Week 3

Thao-Nhi “Jasmine” Vu

A02

Week 3: Model Minority, Tiger Mom, Affirmative Action, and New Debates in Higher Education

There is absolutely no doubt that the “model minority” myth hurts Asians. As demonstrated in Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again, the “model minority” arose out of a desire to demonize non-Asian people of color — primarily black and Latino people. We are posited as the “right” kind of minority. We are meek, hardworking, and do not seek to depend on others. We assimilate. We aren’t like the “scary” minorities. We don’t ask too much; we’re happy with the rights we’re given. It’s like what Professor Valverde said in the first lecture: if we do what we’re told, we’ll get what we deserve.

If only it were that easy.

What makes the model minority toxic for Asian Americans is its complacency. Asians are the model minority because we don’t question anything (supposedly). We have settled into our position: not an unruly minority, but not privileged either. Unfortunately, because we find ourselves “fortunate” to be in our position of liminality, we often overlook the violent racism and profiling that black and Latino people suffer. I’ve often heard my Viet family members complain about “illegals”. They consider undocumented immigrants’ journeys and realities to be less valid than theirs, though our families share similar narratives: leaving a dangerous country behind in search of a better life.

Asian-Americans also perpetuate antiblack racism. As a child, I was told to stay out of parks and be home early at night, or else the “mi deng” (Vietnamese for black person) would get me. We perpetuate and act upon the idea of black people being dangerous and violent. In March, video circulated of the owner of an Asian beauty store attacking a black girl. He later explained that he had suspected her of shoplifting, but that the force had been unnecessary. More tragically, there was the 1991 death of Latasha Harlins, who was shot by a South Korean liquor store owner who has mistakenly accused her of shoplifting. [Horng]

The model minority hurts us as well. It can be hard for us to be taken seriously for our own oppression; after all, we’ve done so well for ourselves, haven’t we? Issues in Asian American communities often go unaddressed, such as the normalization of child abuse and corporal punishment, the “yellow fever” and fetishization of Asian women, and the growing number of elderly and Southeast Asians living in poverty. The model minority erases our problems and keeps us in our complacency. We will never be white. No matter the lies they tell or the ideas they want us to believe, white people will never see us as equal. The Asian American community must breach the prison of the model minority and work on dismantling the power structures keeping us and other people of color back.

QUESTION: It can be hard to rally around Asian American "solidarity" when Asians as a racial group are so diverse! How can we tailor messages to fit first our own communities and then bridge the gap between us and others?

SOURCES:Vega, T. (2015, October 14). The Asian disadvantage (that's being ignored). Retrieved April 16, 2017, from http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/14/news/economy/asian-americans-disadvantage/Horng, E. (2017, March 15). Protesters Call for Boycott of Bronzeville Store Connected to Viral Video. Retrieved April 16, 2017, from http://abc7chicago.com/news/protesters-call-for-boycott-of-bronzeville-store-connected-to-viral-video/1803017/Chung Allred, N. (2007). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back Again. Asian American Law Journal, 14(3). Available athttp://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/aalj/vol14/iss