Category: Discussion Board 8

The model minority myth started ins the U.S. the U.s were looking for skilled immigrants in Asian countries and portraying them as successful immigrants and saying the opposite for other minorities such as Hispanic and African-Americans. According to Prashad he stated “In the 1860’s there was a given suggestion made to flood the U.S south with south and east Asian workers to shift the blacks from the land and to undermine their power as newly free people.” So basically they allowed Asian to come to America to try to stop African-Americans from using their right and succeed.

In Kim’s “The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans”, it is stated that “The valorization of Asian Americans as a model minority who have made it on their own cultural steam only to be victimized by the reverse discrimination of race conscious programs allow White opinion makers to lambast such programs without feeling racist…” (Kim, 117). In 1850, racial triangulation gave Whites the power to exploit and set their dominance as the race to be. From this, the model minority myth construed Asian to be successful in education and basic life qualities whereas Black people are guaranteed to struggle with their own deficiencies. The problem with the myth is it centers too much on Asians material success forcing pressure on them to be at the top. The myth does not assimilate Asians to Whites. Model minority was first uttered in a magazine later determining culture is a matter of blood or biological race. The rebirth of the model minority myth came again at a political time during a conservative campaign of civil rights and affirmative action. This myth is reproduced in affirmative action because it yet again serves to protect Whites from backlash from the “bad minority” and the minority with no cultural values to success.

 

In the readings and video it is shown that the term “model minority” was created in the 1960s and refers to the Asian American. This was the stereotype that stated Asian Americans were more “smarter and more successful” than other minorities. By other minorities I am referring to African American and Hispanics. This was because the United States allowed immigrants who excelled in the STEM fields or had amazing academic status to become technical workers. This was due to the United States wanting to improve their own status. However because of this stereotype it grouped Asian Americans into a stereotype of needing to be smart and successful. With other stereotypes such as the African American community and the Hispanic community were considered the exact opposite and often granted the stereotype of “thugs” and “criminals”. This also undermined the achievements of people from these communities because it basically caused society to question how they reached their achievements. This happened because the American society used the “model minority” stereotype of Asian Americans and unfairly pinned members of the Hispanics and African American communities against these stereotypes. “If one race can excel in something why can’t another race” was the basic argument that justified the reasoning for pinning stereotypes of these two communities together. This was an unfair way to justify American society’s treatment to different minorities. This does not take into consideration the treatment of different minorities within society and the limitations or expectations placed on different groups in society. There are even modern day examples of this stereotype in places such as Ivy League schools who have a more prominent White and Asian American population than other minorities. This shows how stereotypes can play a huge role in how many people are treated in society. It is a toxic mentality that affects one life simply because you were born into a certain race which is something you cannot control. This allows society to further justify unfair treatment and use stereotypes as a way to attack other minorities.

In the “The racial triangulation of Asian America” and “Excerpt of Prashad The karma of brown folk” we read this week, we can know that “model minority” is discussing that Asian Americans are smarter than Americans. The term first appeared in 1960 because the United States was looking for technical personnel from most Asian countries to immigrate to the United States to provide technical support to the United States. But this idea has a derogatory meaning. In the video we watched, we can clearly see the discrimination and prejudice of the American Ivy League against Asian students.

In my personal opinion, we must discard these stereotyped influences, because on the surface it seems to be a compliment to an ethnic group, but in reality, these will make these ethnic groups suffer discrimination and prejudice. Because it is impossible that this ethnic group are all geniuses, and in addition, regardless of whites, African Americans, can be top in a certain field. So these are very unfair.

