Han: When I talked to people who made comments, I was often surprised by what I learned. If we can focus on the things we have in common, we can open up a space to talk about our differences, and we can create a safe space where we can be honest with each other and really dig into these issues that you can't do on social media.
Stokes: What I really want people to understand is the hate, the violence we're seeing against Asian Americans today is not new. And it is deeply rooted in anti-Asian sentiments that have been in this country since we've been in this country. U.S. social policy and hate against Asians had a line going back to the 1800s.
Divya Balasubramaniam, Ph.D.: Anti-Asian racism has existed from the time of the first wave of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century when they were recruited to build the Transcontinental Railroad. There were accusations that Chinese laborers were taking jobs away from white working men. This sentiment fueled many anti-Asian initiatives such as the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and then these negative sentiments were transferred to other Asian ethnic immigrant groups like Japanese, Korean and Indian.
Han: The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first significant federal policy restricting immigration. It was preceded by the Page Act, which banned entry to Chinese women. This just shows you how far back this anti-Asian sentiment and these stereotypes go.
The Model Minority
The panel went on to dispel the myth that Asian Americans are the model minority, a stereotype Asia Wittenberger ’22 says is “just not true.”
Han: I think these stereotypes persist because it has been strangely permissible to do this in our community. A lot of that is because there is this idea that we are the model minority and part of that myth is that we are privileged and also that we don't speak up.
For many generations Asian Americans did not want to inject themselves into the conversation of race; they didn't want to confront hate. They didn't have the ability to respond in a way that I think I can now respond on behalf of our community.
Asia Whittenberger ’22: In addressing the phrase model minority, there's a lot to unpack. The main thing is that it's set in economic expectations. For example, we see model minorities as a small group of Asian Americans who make it to the top, such as doctors and lawyers. But in reality, most Asian Americans live in an economic state of being socioeconomically disadvantaged.
There's disparity within income, but it also shows how big and diverse the Asian continent is. The things we say about Asian Americans cannot be centralized to everybody because everybody's experiences are very different.
There is research that shows that Asian Americans feel like universities don't sufficiently address systemic issues, because of this model minority myth that we can do things on our own without support. It's just not true, especially when it comes to language barriers. Asian Americans want the assistance that other demographics have, and they want to be included in that conversation.
The Work of DEI is Everyone’s Work
Stokes introduced a discussion on concrete strategies and actions to effect social change. The University’s Jesuit values, she says, are at the heart of this work to celebrate diversity through educational programming, campus and community partnerships and truthful dialogue about where we can go as a community.