Asian American Experience Beyond The Model Minority Summary

I am a first generation Asian American and my life began when my father was 18 years old. From China with basically the clothes on his back, he traveled across the sea to the United States, the dreamland, all in the hope of a better future. He worked endlessly with few days off to provide for his family and continue to do so today, which only allowed me to see him one day a week at the most. He told me that's the burden he has to bear so I can have an easier life, working in a job I like. My mother's life story doesn't differ much from my father's with the only major distinction being that it centered around my life. She wake up 5 in the morning to cook my lunch for school and to become my personal chauffeur. If I need her, she is there. Since

From Chinatown to Monterey Park, Asian Americans across the boundaries of Los Angeles are flourishing from bustling inner cities to middle class suburbia. The suburban life style was originally created by white Americans for white Americans however in today’s suburban cities and towns there seems to be a substantial group of Asians and Asian Americans thriving in these once predominately white areas(Li 1993, 318). The development of Asians and Asian Americans in the suburbs occurred through the following three ways, first is the development of Chinatown and how it became the Mecca for immigrants and the second is Asian American assimilation into American society. The last reason is the gentrification of towns such as Chinatown, and Little Tokyo.

The United States is known to acquire more opportunities and to allow people around the world to make a better living for themselves and their family. As many migrated over to the U.S., immigrants found themselves going through economic hard times. The most dramatic turn of the century was during the 1920s with the emergence of second generation Asian Americans. Although some Asian Americans were born in their homeland, coming to the U.S. at the age of six still classified them as Asian Americans as they were raised within assimilation of America. Second Generation Asian Americans experienced America more than their parents ever did and that caused a lot of concerns and tension between them and their parents. The Second Generation Asian Americans experienced tension between their parents with the emergence of the second generation, the influence of the American culture, creating their own paths and future, and the racial discrimination while growing up.

Other Asian American groups were able to attain better economic opportunities for themselves because of a booming wartime economy. Through the process of naturalization, they were also recognized as citizens who had the same rights as other American citizens. This process helped to uplift their communities and change the perceptions of Asian Americans at the time. Conversely, Japanese Americans’ responses towards their mistreatment show their conviction in their rights as American citizens. These efforts were recognized with the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act, which allowed for the naturalization of Japanese and Korean immigrants. The act also eliminated the formal racially exclusive legislation that had been affecting Asian American communities. Along with the War Brides Act, which allowed for the immigration of women who had married American servicemen, new legislation after World War II helped to facilitate Asian immigration to America. This increased immigration helped to create more families in Asian American communities and bring about an end to the “bachelor societies” of Asian immigrants who had never been able to raise families. While the discussion of race and belonging during World War II featured the polarization of the Asian American communities, it is interesting to know that the struggles of Asian Americans during World War II would set

 The United States was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, but during an immigration boom in the late 1890s and early 1900s, Asians and Europeans faced discrimination and violence because of their difference in language, appearance, and religion. People came to America from all over the world to experience the wealth and prosperity that was associated with this great country, but certain ethnicities were excluded from the hope and freedom they were promised by the forefathers. When coming through California, Asians faced with hardships and trials that caused them to return to their country and sometimes to end

Asian Americans also faced a lot of the same treatment as African Americans, except they weren’t forced into slavery. When Chinese Americans came to the U.S. they didn’t have much money so they were hired to build the transcontinental railroad, but were paid one-third less than white workers were paid (Spring, 2016, p.70). But in 1942, Chinese Americans were granted the right to become naturalized citizens, yet, they were still under a limited immigration quota. Also, Japanese Americans were seen as the enemy during World War II. Even though Japanese Americans have been working hard in the U.S. and even offered, joining the U.S. military to fight against their homeland, they were still put into concentration camps (Spring, 2016, p. 75).

Identify and describe the significance of the 1965 Immigration Reform. What requirements did this reform contain? How did it change Asian America? What new Asian ethnic groups migrated to the United States after 1965? How did these groups difference economically, socially, and politically from more established Asian ethnic groups?

Asian Americans have been considered as the “model minority” and research shows that this minority is achieving “the American Dream”. With a good education, earning a good living, being “hardworking, patient” and earning the highest college degree attainment rate in the US, Asian Americans fit the stereotype very well. They even fit

The model minority stereotype suggests that Asian Americans as a group are achieving a higher level of academic, economic, and social success than the overall American population (Hartlep, 2013; Tran & Birman, 2010). This stereotype is very much engrained in the American culture today; however, such acceptance does not reflect the whole truth.

Last but not least, there’re health care disparities in both Myanmar and U.S. In U.S., Asian Americans are sometimes bigoted as healthy minority. Sadly, this stereotype results in health providers’ inappropriate intervention (Ta Park, 2015). Asian Americans receive less adequate and less intensive care than whites (Womenshealth, 2012). For example, according to Womenshealth (2012), Commonwealthfund (2015), and Los Angeles Times (2014), and Ladwig, American Journal of Public Health, (2015), although Asian Americans encounter myriad health threats just as any other ethnic minority, physicians are less likely to offer timely intervention for illness and counseling about smoking cessations, chronic disease prevention and management, healthy

The pain and the suffering, the oppression, and the exclusion all describe the history of Asia America. When they arrived to the United States, they become labeled as Asians. These Asians come from Japan, China, Korea, Laos, Thailand, and many other diverse countries in the Eastern hemisphere. These people wanted to escape from their impoverished lives as the West continued to infiltrate their motherland. They saw America as the promise land filled with opportunity to succeed in life. Yet due to the discrimination placed from society and continual unfair

American's success is exaggerated to a great extent, and does not fit the "model minority" most

In the early twentieth century, Asian Americans in the United States faced to lots of obstacles. Since they lived in a “different shore”, they were treated as unassimilable people, and therefore, they experienced many unequal and discriminative treatments. Both Asian Americans lived in Hawaii and the mainland lived in unbearable life under racial discrimination. However, due to geographical and ethnic differences, Asian Americans in the mainland had more difficult time, since majority of the United States’ population were white people. Asian Americans in the mainland had an intense competition with white working class. In other words,

During the early 1900s, many Asian Americans had faced continuous racism while living in the United States. Considering

For instance, Joe R. Feagin states, “By the early 1900s agricultural and industrial expansion created an increased demand for low-wage labor in the Southwest. White employers recruited large numbers of Mexican Laborers for farms and factories, with federal assistance [...] employers and their allies in government have sought Mexican workers to do low-wage agricultural; and manufacturing jobs, even as growing numbers of political groups have agitated against such immigrants. By bringing in large numbers of Mexican workers, employers have helped to change the U.S. demographic and political landscape in often dramatic ways” (Page 242). Latino migration was often very common; workers would stay for a few years, and then go back to their country with more money than they could have made in their country of origin. Like African Americans and Native Americans, they were seen different and discriminated against. Furthermore, Asian Americans have come to the United States in waves, at different times, and for different reasons. For example, like Latino Americans, Asians also came to the United States by employers to use their labor and later Asians began to immigrate to America because of the Gold