XII PREFACE AND ACKNOW LEDGMENTS

Both authors are grateful to a strong Community of social scientists who have been so Supportive of our research in many different ways, -especially Christopher Chambers, Jennifer Mueller, Glenn Bracey, Lorena Murga, aren Glover, risten Lavelle, Jac!ie Jebens, and "uth #hompson-Miller$ %e also appreciate greatly the scholarly assistance of several other colleagues and would especially li!e to than! Stuart &ysom, %illiam Mc'ntosh, Leland Saito, Melissa (u)iwara, Bernice Mc*air Barnett, #erence (it+gerald, Jacob ,an -en Berg, Su+u!i a+u!o, Mamta .ccapadi, Charles /hang, *estor "odrigue+, and 0dna Chun for theirthelpful suggestions and critical comments at various stages of the research and writing process$

CHAPTER I

Rosalind S. Chou and Joe R...Feagin

THE ,REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION

'n the fall of 1223, "$%$, a young Chinese .merican, bludgeoned and strangled her mothei$$ %hile her mother lay dead on the floor, she covered her and called the police, confessing her crime$ #his school valedictorian is an accomplished musician +rho had begun her education at a prestigious 'vy League school and graduated with honors from her southern university$ &er 4crime received little local notice$ 5nly one full-length newspaper 4article was published, and after her indictment she was barely mentioned$ #his tragic incident hit home for the first author because she is ac6uainted with the family, which was one of the few Chinese families in her hometown$ #he incident sent shoc!waves through the .sian .merican corn, $ munity of which they were part$ "$%$4s failure to stay at her first college program, $ an7elite institution, may well have contributed to her several suicide attempts and 8eventually to the homicide$ She may now live out her years in a mental institution, nd family and friends are left stressed and wondering 9why:94 5n the outside, "$%$ appeared to be a model student at her historically white $ e 4ducational institutions$ &er demeanor was 6uiet, which li!ely suggested to white outsiders only a stereotyped .sian$ passivity$ #hus, even with numerous warnr$r mg signs of mental illness, she was never seen as a concern$ #he white-created 9successful model Minority9 stereotype made it difficult for non-.sians around her to see her illness and encouraged silence among the .sian .mericans who !new her$ #he 122; shootings of students and staff at ,irginia #ech <niversity by Cho Seung-&ui suggest somewhat similar issues$ . orean .merican student at a

CH APTER I

THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION 3

historically white institution, Cho was viewed by outsiders as unusually 6uiet, and although he demonstrated numerous warning signs of mental illness, he was mostly ignored, especially by those with the most authority to ta!e action$ *ot much has been revealed about his life growing up in a ,irginia suburb e=cept that he was an 9easy target9 at school and endured substantial teasing from white children$ %hen younger, he struggled to learn 0nglish, which made it difficult to adapt in his predominantly white environment$ Cho seems to have lived as an outcast and in social isolation$ Given his parents4 success in business and his sister4s success as a >rinceton graduate, Cho and his family seem to outsiders li!e a proverbial model family that 9lifted themselves up by their bootstraps9 and thus are living the .merican theam$ 1?et, these stereotyped images and Cho4s own struggle to achieve may well have wor!ed against his mental health$ .s the interviews in this boo! reveal, this young .sian .merican4s struggle to ma!e it in a predominantly white world was not uni6ue in being both very invisible and e=cruciatingly tormented$ 5ur argument here is not that .sian .mericans are distinctively prone to serious mental illness or violence$ "ather, we accent in this boo! the institutionally racist situations in which .sian .mericans find themselves@those highly pressured situations that create much stress and deeply felt pain$ 5ne ma)or societal problem is that .sian .mericans are typically viewed and labeled as 9model minorities9 by outsiders, especially by whites with power over them$ #his highly stereotyped labeling creates great pressure to conform to the white-dominated culture, usually in a one-way direction$ 'n recent boo!s titled YELL-Oh Girls! and Asian American X several hundred young .sian .mericans discuss their often difficult lives$ #hese young people recount recurring e=periences with coercive pressures to assimilate into the prestigious white end of the prevailing <$S$ racial status continuum@to white ways of dress, speech, goal attainment, thin!ing, and physical being$ Most are torn between the culture of immigrant parents or grandparents, with its substantial respect for .sianness, and the burdensome pressures of a white-controlled society$ .s one young orean .merican who grew up in a white community puts it, the dominance of whites e=plains the 9thoughtless ways white .mericans often inhabit a sense of entitlement and egocentric normality$94 Li!e other .sian .mericans, these young people report radali+ed mistreatment, ranging from subtle to covert to overt discrimination$ #he successful minority image does not protect them from the onslaughts of discriminatory whites$ 5ur research here attempts to give voice to numerous .sian .mericans as describe and assess their discriminatory and other life e=periences$ <sing depth interviews, we collected accounts of .sian .merican experiences in veryday life, including incidents of racial hostility and discrimination, responses ofiassimilation and conformity, and ways that individuals, families, and cornunities cope with and resist white-imposed racism$ 5ur interviews indicate at7.sian .mericans suffer from ,much discrimination, ranging from subtle to $ latant, at the hands of whites$ #he interviews show that, even after &erculean efforts to conform to the dominant racial hierarchy and to the white framing of them@efforts see!ing to achieve the fabled .merican dream@.sian .mericans e6uently feel stressed, embattled, isolated, and inade6uate$ Many passively ac cept that they must hide or abandon their home culture, values, and identity to $ event future mistreatment$ Significant educational and economic achievements do not effectively shield them$ Some analysts have argued that .sian .mericans iie 9luc!y9 that they do not face the 9invisibility9 and negative imagery that .frican .mericans e=perience$A #his view of .sian .mericans is incorrect$ #he .sian .merican e=perience with racial hostility and discrimination is also very negative and largely untold, and such an untold e=perience is indeed a very Lharm!ul invisibility$

The. Reality of Systemic Racism

4#raditional analytical approaches to immigrants and immigration to the <nited States mostly emphasi+e various assimilation orientations and processes$ Some assimilation analysts have argued that all incoming immigrant groups will eventually be fully integrated into <$S$ society, including the more distinctive ethnic and racial groups$ Many social science researchers view the adaptation of .sian immigrants and their children to <$S$ society since the 3BC2s through 4an$$assimilation lens, one similar to that used for assessing the adaptations of past, and present 0uropean immigrants$ *umerous assimilation analysts have argued that .sian .merican groups are on their way to full integration into the

core society,9 by which they mean white middle-class society$ (or e=ample, 4>aul Spidurd has argued that by the 3BD2s whites no longer viewed Japanese .mericans 9as very different from themselves, and that fact is remar!able$94 #o 4ma!e this case, these analysts usually focus on .sian .merican progress in areas s4such as educational and income achievements$ &owever, this limited definition of -,------success in adaptation in the <nited States is mostly7white-generated and ignores other important areas of .sian.merican lives$
4

CHAPTER I THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION !

