Reasons Why Asian Americans Should Care About Social Justice

1. Because the model minority myth is harmful to other minorities AND ourselves

Via bytheirstrangefruit.blogspot.com

If you’ve ever heard the stereotype that all Asians are nerdy and good at math, then you’ve been exposed to the model minority myth. The model minority myth is the stereotype that Asian Americans are worthy of praise because of academic and socio-economic achievement, and it is often used as a corollary to other “underachieving” minority groups. The stereotype developed during the 1960s in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, used as a wedge between whites on one side and black and latinx communities on the other. While the model minority myth is seemingly innocuous (and even congratulatory), the generalization discounts the complexity and diversity of experience among Asian Americans. Although high-achieving Asian Americans are perhaps most visible, there are also just as many Asian Americans living in poverty and without high school diplomas whose experiences should not be overlooked. Furthermore, by depicting Asian Americans as an exemplary model, the model minority myth isolates Asian Americans from other people of color.

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2. Because we have unique perspectives as people of color

How many times have you been mistaken for another Asian who looks nothing like you? And how many times have people asked where you’re from, despite being born and raised in the States? FAR TOO MANY.

Asia is a vast continent, comprised of 48 countries, each containing many ethnic and cultural traditions. Yet, an Asian American individual’s unique background is often ignored in the process of identifying them with other Asian ethnic groups that share similar circumstances (eg. physical appearance). Such acts erase this uniqueness, making it harder for Asian Americans to maintain visibility.

You probably heard of common Asian stereotypes: the smart Asian, the nerdy Asian, the white man’s Asian, and the list goes on and on. These stereotypes do not capture the diverse experiences of Asian Americans, if at all. We possess vibrant identities; we are a balancing act of Asian and American cultures and our unique personalities and interests.

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3. Because yellow fever is real and not OK

Yellow fever is a term to describe white men who have a preference, usually sexual, for Asian women purely because they are Asian. You might ask, what’s so wrong with having an attraction towards Asian women?

Here’s why:
To be considered docile, obedient, and exotic solely on the basis of skin color is not a compliment. The objectification of Asian women by white men and women is rooted in a long history of white supremacy and colonialism. To define a person and a nation as “exotic” is to consider them uncivilized. The earliest records of the objectification of Asia and Asian women occurred during the early 13th centuries when Marco Polo’s travels to Asia resulted in a newfound fascination with the Oriental; many works of art and literature were produced of this land of silk. The objectification of Asian women also came in the form of war brides, systematic prostitution, and with it, colonial rape and violence. After World War 2, more than 200,000 Japanese women were coerced into prostitution to serve white soldiers. This practice would appear again in Korea and Vietnam.

Today, the objectification of Asian women appears in the form of yellow face. Asian women are described as passive and submissive. White men use these stereotypes to their advantage, regarding an Asian women’s inability to say no as a sign of romantic interest. Media manifestations of these stereotypes (geisha, femme fatale, and kung fu seductress, to name a few) reduce Asian women to tropes and commodities within a white man’s world. A quick Google search of any Asian dating website and you’ll see that most feature interracial couples. Unsurprisingly, these couples are a white man and an Asian woman.

So how does this relate to you and your role in social justice?

Yellow fever is more than white men’s sexual attraction towards Asian women - it is a history of oppression filled with systematic violence and destruction. It reduced Asian women into one-dimensional figures while devaluing the masculinity of Asian men. Yellow Fever strips away an Asian American woman’s individual identity and that’s not okay.

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4. Because de-masculinization of Asian men is real and not OK

In popular culture, Asian men are often depicted as petite, unathletic, and nerdy with low charisma and small penises. On the screen, in the rare occasion that an Asian man occupies a leading role, he is almost never accompanied by a love interest. Research at the College of William and Mary shows that when asked to think about an Asian character, people most often envision a woman. These seemingly separate instances of stereotyping are all symptomatic of gendered race, which contributes to the view that Asian men are unmanly or not “real” men.

The idea of the effeminate Asian race represents a stereotype of a stereotype. This myth has been perpetuated as early as the 1800s when British colonists tried to undermine nationalist movements in India. One of their tactics was to disempower the Indian people by painting them as feminine, weak, and unfit for self rule. This scripted idea of the unmanly Asian man has resounded through the centuries to the present day. When we generalize Asian men as unmanly or weak, we are echoing a lie first proclaimed by colonists whose goal was to strip Asian people of their power and dignity. Race has no gender!

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5. Because of our under-representation in media and in leadership positions

There are so few Asian actors on TV, and the roles that do exist are extremely limited and based on stereotypes. How many 1. Punk Asian Girl with a Purple Streak in Their Hair, 2. Nerdy Asian Boy and 3. Old Asian Lady Running a Local Supermarket do we need to see before the general American population is bored out of their minds? When being Asian is the only character development an Asian or Asian American character gets, we’re left with characters that demonstrate nothing about the true diversity and strength of Asian American people. And the cool, developed Asian characters? On many occasions, they’re played by white people, in a phenomenon known as whitewashing. This undermines Asian representation and also takes opportunities away from real Asian actors and actresses.

