asian-american atlantans The AJC has a couple of articles today about Asians in Atlanta (my hometown). The first deals with the "complex diversity" of the Asian community:

Even some Asian-Americans question whether everyone belongs in the same category. Until recently the U.S. Census Bureau included Pacific Islanders as "Asian." The category also includes Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. Should those communities be included with Koreans and Japanese? "It's quite unnatural for us in the Asian-American community," said Choi, who is also vice chairman of the governor's commission. "But Indian and Pakistani cultures are just as much, if not more, foreign to us as American culture. There's almost no contact."

The other article details Asians' disproportionate success in getting small business loans targeted for "minorities":

Five years ago, Asian-Americans in Georgia -- immigrants from Iran east to Japan -- were granted 179 of the SBA-backed loans, worth $77.8 million. Last year, their 282 loans were worth $133.6 million -- nearly 3 1/2 times the value of SBA loans to African-Americans. The numbers are more remarkable on a national level. Asian-Americans won $2.3 billion in SBA-backed loans the last fiscal year. African-Americans got $374 million. Hispanics received $733 million.

This, of course, has prompted the usual debate over "minority" programs:

The disparity rankles some who question why the easy loans intended for minorities increasingly get gobbled up by immigrants. They say Asian-Americans -- typically wealthier than blacks and Hispanics -- shouldn't be allowed to so readily tap the loan pool for the economically disadvantaged.