seems like a steep sum to me.  How can the typical American family whose average household income is $50,740^[3] afford to bring their sons and daughters to college nowadays?  And, how much more of a challenge is it for foreign students coming from the above-mentioned countries?

Using GDP per capita as a benchmark for comparison, while the US figure rests at $46,900, consider that of those five countries. ^[4]

• India, $2,900
• China, $6,000
• South Korea, $27,600
• Canada, $39,100
• Japan, $34,000

^[1] Institute of International Education
^[2] Amina Khan, “UCLA students end a day of protest over fee hikes”, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 19, 2009
^[3] U.S. Census Bureau
^[4] Central Intelligence Agency

Alternative Count Yields 7M+ More Living in Poverty in America

An alternative estimate based on the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)¹ brings the poverty level up to 47.4M—or 18.5% of the total U.S. population, as reported yesterday at The Washington Post by Hope Yen².  That's 7.6M more than what the U.S. Census reported earlier at just 39.8M—or 13.2% of the total population. That government estimate does not include other factors such as medical care, transportation, childcare or geographical differences in the cost of living, nor does it include non-cash government aid in their income calculations.
The NAS figures are higher than the original government estimates across racial groups except for Afrian Americans where it remains flat at 24.7%.  Hope Yen’s report underscores the gravity of the situation, which hopefully should weigh in more strongly on how the federal stimulus program is being managed to impact directly on those in dire need.

¹The NAS-based tables are available at:  www.census.gov/hhes/www/povmeas/tables.html  (Select:
Alternative Poverty Estimates Based on National Academy of Sciences Recommendations, by Selected Demographic Characteristics and by Region (CE): 2008
²Hope Yen of The Associated Press, “Revised formula puts 1 in 6 Americans in poverty”, The Washington Post, Oct. 20, 2009

2009 U.S. Math Tests: Racial/Ethnic Gaps Persist

The Department of Education released today the results of the 2009 math test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, that was given to 329,000 fourth- and eighth-grade students.¹  Sam Dillon of the New York Times characterizes the results as sluggish and disappointing.²

Scores on the most important nationwide math test increased only marginally for eighth graders and not at all for fourth graders, continuing a six-year trend of sluggish results that suggest the nation will not come close to bringing all children to proficiency by 2014, a central goal of the Bush-era federal education law, No Child Left Behind.

According to Mr. Dillon, the fact that racial and ethnic gaps still persist even since 2007 makes it especially disappointing.  Here's a summary of the results by racial/ethnic group from the NCES.

Among Fourth-Graders
White and Asian/Pacific Islander students continued to score higher on average than Black, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native students in 2009.  Asian/Pacific Islander students also scored higher on average than White students.

Among Eight-Graders
In 2009, both White and Asian/Pacific Islander students scored higher on average than Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native students.  The average score for Asian/Pacific Islander students was also 8 points higher than the score for White students.

1National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
2Sam Dillon, “Sluggish Results Seen in U.S. Math Scores”, The New York Times, Oct. 14, 2009

1.57 Billion Muslims Worldwide: "Asia Predominates"

The Pew Forum recently released the results of their comprehensive research on Muslims worldwide.¹  The study provides the size and distribution of the Muslim population across the world. The Forum, a project of the Pew Research Center, seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs.²

The study brings the total estimate to over 1.57 billion Muslims in the world.

There are more Muslims in the Asia-Pacific region than anywhere else in the world combined.  The countries with the largest number of Muslims in that region are Indonesia, Pakistan and India, which together accounts for more than a third (34%) of the world’s Muslim population.  Indonesia alone houses 202.9M Muslims, just a few percent shy of the entire Sub-Saharan African region’s Muslim population of 240.6M.  In fact, the Muslim population in Indonesia and Pakistan combined (376.9M) outranks the region known to be the center of Islam, the Middle East-North Africa (315.2M).

Together, Europe (38.1M) and the Americas (4.6M) have less than a two-digit share of the total count of Muslims in the world.  The United States has an estimated 2.5M, followed by Argentina and Canada respectively who each have less than a million Muslim residents.

The 2.5M count for the U.S.A rests within the wide range of previous estimates of 1M to 7M made over the past decade.³ Various sources also indicate that the largest group of Muslims in the country identify themselves as African American and that many reside in California—although New York has a larger share of Muslims based on total state population.

In New York City, the 24th United American Muslim Day Parade is expected to draw crowds on Sunday, October 18th.⁴  The parade will be along Madison Avenue starting at 41st Street and ending at 23rd Street where there will be a Food Festival and Bazaar.  Spearheaded by The Muslim Foundation of America and supported by several other organizations, the annual parade began to achieve their objective:  “to provide a platform to the Muslim community in the Tri-State to get together and join the main stream political arena of this country as we have adopted it as our homeland”.  The parade’s theme this year is “Understanding-Tolerance-Love”, lofty ideals that hopefully translate well both within our diverse U.S. communities and the rest of our conflict-ridden world.