'ndeed)the fact that .sian immigrants and their childrenEare heavily pressured to conform to a white-imposed cultur%racial framFG4and racial hierarchyEand suffer from much hosm tilir and discrimination@is usually left out of most assessments of .sian immigrants and their children and grandchildren$ &ere we go beyond the typical assimilation approach and accent a systemic racism perspectivei Since at least the seventeenth centuryE0uropean .mericansEhave created a comple= *orth .merican society %ith a foundation of racial oppression, one whose noo!s and crannies are generall? pervaded with racial discrimination and ine6uality$ *ear -their beginning, the new 0uropean colonies in *orth$ .merica institutionali+ed white-on-'ndian oppression Hland theft and genocideI and whiteon-blac! oppression Hcenturies of slaveryI, and by the mid-nineteenth century the Me=icans and the Chinese were incorporated as dispossessed landholders or e=ploited wor!ers into the racial hierarchy and political-economic institutions of a relatively new <nited States$ 5ur systemic racism approach views racial oppression as a foundational and persisting underpinning of this society$ (rom the beginning, powerful whites have 4designed and maintained the country4s economic, political, and social institutions to benefit, disproportionately and substantially, their own racial group$ (or centuries, un)ust impoverishment of .mericans of color has been lin!ed to un)ust enrichment of whites, thereby creating a central radial hierarchy and status continuum in which whites are generally the dominant and privileged group$C Since the earliest period of coloni+ation, moreover, 0uropean .mericans have buttressed this hierarchical and entrenched system of un)ust $material enrichment and un)ust material impoverishment with legal institutions and a strong white racial !raming of this society$ 'n the past and in the present, whites have combined within this pervasive white frame a good many racist stereotypes Hthe cognitive aspectI, racist concepts Hthe deeper cognitive aspectI, racist im ages Hthe visual aspectI, raciali+ed emotions HfeelingsI, and inclinations to ta!e discriminatory action$ #his white racial frame is old, enduring, and oriented to assessing and relating to .mericans of color in everyday situations$ 5perating with this racial frame firmly in mind, the dominant white group has used its power to place new non-0uropean groups, such as .sian immigrants and their childrenG somewhere in the racial hierarchy whites firmly control@that is, on a white-to-blac! continuum of status and privilege with whites at the highly privileged end, blac!s at the unprivileged end, and other racial groups typically placed by whites somewhere in between$ #his white racist framing of society is now a centuries-old rationali+ing of the racism systemic in this society$ 5ur concept of s"stemic racism thus encompasses a broad range of racial

ed$ realities in this society7 the all-encompassing white racial frame, e=tensive
discriminatory habits and e=ploitative actions, and numerous racist institutions$ his, white-generated and white-maintained system entails much more than cial bigotry, for it has been from the beginning a material, structural, and ideological reality$
:

The Exploitation and Oppression of Asian Immigrants

3E3Ju37$ e some.sian .mericans today trace family histories bac! to nineteenthcentury immigrants, most have a more recent immigration bac!ground$ 5lder embers of the families of "$%$ and Cho are relatively recent immigrants, and hu$s these families are typical$ Changes in immigration laws since 3BCF have allowed a substantial increase in immigration from .sian and >acific countries, and thus .sianE>acific 'slander .mericans have become the fastest growing <$S$ !acial group$ 'n 3BA2 they made up less than 3 percent of the population, but by$the late 1222s their numbers had grown to more than 3A million, about F percent of the population$ #he largest .sianE>acific 'slander group is Chinese erican, totaling more than J$J million$ 'n numbers, (ilipino.mericans are et far behind, at 1$D million$ Japanese, orean,.sian-'ndian, and ,ietnamese ericans constitute other large .sian-origin groups$ Much scholarship on .sians in *orth .merica has addressed .sian e=peri ences with racial hostility and discrimination over a long history 5f immigration$ Scholars have e=amined more than 3F2 years of .sian immigration and shown, ta!e one e=ample, that.sian wor!ers have regularly been pitted against white or!ers$ #he first ma)or immigrant group was Chinese$ Between the 3DF2s and 3DD2s,$ Chinese contract laborers migrated in large numbers to the %est Goast to do low-wage wor! in construction and other economic sectors$ #he eference that white employers had for Chinese wor!ers fueled tensions in the racial hierarchy, often pitting white wor!ers against .sian wor!ers$ .fter whites4 racist agitation and e=clusionary legislation stopped most Chinese immigration,

apanese immigrants were recruited by employers to fill the labor demand on hite-run farms and construction pro)ects$ HBy the late nineteenth century the Chinese were viewed by whites as the stereotyped 9yellow peril,9 a term appar ently coined by German aiser %ilhelm ''$I #he racially motivated termination of Japanese immigration in 3B2;-3B2D spurred white employers to recruit other .sians and >acific 'slanders Hsuch as (ilipinosI to fill labor needs on the <$S$

CH APT E R I

THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION

mainland and in &awaii$ #his employers4 strategy of using immigrant wor!ers from .sia and the >acific 'slands to replace white and othernative-born wor!ers has continued in some <$S$ wor!places to the present$; 'n the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, .sian and >acific 'slander immigrants and their children@mostly Chinese, Japanese, and (ilipino@suffered e=tremely blatant and institutionali+ed racism$ #hey were negatively positioned, and imaged, by whites as 9blac!9 or 9near blac!9 on the dominant socioracial continuum$ >owerful whites imposed a strong racial framing on these subordinated immigrants, with its barbed racist stereotypes and images$ "eviewing the history, "obert Lee has commented on white constructions of hated 95rientals97 9Si= images@the pollutant, the coolie, the deviant, the yellow peril, the model minority, and the goo!@portray the 5riental as an alien body and a threat to the .merican national family$94 (or e=ample, from the 3DF2s onward the first .sian .mericans, the Chinese, were stereotyped by white officials and commentators as 9alien,9 9dangerous,9 9docile,9 and 9dirty$9 .t that time, such negative images were not new to the white racist framing of .mericans of color$ #hey had precedents in earlier white views of .frican .mericans and *ative .mericans$4 'n 3DBC, even as he defended some rights for blac! .mericans as the dissenter in the #less" $. Ferguson Supreme Court decision upholding legal$racial segregation, Justice John Marshall &arlan included this racial argument7 9#here is a race so different from our own that we do not permit those belonging to it to become citi+ens of the <nited States$ >ersons belonging to it are, with few e=ceptions, absolutely e=cluded from our country$ ' allude to the Chinese race$9 3 'n the first decades of the 3B22s, this negative view was applied to other .sian .mericans as well$ <$S$ government agencies have 4played a central role in defining racial groups$ #hus, in the important 3B11 O%a&a case, the <$S$ Supreme Court ruled that .sian immigrants were not &hite and thus could not become citi+ens$ #he 9not white,9 9alien race,9 and related racist notions had been generated by elite whites in earlier centuries in stereotyping and mining *ative .mericans and .frican .mericans as an early part of a white racist framing for a 9civili+ed9 0urocentric society$ #hese ideas have persisted for four centuries, with at least 3F2 years now of application to .mericans of .sian descent$9

