Not all stereotypes are bad right? The stereotypes that you have are positive, so why are you complaining? Just imagine what it feels like to be Black or Hispanic.
Asians Americans are widely regarded as the “Model Minority,” and for many, it’s hard to see why this is such a problem. Asians are stereotyped as being good at math, hard working, and well-educated, all generally pretty positive things. On the other hand, Blacks and Hispanics are stereotyped as being poor, lazy, and more likely to commit a crime or hurt someone. What’s so bad about being an Asian that is positively stereotyped? It’s harmful because of exactly that reason: it’s a stereotype. Do the stereotypes generally hold true after looking at certain data points? Sometimes, yes. Do stereotypes paint enough of a picture to understand every person in that ethnic group? Of course not. As Kyung Yoon says in the video below, “Stereotypes don’t present the full picture, or even the majority of what is going on.”
The term model minority was first introduced by sociologist William Petereson in his article titled “Success Story, Japanese American Style.” He argued that the Japanese Americans were the ideal model minority because of their hard work and dedication after World War II, in order to regain good will with the American public. This idea of the Asian model minority has been prevalent in US media, showing up in U.S. News and World Report’s “Success Story of One Minority Group in the US” and TIME Magazine’s “Those Asian American Whiz Kids.” More recently, Asians are often depicted as the smart, brainy character in mainstream media, and are rarely depicted as the strong hero in popular culture. Famously, Hollywood depicted the Japanese superhero Goku from the Dragon Ball series with a white actor, drawing heavy criticism from the Asian American community. The Asian American community for decades has been presented as a homogenous group who, as Bernadette Lim puts it, “1) work hard 2) never complain and 3) live with above average success and satisfaction” (Lim, 1). This dangerous stereotype has been calcified by media and ingrained in the minds of the public.
The Asian stereotype is wrong in many ways, but most critically for me, is that it fails to take into account the wide variety of background that make up the Asian culture. Asian isn’t just Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Southeast Asians make up more than 25 percent of the Asian population in the United States [1]. And despite the stereotype that Asian Americans do well in school and are well off financially, Southeast Asians in America struggle in this category; nearly 40 percent of Hmong Americans, 38 percent of Laotian Americans, and 45 percent of Cambodian Americans fail to finish high school. In addition, these subgroups, as well as Vietnamese Americans, earn below the national average.
The Asian stereotype is wrong in many ways, but most critically for me, is that it fails to take into account the wide variety of background that make up the Asian culture. Asian isn’t just Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Southeast Asians make up more than 25 percent of the Asian population in the United States [1]. And despite the stereotype that Asian Americans do well in school and are well off financially, Southeast Asians in America struggle in this category; nearly 40 percent of Hmong Americans, 38 percent of Laotian Americans, and 45 percent of Cambodian Americans fail to finish high school. In addition, these subgroups, as well as Vietnamese Americans, earn below the national average.
And perhaps the most harmful result of this stereotype is that many people assume that being Asian is an automatic key to success because of the privileged background and hard working nature, and that if someone is Asian and they are not successful, there is something wrong with them. Many take the argument even further saying that because Asians are doing so well, they are no longer discriminated against or in need of public services such as “bilingual education, government documents in multiple languages, and welfare” (Le, 1). These generalizations treat the subset of the Asian American population that don’t fit into these categories like they don't even exist. Society has used the positive stereotypes as an excuse to mistreat Asian Americans and disregard a lot of struggle they have to go through. And Asians still take the brunt of many negative stereotypes as well, which are mainly overshadowed by the positive ones that generally come with them. In fact, research shows that “Asian Americans are the fastest growing victims of hate crimes in the United States” (Le, 1).
Frustratingly, the myth of the model minority is still something we need to debunk and change opinions of in the general public. It is frustrating because these arguments over shadow the more important topics that need to be discussed about Asian American culture. These stereotypes gloss over the details regarding problems such as poverty, drug abuse, suicide, and mental illness. It is difficult to have any of these conversations without having to first address the idea of the model minority and why it does not exist. Ling-Chi Wang of UC Berkeley warns that "will forever be neglected by the government" unless the community liberated itself from "the tyranny of this Chinese myth." Once we can look past debunking myths about how all Asians are smart or privileged, then I feel like we can talk about pressing issues regarding problems that affect the Asian American community of today. Until then, it will be impossible to have one without the other.
Citations
Lim, Bernadette. "I Am Not A Model Minority." The Harvard Crimson. Harvard University, 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/2/13/harvard-model-minority/>.
Wu, Ellen. "Asian Americans and the 'model Minority' Myth." LA Times. LA Times, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0123-wu-chua-model-minority-chinese-20140123-story.html>.
Images taken from Time inc. and Tumblr
(Asian American Whiz Kids) http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1987/1101870831_400.jpg
(Bill O'Reilly Image)
http://33.media.tumblr.com/f513c15dd6017528cdd98bc8405a3813/tumblr_inline_nazi6oc2Qe1ruyk2j.png