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< | The Model Minority Myth: Not a Compliment | >
> | Japanese Americans in World War II: A Fight for their Country and their Rights | | | -- By KaylieChen - 19 Apr 2024 | |
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> | The history of Asian Americans in the United States is a complex narrative of struggle, resilience, and determination. Despite a long history of devaluation and discrimination, Asian Americans continue to strive to prove their worth in American society. One pertinent example of this phenomenon can be found in the actions of Japanese Americans during World War II. | | | | |
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< | Throughout history, Asian Americans have been famously portrayed as the “model minority.” | >
> | Historical Background | | | | |
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Actually, as you show below, not throughout history, but rather only in the last generation.
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> | Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States government, driven by fear and racial prejudice, issued Executive Order 9066. This order sanctioned the forced removal of Japanese Americans from their homes, primarily on the West Coast, and their subsequent internment in desolate camps under harsh and degrading conditions. The internment was justified with accusations of espionage and sabotage, despite the lack of any concrete evidence. Japanese American men of draft age were additionally classified as enemy aliens and therefore prohibited from serving in the armed forces. However, one year later, President Roosevelt authorized the enlistment of Japanese American men into a special segregated unit which would come to be known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. | | | | |
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> | Loyalty, Patriotism, and Challenging Discrimination | | | | |
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< | This implies that, despite the hardships that Asian Americans have faced, they successfully assimilated into American society through their hard work. Although the label may seem like a compliment, it fuels competition and resentment from other people of color, silences the struggles of many Asian Americans, and decreases opportunities for upward job mobility. | >
> | Despite being unjustly interned, many felt an overwhelming pressure to prove their allegiance to the United States in the face of rampant racism and exclusion. Although it would mean swallowing their outrage at the discrimination and injustices they had faced, it could help counteract the suspicion cast upon them and demonstrate their loyalty to the place they called home. In her memoir Letters to Memory, Karen Tei Yamashita recounts one solider’s explanation for enlisting, claiming that volunteering to join "will be in favor of all Japanese sincerely wishing to remain in the U.S. And it is only by such positive action that the country will open up decent jobs for a decent living.” Although idealistic, his words represented the sentiments of many. One such soldier who shared this belief was Daniel Inouye, a member of the 442nd who would go on to be a U.S. Senator and President pro tempore. Inouye initially attempted to enlist in the military shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor but was denied due to his then-classification as an enemy alien. Despite this rejection, once the enlistment ban on Japanese Americans was lifted, Inouye enlisted, determined to honor his country. Even though the 442nd were sent on suicide missions, due to certain commanders’ beliefs that the Japanese American soldiers were “expendable cannon fodder,” they went on to become the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the entire history of the U.S. military. The 442nd’s motto, “Go for Broke,” ironically highlights the lengths to which these soldiers went to prove their worth to a country that had stripped them of their dignity and freedom and continued to treat them as inferior even while they served their nation. Inouye’s story, along with many others, underscores the painful reality that these individuals were fighting not just for victory, but for the basic human rights denied to them at home. | | | | |
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< | The Origin | >
> | Japanese Americans also enlisted in an attempt to confront the pervasive stereotypes and discrimination they faced. By serving in the military, they sought to validate their worth and capabilities as American citizens and win approval from a society that had systematically dehumanized them. Their participation in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) exemplifies this struggle. Comprising primarily Japanese American soldiers, the MIS played a crucial role in the Pacific Theater, using their language skills to translate intercepted messages, interrogate prisoners, and gather intelligence. Although their contributions were vital to the war effort, the classified nature of their service meant they were wholly unacknowledged until their existence was revealed as a result of the passage of the Freedom of Information Act of 1971. Even so, the bravery and skills demonstrated by the MIS soldiers were a testament to their determination to prove their worth and contribute meaningfully to the war effort, despite the contempt and lack of recognition they faced from the very people they were fighting for. | | | | |
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< | The term “model minority” was coined during the Civil Rights era in an attempt to use Asian Americans to discipline other minorities and discourage the Civil Rights movement. In a 1966 U.S. News and World Report article, it was claimed that “[a]t a time when it is being proposed that hundreds of billions be spent to uplift the Negroes and other minorities, the nation’s 300,000 Chinese-Americans are moving ahead on their own.” As a result, Asian Americans suddenly became social buffers to the demands of other people of color. This phenomenon is addressed in the article “Continuing Significance of the Model Minority Myth: The Second Generation” where the author explains that although "Asian Americans remain largely invisible to many, when they are visible, Asian Americans are strategically used to dismantle progressive gain.” Consequently, other ethnic minorities have come to resent Asian Americans, creating tension between Asian Americans and other people of color. | >
> | Sacrifice and Struggle | | | | |
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< | Assumption of Privilege | >
> | The decision of Japanese Americans to enlist in the military during World War II, despite being subjected to internment, reveals a complex story of desperation and hope for acceptance in a country that had turned its back on them. Through their service, they sought to prove their loyalty, challenge discrimination, and improve their community's future. Their contributions, though significant, were a somber reminder of the deep-seated racism that persisted in American society. The stories of the 442nd and the MIS highlight the extraordinary courage and resilience of Japanese Americans, but also the profound injustices they faced in their struggle for recognition and equality. | | | | |
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< | The model minority myth additionally assumes the privilege of Asian Americans and that they are all well-educated and middle-class. However, this view is incorrect. According to the article “Asian Americans as a Model Minority,” the model minority “implies that Asians share fully in the American way of life in spite of their minority status…it does not describe Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders who, for the most part, are poorly educated, underemployed, and trapped in low-paying menial jobs.” By aggregating data from all Asian ethnicities, it seems as though Asian Americans as a homogenous group are doing well. However, once the data was disaggregated, a wildly different picture emerged. In the article “Revisiting the Model Minority Stereotype: Implications for Student Affairs Practice and Higher Education,” the author explains that these new analyses demonstrated that “the median family income of Asian Americans actually fell below that of white families… [and] that the proportion of Asian Americans living below the poverty line was considerably higher than that of the white population.”
