Week 3
Section A01
This week's reading, "Asian Americans and Affirmative Action" by Nancy Chung Allred brought up many critical questions about Asian Americans' place regarding affirmative action, and this topic definitely hit home for me (literally). As a San Francisco native who grew up in the predominantly Chinese American community, with her own brother and peers who have attended Lowell High School (a milestone for academic achievement) as mentioned in the reading, I've often internalized the idea that meritocracy and hard work equated to success. Although I learned of the historical discrimination that have affected Asian Americans through the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Internment Camps, red lining laws, overall anti-immigrant sentiments, yellow peril and more, I also held the mentality that through personal academic achievements, I could somehow disregard this nation's history of deeply ingrained racial oppression, and and transcend beyond the "norm", to define myself for myself. I grew up holding the notion that as a high achieving, honor roll student, ie. the model minority, through personal achievement, I could liberate my peoples from being defined by race.
Through working with an organization called the Chinese Progressive Association and building movement with other racial groups, I soon recognized the harm of colorblindness, as the systemic racism and hegemonic power structure that the United States was founded upon have, and will continue to, define people by race, especially those with darker skin. Black and brown people who have faced a lifetime of violence from racism are unable to separate themselves from their race. As affirmation action was initially created as remedial for people of color to the system of white supremacy/privilege, it also created a division amongst who was considered persons of color, subsequently invisibilizing Asians. Within a Black/White paradigm, where do Asian Americans, or specifically light skinned Chinese Americans (model minority) like myself, stand in the role of affirmation action in both employment and higher education sectors?
The dominant narrative's harmful classification of Asian Americans as the "model minority" places us "above" other minority groups who have faced the same, if not worse, oppression and violence that the nation has wrought us with. Thus, whether an Asian American supports affirmative action or not, this classification affects us all the same. We are forced to become a "wedge minority" between the beneficiaries of white privilege and those who need affirmative action the most. As minorities, we are pit against other people of color; yet, we will never obtain white privilege. Definition from this dominant narrative notes that we are still subjected to racial domination, regardless of our stance. Nonetheless, although affirmative action has shifted away from its original purpose and may be imperfect, it still acts as a necessary tool for equal opportunity and access.
Question: Where do Southeast Asians/other marginalized Asians stand regarding affirmative action? How are they affected?
https://advancingjustice-la.org/blog/top-five-reasons-why-asian-americans-pacific-islanders-should-support-affirmative-action#.WPQujFPyvfY
References:
Top Five Reasons Why Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Should Support Affirmative Action. (2015, December 16). Retrieved April 16, 2017, from https://advancingjustice-la.org/blog/top-five-reasons-why-asian-americans-pacific-islanders-should-support-affirmative-action#.WPQ2u1PyvfY
Chung Allred, N. (2007). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again. Asian American Law Journal, 14(3). Retrieved from http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/aalj/vol14/iss
No comments:
Post a Comment