The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism

by Rosalind S. Chou, Joe R. Feagin

With their apparent success in schools and careers, Asian Americans have long been viewed by white Americans as the "model minority." Yet few Americans realize the lives of many Asian Americans are constantly stressed by racism. This reality becomes clear from the voices of Asian Americans heard in this first in-depth book on the experiences of racism among Asian Americans from many different nations and social classes.

Chou and Feagin assess racial stereotyping and discrimination from dozens of interviews across the country with Asian Americans in a variety of settings, from elementary schools to colleges, workplaces, and other public arenas. They explore the widely varied ways of daily coping that Asian Americans employ--some choosing to conform and others actively resisting.

This book dispels notions that Asian Americans are universally "favored" by whites and have an easy time adapting to life in American society. The authors conclude with policy measures that can improve the lives not only of Asian Americans but also of other Americans of color.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, Politics, History, Sociology, Asian American, Social Justice

251 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[augend · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We can pinpoint when this model myth was likely first constructed. In the mid-1960s, largely in response to African American and Mexican American protests against discrimination, white scholars, political leaders, and journalists developed the model minority myth in order to allege that all Americans of color could achieve the American dream--and not by protesting discrimination in the stores and streets as African Americans and Mexican Americans were doing, but by working as "hard and quietly" as Japanese and Chinese Americans supposedly did. This model image was created not by Asian Americans but by influential whites for their public ideological use." p. 13 (Chou, Feagin 2008)

Claire Jean Kim on conflicts between Korean American merchants and African American patrons: "Such intergroup conflict involves more than just stereotyping by African Americans or Korean Americans of the other group, but instead reflects the white-imposed racial hierarchy at its effect on both racially subordinated groups" p. 17

1989: First successful federal prosecution of a civil rights case involving a racially targeted Asian American. p. 28

Story of Ethan: Social class and model minority privilege do not protect one from racialized violence. p. 33

"The reality of systemic racism means that there is a white-generated racial framing of all racial groups, a framing that to some degree gets drilled into the heads of virtually all Americans no matter what their racial group may be. Most major racial slurs and racial stereotypes targeting subordinated groups in the United States were originally created by whites as part of this racial frame and have long been taught for generations by means of the media, schools, aand other institutions to all Americans. Thus, when an African American uses a common slur against an Asian American, or vice versa, such negative actions are often shaped, at least in part, by the larger societal context of centuries of white-generated racism." p. 49

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva on anti-Asian discrimination in college: Indeed, recent analysis of contemporary white commentaries on other racial groups suggests that many have become skilled at talking 'nasty about minorities without sounding racist.' p. 73

Academic achievement as coping mechanism, shield oneself from racism. p. 117

[Katrina V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Myth of the Model Minority
Joe R. Feagin and Rosalind S. Chou
Published September 1st, 2008
Nonfiction (Political/Cultural)

This book showcases the racism that Asian Americans face, and how most races don’t acknowledge the fact that Asian Americans are also discriminated against. This book has many different interviews and perspectives from Asians of ALL races, and shows how different people deal with the same type of backlash based on on their race. Although the title of the book has the phrase, “Model Minority,” the book dispels any rumor that people who are white favor Asians. They counter-argue and say that the stereotype of white people favoring Asian people gives Asian people more backlash. The research that Feagin and Chou do shows the extent of blatant racism that is considered to be normalized, and how one should do something and stand up against it. The book works on empowering Asian people to do something about prejudice against the Asian race, and how the perception of equality can be altered through societal standards.

The book was made in 2008, so the interviews are a bit outdated. The experiences that people faced in the book are still similar to experiences that Asians today have faced, but the equality of Asian American people in general have definitely gotten better. From 2008 up until 2020, the strive to be equal to those who are more privileged than others has been made, so steps to become equal rather than more separated have definitely been taken. The issues that Asian Americans faced in 2008 are definitely similar to the issues that Asian Americans face today, but today’s issues are more talked about in the media compared to then.

The biggest selling point of the book is the extensive research that the authors did in order to sell their point. Rather than make their book opinion based, they took the effort to interview multiple people about their experience with racial bias. The book pinpoints stereotypes and has various situations rather than only use information that would help strengthen their argument. This, in turn, makes their book seem more credible than beforehand.

This book is very long. It takes multiple sittings to read, and a lot of the language used is very strong and negative. The issues that Feagin and Chou write about are pertaining to Asian American backlash, but the extent of their research makes the pages sometimes difficult to read and fully comprehend. The reader has to be in a certain mindset in order to comprehend what the author has in mind.

The biggest takeaway from this book is that Asian Americans face backlash every single day, and the racism that they face has become more normalized than racism that other races would face. The most striking part of this book has to be that racial bias exists in everybody’s mind no matter how open minded one desires to be. Although this is true, the steps that one takes are so much more important than what stereotypes have been drilled into the average American’s mind.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opening research and a worthy read. If you want to fight racism, you have to understand how Asian Americans are discriminated against as well and how they are used to continue the divide between whites and people of color.

[Komi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read that educated me on a topic I knew little about prior. But the biggest takeaway for me is that Asians believe that African Americans won't get far without economic power, which is absolutely true. But without Black Americans fighting for civil rights, Asian Americans may not be where they are today. It's strange how civil rights have benefited other groups more than Black Americans. I wish people would understand that we want to see each other grow but some individuals are just at a greater disadvantage due to a lack of great public schools or job opportunities in their communities. If you look at things, Asian Americans often reside in Predominantly white states where educational systems are great (East coast and West coast). Their parents can often find jobs regardless of how menial despite their educational attainment back in their home country that allows their youth to focus on their studies. Want to know what happens if more Black Americans try to flee to these same states or cities with great schools? White fleets. This leads to community dysfunction and jobs fleeing. Without jobs and educational opportunities, poverty leads to a vicious cycle.

It's shameful to see that there exists a disconnect amongst our people. But I hope one day to see a better understanding.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books like these are necessary to understand how labels, no matter how positive they seem to be, can have adverse affects on groups of people. The term "model minority" was first used in the 1960s to label a minority group that did not try to buck the system. This book talks about the myths of that label, and further explains that in spite of that labeling, Asians and Asian Americans experience a white framing of their existence, which leads to racist experiences and governmental discrimination. White-framing is an interesting term because it doesn't just label someone racist. Many people can and do deny they are racist, and personally, I think the term gives people an easy out. Sadly, people don't understand how they selfishly and pridefully view "other" people.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of boring and pedagogical, but to be expected from this kind of literature.

[Marleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chou and Feagin conducted interviews with Asian Americans to talk about their experience with racism in America. Even though Asians have been described as successful this is not completely true. There is a wide disparity of incomes, education and cultures between the more than 20 different Asian groups. In fact, before the 1960's we were known as Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans etc. Even though Asians have achieved some measure of success, there are many who are still in poverty. Being described as the model minority has been used as a weapoeyn against other Black and brown people and belies the fact that we still face racism and structural barriers...often not seen as leaders. Asians are the fastest growing minority in the United States but there are still many parts of the country where there are few Asians. I found it hurtful to find that so many youth faced bullying and micro aggressive behavior from their white classmates. Many of the people they interviewed would initially say they had encountered no overt discrimination but in describing some situations they encountered at school or work, it was apparent that they had those experiences.

[Stephanie Borges Folarin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of powerful personal narratives and psychological analysis that remind us that stereotyping and racial framing is more than wrong. There is no such thing as a model minority, but there is such a thing as systemic racism.

[Thomas Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be biased, but it intelligently confirms what I know.