Thread by @DrBryanLeyva

That Asians are often considered the “model minority” by white people doesn’t mean we should perpetuate this message or that they are. Read: this is a STEREOTYPE. This myth: 1) contributes high suicidality among young AA women by promoting unrealistic expectations of 🧵1/

success that foster feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness (plenty of research to support this), 2) allows racism against Asians to be normalized by preventing them from talking about racism and by downplaying its significance/impact, 2/

3) is often used as an oppressive tool against Black people to perpetuate white supremacy (“if white supremacy is as bad as you say it is, then why are Asians able to succeed?”) 4) perpetuates the false narrative that Black/Latinx people are lazy, violent, loud, 3/

lack work ethic, and are to blame for their lack of social mobility in America, 5) ignores the incredible diversity in the lived experience among Asians subgroups— read: ASIANS ARE NOT A MONOLYTH (e.g., Asians have the highest income inequality within their own racial group, 4/

(e.g., average income among Cambodians is about $10,000 compared to $31,000 for Korean Americans), for years Asians in NYC had the highest poverty of all racial groups, Southeast Asians have some of the worst educational outcomes in the country, lagging behind Black people 5/

on most measures of academic success; 5) attempts to conceal that America is a meritocracy,
income inequality is rising, American social mobility is among the lowest in the “developed” world, and that context and inherited privilege play a huge role in one’s success; 6/

9) contributes to xenophobia, “othering,” and the myth that Asians are “foreigners,” and 10) perpetuates a racial hierarchy that puts Asians on top and pits POC against each other, preventing the kind of radical unity required to dismantle racism and white supremacy. 7/

A little history: the Asian minority myth gained popularity around the Civil Rights era not only to gain foreign allies during the Cold War, but to also deny the demands of Black people and to discourage them from protesting for their rights and against oppressive government. 8/

The history of Asians in the U.S.— like the history of most ethnic groups, is fraught with racism, starting with the anti racist propaganda that was normalized during the Gold rush to push Asians out of the country,
9/

to the Chinese Exclusion Act and Geary Act of the late 1800s to slow the growth of the Chinese population, to the Immigration Act of 1924, to the forced relocation, incarceration, and internment of Japanese communities during World War II, 10/

to the linching of Chinese people in the 1870s, to the racist history that created America’s China towns, and to the “bamboo” ceiling that prevents many Asians from being promoted to executive level positions. Racism towards Asians isn’t new. It’s always existed but it has 11/

resurfaced in yet a new form during the Trump administration. I want to end by saying this: let’s validate the struggles and racism of our Asian colleagues. Not acknowledging it only serves to uphold white supremacy and preserve the status quo. 12/

The “positive” stereotypes embedded in the Asian Model Minority Myth are not designed to empower the Asian community but rather to gaslight every other racial/ethnic group and create tensions/division btwn people of color. Reject it. Racism towards Asians is still racism. 13/13