Rejecting the Model Minority Tag
| May 7th, 2008 | Crossposted from The Blog and the BulletA. R. Sakaeda blogs at the Chicago Tribune News Blogs
When people talk about the model minority, “model” is code for never making other people feel uncomfortable about racism. “Model” means not being like all those other troublesome people of color. It means keeping your mouth shut and your eyes lowered. It means smiling brightly and nodding along. Yes, sir! Whatever you say, sir! It means never complaining.
Members of the model minority often are used to shame other people of color. They can do it, why can’t you? If you would only have those same close-knit families. If you only valued education more. If you only worked harder. Racism is a thing of the past.
Holding up Asian Americans as a model divides communities of color, making it difficult for us to see our commonalities.
[Hat Tip: angry asian man]
May 8th, 2008 at 4:33 am
So not having a close-knit family is our fault? I, for one, am not the one who did the molesting, hitting and mind-fucking. And anyone who presumes to know how hard someone else is working is really stepping over the line.
This comment was written by Angiportus.Continue the struggle against crap.
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May 8th, 2008 at 8:11 am
‘Holding up Asian Americans as a model divides communities of color, making it difficult for us to see our commonalities.’
That may play a role, maybe, but there are enough real differences to make it “difficult for us to see our commonalities”. Model minority BS had nothing to do with the way a Korean math teacher treated my Japanese-American step-daughter. It has nothing to do with the way Korean shop keepers treat black customers. It had nothing to do with the way the Sei Yip Cantonese community in California mistreated arriving Sam Yap Cantonese in the 60’s and 70’s. Hint for Mr. Sakaeda: America is not the whole world and history did not start here.
What commonalities is he talking about? Being non-white? Does it get any more eurocentric than that? What do black people in LA or the rest of the West Coast have in common with Asians of whatever origin? It wasn’t black people who were rounded up inot camps, it wasn’t black people who were ethnically cleansed out of almost every town and city here - except until recently - well, that’s different, that’s another gropup of “people of color” doing that.
If Mr. Sakaeda lives in Chicago, perhaps he grew up there, and that would explain his cluelessness - but not excuse it.
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May 8th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Correction. Ms. Sakaeda. the commenters are pretty clueless there too, generalizing from Chicago to the entire US, and then complaining about sterotypes.
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May 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Something about this formulation bothers me. From the sound of it, you probably know a bit about Asian history - you may even be Asian yourself. So are you unaware of the history between Japan and Korea? You may as well as go on about how Czech teachers are unfair to Russian students, thus implicitly impugning the Czechs as a people, to an audience in Micronesia unaware of recent European history.
Typically older Koreans still harbour resentment and prejudicial attitude toward Japanese. And as Chris Rock said, there’s no one more racist than really old Black guys.
Sigh… and I wonder why Koreans get two honorary mentions in your rant. The other side to it is that a lot of lower class Korean families come to America to find that the only place where they can open up business is in inner city communities, whose denizens treat them as outsiders and inferiors as surely as any gated community would. I believe the Du family was way in the wrong in the Latasha Harlins case, but you can’t forget that Korean families and businesses were targeted indiscriminately in the riots that followed.
Cross-sectionality between minorities has always been a problem. Why single out Asians? Is it because Asians are the last racial minority that’s fair game? If you are Asian yourself, then this is truly shameful.
What commonalities do labour unions and environmental groups have? What commonalities do churches and the NRA have? None intrinsically, but a common enemy: in our case, the racial status quo. Should Asians eschew all alliances altogether and keep to ourselves? Isn’t that one of the things we’re criticized on? Or should we align ourselves to the racial status quo and embrace the “model minority” tag? No thanks, I’d rather drink turpentine.
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May 9th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Slyph,
You are right, that was a rant. I inadvertently appear to focus on Koreans; well, I admire the Koreans in my community more than a lot of people.
As for that matter of Latasha Harlins; I am not familar with the specifics, but I am familar witht he way Koreans are continually targeted in LA especially. The South Centrl riots were a classic West Coast pogrom against Asians, however much a bunch of Black apologists with foreign (Southern) accents may want to spin it in the mould of the civil rights struggle.
You are way off base saying that I focus on “cross-sectionality” because I discuss Asians in response to a post on Asians. Want to talk about cross-sectionality? “No Irish need apply”? The way Catholics are hemorrhaging out of the Repblican Party in disgust at their fiki-fiki with the Religious Right? (about goddammed time!) The way Romney was scuttled because he was a Mormon? Those are ethnic divisions, pure and simple. But I was trying to stay somewhat on topic.
“If you are Asian yourself, then this is truly shameful.’ This is truly bullshit. Why would a person not want to focus on probelms within his own community? Or do you think there is soemthing wrong with identifying probelms and rederssing them. Afraid of what the white folk will say? How shameful is that?
Of course I am aware of the history between the Koreans and the Japanese - that was rather my point, wasn’t it? These people are not somehow all one smiling, singing broad front just because they have one charactyeristic, their non-whiteness, in common. How Euro-centered is that? I was simply saying that it was pretty low to be taking that shit out on a child and a student placed in your care. You do agree with that, I hope.
“None intrinsically, but a common enemy: in our case, the racial status quo. ”
Explain please what you mean when you say that the racial staus quo is the common enemy. Carefully and clearly. What to you is problematic? The way that Asians supposedly are held back and kept down in this country; demonstrably untrue.
Or do you mean the overall racial situation in the country - then I agree wholeheartedly that a lot has to change.
Or is it the way that “whites” are in the majority? If that is how you mean that, do you find the “racial status quo” in Korea or Japan equally problematic?
Let me guess: you mean the overall racial situation in the country.
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