We Are Not Your "Model Minority"
- Brown Girl Ruminations null
- Aug 28, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 26, 2022
"The model minority myth invalidated my feelings of otherness.”
Growing up, I had trouble fitting in. I looked different from everyone around me. I was ignored and left out. The model minority myth encouraged me as a child to start putting a higher value on my grades, take hard courses, enjoy only certain extracurriculars, and care a lot more than I should about my future. I didn’t have much time to be myself, a kid. The encouragement only exacerbated my feelings of insecurity. I felt that if I were to meet the expectations of how an Asian-American should be, I'll be respected, regarded, and acknowledged. Maybe I’ll fit in. Instead, I wasn't valued for the right reasons. My friends used me for my knowledge, and slipped racist remarks both behind my back and to my face. I later realized that I felt even more unhappy with myself than before. Now, I struggle with anxiety over even my most minor mistakes. I strive for perfection, because I was held to that standard at a young age.
What does “model minority” mean?
A model minority refers to “a minority group perceived as particularly successful, especially in a manner that contrasts with other minority groups” (The Practice). In discussions of race, the Asian minority is most attributed to this phrase. Often times, this attribution is justified with “positive” stereotypes and the belief that Asians have defeated struggles of discrimination through success across economic and academic domains. Applying this term onto Asian Americans is a way of ignorantly setting Asians as an example for other communities of color to follow.
Examples of cultural expectations and stereotypes for Asian Americans include:
❥ having a prestigious and wealthy job (doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc.), being intelligent (naturally good in a particular subject), playing a musical instrument, living the “American Dream”, being hardworking, and facing less or no racism compared to other racial minority groups.
History of the Myth
The myth of the model minority was introduced by white sociologist William Pettersen. In his 1966 article in The New York Times Magazine, he praised Japanese Americans for their success in overcoming discrimination in comparison to the other minority groups who he labelled as “problem minorities”. Pettersen argued that the “problem minorities” fail to overcome racist barriers, hence deeming Asian Americans as the “model minority” for achieving success. This belief implies that the struggles faced by other minority groups are not products of oppression, but rather failure to succeed.
The origin of the myth is coated in division and pitting people of color against each other to ignore the repercussions of discrimination.
Why is this term harmful to use?
While the use of negative stereotypes on views of communities are easily seen as hurtful and discriminatory, some still question the condemning of the model minority myth. How exactly is being attributed to positive ideals impacting Asians negatively?
“If you don’t fit into the myth, it is hard to find your place at all.”
Many Asian Americans feel pressured to fit into the description of the model minority. Mental health is already typically looked over in Asian culture, and this pressure only adds to the stress of the disregarded mental illnesses that Asian Americans struggle with. The responsibility of upholding our “success” as a group, while dealing with constant pressures of American life and expectations of home life is hurting us. Asian American college students have a higher rate of suicide attempts than other groups but Asian Americans are also among the least likely to seek mental health care.
As a second-generation Asian American, as well as the eldest daughter of my household, I have had many experiences where I’ve taken on several roles at once. I uphold the role and expectations of the daughter, the eldest child, the star student, and cultural and linguistic liaisons for older family members. At the same age I was learning multiplication, I was assisting my immigrant grandmother in studying for her U.S. Citizen exam. There is no doubt that constantly carrying these expectations contributes to my struggles with mental health today.
The image of the know-it-all Asian in our society is an erasure of representation and diversity.
This image generalizes what an Asian is. The term Asian, encompasses a wide variety of cultures, ethnicities, and color. However, what some fail to realize is that it also encompasses a wide variety of struggles. We cannot group together this diverse population through the model minority myth. This myth expresses that all Asians are the same in achievement, but also culturally. Even I as an Indian-American have felt out of the range of being Asian. I haven’t felt accepted with the popular image associated with the term.
When we break down the pay disparities within Asian cultures, the myth easily begins to crack. In 2021, the average Japanese woman made $.95 for each dollar made by a white man, but the average Burmese woman made $0.52. The model minority myth ignores these disparities, and furthers the misconception that Asians do not need support by only acknowledging the Asian cultures that, on average, are paid almost as much as the white man.
The model minority myth contributes to the ignorance of Asian struggles with racism.
Generalization encourages people to fit into one ideal, even when they may be the complete opposite and have to hide who they are. When Asian Americans do fit in this category, the blame is pitted on them for reinforcing this myth, and they are still discriminated against. Racism does not go away with an A+ on a math test. The amount of times I’ve encountered the Perpetual Foreigner stereotype when asked, “Where are you from, really? Were you born here? Can you say ___ in your language?” proves that no matter how hard I try to fit that myth, I will always be seen as foreign, weird, and different from my white peers. We are told that the stress of fitting in or not fitting in, the normalized racism, and the expectations of society, does not matter because of the proof of our supposed “success” as a race. I do not see this as a success.
“The model minority myth says Asian Americans are doing well today and must therefore have benefitted from an elevated status among people of color, in spite of centuries of systematic discrimination”(Blackburn). This way of thinking has led to others thinking Asians should be left out of discussions regarding racial justice and discrimination, and adds to the feeling of being an outsider in society. Asians that need support, such as the 1 in 7 Asian immigrants facing potential deportation, are overlooked in national conversations.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought new rages of Asian hate to light, but anti-Asian racism has always existed in the U.S.. Our history classes tend to neglect the mass lynchings of Chinese Americans, 9/11 fueled hate crimes against South Asians, and the exclusion laws that prevented us from voting and becoming citizens. Hiding our history of discrimination instead of educating generations is a way of reinforcing the model minority myth.
The division of the model minority myth harms our fight for racial justice.
The myth unfairly places Asians as the “model” other minority groups should strive to be. This undermines the effects of oppression on people of color, and suggests that Asians are better than other minorities because they ‘got over’ their years of oppression and worked harder. The belief of an elevated Asian status among marginalized groups upholds white supremacy and puts people of color in competition with one another. The division caused by this competition “distracts us from striving together toward liberation for all” (Blackburn). The “success” of Asian Americans in the United States is often perpetuated as a reason to downplay the effects of racism and spread anti-Blackness.
How can I do my part in dismantling the myth?
The first thing you can do is educate yourself and others on the harmfulness of the model minority and the stereotypes associated with it. I highly suggest utilizing a social media platform to raise awareness of this myth and highlight Asian struggles. A way to recognize the diversity of Asians is to recommend current tv shows, movies, and books with diverse Asian characters to your friends, and find a way to incorporate Asian texts and history into the classroom. Become familiar with Asian activists, by researching Supreme Court cases such as U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind and Lum v. Rice. I encouraged learning of Asian history at my school by creating a bulletin board with other Asian students that presented important historical figures. Most importantly, check your own implicit bias and work to understand the individual experiences of AAPI groups.
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You guys are doing a great job about creating an awareness. And this was typed out with great detail. Keep it up!!!
Its not only that it’s that these topics around Asian households are not often spoke about. The more we talk the more we spark the conversation and get to the root of the situation.
Wow, what a blog! I hope to see more of it in the future.