In fact, under-representation extends way beyond the screen. The numbers are clear. There is a severe lack of Asian Americans in positions of political, economic and social power despite Asian Americans’ supposed academic success. Without more Asian Americans in board rooms and in the government, both the concerns and the triumphs of our communities go unnoticed. Young Asian Americans have few professional and public role models to look up to. And our white-centric culture can continue to superficialize and dismiss Asian American narratives. Race is all about what is seen.

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6. Because the first Asians in America experienced incredible persecution and discrimination

Asian American history is fraught with oppression and systematic racism. One example is the Chinese Exclusion Act, implemented in 1882. During the 1870s, Chinese immigrants only constituted about 0.02% of America’s population. Most Chinese immigrants came to the United States to take jobs building America’s railroad systems, boosting the fishing industry, and contributing as miners and farmers. Yet despite taking on only the lowest-paid and undesirable jobs, Chinese laborers were accused of taking away jobs from white laborers. These outcries led to the systematic prevention of Chinese immigrants into the United States. The movement to restrict Chinese immigrants became so strong that by 1887, legal Chinese immigration into the United States decreased to 10 per year.

With the decline of Chinese immigration, Japanese, Korean, and Indian immigrants began coming to the United States. Like the Chinese immigrants, they also faced racial discrimination - they were denied citizenship, prevented from marrying Caucasians, and couldn’t own land. The voices of exclusionists and white laborers played a vital role in eliminating access for Asian immigrants. While Filipino immigrants (technically considered American citizens) did not share these same issues initially, by the 1920s, racism and economic tension gave raise to anti-Filipino sentiments and the passing of the Tydings-McDuffle Act of 1935, which restricted Filipino immigration to 50 per year. Although recent refugees from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, who were escaping economic struggles, war, and social chaos, did not meet the same level of discrimination as early Asian immigrants, they still faced the same racial prejudice and discriminatory acts on a personal and legislature level.

One of the most shocking examples of anti-Asian sentiments occurred in 1982 when a Chinese American man, Vincent Chin, was accused by two white men for being a Jap and taking their jobs, and was subsequently beaten to death. The two men were put on trial for charges of manslaughter and were only sentenced to two years of probation and a fine of $3,700. Despite outrage from the Asian American community and a second trail, to this day, neither man has served any time in jail.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked the U.S naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A year after entering into World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into effect an order to force those with Japanese ancestry into internment camps. Fear of Japanese Americans helping Japan (despite many being American-born) led to the mass incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans into ten internment camps around the West coast. When the internment finally closed in 1945, most Japanese families had lost their homes and had to rebuild their lives.

You might argue all these were events in the past but the legacy still affects us today. Visible forms of anti-Asian discriminations are now invisible forces in the form of microaggressions, the model minority myth, yellow fever, and the lack of information about Asian American suffering and successes within mainstream history books.

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7. Because our ancestors were mad activists!

Asian Americans have played a huge role in social activism in America’s history - we just never hear about it.

Yellow Peril supports Black Power - a slogan popularized throughout the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement, captured the passionate political support Asian communities provided for the Black Power Movement. Here, Asian men protest for the release of Huey Newton, a founding member of the Black Panther Party.

But Asian Americans and their struggles have also taken center stage throughout history. Perhaps the most critical moment for politicizing the pan-Asian American community was the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, one of the most well-known hate crimes in American history. This event sparked protests led by Asian Americans throughout the nation and prompted federal prosecutors to bring civil rights charges against Chin’s assailants.

From Wong Kim Ark to Philip Vera Cruz and Yuri Kochiyama, from these individuals to entire movements, Asian American activism has fundamentally shaped the history of social justice in America. We owe it to all these early activists to make sure their work shapes the future of social justice too.

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8. Because we are allowed to express our discontent

We’ve said it a bunch of times in this article but we’ll say it again - the stereotype that Asian Americans are somehow inherently docile, submissive, and acquiescent hurts the Asian American community in so many ways. One huge effect of this stereotype is that it silences Asian American voices on social justice issues, making it feel like our problems “aren’t big enough” to warrant speaking out. Often, this is reinforced by values within Asian cultures and homes - that we shouldn’t rock the boat, that we need to focus on excelling within the system rather than trying to change it.

But, as author Ronald Takaki said, “[The Asian American experience] is not just personal or psychological. It’s political”. And if our experiences, that have real weight and political value, show that society is stacked against us, we have every right to protest it. We have every right to make a scene, make our voices heard. And that doesn’t make us bad Asians.

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9. Because EVERYONE should care about social justice

Spoiler Alert: Social injustice affects the whole of society. Often, when a group is stereotyped or discriminated against, it is done in opposition to another. This applies to race (see: Reason 1, the model minority myth) but also to other aspects of identity, like class, sexuality and gender. The power structures that facilitate this hurts everyone.

But it also hurts everyone differently. Everyone holds different identities, some oppressed, some privileged. And it is crucial for everyone, with their various lived experiences, to pay attention. Because in the ways we are oppressed, it is a matter of our rightful existence. Yet in the ways we are privileged, it is we who can dismantle these Power Structures from the inside.

YOU, ASIAN AMERICAN, FRIEND, PERSON - YOUR VOICE MATTERS AND YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. AND YOU SHOULD MAKE THE DIFFERENCE YOU CAN MAKE.

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