On Model Minority Stereotype’s Adverse Impacts On Asian Americans

Since the1960s under the circumstance of the famous civil rights movement inthe United States, the mass media portrayed Asian Americans as the "model minority",reporting a series of articles saying that Chinese and Japanese Americans had madesignificant achievements in academic and professional area, and pointing out thatAsian Americans had become part of the middle class in the United States of Americaas the whites. In the1980s, this image was heating up again, and it was evenexpanded to Koreans, Philippines, and other Asian Americans, American mass mediaonce again reported the great success of the "model minority", indicating that they hadachieved the American dream and fully integrated into the mainstream of theAmerican society. The "model minority" was used to prove that American societywas an equal society, implying other ethnics’ inertia and economic reliance on thefederal government.However, model minority stereotype obscures some difficulties and problemsmost Asian Americans are facing. Not all Asian Americans are good at studying, notall Asian Americans live in the middle-class circles, and not all Asians Americansachieve great success in education or in business. Such an honorable title hides manyproblems Asian Americans have.Based on some data and cases against Asian Americans, this paper points out theanti-Asian crime, hatred and discrimination they suffer in the every aspect of theirdaily life. By analyzing the diverse impacts of model minority stereotypes on theAsian Americans, namely, bringing more psychological pressure for Asian Americans,increasing more discrimination and hatred from the Whites, damaging AsianAmericans’ rights, and intensifying conflicts between Asian Americans and otherminorities, this essay tries to prove that model minority stereotype worsens the AsianAmericans’ situation, causing more trouble to them.