Asian American Small Business Owners: Inequitable Access to Government COVID-19 Relief(link is external)

Minh Anh Van, Interdisciplinary Studies Field, Class of 2023

Internship Office: Federal Defender's Office

Over the past year with the COVID-19 pandemic, many studies have raised the concern that minority-owned businesses have had a hard time accessing the relief offered from the government due to systemic barriers. However, what is not widely addressed is the comparison among small business owners within each minority group itself. Looking at the experiences of Asian American small business owners as a case study, this op-ed highlights the inequitable and flawed evaluation, operation, and distribution of the relief, even among people identified to be in the same minority group.