IV. CONCLUSION
We Have Common Goals
[1]	America' s seemingly intractable legacy of racism has hurt all Americans, especially those of us who happen to be racial minorities. Besides wasting human resources and destabilizing our society, racism has led to needless stereotyping, suffering, and cruelty. It is this social problem of racism and White privilege that affirmative action fights. We seek a society where race is no longer an axis of social division, inequality, and hatred, nor used to create a repressive social, economic, or political status — a goal that we hope is shared by all Americans.
[2]	We must all recognize that racial discrimination continues to exist in America, even against APAs. We must further recognize that affirmative action helps all Americans, including APAs, and that supporting affirmative action does not mean authorizing negative action against APAs.
[3]	APAs can play an extraordinarily powerful role in the debate because they can declare their support for the programs even when they are not directly benefited by them. In certain contexts, it may be legitimate not to include APAs or other racial minorities for that matter in affirmative action programs. In such cases, they should be treated indistinguishably from Whites.153 If a White person then complains about the "preferential treatment" given to certain racial minorities, then the similarly situated APA can answer:
[4]	As a racial minority, I continue to suffer from various forms of racial discrimination. I have personal stories as well as statistical documentation to prove it. And in that sense, I am disadvantaged compared to you, simply because of the color of my skin. Nevertheless, I am willing to bear the same burden that you bear caused by affirmative action. I am willing to share this burden to help us get beyond racism, to reach a fairer society. I am willing to go beyond my self-interest in order to strive for a community of justice. Are you?
We Must Seek Alternatives
[5]	As the next generation of APA scholars, activists, and political participants, we must demand alternatives that go beyond identifying victims, taking existing sides, or proclaiming good intentions without forwarding solutions. To those who wish to abolish affirmative action, we must ask what is their alternative. If they have none, their agenda should be rejected as non-responsive to the challenge of building a more equitable society.
[6]	Recently, opponents of race and gender-based affirmative action have advocated replacing it with class-based affirmative action. But these two programs are not mutually exclusive. Universities, for example, can and do consider multiple "diversity" factors — not only race, but also socio-economic disadvantage — in its admissions decision. We must also recognize that the two programs target different, although somewhat overlapping, problems. In particular, if social contact among the races is necessary to decrease racial prejudice, a race-based affirmative action program is better tailored to promote racial harmony. Finally, we must ask whether class-based affirmative action is being offered only as a ruse, to assuage progressives while dismantling race and gender based affirmative action. A genuine commitment to class equality would lead one to target resources at an individual's formative years — with anti-poverty programs that provide adequate housing, nutrition, and education to children. But oddly enough, the programs mentioned so far would instead give mild preferences late in life, in admissions or employment. This should give use cause for skepticism.
[7]	In sum, we must demand serious, genuine alternatives that reject both liberal and conservative shibboleths. Liberals suffer a blindspot by thinking that all racial discrimination falls between Black-White poles. This tunnel-vision has allowed conservatives to rally to the cause of APAs and to portray us as a racial minority victimized by social engineering. We call upon liberals to take discrimination against APA communities seriously, to reject model minority stereotypes, and to include APAs, Latina/os, and Native Americans into national debates on race.
[8]	Conservatives suffer their own blindspot. Their crusade to terminate affirmative action fails to address over-parity discrimination suffered by APAs. In fact, conservatives have typically led the charge to weaken anti-discrimination laws and the agencies that enforce them.154 We call upon conservatives to cease using APAs as their "racial mascot" 155 to arrogate moral authority in furtherance of regressive policies.
[9]	Finally, APAs must be mindful of their own blindspot: We possess a "simultaneity" in which we can be both victim and perpetrator of racial oppression.156 We must reject a self-congratulatory embrace of the model minority myth and reject policies justified only by the narrowest self-concern. Most importantly, we must denounce the prejudice within our own communities, which allows us to care less about social justice and more about individual self-interest.
A Community of Justice
[10]	The affirmative action debate affords APAs a unique opportunity to re-vision a multiracial democracy. In an era of global corporate restructuring and downsizing, APAs should do more than scramble for a piece of a constantly shrinking pie. We should do more than aspire to be "model minority" managers of increasingly scarce resources. Instead, APAs should work toward a bolder reconstruction of society. In coalition with all those genuinely committed to social justice, we can together pursue a transformative program of social and economic expansion informed by the sort of deep democratic inclusion that places those least privileged at the forefront.
[11]	It is our hope that this policy analysis has provided much food for thought. Modestly, we also hope it has elevated the quality of discussion on affirmative action and the role that APAs play in that debate. We would like to have persuaded those on the fence to support affirmative action, not as a panacea, but as a partial step toward a more comprehensive agenda to address pervasive and persistent inequalities. For those unpersuaded, we still wish to have shown that our support of affirmative action is not simply self-interested. Rather, it is based on a coherent commitment to fairness, which rejects self-interest and strives toward a national community of justice.