I spoke over the weekend at the National Asian Pacific American Legal

Consortium’s conference of "community partners"—mostly

local groups that litigate or organize on behalf of civil rights for

Asian and Pacific Americans. There is some concern that this population

will be overlooked by those who try to increase (or even merely to study)

youth civic engagement. After all, the total numbers are relatively small;

there is an absence of data; the "model minority" stereotype

implies that Asian youth are doing fine on their own; and the population

is very heterogeneous, making research difficult. However, Asian and Pacific

American youth are by some measures the

least likely to vote. Moreover, research on this population is inherently

interesting, since members come from many diverse countries of origin

by many routes and for many reasons. Finally, democracy would benefit

from the participation of more Asian and Pacific American youth, even

if their numbers are comparatively small.