1. So according to the readings, “Excerpt of Prashad The karma of brown folk” & “The racial triangulation of Asian America”, The term “Model Minority” first came about in 1969, when the United States was planning on extending their resources and looking for the best people when it came to science & technology. The United States was mainly focused on hiring people from foreign country that had high degrees of education such as technology & science, specifically ones from Asian America. Many people felt as if this was a way for the United States to try and prove to everyone that they’re not racist & actually accept everyone no matter where you are from.  In reality the United States did not realize that while they’re trying to prove to everyone around the world that they are not a racist country by hiring asian Americans & stereotyping them to the point where Asian people are the smartest people in the world, they were actually making it seem as if you were not asian American then you were not smart enough to do this specific task. To sum it up, this is what lead to the comparison of the “elite immigrants” to the rest of the minorities that existed, which unfortunately lead to the citizens of the United States discriminating other groups of minorities and ethnicities simply because you did not have any of the terms that the “Elite immigrants” had. It’s sad that till this exact day, no matter how much it gets called out, racism and discrimination still exist.
2. There has been many ways the myth of “Model minorities” have been challenged especially a man named “Zhao” wrote a book going into details on how Asian Americans were judged by the level of success they had achieved throughout their life. So is this saying that if I was an asian American but was not at the level of the next person when it came to education, that I am a failure? that is ridiculous honestly. On top of that, Hasan Minhaj went on to show how many asians Americans were not even being accepted to big Ivy League schools such as Harvard. Statistically he stated Asian Americans only took up 22% of it’s members which shows a clear bias to the term “Elite immigrants” & “Model Minorities”. It is honestly unfair the fact that stereotypes are created towards people, when all this causes is discrimination and hate.

1.) The “model minority” myth comes from, according to these readings, as a means to propel the myth the thought that Asian Americans are the smarter of all minorities when this is clearly not the case at all times. This idea only serves to hurt and downplay other minorities such as the Hispanic and Black communities. Based on the data shown in the readings and especially Hassan Minhaj’s “Affirmative Action” video, one can see the bias that Ivy Leagues have towards Asian Americans. As pointed out by Hassan Minhaj, twenty-two percent of Harvard’s class of 2021 were in fact all Asian. That data did not even show other minorities.

2.) This myth is reproduced or challenged in the affirmative action lawsuit/conversation by the AACE through their words and actions but more so a prominent example is when Zhao based his book on so much of the model minority. His introduction before the book even starts, is how his son is super smart. One of the problems with the model minority myth is that it raises Asian Americans while putting down Black and Hispanic Americans which is entirely wrong and should rather show how minorities can rise to the occasion. Unfortunately, it has led to a different, more so horrible result.

The concept of a model minority began in the 1960s when the U.S. was looking to accept skilled immigrants from various Asian countries. The U.S. sought to boost their own status/progress in the scientific and technological community by integrating some extremely skilled and knowledgeable scientists and technical workers from outside countries. They also sought to dispel the notion that the U.S. is racist. This idea of a model minority – this group of ‘elite immigrants’ who were considered extremely useful and productive to American society was created as a cruel comparison to other minority groups that did not necessarily have the same ‘success’ as the model minorities. While many Asian Americans are stereotyped as model minorities, African Americans are often stereotyped as ‘thugs’ or ‘criminals’. I think it goes without saying that while these are two very different experiences for those individuals, it is undoubtedly very unfair to both groups of people being stereotyped (or any other group, of course).

As a side note, on the topic of affirmative action, I’m gonna have to say I don’t think it’s the best idea. Not because I am not a proponent of equality, but because I don’t think it necessarily solves the problem. I think we would do better to determine why specific minority groups are underrepresented in colleges / higher education / various other places and address those issues directly. If, for example, the reason African Americans are underrepresented in college is that in a lot of communities during the steps before college they lack access to the same tools (such as quality elementary or high schools) as other communities, then I think this would be best solved by investing in those communities and providing them access to the same opportunities as everyone else. 

According to Prashad in The Karma of Black Folk, Asian immigrants who were previously denied entry and citizenship to the United States were permitted to immigrate in 1965 under the Immigration and Nationality Act as technical workers. Fore example, Indians who had degrees in the STEM field were recruited during the Cold War to expedite the moon landing in response to the Soviet Union’s Sputnik. The U.S. required only skilled people, which consequently had or achieved a higher economic status and education. These elite immigrants were then unfairly compared to other minorities in the U.S. that suffered under discrimination and segregation, becoming a model image of what white Americans think non-white Americans should be, the model minority. Therefore, the phrase “model minority” was first discussed in 1966 to distinguish the well-off “good minority” from the “bad minority.” Kim says in “The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans” that Peterson’s article was the first to attribute Japanese success in America to their “culture,” a Japanese “Tokugawa” ethic, and to compare this model to the lack of success seen in the Black community. He emphasizes similarities between Protestant ethic and “Tokugawa” values, their perceived culture being foreign though Japanese Americans had been Americans for generations. Their supposed lack of political involvement allowed them to focus more on generating wealth. He suggests that the Black community fails to achieve success due to their “deficient culture,” the political activity that paved the way for all minorities to resist discrimination, and that they should be more like the Japanese “model minority.” Thus, we can see that the “model minority” myth was developed to pit Asian Americans against other “problem minorities.”