Racist Framing and Large-Scale Discrimination

*ew ways of circulating the racist framing of .mericans of color were developed by innovative white entrepreneurs in the early decades of the twentieth century$ eseinduded a burgeoning advertising industry ma!ing use of many maga+ines cl!iadio stations, as well as the developing movie industry$ %hite advertisers, toonists, and movie ma!ers commonly portrayed Chinese, Japanese, and 4LLer$ .sianE>acific 'slanders as outsiders or villains, who were often crudely re -5typed as 9inscrutable,9,0oor at 0nglish, criminal and dangerous$ or e=ample, between the early 3B22s and the 3BA2s, hostile visual images citfsitereotypes of 9buc!-toothed Japs9 were prominent in <$S$ media, contrib!doito anti-Japanese and other anti-.sian hostility in the <nited States$ %ith ensive media support and facilitation, white commentators and political lead, co-,, spo!e of an alleged alien character and immorality of Japanese .mericans, H22-se-times using vicious apeli!e images$31 #hese very negative images and other w6rteracist framing of the Japanese and Japanese .mericans contributed greatly e international tensions leading to %orld %ar '', especially the recurring conflicts between the growing <$S$ empire and the e=panding Japanese empire, thth in and around the rim of the >acific 5cean$4J #his white racist framing 8 he Japanese also contributed to e=treme discriminatory actions underta!en the <$S$ government7 the imprisonment of Japanese .mericans in <$S$ oncentration camps during %orld %ar ''$ #he government4s rationale for the ,ps was openly racist$ 'n 3BAJ %est Coast military commander General h7n -e%itt articulated what most whites then believed when he argued that 7ap4s a Jap$ #heM Japanese race is an enemy race, and while many second- and rd-generation Japanese born on <$S$ sbil, possessed of <$S$ citi+enship, have ecpme 4.mericani+ed,4 the racial strains are undiluted$93A %ith no evidence, ainstream commentators and leading politicians, all white, asserted there were einy agents in this 9alien9 .sian population$ Significantly, one main reason o the e=istence of this 9alien9 population was the discriminatory <$S$ law ohibiting .sian immigrants from becoming citi+ens$ -*egative framing of .sian .mericans during that era can be observed in a A2s 'ime maga+ine article on 9&ow to #ell ?our (riends from the Japs$9 &ere e white author offered a
$

biologi+ed and racist e=planation of supposed differcebetween the Japanese and the Chinese@a tas! ta!en on because China cl the <nited States had become allies against )apan in %orld %ar
4,irtually all Japanese are short$ Japanese are li!ely to be stoc!ier and broader-hipped than short Chinese$ .lthough both have the typical epicanthic fold on the upper eyelid, Japanese eyes are usually set closer together$ #he Chinese e=pression is li!ely to be more placid, !indly, openG the Japanese more positive,

CH APTER I

THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION "

dogmatic, arrogant$ Japanese are hesitant, nervous in conversation, laugh louoilly at the wrong time$ Japanese wal! stiffly erect, hard heeled$ Chinese, more ,rela=ed, have an easy gait, sometimes shuffle$4s

#he 'ime editors who published this wildly stereotyped statement probably thought they were saying something positive about the Chinese$ ?et, this is a clear e=ample of the arrogant power of grou( de!inition that has long been part of the dominant white group4s historical framing of .mericans of color$ &owever, the white view of the Chinese and of oreans became more negative with the new conflicts that developed after %orld %ar ''$ %ith the rise of state communism in China in the late 3BA2s, Cold %ar stereotyping again positioned the Chinese, and by implication Chinese .mericans, as 9dangerous 5rientals9 in many white minds$ Moreover, the <$S$ intervention in orea in 3BF2 was accompanied by emergency congressional legislation that gave the <$S$ attorney general the authority to set up new concentration camps for oreans, Chinese, and other .sians who might be perceived to be a domestic threat$ #he <$S$ intervention in orea, and later in ,ietnam, further perpetuated an intensive racist stereotyping and framing of .sians and .sian .mericans in the minds of Many white and other non-.sian .mericans$4 C 0ven in this crude stereotyping we see a certain ambiguity in white views$ 5ver the past century whites have sometimes positioned .sian .mericans at the bottom end of the dominant racial hierarchy, while at other times they have positioned at least some .sian groups in a more intermediate status$ (rom the late 3BA2s to the end of legal segregation in the 3BC2s, whites were sometimes perple=ed as to where to place .sian .mericans in the racial hierarchy, as we observe in this account from a Japanese .merican spea!ing about e=periences during the legal segregation era7
' stopped at a Mc-onald4s in Mississippi and there were two lines, one for whites and the other for blac!s, well, 9coloreds$9 ' stood there confused about which line to )oin$ ' stood there and decided to go in the colored line because there was nobody in it and ' could get my food faster$ %hen ' got up to the counter the guy told me 9hey you can4t use this line, get in that other line$9 #he line for whites was long and ' had gone about halfway up when this guy says, 9&ey, you can4t be in this line, get in the other line$9 ' )ust stood there and thought, 9.la, what am '' : "17

recollection indicates not only the stereotyping and subordination of.sian means but also a white confusion about .sian .mericans being closer to teness or blac!ness in the dominant racial hierarchy$ #his placement has come ever more problematic for white .mericans with the dramatic growth e.sian .merican population since the 3BC2s$

White Racial Framing: Anti-Asian imagery Today

*o day whites and others still apply numerous elements of an old anti-.sian fram1

high achievers and 9model minorities,9 but will often discount the meaning
those achievements as being done by e=otic 9foreigners,9 9nerds,9 or social na sfits$ (or e=ample, some research studies -show that .sian .merican students often viewed positively by whites, but mainly in regard to educational achievements$ . recent summary of resCrch concludes that most stereotypes of sian.merican students 9are negative, such as non-.sians4 notions that.sians on4t spea! 0nglish well,9have accents,4 and are tamsNNNNN Subtle and blatant stereotyping of .sians and .sian .mericans still prey$--NNNNNNNNNN ominate many areas of <$S-$ society$ Consider )ust a few recent e=amples$ cently, the .didas company was ch#/enged by civil rights groups for ma!ing oes that had a negative caricature of a buc!-toothed, slant-eyed .sian as a logo$ ''7another case, a large pictorial cartoon concerning fundraising investigations o -emocratic >arty leaders appeared on the cover of an issue of the prominent

aga+ine )ational Re$ie&. l#he cover showed caricatures of then president Bill hnton and his wife &illary Clinton as slant-eyed, buc!-toothed Chinese in o suits and Chinese hats@images suggesting old stereotyped images of.sian ericans4 characteristicsO Since the nineteenth century, white cartoonists, potical leaders, and media commentators have portrayed Chinese and other .sian ericans ininch stereotyped terms, often to e=press a fear of the 9yellow peril$9 en confronted, the .)atiOnal Re$ie&*s white editor admitted these were .sian ancatures but refused to apologi+e$ Such reactions, and the fact that there was title public protest of the cover other than from .sian .merican groups, suggest
H$$

at such crude images and other associated stereotypes remain significant in a dominant racial framing of people of .sian descent$3B

I # C H AP T E R I

I # C H AP T E R I

Lo catio$ns are they are rarely considered for management$ Moreover, given
3HA2

discrimination, many younger .sian .mericans have pursued scientific and 4cal educations and re)ected the fine arts, humanities, and social sciences, they might have preferred$ Career choices are thus influenced by both past
.

