Problematizing the Model Minority

Problematizing the Model Minority

Guest Writer: Austin Lukondi

Oftentimes, Asians and Asian Americans are depicted as successful, smart, and well-behaved individuals. This ideology is often justified by the notion that Asian Americans embody “success”: the idea that Asian people are somehow gifted with a cultural or biological superiority that allows them to succeed in American society. Thus, Asian Americans are deemed the “model (racial) minority” in the United States. Though the stereotype that AA people are successful and well-mannered may initially seem like a compliment, in reality it is a western, orientalist idea that actually contributes to the oppression of AA people. Specifically, I believe that it has a negative impact on the mental health of AA people, reinforces the idea of “the docile Asian”, and negates the real lived experiences of many AA people.

In order to reproduce the myth of the model minority, Asian people must uphold the standards of success and subservience. They must not only accomplish what everyone else does, even more so they must go above and beyond even their White counterparts to uphold the caricature of the “studious/nerdy” Asian. This type of academic pressure to succeed undoubtedly takes a toll on the mental health of Asian American people. Studies show that while Asians were more likely than White students to deal with difficulties of stress, feelings of hopelessness, depression, and suicidal thoughts, they were less likely to seek counseling than their White peers (Chu & Sue, 2011)[1]. This disparity frequently manifests into actual suicides on college campuses—at Cornell University where only 14% of students are Asian American, they account for 55% of the suicides on campus (11/20 suicides)[2]. The expectation that AA people are supposed to be silent, complacent, respectable minorities coupled with the lack of mental health resources for Asian American communities creates a toxic environment.

While the stereotype that Asian American are “intelligent, hard workers” currently exists, this label wasn’t always ascribed to us. In the late 19th century when Asian people first started to immigrate to the United States, America was thrown into a state of “yellow peril”. A fear that East Asian people, and their culture was a mortal danger to Western society. Images of Asian people depicted as dirty, animal-like madmen surfaced in major cities—the same type of ideas that prompted the Chinese Exclusion Act—the very first law created by the USA to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating. Similarly, the Page Act of 1875 targeted Asian women and prohibited them from entering the United States because they were believed to be immoral prostitutes who were sexually promiscuous. While explicit, legal exclusion is mostly in the past, fear and xenophobia surrounding Asian Americans still exist. Despite the fact that Asian immigrants have been in the United States since the 1700’s, many AA people are still deemed foreigners, and face microaggressions which lead to feeling alien in one’s own country, the exoticization and fetishization of Asian bodies, and the invisibility of Asian Americans. As more immigrants settled in America, the culture that was once seen as barbaric and dangerous simply became an oddity.  AA people became “the other”; an exotic, strange, and unknown entity rooted in a disciplined and traditional culture.

The myth of the model minority is fueled by the idea that because of a universal, pan-Asian culture, Asian Americans are respectable, docile, and obedient. This was in part because Asian Americans had less history surrounding political activism and were generally considered to be more financially successful than other non-Whites. Thus, Asian America was used as a model for the ideal racial minority. In reality, the trope of the model minority reinforces oppressive ideology rooted in the modernist ideology of “progress”. The idea starts with notion that Asian people are successful because of biological determinism and cultural superiority which is reflected in their supposed intellectual abilities. When and if Asian people do succeed, the model minority myth is then reinforced—“progress” is made because an ethnic minority is successful. This in turn, reinforces neoliberal ideologies of individualism and meritocracy—that hard work and determination are the pathways to equality. This falsely reassures American society into thinking that the American Dream is indeed possible for everyone regardless of their racial or ethnic background. Even further, it reifies prejudices of anti-blackness and anti-brownness through individualism under the false pretense that because the model minority is able to achieve “success” all minorities should be able to do the same.

However, the reality is that Asian Americans aren’t living the American Dream. The images and stereotypes of Asian Americans as successful among minority groups is in direct conflict with the true, lived experiences of many Asian people. While Asian Americans are the most rapidly growing racial group in America—they are not necessarily successful. Many Asian Americans are demonized for their lack of English fluency, with one in three Asian American people being designated at “Limited in English Language Proficiency.” This “limitation” impacts the types of opportunities, jobs, and mobility that AA people are able to achieve. In regard to health, 2.3 million Asian Americans are uninsured and often avoid health services because of this—contributing to a variety of health disparities. Additionally, Asian American is often conflated to East Asian American, something that is harmful for AA people who fall out of that identity. For example, while the stereotype may be that many (East) Asian people do well in school, the high school drop-out rates for Hmong, Laotian, and Cambodian Americans range from 35-40%. Yet because of the myth of the model minority, these groups are often ignored and left to fend for themselves.

Asian Americans are not China Dolls, Geisha Girls, or Lotus Blossoms. We are not exotic, subservient and eager to please. We don’t all go to college, and not all of us are successful. We are not the Dragon Ladies and we are not Fu Manchu. We aren’t all foreigners and we don’t all “speak Asian”. We don’t care that you tried kimchi for the first time or that you listen to K-pop. We don’t all look the same, and believe it or not, some of us are Latino and Black. We are not Asians—we are Asian Americans. Most importantly, we are not invisible, we are not complacent and we are not silent.

[1] http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=orpc
[2] http://reappropriate.co/2015/08/the-new-york-times-doubles-down-on-its-erasure-of-aapi-student-victims-of-suicide/