FEATURE
WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM ? AUTHOR Nicholas Chen
I
was on the track team in middle school . One weekend , we had a track meet farther south outside of Atlanta . I still vividly remember that morning when we stepped off the school bus to walk into the stadium , passing another team standing in the middle of the field . I was joking with one of my teammates when I heard shouts from the other team :
“ Hey chopsticks !”
“ Ching chong ding dong !”
And then , “ Hey , are you that guy who shot up Virginia Tech ?” ( referring to the 2007 Virginia Tech school shooting by a Korean student ).
Incidents like these weren ’ t daily occurrences as I was growing up , but they certainly weren ’ t rare . It is easy to forget the history of anti-Asian sentiment in this country : bans on Chinese immigration , Japanese internment camps , and “ yellow peril ” - the idea that Asian immigrants pose a threat to jobs and safety . That ’ s a racist , xenophobic sentiment echoed by a recent president fearful of Mexican and Muslim immigrants .
But within the past century , our foreign culture and people have been made more palatable by the myth of the “ model minority .” In a meeting with Asian leaders in 1984 , President Reagan praised their economic success . “ We need your energy , your values , your hard work ,” 1 he said , enforcing the stereotype of Asians in society today : industrious , quiet , studious , emotionless and importantly , apolitical . And the Asian-American community has not shied away from some of these characterizations , benefiting from lukewarm acceptance into a previously unwelcoming society at the expense of addressing more systematic problems that other people of color face .
“ See ?” White America has often and erroneously pointed out , “ If they can do it , why can ’ t the other minorities ?”
This ignores a host of factors that make these comparisons flawed . The success of Asian immigrants is not monolithic . Asians now experience the highest rates of income inequality between the richest and poorest 10 %. 2 The background of Asian-Americans is completely heterogeneous as well . Some come from educated , high-skill job backgrounds and have been citizens for multiple generations , while others have only recently fled from impoverished , war-stricken countries . The racism that for example , Black people have historically faced , is of a more systematic and violent variety , including police brutality , mass incarceration for minor drug offenses , and decades of trauma and exploitation .
At best , the “ model minority ” myth insulates us from the brunt of racism that we might experience and at worst , sets up a harmful dynamic between Asians and other BIPOC in America , discouraging many immigrants , wary of disturbing the status quo , from speaking out against injustices . Meanwhile , Asian-American communities do not receive the attention and services they need . Countless immigrants have come with Eastern cultural values of social harmony , peaceful coexistence and an aversion to “ rocking the boat .” They have put their heads down and silently endured abuse , working tirelessly to provide for their children and hoping their children ’ s success would lead to a brighter , more welcoming future .
But in the middle of a pandemic when total hate crime dropped 7 %, crime against the Asian American and Pacific Islander ( AAPI ) community rose nearly 150 %. 3 This harrowing statistic , coupled with a recent study showing a correlation between the usage of the term “ Chinese virus ” and anti-Asian sentiments , 4 only highlights the delicate space Asians occupy in America and how easily our
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