Being Asian American in 2020
- Papaya
- Jul 4, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 5, 2020
In 2020, we’ve seen it all. Starting with a global pandemic which led to a rise in Asian American hate crimes. Of course this was largely in part to the response of the US government’s failure in a response. The categorization of COVID19 as the “Chinese Virus” and “Kung Flu” led to implications that spread across more than just the white right wing radicals.We seem to make these radicals the sole scapegoat for the injustices brought onto any minority. However, we must not forget about our own roles as individuals contributing to each problem arising this year.
Asian Americans since their immigration to this country have always been the target for the “Model Minority Myth” (https://thepractice.law.harvard.edu/article/the-model-minority-myth/) , perhaps perpetuated in historical injustices such as the mistreatment of Chinese Railroad Workers, Japanese American Internment, War Crimes toward the Vietnamese, Escalation of Imperialism within South and Southeast Asia, and Asian roles in Cinema. These historical events gave rise to the false “complacent” and “docile” mindset of some Asian Americans. In 2020 we’ve come a long way, more Asian Americans than ever are speaking out on social issues and we are the fastest growing voter group. However, erasing the “Model Minority Myth” comes with it’s own challenges we need to recognize.
First, I would like to take a look within that categorization of Asian American or more broadly Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), many people forget to realize how broad of a category that is. The Asian population makes up almost 60% of the world’s population. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/asia-population/ When we think Asian American typically we think of East Asian individuals with Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean descent. (People even disregard Mongolians smh) This has severe consequences as uniting the Asian American community would be impossible if our basis was only on East Asians. I don’t know if many of you know much about Asian History but East Asians were serious imperialists rivaling the European ones we are so quick to point out. Many non East Asian countries still hold a grudge against East Asia due to historical factors. I’m pointing this out because as descendants of those from the Asian continent we end up here in one country. Yet no clear unity has been established between the different Asian communities because culturally we are so diverse. South Asians, West Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders seem to have a stronger identity individually than the collective categorization of “Asian”. West Asians collectively have a different identity themselves as “Middle Eastern”. (Of course historically, this was more of Eastern Europeans not wanting to credit an “Asian” population for so many important technological and economical advances but that’s tea for another time)
So why is that important? Because in the increasingly important discussions on the social and political discussions we fail to have a unified voice. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement spiked in 2020 once again due to another horrifying case of police brutality and the AAPI community was split in support. Many were quick to point out the injustices brought upon the AAPI community by the Black community prior to the BLM movement. At the same time many “Liberal” Asian Americans were quick to bash more “Conservative” Asian Americans as insensitive and the problem when they did not take into consideration why the Asian community is split. I personally align as Liberal but I realized a long time ago that we do not have a collective voice as a "Asian" community. Was it really a win for all Asian Americans when “Crazy Rich Asians” came out in theaters? or was it just a win for East Asian representation? The point is to check your mindset and bias.
I want to really emphasize this next point: Escaping the Model Minority Myth and the “Keep to Yourself” mindset is a Privilege. Education on those matters is a privilege, never forget that. I am writing here because I have privilege, others may not have had the same upbringing as you and we need to understand our own community in order to speak on different issues. Cancel culture is an increasingly toxic trend on social media and I’ve always preferred to stay off online debates as you can’t look someone in the eye and ask for patience and compassion. So back to BLM, those privileged enough to speak on the topic did. But do not follow the movement as a trend. It is a HUMANS RIGHTS movement based on injustice. I want to make another point clear, being Asian American with privilege does not mean you have to always just follow along with cancel culture and accept whatever another minority says about us. Point out things on a case by case basis, if injustice is brought upon another minority speak up on it. If injustice is brought upon our own minority speak up on it. There's no need to be so Black and White about these issues. If you are, care for you may be just accepting the two party system mindset outside of elections. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/two-party-system-broke-constitution/604213/
Being Asian American is confusing because you don’t really understand where you belong. With certain colorist ideology inherent in our own households, the darker skinned Asian Community doesn’t know if they fit in more with their lighter skinned Asian American counterparts or other darker skinned minorities such as the Latinx and Black communities. This is further reflected in the socioeconomic status of Asian Americans in the US. While East Asian and Indian populations thrived economically, the socioeconomic status of Southeast Asians, parts of the South Asian diaspora, and Pacific Islanders are more similar to those of the Black and Latinx communities.
This all is brought up again to point out privilege within the Asian community and specifically American born AAPI liberal privilege in order to reiterate that patience and understanding are key for effective change. I look through my social media feed and see so many AAPI with liberal backgrounds being as headstrong as some of the most right wing conservatives. Unite not divide, is my the takeaway from all of this. It’s rough being Asian American in 2020 given the political and social tension, but I would really like to see more open mindedness from the community. While we have our differences I think the best way to see a better AAPI community is to learn to continue to listen to each other's stories with an open heart.
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