Affirmative Action For Asian Americans: Is There An Asian-Friendly Version?

Asian Americans are among the most victimized racial groups in Americansociety. Although racism and anti-immigration sentiments have been relentlesslyshaping the demographic contours of America since its foundation, Asian Americansfound themselves disparately affected by the brutal reality of American racial relationsand were denied access, time and again, to social justice and racial equality. It isexactly in recognition of all this that the affirmative action was taken to reverse suchracial injustice and to counter the consequential evils of centuries of discriminationand under-representation. Yet the dual standard of affirmative action today isinconsistent with and even runs counter to its intended results, leaving AsianAmericans (again) to become the sole victim of both the traditional discrimination andlater the “reverse discrimination”, having neither the long established prerogativesand social resources that Whites always enjoy, nor the preferential treatmentsaccorded to other non-White minority groups.By closely examining Asian American social conditions and affirmative actioncurrently practiced, this author hopes to offer fresh insights into the discordantcomplex of ideas and perceptions compounded by an affirmative action scheme that isboth potentially beneficial to Asian Americans, and is in urgent need of being revisedif Asian-friendly affirmative action were ever seriously sought after.In light of the peculiar position Asian Americans occupies within the institutionof affirmative action, and the moral dilemma the case of Asian Americans expose, it isof considerable scholastic significance and interest to embark on a research towardsthe ways in which Affirmative Action affects Asian Americans, and also the meansAsian Americans could employ to better their situation in contemporary Americansociety without contributing to the deconstruction of Affirmative Action rationalesand the institution per se.