-CA3

-ilis

P sent discrimination$ 'n addition manybusinessopportunities in$ corporate di

HbyNpersistingNlanti-.sian sentiment,1B$

I spite of much data contradicting their commonplace view, numerous o A3 $cientists and media commentators$ have regularly cited the educational

e$conomic L$Lsuccessl$4 of a particular .sian .merican group, one typically cribed as the 9model-minority,9 as an indication that whites no$longer create (5 cant racial barriers for them$JK %e can pinpoint when this model myth cc,MR, li!ely first constructed$ 'n the mid-3BC2s, largely in response to .frican H.ino erican and Me=ican .merican protests against discrimination, white scholars, loNtical leaders, and )ournalists deyelopedNthe model minorityNroAh incgder to !egethat all .mericans of color could achieve the .merican dream@and not >$5, prot+thigNdiscrinain$ation in the stores and streets as .frican .mericans and #. $ wNereNcloi+g, but by$$$wor!ing as 9hard and 6uietly9 as Japanese

7a$Q I

Chinese .mericans supposedly didE#his model image was Created not by 3JJit by influential whites for their public ideological use# 5ne , N23ple is a 3BC2s +.S. )e&s , '-Orld Re(ort article entitled 9Success Story of o e Minority Group in <$S$9 #his ma)or media article praised the hard wor! n .morality of Chinese cns, andS analysis strongly implied that if blac! $3.O 22 -,Lica+NsNpNossessed such vi tiles, it would not be necessary to spend 9hundreds$, Cgbillions tolpilift9 them$9 N $ or decades now, prominent commentators and politicians have cited the P eational or economic success of .sian .mericans as proof that they are fully n N 0 ed into the <$S$ 9melting pot,9 with many 9ascending above e=clusion9 by P Trig themselves up by their bootstraps$99 #oday, variations of this model r7A $$,eotype $remain pervasive, and leading politicians, )udges, )ournalists, and Nporate e=ecutives assert them regularly$JA 0ven other .mericans of color foN eGsometimes been conned by this model minority view and declared it to be
N$ .mericans

CH APTER

% THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION $!

so true that governments do not need to be concerned with the discrimination against .sian .mericans$ (or e=ample, blac! Supreme Court nominee Clarence4 #homas, at his Senate confirmation hearings, asserted that .sian .mericans have 9transcended the ravages caused even by harsh legal and social discrimination9 and should not be the beneficiaries of affirmative action because they are 9overrepresented in !ey institutions$9JF 5ne of the contemporary ironies of such uninformed views is that private and government reports in recent years have shown that today educational success varies among the .sian .merican groups and, indeed, that many .sian .mericans in numerous groups still face significant obstacles to academic success, in some cases more than in the past$ JC (or e=ample, one savvy higher education )ournalist recently noted that numerous articles in college newspapers have used .sian .mericans as the point of humor, but their portrayals usually feed the 9model minority9 myth$ .sian .merican students are seen as an 9invasion9 and their demeanors as 9inscrutable$9 5n these college campuses lies a 9continued pattern of .sian .merican students being HaI the butt of such )o!es, basically the punch lineG HbI that the )o!es are heavily laden with racial stereotypesG and HcI that these $$$ essays reveal volumes about racial relationships, tensions, and perceptions of .sian .merican students as all being, in some way, the same@foreigners, math and science nerds, and all around different from the regular average college student$9 J;

Assimilation and the "Model Mi o!it"" Imagery

Several researchers@mostly .sian .merican@have challenged the rosy view of .sian .merican success in the comple= assimilation process forced on them in the <nited States$ #hese researchers have shown that .sian immigrants and their children have long faced discrimination and other serious difficulties in adapting to <$S$ society7 Some have also e=plored how the societal conditions of .sian .mericans are raciali+ed$JD Several social scientists have focused on .sian .merican adaptation to the dominant culture and society using traditional assimilation theories$ (or e=ample, drawing on interviews with young .sian .merican professionals, >yong Gap Min and "ose im report that they have highly assimilated socially and culturally, with significant friendship ties to middle-class whites and significant assimilation to white fol!ways7 #hey found that these .sian .merican professionals are bicultural, with strong assimilation to 9.merican culture,9 but e=pressing
7A3I3TBIA liational-origin or pan-.sian identity as well$ .n earlier study of

o3

migrants by %on Moo &urh and wang Chung im reported similar e. adaptation@that is, assimilating substantially to the new economy c !ty, -yet maintaining a strong sense of their ethnic and racial identities$ ,G;3Gat$ Both research studies discuss difficult identity choices of their respondents, osmontemporary researchers loo!ing at immigrant assimilation they do Vmine-in depth the harsh racial realities surrounding these choices$ 'n t.&acist society, personal or group identity choices by .sian immigrants JB 4dr$-children are severely limited by the racial identity typically im(osed on icijsylwhite outsiders$ $vstudy of second-generation Chinese and orean .mericans, social
7s,$ in9diat their respondents demonstrated what they term 9additive9 or
M-73,3

33!Ui3

sci-

a+li ibria has also e=plored the formation of identities$ .ssessing the i!!wation of .sian immigrants and their children, she distinguishes between thnic .merican9 model and a 9racial minority9 model of assimilation$ #he A$B3 s c assimilation model, asserted by scholars and others, has set the frame- t-9:45 5r .sian assimilation into the core society, yet creates significant problems 6AiMse,it assumes that an ethnic immigrant group is white$ 'n ibria4s view, as $ $ 8= 7.7a grants and their children accent a new umbrella identity of 9.sian G--ican,9 they are updating the old ethnic assimilation model to include their ority e=perience$ %hile ibria recogni+es that her respondents are set 33 33,I Gdiscriminated against, and stereotyped as foreigners or model minorities, il eeps her analysis of the perpetrators of this stereotyping and discrimination i#oel: vague and provides no in-depth analysis of the systemic racism conte=t *,' $ch these .sian .mericans are forced to adapt$ &er Chinese and orean
, 3

