k, toward a governing society, and toward law enforcement. While a reasonable percentage of these groups has high levels of income and education, significant numbers of Asian Americans in the Bay Area exist in poverty and disenfranchisement (Walker, 1991; Asian, 1993; Nakao, 1996).
More than fifty percent of the Asian Americans in the Bay Area obtained their visas under the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (Lee, 1994). Other Asian Americans immigrated under subsequent amendments to the Act which allowed families to reunite (Asian, 1993). The largest groups of immigrants came from China, The Philippines, and Korea. Much of the Japanese American population comes from families that lived in the United States since the 1930s. Post Vietnam, many Southeast Asian refugees immigrated to escape repressionist regimes and many are still facing economic difficulties, particularly finding affordable housing.
Regardless of where they come from or when they immigrated, most Asian Americans in the Bay Area face great assimilation challenges, possibly greater than other immigrants. Apart from the usual difficulties of adjusting to life in a new nation learning the languages and customs, finding work and shelter, redeveloping social and familial roots Asian Americans who move to the Bay Area find an economy rich beyond reason and for the most part closed to them. There are 10 census tracts in the Bay Area with median household incomes of less than $15,000 and Asians m
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