Issue 02: The f*$%-ing model minority myth
How the myth affects immigrant mental health
2,500 years ago, Confucius wrote the Classic of Filial Piety (or 孝), which amped up the whole bring-honor-to-the-family virtue common among East Asians communities. In many South Asian and Middle Eastern groups, this concept might be referred to as "izzat" or "nāmūs."
The lauded virtues of the modern model minority (most often attributed to Asian Americans): One must be respectful to elders, family-oriented, hardworking, studious, adaptable, submissive, introverted and highly successful. Not a bad stereotype to have, huh? Wrong.
The stereotype, though it may seem positive, distracts from the many issues community members face, particularly under a federal administration many view as especially hostile to immigrants.
How the myth affects mental health
In traditional Asian culture, mental health problems only exist because one can't control oneself. Such shameful problems must be kept quiet to maintain family honor. The shame or loss of "izzat" often discourages first- and second-generation Asian Americans from taking advantage of mental health services.
Traditional virtues coupled with being part of this model minority and adopting its stereotypes means taking on the unique stresses of academic and economic achievement, acculturation and unique obligations to family.
When communities embrace the notion that you're destined to succeed because of your racial background, "failure comes as a devastating hit to your mental health," Jennifer Cheang wrote for Mental Health America.
Children of immigrants or refugees also feel guilty for speaking out about their own personal struggles.
"Growing up as the child of a refugee who fled the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, I felt like I had no right as a first-generation American to talk about my mental health problems. I hear this from Asian-American friends as well. When presenting a problem or struggle to our family members or friends, we are told that we do not understand what struggling is, or that our problems are invalid." - Jennifer
Research suggests this kind of high-achieving, subordinating entrapment is quite poisonous to one's mental health.
Depression. Despite the fact that 57 percent of Asian Americans are reportedly moderately to severely depressed, they're three times less likely to seek help compared to other U.S. populations. And even if some do seek treatment, they worry their families will find out or dismiss them, only adding fuel to the fire.
Suicide. Young Asian American and Pacific Islander women in particular have the highest rate of suicide deaths (14.1%) of any racial/ethnic group. Rates by group: White (9.3%), Black (3.3%), Hispanic (7.4%). Males have the second highest.
But the myth of the model minority isn't just harmful to one minority.
History lesson: How the myth pinned Asian Americans against African Americans
"Whites love us because we're not black." - Frank Chin, 1974
Asian Americans have faced varying forms of discrimination in the country, yes. Just look at FDR's Executive Order 9066 in WWII, which succumbed Japanese Americans to mass deportation and horrific internment over fear of Communism, an event black Californian columnist Rev. Hamilton T. Boswell called "the greatest disgrace of Democracy since slavery."
But when it became politically convenient, discrimination against Asian Americans faded. Before the Cold War, the idea of this model minority as studious, hardworking, successful and submissive "was quickly co-opted by white politicians who saw it as a tool to win allies," NPR reported in 2017.
The myth was also used by white politicians as a tactic to denigrate African Americans in a country ripe with racism.
There was this misconception fueled by white America that the Japanese "were rising up out of the ashes" because of who they were as a people. If Asian Americans could make it after internment and discrimination, and keep crime rates low, why weren't black Americans rising up? It must be them.
This strategy, scholars argue, allowed white Americans to forgo responsibility for racism when in reality, Asian Americans weren't "making it" because they cared about education or career development any more than black Americans. It's because the country treated them better and afforded them the opportunities to move up.
During the Civil Rights Movement, overt anti-black sentiments in some Japanese American communities, many of which had integrated with white Americans and enjoyed opportunities still withheld from African Americans, spread to the surface. Hokubei Mainichi editor Howard Imazeki famously challenged African Americans to “improve their own communities before asking for equal rights," according to Densho.org.
Some Japanese Americans stood up against the blatant racism. Civil rights organizer and founding member of the Congress of Racial Equity Ina Sugihara championed the belief that "the fate of each minority depends upon the extent of justice given all other groups." Yet her marriage to African American Willis Jones left her ostracized within her own community.
Anti-Blackness in many Asian American communities continues to leak through generations, "no doubt stoked by racist narratives perpetuated by American white supremacy and the model minority myth," PRI reported.
In 2014, Akai Gurley, an unarmed black man was fatally shot by New York Police Department officer Peter Liang. Liang was indicted, and Asian American groups even protested the decision.
"They thought that we weren't going to speak up," one protester said, citing the history of racial tensions between black and Asian communities in the area. "They thought that we were just going to be a model minority. But this one has touched everyone. It's 150 years of racism and mistreatment coming out."
The model minority myth and America's unfair criminalization of black Americans has actually given many Asian Americans "a false sense of honorary whiteness and severed us from building coalition with other communities of color," writer Kim Tran wrote for Everyday Feminism.
"The Black community frequently serves as our negative definition — the people we don‘t want to be. White supremacy fed us anti-Black racism and many of us believe it out of fear — and hope."
The truth is, the racism Asian Americans have experienced couldn't even compare to the systematic dehumanization that black people faced during slavery and continue to face today.
And if society was historically able to use the myth of the model minority to create a wedge between Asian Americans and black Americans, it can undoubtedly pit them against others society deems the "problem minority" at any given time.
In his essay, "Why We Struggle to Say I Love You," New York Times contributing opinion writer Viet Thanh Nguyen, an Asian-American, talks about the rarity of hearing those three words from his parents, why so many in his community can relate and why it's on the parents to learn better, too. Read here.
Ramishah Maruf, a South Asian student at the University of North Carolina Chapel-Hill penned this column for her student newspaper. She writes about affirmative action, and how the model minority myth drives a wedge between minority groups. Read here.
Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis wrote this fascinating longform essay for Offing Magazine in 2015, but it's still worth a read if you get some time. In "Dispatch From the Floor of the Minority Model Factory," Davis explores the overwhelmingly Asian American SAT preparation industry. Read here.
He's the first DACA beneficiary to win the prestigious Rhodes scholarship, but when he leaves the country in October to study at Oxford with his fellow scholars, he may not be able to come back. South Korean Jin Park pens an op-ed in the Times, arguing "a human being shouldn’t have to be a 'genius' or 'economically productive' to have access to equal opportunity." Read here.
In "Asian Americans Are Not Your Model Minority," Pacific Standard's Massoud Hayoun explores the compounding struggles facing Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and other communities in San Gabriel, California, often deemed resilient and successful based on their background. Read here.
Scott Kurashige's 2007 book, "The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles," examines the historical roots of LA's Japanese American and African American communities and how the shift in racial cooperation gave rise to a multicultural LA. Purchase here.
Foreign Bodies is a monthly e-mail newsletter dedicated to the unique experiences of immigrants and refugees as they relate to coping with mental illness and wellness. It’s written and curated by Atlanta-based writer Fiza Pirani with copyediting and fact-checking help from New Jersey-based independent journalist Hanaa’ Tameez. Want to contribute your time or share your own #ForeignBodies story? Send an email to 4nbodies@gmail.com or say hi on Twitter @4nbodies. Special shout-out to Carter Fellow and friend Rory Linnane for the adorable animated logo!
This was great! I'm going to read all these great essays, thank you <3