 

In the video “Affirmative Action,” the “model minority” myth is reproduced by the AACE when they say that they worked hard for the American dream, and that affirmative action and other racially conscious social programs are standing in the way of their success. Hasan Minhaj mentions that Zhao wrote a book attributing his success to Confucian values, perpetuating the “model minority” myth that the cultural uniqueness of Asian Americans solely determined their success. This ignores the civil rights movement that the Black community fought for, that even allowed universities to be racially integrated. Furthermore, their inability to be accepted into these Ivy League colleges, despite of their hard work, while legacy students are given priority, emphasize the limits of Asian “gung-ho.”

The inception of the “model minority” started in the mid 1960s (specifically 1966) . It is in reference to a social construct that pits Asian Americans as model minority for their values on education, being apolitical, family solidarity/filial piety, and their self sufficiency. This construct is simultaneously a criticism  on black Americans highlighting their “failures”. There creates the argument, “if Asians can make it, why not Blacks?”

During the 1980s, the model minority myth was exacerbated by now lumping all Asian groups together as a weapon to further support white prerogatives and anti Black rhetoric. Utilizing the model of Blacks being identified as evil and Asians seen as saints since their cultural morals almost aligned with the religious white population. By both encouraging that Asian Americans can remain in a position above Black Americans by withholding from American political affairs, civil rights rhetoric,  and to continue being that model while also introducing oppressive narratives such as most asians are apolitical therefor have no motivation to involve themselves in political affairs. Or their morals on respect and education because they are so self sufficient means they are now socially pressured to maintain those identities. This myth is further challenged with conservatives creating racially motivated divergences between asian Americans and the black population siding with asians for encourage opposition to what they might consider “black nationalism”. This helps propel their agenda and also simultaneously  maintaining these xenophobic, racist social constructs aimed at minority groups whether they are the model minority or not.

Some sidenotes: I think the whole “if one minority group makes it why can’t blacks” is total and utter bs because they are comparing the achievements of groups of people who entered the United States in the mid 19th century vs the racist structures set in place against black Americans/African slaves for over 400 years. There were also multiple advantages including asians coming to the States because of economic opportunities vs blacks being the product of slavery as an institution of power. On the contrary, it is also unfair to asians because while they weren’t forced to come here, many did so making huge compromises which could result in their deportation, continued xenophobia against them, racist/sexist rhetoric against them, and lumping them together as a whole rather then individualizing the various groups that entered from different countries in Asia. Being forced to survive by maintaining the model minority myth in order to continue gaining favor (by this I mean in comparison to the attitudes towards blacks) is also not fair to Asians and I can only imagine the amount of pressure that existing to maintain those identities pushed on them for the true motivation which was pro white nationalist gain.

The model minority myth was created to stereotype Asian Americans as the only successful minority group, while portraying other minorities such as African Americans and Hispanics as the exact opposite. Based on the readings and videos, you can see how society reinforces this myth. Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale mostly consists of White students and Asian Americans, and it’s not even just because they are smart students, it’s also because these colleges take in more Asian Americans due to the stereotype that they are smarter than other minorities. Hence why according to them. it’s better to accept Asians rather than other minorities. You can easily look up student demographics at these Ivy League schools, and see that there’s a clear racial disparity among the different racial groups at these schools.

While Asian Americans are seen as law abiding, successful, rich and etc, other minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanics are seen as the exact opposite. They are often seen as thugs in society, and anytime any member of the community becomes successful in any way, often people find it suspicious to how someone of that group could become successful. They are also more likely to be convicted of crimes because of that terrible stereotype place on them. That mentality is very toxic and racist, as no minority should be seen as superior but rather equal. As minorities we should stick up for one another and not reinforce these stereotypes.

As a Pakistani American, this model minority myth also applies to South Asians as we are commonly stereotyped as “nerds who are good in math, and etc.” Yes many of us are very smart and successful and that is good, but for those who do struggle in schools, they are pressured to fit into these stereotypes, and when they can’t they are shamed by the Desi community. This stereotype has to end, as success shouldn’t be based off of what society expects of you as being part of a certain racial group.

In conclusion, we need to drop this toxic stereotype, because not only does it make one group seem superior to other, but also brings down and shames the other minority groups.