Hidden Racism
The model minority myth further perpetuates a narrative that Asian Americans experience little racism. Despite the long history of Asian racism—including the Chinese Exclusion Act, prejudicial enforcement of laws as seen in Yick Wo v. Hopkins, and the internment of Japanese-Americans—there has been a lack of attention paid to these discriminatory practices. This is in part due to the hesitation of Asian Americans to speak up. In The Myth of the Model Minority, the authors claim this hesitation is due to “the view that ‘there’s no point’…and that such discrimination is just ‘a fact of life.’ Many also seem fearful of ‘rocking the boat.’” This silence then helps maintain the discriminatory status quo. Although anti-Asian sentiments were exacerbated and highlighted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the outrage felt muted. This seemed to have been the result of widespread use of anti-Asian rhetoric and a pre-existing culture of microaggressions. While racist acts targeting Asian Americans had already increased, the use of derogatory phrases like “China virus” and “kung flu” by public officials, including the president at the time, further promoted anti-Asian bias. Their use of this language also gave off the perception that these sentiments were “mainstream” and therefore not a big deal because it was “technically true.” The prevalence of microaggressions further fed into this idea that certain anti-Asian rhetoric was acceptable because there was some truth behind those views. For example, the rumor that COVID-19 was caused by eating bats continued this perpetuation of Chinese people eating weird things and put distance between regular Americans and strange, foreign Chinese people. And because this was an already acceptable joke to have made pre-pandemic, it continued to be made with little backlash. These factors led to a more accepted use of derogatory, anti-Asian language which felt less like racism and more like a joke.
Undesirable Qualities
The model minority myth can also be detrimental to Asian employees working in America. According to Asian America: Sociological and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, “Asian Americans often are seen as hardworking, technically skilled, and nonaggressive,” and these qualities “limit them in upper management.” So, because of the qualities Asians are associated with due to the model minority myth—e.g. weak and submissive—they are less likely to be hired for managerial positions. These perceived characteristics also feed into the concept of “yellow peril,” where Asians are seen as threatening to their white counterparts due to their supposedly superior academics. For example, during the 1980s, there was a renewal of anti-Japanese sentiment as the Japanese were thought to be dismantling the American industry. This increased anti-Asian violence in America, leading to the murder of Chinese-American Vincent Chin committed by two unemployed workers who were angry at Japanese companies for “taking their jobs.” Both murderers were acquitted, with the presiding judge asserting that “these weren’t the kind of men you send to jail.”
Although the consensus among the general public is that the model minority myth is a compliment, it is a harmful stereotype. Created by those wishing to undermine the voices of historically disadvantaged minorities, the label uses Asian Americans as a tool when it is convenient for them. The “model minority” are either considered good when opposing the demands of other ethnic minorities or are considered bad when they are stealing the jobs of their white counterparts. Because of this position, Asian Americans are not given full consideration as people of color and are unable to benefit from the privileges enjoyed by white Americans. It is therefore imperative that Asian Americans reject the model minority myth to avoid being oppressors of other ethnic groups and undermining minority solidarity while still facing oppression themselves.
When we step back, this is a draft about a myth about a stereotype about an impossible generality. As though the lives of Armenian, Tajiik, Hmong, Han, Japanese, Filipino, Samoan, Bengali and Vietnamese persons in America could be said to conform to any pattern, fit within any rule, or resonate with any conclusory epithet. Arguing against myth on the ground that it is mythical is scientific, but not always insightful. Arguing against myth on the ground that it is harmful is also comprehensible, but often it leads us down the road towards prose like that of the public relations industry, spinning always on the axis of the other side's "myths."
It seems to me that we might get more out of our material if we tried to place it within the contours laid out by the historians of US immigration. Mae Ngai, for example, has written about both the experiences of undocumented immigrants across societies of origin and the particularities of Chinese-American immigrant lives in forms whose theoretical sophistication and social sensitivity are surely educationally-more valuable than responsive listening to "model minority" chatter. Why not start at the end where understanding rather than misunderstanding is available, with people we can learn from rather than with those from whom we can't?
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> | The history of Japanese Americans during World War II exemplifies the broader struggles of Asian Americans in the United States—a narrative marked by resilience and a quest for dignity amidst adversity. Reflecting on the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, it is easy to become disillusioned by the stark injustices they faced. Despite their unwavering loyalty and considerable contributions to the war effort, they were met with suspicion and subjected to internment, a testament to the racist views of the era. Their sacrifices were largely overlooked, and recognition came only decades later, long after many had passed away. However, the resilience and courage of the Japanese Americans who served ultimately forced a reckoning with the injustices they endured. While they still suffered from discrimination upon returning home—like being denied something as simple as a haircut even though they were in uniform—their story challenged the racist stereotypes and exclusionary practices of their time, contributing to the ongoing struggle for civil rights and equality in America. Today, their legacy is a reminder that progress is possible despite the persistence of prejudice, and the fight for justice can yield profound, positive change. | | |
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