The False Ideology of Eastern Asian Americans

East Asian Americans, specifically naturalized citizens, have voiced their concerns regarding topics such as immigration, crime, and affirmative action. In Amy Quin’s New York Times article, Why Chinese Americans Have Shifted Rightward, Annie Tang, a Chinese American sales director states, “A lot of laws are not fair or good for us Chinese.” The paper also suggests that “The Democrats have gone too far.” In Arcadia and Temple City, Asian American voters fueled gains for Trump by Rebecca Ellis in the Los Angeles Times, states a similar message, recording that the broader group of Asian Americans in the respective areas are troubled by similar issues.

Despite this ideology, unprecedented equitable initiatives throughout history have propelled East Asians into our position today; we must remain empathetic towards the principles accountable for our current well-being.

Just 14 years after the U.S.’s independence, the Nationality Act of 1790 limited citizenship to free white males. The 1875 Page Act labeled Asian people as suspicious. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese immigrants from entering the country. In 1922 and 1923, Takao Ozawa and Bhagat Sing Thind were denied naturalization because the court stated that despite being caucasian, they were not white.

In World War II, Japanese Americans were subject to unjustified inhumane conditions for being (falsely) accused of being a national threat. They were secluded in internment camps and generalized as an enemy alien. As Erica Lee states in The Making of Asian America, “Their only crime was their Japanese ancestry.” A 1942 article from the Seattle Times by Henry McLemore titled This is War! Stop Worrying About Hurting J-- Feelings states, “I am for immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior. Let ‘em be pinched, hurt, hungry and dead up against it… I hate the Japanese. And that goes for all of them.” There is a clear explicit resentment of the East Asian population.

However, in recent times the East Asian community has transformed from an alienated group to an assimilated model minority. Through activism movements such as The Third World Liberation Front at San Francisco State College, the Asian Coalition for Equality, and Asian Americans for Action, the white systems of oppression were starting to be dismantled through racial equality. Despite this, these Asian movements (which connotate the entire continent), were heavily oriented towards Eastern Asia.

Because East Asians have gained quantities of privilege, we have overlooked others who have yet to do so. In fact, Eastern Asians have perpetuated the suppressive structures by actions like changing their ideas this past election.

Per the Pew Research Center’s Fill the Data Gap on Asian Americans, regarding economics, the poverty rates (2019) of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Americans are 8%, 11%, and 13% respectively. They are towards the bottom of the scale, as Mongolians/Burmese and Bangladeshi Americans are 25% and 19% respectively. Similarly, the median household income (2019) of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Americans is $83k, $82k, and $72k while Laotian, Nepalese, and Burmese Americans are at $61k, $55k, and $44k. The averages for these statistics are at 10% and $86,000, erasing the large diversity in numbers. At a closer glance, there is a clear imbalance between socioeconomic status.

As for immigration, South and Southeast Asian countries have been the most susceptible to improper discrimination. During the first Trump presidency, white civilians concerned about their safety supported immigration bans from certain Asian countries. President Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” However, Vox states that of the six countries that were proposed to be banned from immigrating to the U.S. were not linked to a single U.S. terrorist attack in the last 40 years. This included the South Asian countries Iran and Syria. Enforcing these immigrant policies marginalizes the innocent lives of all possible migrants. 

It is important to note that the presidential candidate East Asian people voted for has made several racist comments towards us. For example, he fueled the anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic by calling it the ‘Chinese Virus,’ which displays no indication of Donald Trump’s empathy towards the Asian population. 

Thus, East Asian Americans are committing horizontal oppression by supporting these policies. Not only are these ideas built on false notions, but they directly correlate to the marginalization East Asian ethnicities have experienced. 

Why is this? In The Brown Asian American Movement: Advocating for South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Filipino Communities, by Kevin L. Nadal, he states that “People with privilege within Asian American communities may have difficulty recognizing their privilege and the ways they have benefitted from such privilege - in similar ways that White people may not see White privilege.” 

My Korean identity has allowed me to acknowledge and agree with this philosophy. When advocating for Asian Americans, I have noted that my perception of this group is East Asia, not the entire continent. Therefore, from my first-hand experience, I can validate Nadal’s theory. To create meaningful change, all groups must be represented. People must see beyond their selfish interests and understand the inequalities within the world because this social responsibility is how East Asians obtained our status in the first place. 

Because of the white capitalist structure the U.S. has followed for centuries, it is difficult to identify the detailed course of action for resistance. How much one accepts and plays into the inequitable systems is subject to the youth and future generations. Unquestioned though, is that the Asian population must account for the wide diversity ensuring that everyone is represented, not perpetuate stereotypes, and understand the past experiences and movements from Asian American history.