President Barack Obama is re-creating a federal panel to address concerns of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders and to work on improving their health, education and economic status.
Excerpts from Obama's remarks at today's signing of the executive order reinstating the White House Advisory Commission and Interagency Working Group:
"Our AAPI communities have roots that span the globe, but they embody a rich diversity, and a story of striving and success that are uniquely American.
But focusing on all of these achievements doesn't tell the whole story, and that's part of why we're here. It's tempting, given the strengths of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, for us to buy into the myth of the "model minority," and to overlook the very real challenges that certain Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are facing: from health disparities like higher rates of diabetes and Hepatitis B; to educational disparities that still exist in some communities -- high dropout rates, low college enrollment rates; to economic disparities -- higher rates of poverty in some communities, and barriers to employment and workplace advancement in others."
Below is the full text of the executive order reinstating the AAPI initiative: