By Annabel Lee
Staff Writer
In the San Gabriel Valley, many Asian Americans are uninformed of their own history. Having never learned about it, they use their limited personal experience as a frame of reference and unintentionally perpetuate the model minority myth.
Often used to pit racial groups against one another, the model minority myth is a stereotype that characterizes Asian Americans as ideal citizens who excel easily without challenging white supremacy. This stereotype is damaging as it makes Asian Americans feel as if they have no voice and are invisible. It creates the misconception that Asian Americans are passive towards racial injustice and silent in the face of oppression. However, this could not be further from the truth.
Asian Americans have never been silent. There are over 170 years of Asian American history, and activism has been present throughout many of those years. Since the beginning, Asian Americans have been organizing for civil rights.
From the United States v. Wong Kim Ark birthright citizenship case of 1898, to the “no-no boys” protesting Japanese incarceration during World War II, from Filipino farm workers leading strikes against unfair labor practices in the 1960s, to the height of the Asian American movement in the 1970s, activism is the history of Asian Americans.
American society is racialized; regardless of your awareness, race significantly influences your experiences and how others perceive you. Our public education system erases Asian American activism because it deviates from the narrative of Black and White racial conflict. This narrative deems Asian Americans insignificant in conversations around race. Some may argue that schools simply focus on more significant parts of history, yet Asian American history is significant American history.
For example, Title IX is a well known piece of legislation that protects against sex-based discrimination, but many are not aware that Patsy Mink, a Japanese American Congresswoman and the first woman of color in Congress, wrote this groundbreaking amendment. Many learn about Cesar Chavez in elementary school but don’t know Larry Itliong, a Filipino American labor organizer who started the farm worker movement and convinced Chavez to join him.
Lacking knowledge of this history, Asian Americans in the SGV area often rely on their own experiences, resulting in misguided belief and internalization of the model minority myth. But, as with any stereotype, the model minority myth tells an incomplete story. While a community may display characteristics in line with the model minority stereotype, this does not mean it represents the entirety of the Asian American ethnic group.
“When you grow up in an area with folks who share the same ethnic or racial background, there is a good chance that you might be insulated from some real world issues,” Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at East Los Angeles College David Song said in an email interview. “In the past I had a lot of students who were surprised that anti-Asian racism was still an issue. It’s important to be cognizant of what’s going on in the world and know that ultimately we have the capacity to make things better.”
As a predominantly Asian American community, we need to fight for representation and visibility in educational curriculum. Public education exists to raise informed citizens but, by erasing parts of history, it fails to do so. By highlighting Asian American activism, we can challenge traditional textbook narratives and expand our understanding of what it means to be American. Use your voice to echo Asian American activism and speak up loud enough they can’t erase us.