Week 8 - Kelsey Kim

Section A04:
What Asian Americans are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice
By Mark Tseng Putterman

This article was very interesting because the author commented on many questions about the role of Asian Americans in the racial justice movement. The author expressed  that while Asians in America have a history of oppression and exploitation, Asians have been given a platform of privilege. Thus, Asians have been separated from the other minorities and are generally perceived to not care or have a stake in the movement. This is due to social engineering and attempts to weaken the movement for racial justice. As a Korean-American, I honestly have never questioned whether or not I was a person of color. However, I do understand where the larger doubt comes into play. Due to the strength of engineering of the model minority myth, many Asian Americans believe they have accomplished more than other minority groups, thus, viewing themselves in an elevated way. While reading this article, I also thought that many Asian American students were perceived as socially inactive due to the "studious" stereotypes. This article specifically examines the role Asian Americans take in the Black Lives Matter movement as conflict has arisen when Asians want to show their support. The article also explores how feelings of exclusion on college campuses by Asian American students causes students to feel unwelcome in the social movements. I think the article is a push to re-think how minorities should express solidarity from the perspective of unity and a call for more institutional support for Asian Americans.

Question:
Who stands to gain from divisions in a movement for racial justice? Why is institutional support important for Asian Americans on college campuses? What does this article illuminate about the intentions of the model minority myth?

Resources:
Iroegbu, U. (2015, December 10). Asian American protesters support Black Lives Matter in a Nov. 24 march in Minneapolis. History shows us that Black and Asian racial justice history is not so different. Retrieved November 12, 2017, from https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/when-asian-american-politics-and-black-lives-matter-met-at-macalester/

Putterman, M. P. (2016, February 1). What Asian Americans are Bringing to th. Race Files. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from https://www.racefiles.com/2016/02/01/what-asian-americans-are-bringing-to-campus-movements-for-racial-justice/