A new TAAF survey finds most Asian Americans don't feel fully accepted in the U.S. Sheila Lirio Marcelo joins "CBS Mornings Plus" to discuss the "Asian + American" campaign and efforts to build belonging.

Washington

A survey conducted by the Asian American Foundation (TAFF) indicates that a majority of Asian Americans do not feel fully accepted in the United States, with only 23% reporting complete acceptance of their racial identity. The sense of non-acceptance is even more pronounced among younger Asian Americans aged 16 to 24, where only 20% feel fully accepted. 

In response, TAFF has launched the 'Asian Plus American' campaign to celebrate dual identities and encourage individuals to share their stories. The campaign aims to address issues of belonging and combat stereotypes, such as the 'model minority' label and economic misconceptions. TAFF also partners with organizations to provide bystander training and support for those facing harassment.

Survey finds many Asian Americans don't feel accepted in the U.S.

A new survey finds a majority of Asian Americans do not feel welcome in the United States. Only 23% say they feel fully accepted for their racial identity, according to the Asian American Foundation, known as TAFF. The group is out with a new campaign called Asian Plus American, celebrating the beauty of dual identities. Check out this PSA, narrated by award-winning actor Sandra Oh. First generation. First of our family. First of many firsts. We're not caught between two worlds. We're creating a new one. Sheila Lirio Marcello joins us now. She's a co-founding board member of the Asian American Foundation, as well as the founder of Care.com and co-founder and CEO of Ohai.ai. Good morning. Good to see you. Good morning, Vlad and Adriana. So, all right, why did the Asian American Foundation want to create this specific campaign? Well, Vlad, as you mentioned, the TAFF survey, the status index, that only 23% of Asian Americans feel fully accepted for their identity. What's even shocking is only 20% of the young 16 to 24-year-olds. And we were very worried about that. TAFF was formed, actually, to solve safety, belonging, and a sense of advancing prosperity. Overall, for the Asian American community at the height of Asian hate in 2021. And so it was very important for us to do this campaign that is really, at the heart, it speaks to something universal. It is about the richness of being more. And that hyphen felt like we were separating ourselves. And the beauty of Wyden Kennedy's campaign of just putting a simple slash and a plus is embracing our full identity of who we are. And that's pretty special. It is so special. I mean, we've talked about this stuff. We're the children of immigrants. And you do have that feeling of, like, not being American enough, not being, you know, Haitian or Dominican enough. But this survey and research has found that Asian Americans, Asian plus Americans, feel this, on average, even stronger of that not belonging. Why is that? I think there's a sense of being labeled a model minority. It pits other people of color against each other. There's a sense that got labeled as the China virus during the height of the pandemic. And the sense that, you know, a multiple group of a diaspora of Asian Americans are grouped into one group with an assumption that economically more advanced than other groups, when it's not necessarily the case. The statistics also show that Asian Americans struggle economically, also need services, need support. And there's just this overall sense of feeling like we're not ourselves. You know, my daughter is mixed race, half Chinese. And it's incredibly important to my wife and I that she stay connected to her Chinese side. How do parents navigate this? Because it seems to be affecting young people. How do they navigate the feelings that young people have? And is this a recent phenomenon? No, this has been ongoing. The fact that for a long time, we've really, you know, hidden our names, our food, our language. And Vlad, thank you for sharing something so personal. My son is 33 years old, was raised in the Boston area. And I'm now a grandmother. And so my granddaughter's CC is part Filipino American, part Irish Canadian. And when he saw this, it really stuck to him. And so personally, I do so many things in my life about proximity, just like what I did for Care.com and what I'm doing for Ojai. But when he looked at the PLUS campaign, he said, Mom, I grew up othered. I don't want CC to feel this same way. And so the call to action for the PLUS campaign is a hashtag, Asian plus American, to share your beautiful story on social media. That's really it, to encourage people. To your question around what we can do as parents is really encourage each and every child to celebrate the fullness of who they are, to welcome all of that. At TAF, we partner with Right to Be. They've now trained 4 million with bystander training globally. So we want to do right not only to share your story, but when you see someone harassed, what do you do about it? How do you keep yourself safe but also stand up for someone next to you? Super important. Very important, critically important. Sheila, sorry, I'm used to reading so quickly. Sheila, Lirio, Marcelo, thank you very, very much. I'm still getting over the fact that you have a son that's 33. I know, me too. That's something that was clicking in my brain as well.

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