Asian American Stereotypes

The Chinese Exclusion Act. A document that was first signed in 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur. This was and still is important because it was the first law that restricted immigration into the United States. This document was signed because Congress was concerned about keeping white “racial purity,” even though the Chinese population consisted of only 0.002 (two thousandths) percent of the whole population. The Act was first signed in 1882, and carried on for ten more years. These ten years was followed by the Geary Act, which extended the act for another ten years. That means this event ended around the 1920’s. The conflict for Congress, in 1882, was that too many Chinese people were immigrating to America, and this was ruining

In the United States, using the term “model minority” to describe Asian Americans does not negate the fact that they are still a minority who deal with the same hardships and discrimination as other minorities. Issues such as these are undeniably in the school systems that are inhabited by large numbers of these students with Asian backgrounds. They are exemplified by the bipolar historical treatment of Asian Americans, the numbers that matter in education today, and in the problems created and overcome by the people that face them. Sifting through the dark and difficult history leads to the light on the other side of a tunnel where there can be found methods and solutions to create success for the Asian American people.

The relocation and internment of the Japanese in America is often seen as one of our nation's greatest mistakes. For many, the quest is to now understand why we committed such an atrocious act. The most common explanations include racist attitudes, military ‘necessity’, and economic reasons. Japanese relocation was a disgracefully racist act that the Government of the U.S committed, an act that was virtually unnecessary and unjustified.

Whenever I heard stereotypical phrases such as: “Of course you’re smart—you’re Asian!” and “No wonder you’re good at math! You’re Asian,” I felt as though they were merely compliments. Before taking ASAM 100, I never realized the damage that the stereotypes were causing to various individuals of the Asian American community. Growing up in the heart of a Vietnamese community, Westminster, California, I was never aware about the issues behind the model minority myth. Since the people around me were mainly Asian, I never realized that numerous people from other ethnicities categorized all Asians as smart and academically successful individuals—through the model minority myth. I simply viewed Asians as regular people—some being more academically superior while some others were more academically inferior. The most important issue I learned about the model minority myth was that it caused conflict to numerous individuals of Asian descent who did not fit the stereotype. As many people, including individuals of Asian descent, continue to spread the model minority myth, people who do not resemble the

For the past couple of centuries, racial stereotypes have been a problem that many have faced, and are still facing, throughout the world. Many people question what stereotyping is and how it affects people. Racial stereotyping is when a person judges another person based on their race’s fixed characteristics (Pickrell). To this day, racial stereotypes have gotten out of hand and continue to cause not only racism, but also segregation. People today use negative assumptions against African Americans, Latinos and other races. Various races tend to face negative stereotypes which divides today’s community and make the people of the world more distant from each other (Robinson and Harris). African Americans, for example, get labeled by White Americans

‘College students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like.’ Is stated in the article The Coddling of the American Mind. The authors Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt use logos, ethos, and pathos to discuss the issues and solutions for trigger warnings and macroaggressions on university campuses. The authors start the article off by giving examples and other pieces of literature written about trigger warnings on college campuses, these are examples of Logos. Logos is used throughout the document for example in the third paragraph the author observed the recent campus actions at Brandeis University. The actions presented stereotypical comments about Asian students such as “aren’t you supposed to be good at math,”

In Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, Tomas Almaguer (2009) describes how race and racism coincides to facilitate the birth of white supremacy in California during the late nineteenth century. The idea of racial formation allowed groups to establish their power and privilege over defined racial lines. For each of the three racialized groups presented

The Gold Rush, beginning in 1848 and ending in 1855, was a period in American history which opened the doors of opportunity to a new group of immigrants, the Chinese. The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California, in 1848 was the cause of mass Chinese immigration that would last for decades to come. When James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, there were fifty-four recorded Chinese in California, this number quickly rose to 116,000 by 1876. Title (Chinese Immigration During the Gold Rush: The American Encounter) The California Gold Rush allowed for immigrants, such as the Chinese, to encounter the various beliefs and suspicions of the American society. One of the many results of the Chinese experience was the Chinese Exclusion Act, which

During the 1800s, many Chinese immigrants entered America to seek substantial economic wealth and a prosperous life. The first surge of Chinese immigration occurred in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill, California when gold was discovered. Since then, many Chinese immigrants entered the American workforce, and the Americans despised the fact that these incoming immigrants were taking “their jobs”. In the year 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress to limit the amount of Chinese Immigrants entering the country. There are many factors that contributed to the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act; however the most influential factors included the prevention of economic competition, Chinese persecution, and discrimination.

