COVID-19-revealing unaddressed systemic barriers in the 45th anniversary of the southeast asian american experience

Abstract

2020 marks the 45th year anniversary of the Southeast Asian American (SEAA) experience, starting with the first wave of refugees who fled Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam as a result of American occupation and wars throughout the region. Collectively, this community is the largest community of refugees ever to be resettled in America. Yet despite four decades in this country, Southeast Asian Americans continue to face disparate challenges like other low-income, immigrant, refugee, communities of color—ranging from poverty, to educational inequity, health disparities, and harsh immigration policies. COVID-19 pandemic has also revealed and exacerbated systemic barriers that have always existed for Southeast Asian American communities. This paper explores those impacts in economic, education, health, and immigration enforcement and concludes with thoughts on the way forward.