Cridents report on some 9lessons about race,9 9race sociali+ation,9 and not rt..logaccepted 9by others,9 yet in her analysis or the white-imposed framing and hierarchy in eing, such hard lessons$A

ibria does not assess the central .e of

white discriminators

5ne of the few analysts of .sian .mericans to e=plicitly name white discrimiorsvas central is sociologist Mia #uan$ 'nterviewing nearly one hundred thirdter-generation Chinese and Japanese .mericans, she found that although

5were well assimilated into the dominant cultureEmost also had a strong cof a raciali+ed identity becauseNwhites constantly imposecl she)dentity of
Mgner9 on them$ #hey reported being caught between feeling perpetu. , outside, as 9forever foreigners,9 and sometimes being given greater privileges hites than other people of color$ #hey spo!e too of the difficulty they had in

THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION $'

$ ( C H AP T E R I

viewing themselves in terms of their national origin when they were constantly being defined in 9generically racial terms9 as 9.sian .mericans9 or as 95rien tals,9 #hough offering a probing analysis that assesses well racial-ethnic identity, struggles and recogni+es whites as having a privileged status, #uan does not in our view provide enough in$-depth analysis of the anti-.sian racism that surrounds, and imposes oppressive predicaments on, .sian .mericans$A Several researchers have specifically targeted the model minority stereotype$ 5ne early analysis was that of the innovative legal scholar Mari Matsuda, who suggested that .sian .mericans mightNbe positioned as a 9racial bourgeoisie,9 a , NN$$ $ $ $$N$$$$$$N$$ NN$$$ ,i)ay >rashad has shown how .sian .mericans are termed model minorities and thus come 9to be the perpetual solution to what is seen as the crisis of blac! .merica$9 >rashad does not specifically identify and assess the white agents who have created this crisis for blac! .merica$ &e,does note a certain 95rientalism9 among white .mericans@the view that many have of .sia being 9static and unfree9 in contrast to a 9dynamic and free9 %estern civili+ation$ &olding to this framing, whites fre6uently stereotype .sian .mericans negatively as e=otic, barbaric, or primitive$ >rashad adds that for .sian .mericans 9it is easier to be seen as a solution than as a problem$ %e don4t suffer genocidal poverty and incarceration rates in the <nited$ States, nor do we wal! in fear and a fog of invisibility$99 'ronically, he here evo!es part of the model minority stereotype yet does not note that this stereotype creates an invisibility cloa! hiding severe problems of racism faced regularly by .sian .mericans$ P #he pioneering legal scholar (ran! %u has done much to dispel model minority stereotyping$ 'n his wor! he has e=plained the benefits that whites en)oy because of that labeling$ "eviewing the long history of anti-.sian discrimination, he notes that 9non-.sian .mericans can discriminate against .sian .mericans by turning us into nonciti+ens, either officially by prohibiting even legal longterm residents from naturali+ing or informally by casting doubt on our status$ #he alien land laws, passed to drive Japanese immigrants out of farming, are the prime e=ample$9 %hile he accents well the many decades of anti-.sian discrimina tion, %u regularly uses vague terms such as 9non-.sian .mericans9 and thereby s!irts around using the word 9whites9 for those doing such intense discrimi nating$ %hile in many of his analyses %u recogni+es how anti-.sian racism is institutionali+ed, at times he seems to play down certain aspects of white racism7
4

actions against both Ngroups$ She illustrates how .sian immigrants have com4et to be positionM mainly by &hite actionsG between white urbanites andAblac! urbanitesE and how these .sian .mericans are given a negative P #$,aluatio$niby whites on both the a=is of superiorEinferior racial groups and a=is of insidersEforeignersdSuch intergroup conflict involves more than 23$ st-stereotyping by .frican .mericans or orean .mericans of the other but instead reflects the white-imposed racial 3-ierars,h,yNand its effects ros bo racially subordinated groups$ Li!e other .mericans of color, AF$i$an E.m ericans serve aspawas)Nn the racially oppressive system maintained at the

+v by whites 79%hiS .mericans may pri+e .sian .mericans relative to .fri

,

3 .mericansEin certain limited ways so as to ensure white dominance over tro 7 %hites may place or consider .sians as 9nearer to whites,9 a relative

b f+ation, because of .sian .merican achievements in certain educational oru economic areas) ?et this middling status is possible only because other A2$ ericans of color, such as .frican .mericans or Me=ican .mericans, have
liwen allowed fewer opportunities by whites$ %hites4 use of .sian .mericans

4LWGrhan among a few idealists, as a nation we accept discrimination on the ofeciti+enship as necessary$ But e=cept among a few 4e=tremists, as a society ect, discrimination on the basis of race as immoral$9 AA %u here seems to ,walcet+the societal reality that man" whites still do find it acceptable to engage al discrimination against .mericans of color, yet may find it no longer 7,7C3-iab3e to discriminate 5penly or assert racist views publicly$ e early, these often-pioneering .sian .merican4 scholars have moved social
, -

scienceArralysis of the adaptive barriers faced by.sian .mericans in very impordirections$ Still, some of them tend to avoid e=plicitly naming and analy+ing u3ihe4role ofwhites Hespecially elite whitesI as central protagonists in creating ntf-.sian racism today@$-often preferring instead to name vague social agents

such as ,9non .sians,9 9the law,9 9the government,9 or 9the larger society9 as
-

generators of contemporary racism$ Such analytical practices can be found as well among7many scholars researching the raciali+ed situations of other .mericans of color$ #hey too are often reluctant to name whites specifically as the !ey actors

ast$or present dramas of <$S$ racism$9 8 2,-ne of the few researchers to e=amine in critical detail the contemporary inipictLof s"stemic racism on .sian .merican communities is sociologist Claire cani!im#0=@amining periodic conflicts been orean .merican merchants and -Mnem .merican patrons in a few citiesQ!im shows that these conflicts rho uld, be understood in the conte=t of whites: long-term discriminatory -

$%

C H AP TE R I

as a measuring stic! for$ other .mericans of color is highly divisive, for pits groups of color against each other, as well as isolates .sian .mericans from white .mericans$ 8 im underscores well the price paid for becoming the white-proclaimed model of a successful minority7 9By lumping all .sian descent groups together and attributing certain distinctively 4.sian4 cultural values to them Hincluding, importantly, political passivity or docilityI, the model minority myth sets .sian .mericans apart as a distinct racialcultural 4other$4 .sian .mericans are ma!ing it, the myth tells us, bui they remain e=otically different from %hites Beneath the veneer of praise, the model minority myth subtly ostraci+es .sian .mericans$9A; 'n this process of e=otid+ing and of civic ostracism, whites treat .sian .mericans as foreigners not fully assimilable to white culture and society$ 0=otici+ed and celebrated for docility, .sian .mericans have relatively little political clout and as yet are less involved in the <$S$ political process$ .s im4s data demonstrate, this lac! of political involvement at the local level is often not a voluntary choice but results from active discrimination and e=clusion in the political realm by whites$ -iscrimination persists in many institutional areas$ Savvy scholar Gary 5!ihiro sums up the contemporary .sian .merican situation this way7 %hites have 9upheld .sians as 4near-whites4 or 4whiter than whites4 in the model minority stereotype, and yet .sians have e=perienced and continue to face white racism 4li!e blac!s4 in educational and occupational barriers$ and ceilings and in anti.sian abuse and physical violence$ #his marginali+ation of.sians, in fact, within4 a blac! and white racial ifirmation, 4disciplines4 both .fricans and .sians and constitutes the essential site of .sian .merican oppression$9AD

