Written by Sirena Backham & Kristy Nguyen The idea that the model minority myth poses is that if a certain minority group is able to achieve socioeconomic success, other minorities should be able to reach the standard of what the model minority achieves. After World War II, the white mainstream began promoting stories of Asian American success, using words like "deserving" and "hardworking" to describe to rise of Asian Americans. This was a tactic to criticize African Americans and minimize the potential impact of the civil rights movement. As this puts pressure on the API community to succeed, this also silences the needs and wants of the Black community. The model minority group also represents API in the wrong manner by only looking at a few ethnic groups as representing the whole API community. Korean, Chinese, and Japanese people have made it into managerial ranks but white people have failed to mention the Hmong, Laotian, Cambodian, and Filipino Americans that only stay in low-wage jobs. There are also Asians who are not included in representations of the API community, usually South Asians. Because of the generalization and stereotype of there being only one culturally Asian group, East Asians, there is erasure of the Asian groups who may not fit into the model minority stereotype, and therefore are not given validity of being truly “Asian”. There has been research that white people see API men as unfit for management because of the stereotypes that API men are passive and weak. Asian Americans are perceived as the minority group that doesn’t complain, attract negative attention, or cause problems. Preconceived notions like these tend to weaken the voice of Asian Americans,and would make them uncomfortable pointing out stereotypes, insults, and assaults. The myth picks at a certain group in the API community and uses this to compare to API people to other groups, specifically other minority groups. It argues that racism can be overcome by hard work and strong family values. It minimizes the role that racism plays in the persistent struggles of other racial/ethnic minority groups. During WWII, The media created the idea that the Japanese were rising up after being held in incarceration camps and it allowed white people to ask, "Why weren't black people making it, but Asians are?" This compares the experiences of the Japanese to the experiences of Black people.
As an Asian American, I've always heard: "Wow, you're so good at math! 'Cause you're Asian!" "Of course you'd be good at ______, you're Asian." "They're a dumb Asian." "They're one of the wild Asians." "That Asian kid never talks, they're so quiet." Why do these statements have to be associated with race? Why is a person being good at math justified with race? What significance is held with associating Asians being academically advanced to others? Without knowing it, I was playing right into the stereotypes that followed me. Why was I generally quiet much of my time through elementary and middle school? I was a kid that followed my example. If I saw people like me not talking, I wouldn't talk. Why were Asian students so silenced in their classrooms? This myth that follows us says that the racism we face does not matter in how well we will do in life, therefore why would the racism others face matter in how other groups do in life? The model minority myth only follows a selective ethnic group that seems to be "doing well." It ignores the other ethnic groups and their well-being. The success and progress of popularized Asian countries plays into the model minority myth, and this leads into why the API community should be encouraged to become vocal in social movements like Black Lives Matter. Issues that the API community encounter give us reasoning to be accomplices. Asians have been used as part of a divide and conquer strategy to uphold white supremacy. API communities are targeted differently than black people. API struggle for freedom and liberation have been deeply influenced by Black American struggles that preceded ours. Our liberation depends on the liberation of Black people. The API community remain complicit in the terrible toll the African American population has faced. When we stay quiet, we lack empathy and embrace the model minority which values Black Americans as underclass. “All lives matter” erases the urgency of the crisis being faced by the black community in particular. We create emphasis on black lives because they are the lives in danger- of course all lives matter. But, not all lives are targeted because of their race. Letters for Black Lives is a new open, decentralized, crowdsourced collaboration of resources on anti-blackness meant to be a starting point for Asian children to discuss these issues with older relatives. Letters for Black lives is meant to amplify the message of BLM because of the impact this movement has on all minorities. We need to unite because the system that is unfair towards Blacks is the same system that pushes the model minority myth on the API community, while ignoring API who are struggling. Link: https://lettersforblacklives.com/
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AuthorSirena Backham Archives
August 2017
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