By "Asian American" do they mean Americans of Chinese descent or what? Does it include Filipinos? Thai? Afghans? It is an odd term.
What about people from India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh? They are distinctly Asian, yet also curiously absent from the public conception of Asian races. I think this shows how race has more to do with the viewer’s reading of race into the subject and especially physical characteristics of the subject perceived as racial traits by the viewer, and less to do with nationality or geography or citizenship. People call it like they see it, quickly and dimly in some cases.