The Ma)y Costs of A)ti*Asia) Racism Conforming to the Hierarchy and Racial Frame

#he omnipresent raciai$hierarchy and its,,rationali+iiig racial frame directly or indirectly affect most areas of the lives of those who live in <$S$ society$ %hites are collectively so powerful that therpressure all immigrant groups, including those of color, to collude in the white racist system by adopting not only many white ways of doing and spea!ing, but also numerous stereotyped views and notions from the white racial frame$ #he white frame is all-encompassing and
THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION

ated the minds both of native-born .mericans and of 0uropean a

mmigrants$ By adopting the perspective of the dominant racial fran 0uropean immigrant groups, such as the 'rish and the 'talians, event

g eured-, a high position on the <$S$ racial ladder and are now considerH

4B but this has not been the case for dar!er-s!inned groups such as tho
gr

oNWcgn,$ Latin .merican, and .sian descent$ .sian immigrants often ha, ceiat some socioeconomic mobility, but they, their children, and the ta c-hildren have not been awarded full acceptance by whites$ Most whitc thoyintermediate positions offered to many.sian.mericans on the ot cia!atus,ladder to be valued by them, but, as later chapters will demonstrate is middling,position has typically come at the high price of conformity, stress ap,c3 pa,inand oftenLof abandoning much of a person4s home culture anc national origin$ identity$ Generally, new immigrants 6uic!ly begin to conform to the dominant hierarchy, and$frame or else face significant emotional or economic punishment$ 5n theLo e hand, they often try to conform well, which they generally view as a nietod to prevent discrimination targeting them$ 5n the other, conforming is pied hard on them as the targets of white-generated racism$ #he white raci rame ensures that those at the bottom of the racial order are repeatedly eniirate$d$$'n this situation fighting for one4s dignity will sometimes mean that another-individual or group will be pushed down and set up for failure$ ,ying for position in a pree=isting racial order creates volatility and conflict$ Groups of colortare fre6uently pitted against each other for the title as 9top subordinate,9 wiaileohites as a group remain at the top$ l!ihe,dominant white group and its elite stand in a position of such power that they-can rate groups of color socially and assign them 9grades9 on a type of 9'ninotrreport card$9 %hites thus give certain$.sian.merican groups a 9model i oit"" rating while other groups of color receive lower mar!s as 9problem inCrities$9 &owever, the hierarchical positions that whites are willing to give y,,goup of color are always significantly below them on the racial ladder$ #oyAcame8 media and scholarly discussions suggest that .sian .mericans are now %Ac$3AasNIwhite or 9honorary white9 by most white .mericans, yet this is not el$ithe4case$ 'n one recent research study, we gave 3F3 white college students a 6uestionnaire as!ing them to place numerous racial and ethnic 8 groups into 9white9 or 9not white9$ categories, .n overwhelming ma)ority classified all the sted .sian .merican groups, including Japanese and Chinese .mericans, as clearly not &hite. #hese well-educated, mostly younger whites still operate with
-

+# CH APT ER I THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION +$

the old racial hierarchy and racial status continuum in mind when they place individuals and groups of color into raciali+ed categories$AB

Impact on Mental Health

#he previously 4cited incidents involving "$%$ and Cho raise the issue of .sian .merican mental health in a dramatic way$ .re these )ust isolated individuals suffering from mental illness that involves only uni6ue personal conditions: 5r does the reality of anti-.sian racism generate much everyday suffering for a large group and thereby contribute significantly to these conditions: (ew researchers have probed .sian .merican mental health data in any depth$ 5ne mid-1222s study of orean, Chinese, and Japanese immigrant youth e=amined acculturation to the core culture, but only briefly noted that some of these youth e=perienced substantial 9cultural stress, such as being caught between two cultures, feelin

alienated from both cultures, and having interpersonal conflicts with whites$99 .nother study e=amined only orean male immigrants and found some negative impact on mental health from early years of ad)ustment and some mental 9stagna tion9 a decade so after immigration$ ?et the researchers offered little e=planation for the findings$ 5ne recent study of <$S$ teenagers found that among various racial groups,$$.sian .merican youth had

." !ar the highest incidence of teenage depression, yet the report on this research did not even assess the importance
of this stri!ing finding$9 'n the modest statistical analysis that e=ists, .sian .merican statistics on suicide and alcoholism stand out$ 0lderly Chinese .merican women have a sui cide rate ten times that of their elderly white peers$ .lthough .sian .merican students are only 3; percent of the Cornell <niversity student body, they ma!e up fully hal! o! all completed suicides there$ . study of Japanese .merican men who had been interned during %orld %ar '' found that they suffered high rates of alcoholism and that A2 percent died before reaching the age of fifty five$F1 0li+a *oh, a researcher who has done much research on suicide and depression issues for .sian .merican women, recently reported that among females aged fifteen to twenty-fourG.sian .mericans have the highest suicide rate of all racial groups$ Suicide was found to be the second leading cause of death for these .sian .merican females$ *oh concludes from the data that .sian .merican women live under greater pressures to achieve, including in education, than even their male counterparts, pressures that create the great stress underlying much depression big commented that 9pressure from
7

iiii t!eifarnily doesn4t completely e=plain the shoc!ing suicide statistics for

amen9 and that 9simply being a minority can also lead to depression$9 ails-to pursue the implications of this last comment@the li!ely connec inioo etween their stress and depression and the racial hostility and discrimina e"Aregillarly face because of this white-imposed minority status$ She does AK3,3 ma the necessary white face on the perpetrators of much of their everyday ndeed, in the relatively rare situations where such data on depression eiaelare e=amined, researchers and other commentators usually cite bac!dse.sian9I cultural factors and culturally related pressures to achieve in ion7and the wor!place as the reasons for.sian.merican mental health pNo.ems@and not their problems with the pressures of everyday racism$ H5enerally spea!ing, $medical and social scientists have seriously neglected ie lostS of everyday racism for all .mericans of color$ . growing but modest esearch,literature addresses some of its impact for .frican .mericans$ 'n the
232I