¹Erik Gorski, ”Report: Global Muslim population hits 1.57 billion”, Associated Press, Oct. 8, 2009
²pewforum.org
³islam101.com
⁴muslimdayparade.com

The Most American City of All: Arlington?

Campaigning for the city’s bid to host the Olympics, the President portrayed Chicago’s diversity as that which lifts its stature above all other U.S. cities.¹

"You see, growing up, my family moved around a lot. And I never really had roots in any one place or culture or ethnic group," the president said. "Then I came to Chicago. And on those Chicago streets, I worked alongside men and women who were black and white; Latino and Asian; people of every class and nationality and religion. I came to discover that Chicago is that most American of American cities, but one where citizens from more than 130 nations inhabit a rich tapestry of distinctive neighborhoods."

But, is Chicago really the most diverse and thus the most American of our cities?

Looking at the U.S. Census'² estimated population of 244 U.S. cities by racial group and Hispanic origin, let’s see how Chicago compares to a typical U.S. city.  It looks like the white population is significantly underrepresented by at least minus 21-percentage points compared to the average city.  Conversely, African Americans and Latinos are overrepresented by 16- and 7-percentage points higher, respectively. Browsing through the U.S. Census list, we come across the Texas City of Arlington.  Its population profile looking at similar measures is in fact closer to what an average American city might look like.  Consider that the differences are at most only two-percentage points higher or lower than the typical city’s population proportions by racial group and Hispanic origin.  Likewise, the equivalent population shares of Arlington’s smaller communities, including Asian Americans, more closely resemble that of the average U.S. city than Chicago does.Comparing the data of these two cities, Arlington’s diversity is more reflective of the racial profile of a typical American city.  Should Arlington’s Mayor Dr. Robert Cluck have then sought to host the 2016 Olympics, he could have practically used the words used by the President to promote his very own city, which incidentally also shares a similar slogan that President Obama used in his last campaign:  “We can.”³

Understandably, mere population counts and their distribution based on racial and ethnic groups do not account for all the many complex parameters defining a city’s diverse profile nor, for that matter, its American character.  Along with other demographic hues such as gender, age and education, there’s a rich palette that one needs to use in order to paint a city’s true and real picture, like history, culture, economy, and politics, among others.  That’s what a true Chicago fan would argue, as does one avid blogger.⁴

But, just don’t forget the rest of us who live in all the other great cities of this nation—and, yes, including Arlington.

¹Kathy Bergen, “Flat pitch to IOC: 'Without the Obamas, Chicago had nothing,' Olympic historian says”, Chicago Tribune, Oct. 3, 2009
²www.census.gov/statab/ccdb/cc07_tabD2.xls
³http://www.arlingtontx.gov/
⁴Whet Moser, ”Chicago: ‘The most American of American cities’?”, Chicago Reader, Oct. 2, 2009

Invisible

The most recent polls addressing issues of race and race relations have no ample representation of Asian Americans.  Take the New York Times/CBS News Poll conducted last April, which reports that perceptions of race relations have improved within President Obama’s 100 days in office.  It makes sense that the number of African Americans surveyed has been augmented to afford a separate analysis of data from that community.  However, not enough respondents were recruited among other ethnic minorities to merit similar analysis from their perspective.

Then there’s the Pew Research’s study on racial attitudes conducted early last year.  Sociologist C. N. Le’s opinion on the omission of Asian Americans in this research is one of extreme disappointment.  I share his thoughts that it is “inexcusable” for a well-regarded institution to exclude a 15 million-strong minority group from this important study.  Even as Asian Americans constitute less than a double-digit percentage of total U.S. population, Mr. Le argues that Asian Americans increasingly make up large proportions of the population of many states and majorities in many cities.

While there exist other research initiatives that focus primarily on Asian Americans, the point is that this group’s systematic exclusion from these important studies has underlying implications.  By their sheer minority status, behavioral and attitudinal data from this community are summarily irrelevant in shaping the course of the national debate on race.  Other community leaders should be as vocal as Mr. Le is in prodding major polling institutions to reconsider barring Asian American viewpoint.  How difficult is it to recruit at least two hundred—the magic number for meaningful analysis within the group of—Asian Americans to participate in such polls?

Actually, we have an issue there.  There seems to be a lack of interest and willingness among Asian Americans to participate in such a debate—or, for that matter, in any national poll or research.  U.S. Census officials from my locality attest to a lackluster response in their efforts to drive Asian Americans to be counted in the last census.  In the business world, a recent inventory I conducted on the “availability” of Asian Americans in consumer research panels confirms this lack of disposition to be enlisted even when offered some form of reward or incentive.  Perhaps, some find comfort with invisibility, but not to be counted and taken for all that one is worth, good and bad, right or wrong, is not a valid course.  As there is no excuse for anyone to discount our voice, so also is there no excuse for us not to raise our voice and be counted in the national discussion about race.