In the article “My “Oriental” Father: On the Words we use to Describe Ourselves” Kat Chow explains her opinion on her father’s choice to continue to use the word “oriental” to describe not only himself but anything of the Asian culture. Chow’s father, originally from Hong Kong, moved to the U.S. in 1969. He opened an oriental restaurant in a Connecticut suburb, but it eventually went bankrupt. The author explains how her father using the word oriental made him out to be looked at like a “caricature of a grinning Asian man with a ponytail and buck teeth.” Kat shares a story of when she was working at her father’s restaurant. She was greeting customers when a white, middle-aged women said “oh your English is so good.” Kat responded by saying

Minorities have made significant strides towards equality in American society. In America the minority groups are being stereotype due to their ethnicity. The media has had a significant impact in passing the stereotypes to the work that have convey negative impressions about certain ethnic groups. Minorities have been the victim of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the "majority" at the expense of a minority group ideals (Horton, Price, and Brown 1999). Stereotypes have been portraying negative characteristics of ethnic group in general. According to an article in The Huffington Post, Americans love to muse over the characteristic of our foreign immigrants residing in the country, and even if there descent have assimilated

Asian Americans migrated into the United States as early as the mid nineteenth century. Asians have shown various patterns of migration into the United States. Adaptation has been one of the hardest problems they have encountered. Asian Americans is the general term for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Asian Indians as well as a few others. Although they all fall into the Asian American category they all have significant differences. This population has faced tremendous oppressions and Social Injustices. These injustices lead to a variety of laws being passed so that the Asian population would return home such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Asian Americans have faced both positive and negative experiences since

Asian Americans are hugely diverse, originating from about fifty nations and ethnic gatherings, each with particular societies, conventions, and histories, and they talk more than 100 dialects and tongues, but we keep having that stereotype of Asian Americans favorite food is rice and “parts of animals” when we don’t know anything about them and of course we can’t ensure, I can take as an example this article written by a Stanford professor who claims that Vietnamese are aggressive because the only thing they eat is rats, birds and dogs.

You may wonder what is a model Minority? A model minority is a group of people who others perceive to achieve the highest achievements and to be well off. This model minority is measured by income, education, criminal activity and marital status. The problem with this studious Asian stereotype is not everyone can live up to it. There are Asians that struggle for money and work. These binds make it seem as every Asian has the american dream. All Asians live in a picket fence world of perfectness. This is not the case in all instances. Some Asians are struggling to make end meet and are swallowed up and left behind because of this stereotype. In particular, lets look at a woman named Pranee Wilcox ,who worked as accountant back home in Thailand. She had a college degree. In 2001, the Thai ambassador offered her a job as his housekeeper in the Washington, D.C. She said yes -even though that meant leaving her babies behind in Thailand. Wilcox figured she would make more money working in the United States. Four years later, when her boss returned to Thailand, Wilcox decided to stay, however that meant living in the United States without papers and speaking very little to no English. Desperate for money, she worked 12-hour days, six days a week. First she worked as a cook, then in a nail salon. To this day she still feels

In retrospect, the history of the antebellum America is quite fascinating. During this period, the young republic faced several challenges. One of the most serious ones was the slavery issue. Reading the related materials, people might understand that the Founding Fathers had actually pondered about the solution to the issue; however, they did not pursue it because they foresaw possible turmoil in American politics. Unfortunately, the issue kept simmering until it reached the boiling point which resulted in the disastrous Civil War. It is also interesting to read how the anti-and pro slavery camps argued for their beliefs, how politicians abandoned their old parties and formed the new ones based on their common beliefs or interests and how they fought for their political gains. The period of the antebellum America presents such a tumultuous one, yet it shows how the young republic struggled to find a path to a better union among those hungry for power and wealth. Above all, it does require wisdom, vision, courage, determination and political maneuvers