Ftbraham ardiner and Lionel 5,esey addressed the impact of e=tensive Lacial discrimination on .frican .mericans in a boo! aptly titled 'he /ar0 o!
!. iression. #hey argued from their data that legal segregation significantly ed the mental health of .frican .mericans$ Self-esteem was constantly 3A73A efed$ by everyday racism4s onslaughts$ 'n the 3BC2s psychiatrists %illiam HH,-,,vN'># and >rice Cobbs wrote on the impact of recurring discrimination on their

eanc.merican patients$ #he discrimination they faced during legal segregaA2#il N as again lin!ed to their ma)or physical and emotional problems$ "ecent ch by Joe(eagin and aryn Mc inney involving in-depth and focus group iews with .frican .mericans found a similar array of physical and mental ritiXproblems stemming from everyday discrimination$9 't seems li!ely that enu4 racism today has a similar impact on .sian .mericans$ #hey endure alJhostility and discrimination by whites and must use much psychological (oasuvering to function successfully in their lives$ 'n later chapters, our respon HMla ts-Gspea! of the numerous defensive techni6ues that they use to deal with H!er$rniiatory events$ Such psychological gymnastics are always burdensome
11 aoseiwho

engage in them$ ia pathbrea!ing 3BBB documentary film, 1hen You*re Smiling communica#5>. scholar and movie ma!er Janice #ana!a provides a rare Mdocumentation of ft! a eavy costs of racism for .sian .mericans, specifically Japanese .mericans$

Ai

documentary covers the raciali+ed internment of Japanese .mericans in ldt%ar '' concentration camps, then focuses on the psychological effects of iiMLternment on those imprisoned and on their children and grandchildren$

+ + C H AP T E R I THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION +3

'n the film, third-generation Japanese .mericans Hthe Sansei2 share person stories of pervasive white discrimination$ 'nterviews with the Sansei found tha most of their parents Hthe )isei2.&ere interned as youth in the wartime camps #he *isei faced much overt and e=treme racial oppression during and after %onl %ar ''$ #hey suffered much psychological trauma, and during and after the wa they placed great pressure on themselves and their children to conform to whit understandings and racial framing, as well as to the dominant racial hierarchy, H#heir parents, the 3ssei had already accented conformity as a strategy for deal ing with white racism since the early 3B22s$I (earful of a recurrence of tha e=treme oppression, the *isei responded with a conforming and high-pressur achievement orientation that would later get Japanese .mericans labeled the firs 9model minority$9 'n the documentary, one Sansei tal!s about how obsesse her family and the Japanese.merican community were with a local newspape article that was published each spring$ #he article spotlighted all the academi scholars in local schools and listed where they planned to attend college$ 5ne interviewee said, 9?ou always went to the good schools$ 0ither Stanford, <C Ber!eley, or out of state$9FF &ere we see the 4e=traordinarily high e=pectations that the Japanese .merican community has long had for its children$ Second- and later-generation Japanese .mericans have paid a heavy price fo their substantial socioeconomic achievements$ #he effects of aggressive con!orm have fre6uently been negative$ #ana!a4s documentary shows significant dru abuse among them and discusses the relatively high suicide rate for the *isei an Sansei$.lcohol abuse was more prevalent among the *isei than other men of th same age group during the postwar period$ Many Sansei reported great person distress, painful self-blame, mental and physical illnesses, and alcoholism or dru abuse$Some friends and relatives have committed suicidebecause ofthese intens conformity-to-whiteness pressures$ *ot surprisingly, the negative reactions o the Sansei have in turn affected their own children$ #his documentary destroys the >ollyanna image of a happy minority no longer facing racism$ #he costs o racial oppression do indeed persist over the generations$FA 'n later chapters, we show in detail how anti-.sian racism is a li!ely reaso for many.sian.merican health problems, )ust as recent research has shown tha antiblac! racism is a ma)or factor in the mental and physical health problems o .frican.mericans$ (or e=ample, the model minority myth creates very unrealisti e=pectations for many people$ #his mythology deflects attention from ma)or rad barriers andhardships, includingdamaged physical and mental health, that.sian .mericans face as they try to become socially integrated into a racist society$ S hoo! we e=amine how.sian.mericans counter and respond to the session they face$ 0=periences with racism accumulate over time, and glean eh i 'dren start their collection of such e=periences early in life$ By tirt tine adulthood is reached, the often substantial and accumulating pain can

7,A3Go6 'leirllives in many detrimental ways$ "esearch studies show that different
&i

unities$ react to racism differentially$ (or e=ample, in many blac! families

si

naunities the accumulating e=perience with racism is not )ust individual-

4, 3,33,3 blield internally$ .n individual4s e=periences with racial discrimination are

AAA37shared, and the burden of those e=periences is fre6uently ta!en on by the amily networ! or community$F; ?et, as our respondents indicate in their ws, the situation is often different for .sian .mericans, especially those edominantly white areas with no large .sian -.merican community$ Claire sim suggests that in order to develop a strong .sian .merican identity not $ged by e=cessive conformity to %hiteness, one must at least have access prong .sian .merican community$ Many upwardly mobile .sian .meri, Jirr5do,not$have such easy access and often find themselves@li!e the families rptioned in the opening of this chapter@in more isolated, predominantly spaces where asserting a strong .sian .merican identity becomes very Iia ult$ im further suggests that understanding the reality of societal racism awa!en .sian .mericans and move them out of a stage of identifying so ly$-*ith white ways$ %hile all our -respondents are aware of the anti-.sian ,surrounding them, very few have moved to a heightened consciousness critical of that white racism and to a strong .sian .merican self-concept rnished by substantial conformity to whiteness$ N. cording to our respondents, most lessons from discriminatory incidents et-regularly get passed along to family members and friends, and thus their ,$,JA!aritia3 stress and pain are often )ust individuali+ed$and internali+ed$ .s the g accounts suggest, this internali+ation, fre6uently undetected until too oanc=eate serious problems for families, communities, and the larger society$ ericans who deal with racist incidents in such a silent and repressing der $not only suffer alone, but also do not create the opportunity for their .., imination$ to be discussed as a part of a larger societal problem needing Ntionand organi+ed resistance$9

r contrast, many .frican .mericans, with nearly four centuries of e=perience

332 systemic racism in *orth .merica, have developed a stronger collective ory:of racism, as well as a stronger resistance culture and counterframing
,

enables them to better resist the racial hierarchy and its buttressing frame$
EMI

1A C&.>#0" '

By collecti$e memor" we here refer to how people of color e=perience their pressent reality in light of their own, their family4s, and their ancestors4 past racial e=periences$ Sociologist Maurice &albwachs has suggested that one should not view one4s important understandings about the society as )ust 9preserved in the brain or in some noo! of my mind to which ' alone have access$9 'nstead, important understandings and interpretations 9are recalled to me e=ternally, and the groups of which ' am a part at any time give me the means to reconstruct4 them$9FB (or many .frican .mericans, and4 some other .mericans of color, past discrimination perpetrated by white antagonists, as well as responses to that, are often inscribed in a sustained and powerful group memory$ Memories of negative e=periences with white .mericans, !cumulated and communicated by individuals, families, and communities, are )oined with memories of contending. &ith and resisting racial cliscrimination$C2 'n contrast, our data suggest a ma)ority8 of.sian .merican families and communities have yet to develop a routine, strong, and effective means of passing from one generation to the ne=t the necessary information about accumulating discrimination, the history of anti-.sian racism, and successful countering strategies$ "emembering the discriminatory past is painful, yet recovering !ey elements of that past can have ma)or therapeutic value for individuals as well as ma)or resistance value for communities$

