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Ppl know the model minority myth is often used as a cudgel against other poc, but maybe don’t know the historical context. The MMM is a specific construct emerging in mid-60’s against the backdrop of Jim Crow dismantlement & Black people’s growing demands for political equity 1/
During this period, rather than addressing these demands thru structural changes or social reorg, the Johnson administration released a report which essentially blamed Black poverty on dysfunctional families and asserted it as inherent to Black culture itself 2/
Simultaneously, Asian-Americans were juxtaposed as a group of immigrants who self-sufficiently moved ahead w/o outside help, self-disciplined, hard-working, submissive—a racial minority that could seamlessly assimilate w/o making demands for institutional change 3/
Within this Cold War context, the model minority embodied the Protestant work ethic of obedience, individualism, and loyalty to the nuclear family—as opposed to international solidarity or social consciousness as advocated by Black radicalism 4/
That’s how that model minority construct—and the Asian-American desire for assimilation—operates and continues to operate in the service of white supremacy, even to this day. We should reject it entirely. 5/