O,& Asia) Ame&ica) Sam-le

#he .sian .mericans we interviewed for this boo! are a diverse group$ <sing snowball sampling, we conducted in-depth interviews with a well-educated, mostly middle-class group of.sianE>acific 'slander .mericans in 122F-122;$C3 5ur forty-three respondents self-identified as Chinese H32I, #aiwanese H;I, .sian 'ndian HCI, orean HJI, ,ietnamese HJI, Japanese HJI, (ilipino H1I, &mong H1I, >a!istani H1I, #hai H3I, Bangladeshi H3I, and multiracial but substantially

.sian HJI$C1 #wenty-si= are womenG seventeen are men$ 'n an attempt to capture variegated .sian .merican e=periences, our respondents %ere selected from different geographical regions$ 0leven reside on the %est Coast, si=teen reside in the Southwest, two in the Midwest, si= in the *ortheast, and eight in the deep South$ &alf of these respondents live in urban areas with substantial .sian .merican populations$ .ges range from eighteen to si=ty-nine$ #hirty-four have college degrees, with nineteen holding advanced degrees$ 5f those without ,i,..n-rpec five$ were currently enrolled in college, and one more had some

THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION 1F

e=p$erience$ .ll but seven saw themselves as middle dass or upper class$ V'iifoeyeryone we contacted was eager to participate, and we were not able to eall who wished to be interviewed$ (or this study we used numerous nded 6uestions about the respondents4 e=periences as .sian .mericans, n6uestions about mistreatment, identity, acceptance in society, and CJ A3A2IAA minority imagery and pressures$ %e also as!ed about impressions of snin$<$S$ racial relations and their perspectives on the current state of and7non-.sian relationships$
-

tral goal of this e=ploratory study was to interview a diverse and reasonepresentative group of middld-class .sian .mericans about their everyday ences in the <nited States$ 'n the following chapters we e=amine impor tisi 6uestions about these e=periences, especially with reference to the subtle, gb? tlyand overt racism that they have encountered in an array of important s-3-from neighborhoods to schools, shopping centers, and wor!places$ el especially concerned with the physical, mental, and emotional toll that tl hostility and discrimination have had on them$ %e e=amine the costs that enmity to the racial hierarchy and its supportive racial framing has brought eirtlives$ 'n addition, we as! throughout in what subtle, covert, and overt they counter and resist racism$ Chapters 1 and JG white-generated discrimination in its ma)or forms ally4 and painfully revealed$ *ot only are .sian .mericans faced with discrimination and hate crimes but they also must confront an array Hoff striminatory actions, mostly from white .mericans, of a more subtle or mat-tire$ .s we observe, they rarely find places where they are safe from erimination and its effects$ 'n Chapter 1 we observe that discriminatory acts lace virtually everywhere@in neighborhoods, at movie theaters, in retail stand on city sidewal!s$ 'n Chapter J we see discriminatory acts occurring li>levels of educational institutions and in various wor!place settings$ 0ven gh most of our respondents are well educated and at least middle class, alltdescribe instances of significant discrimination at the hands of white esland females of various classes, occupations, and conditions$ #heir often Gfidant educational and economic resources do not protect them from racial c!s-of different !inds$

el,sio) a). O/e&/ie0

26

C H AP T E R I

THE REALITY OF ASIAN AMERICAN OPPRESSION 27

Chapter A probes deeply the many costs of systemic racism for.sian.meri cans$ Materially and psychologically, these men and women, and their families are ta=ed daily by the omnipresent threat of racial hostility and discriminationG and they wor! to defend themselves from this oppression, most often in an in ternali+ing fashion$.s we show, they rarely see! significant help from family or friends to deal with serious racist incidents$ %hen dealing with racial burdens$ they tend to turn inward, fre6uently trying to bloc! the-necessary e=pression of deep emotions and to repress painful memories$ Successive generations of .sian$ .mericans find themselves struggling with white-imposed racial identities$ (irst-generation .sian .mericans feel particularly isolated in this white-dominated society$ Later-generation responaents often feel part of both the dominant white4 culture and an .sian culture, yet they are thereby marginali+ed in society and sometimes feel they fit in neither sociocultural world$ 'n addition, many appear to be in denial about much of the harsh reality of the surrounding system of racism$ Chapter F details how an often un6uestioning conformity to the dominant hierarchy and racial frame operates in their lives$ Most try to conform well, which they view as a proactive method they hope will prevent white and other discriminators from further targeting them$ &owever understandable, conform ft73g to white fol!ways, to the dominant hierarchy and framing, is a conservative tactic that has serious personal, family, and community conse6uences$ 0ven when they assert that they have never e=perienced an act of discrimination, as many do early in their interviews, the reality of white hostility and discrimination can usually be sensed even then in their coded words or their body language$ Moreover, later in their interviews, they usually contradict this initial assertion$ Many go to significant lengths to succeed in being the 9solution minority9 and to 9strive for whiteness$9 .s a result of this conformity,Rthey also internali+e hostile racial stereotypes, not only about their own group but often about other .mericans of color$ Chapter C assesses more centrally how these .sian .mericans try to resist the racial hierarchy and its supportive racial framing$ #hey do this too in direct, subtle, and covert ways$ Most ofthose we interviewed rarely directly confront the white perpetrators of discrimination$ .s they see it,there is too much at sta!e to openly resist whites$ %hen such resistance is underta!en, our respondents usually attempt to produce tangible social-and political changes for themselves or their group$ %hen wor!ing more subtly or covertly, which is more common, they are $ often creative in the measures they ta!e$ #o appeal to other .sian .mericans, even play into anti-.sian stereotypes in order to have an opportunity to $,,,noiluo educate them about the broader issue of racial oppression$ 'n addition, $$3,,,witcy,ibs respondents note how they resist racist views in personal waysG they i()wto7, Lesicfor a greater good but rather for their own sanity$ Much everyday Y!es the form of re)ecting the dominant racist ideology in their own
'ti!!4N?i' 3NCF2

4run parallel toeachother insome ways, yet whoover time havediverged Iijcally in everyday strategies they use in facing white discriminators and a ,cN$2clety$ 5ne chooses to fully conform and continue to 9whiten9 in hope racist individuals and structures, hopeful
ci

4al acceptance, with a sense of white-imposed racism being unchange 7L'M, M$-el-other decides to fight4 against

efforts will change the world positively for all$ Briefly e=amining some s 5f collective .sian .merican resistance, we conclude this boo! with an ation of policy suggestions and theoretical implications arising from the ciali+ed e=periences described by these courageous .sian .mericans$