I'm Chinese American, and Privileged

As a Chinese American, my relationship with China is a confusing one - especially right now, as the country’s government continues to commit crimes against humanity.

I don’t know if I could ever visit the country again. Maybe that sounds a bit dramatic, but I would rather not indirectly support their racist and oppressive government if I can help it, by buying their products and contributing to tourism.

Truthfully, I am so grateful to be born in America. I don’t know who I would be as a person if I had been born in mainland China instead. Brainwashed into believing communist ideology? Or, would I be wiped off the face of the earth for just for writing this exact piece? Who knows? These are the very real outcomes for those born in mainland China.

This is not to say that all citizens of China are automatically horrible people who support the persecution of Uighur Muslims and intrusive surveillance, nor every individual born in America is directly responsible for America’s shortcomings.

But the right to freedom of speech, press, privacy and religion are all things that we take for granted here in the United States, having been surrounded by these liberties our entire lives.

Keep in mind that the CPC (Commustic Party of China) see these principles not as a right, but as a privilege that they can’t afford to their citizens.

So in that sense, I am already privileged to be an American.

My privilege stretches beyond my nationality though. According to the literal definition of "social privilege"on Wikipedia, I receive "special, unearned advantage," that is "used to one's own benefit or to the detriment of others."

What does this look like?

As a fair skinned Southeast Chinese person in America, statistically speaking, I am more likely to succeed than a Latino or an African American, due largely in part to the hyper selectivity of certain Asian ethnic immigrant groups: namely the Chinese, Korean, Filipinos, and Asian Indian.

After World War 2, immigration policy changed drastically for Asians. The Chinese Exclusion laws that had prevented Chinese immigration and naturalization were repealed by Congress in 1943; naturalization was granted to Asian Indians in 1946 and to the Japanese in 1952.

All of a sudden, Asians were allowed to enter the United States and become citizens.

However, the immigrants who flowed into the US post-1965 were hyper-selected - meaning they had exponentially higher graduation rates than their nonimmigrant peers back in their country of origin.

For instance, 52.7% of Chinese immigrants in America hold a college degree while only 3.6% of the Chinese in China can say the same. The chance of a Chinese immigrant in the US having graduated college is 15 times higher than that of a Chinese person back in China with their diploma.

To be clear, neither of my parents have made it past high school and I am a first generation student. But this hardly matters - the hyper-selectivity of Chinese immigrants has resulted in a change of narrative throughout history, causing the general perception of the Chinese to shift to, “smart, and hardworking.”

After decades of institutionalized racism and being seen as subpar, filthy, and perpetually foreign, Chinese Americans as a whole are now being recognized as one of the highest achieving groups in the country.

Because the Chinese comprise 18.1% of the Asian population in the US as the largest Asian ethnic group, the “spill-over effects” of hyper-selectivity can be applied to non hyper-selected Asian immigrant groups, such as the Vietnamese - in which they too, are subject to the same perceptions of success as hyper-selected Asian groups.

Below is a figure showing the educational achievement by Asian ethnicity found here.

Hyper-selection of certain ethnic groups helps to create the illusion that all Asian Americans are doing well in America, despite there being over 40 countries that Asian and Pacific Islanders can originate from.

Yet the phenomena of hyper selectivity, immigration, and perception does not apply to African Americans the same way that it has affected Asian Americans. For example, although Nigerian immigrants are also hyperselected and experience high rates of educational attainment as well, they make up less than a single percent of the Black population in America.

This is not nearly enough to undo the effects of over two centuries of slavery, followed by an era of Jim Crow and the continued racism that affects Black people to this day.

Likewise, Latinos also face a similar disadvantage from an immigrational standpoint. They are “hypo-selected,” which is the exact opposite of hyper selection.

Notice the differences in this second figure.

The effects of hypo-selection ends in a contrast between educational rates for Asian Americans as a whole and Latinos: For example, only 5% of the Mexican immigrants coming to America have graduated from college, which means these hypo selected immigrants will tend to lack the resources needed to acquire supplemental tutoring, SAT prep courses and other programs.

Hyper-selectivity is one reason why there are such disparities between minority groups, with Asian Americans currently at the head of educational success, and it has played a big role in the racial and social mobility of certain Asian ethnic groups.

This is a privilege - as a Chinese American, I may be more able to advance in society because I benefit from the long standing systems that have traditionally put Black and brown people down.

This isn’t to downplay the racism and discrimination that Asians face - of which there is an abundance of that we continue to deal with. Nor am I saying that I speak for all other Chinese Americans and the experiences of Asian Americans as a whole, which of course wildly vary.

But ask yourself this: If you are an East or Southeast Asian American, do you face being seen as an airport security threat and branded a terrorist? (West Asians and some south Asians do go through this.)

Do people typically follow you around in a store?

Are you disproportionately gunned down by police?

If not, perhaps consider these privileges that we’ve accumulated under a white dominated and Eurocentric society that has not fully accepted and recognized all people of color as equal, despite the progress that we have made over the centuries.

From a self preservational standpoint, older generations of Asian immigrants have also been known to identify with white people and their measures of success in America, simply because it has been more advantageous to do so.

It’s a common story voiced from the Asian community (and beyond): You come to America, dirt poor. It’s up to you to find opportunities so that you can survive and maybe provide for a family. You are definitely an outsider in this new country, as you hardly see anyone who looks like you in public, much less in the media.

But you can sense that white people tend to have more wealth, education and work opportunities than the Black people you see.

So you try to assimilate into white society as fast as you can, even if this means indirectly supporting racism against Black people. Combined with ignorance, pre-existing prejudice and colorism in your home country, on top of a lack of exposure to people different from yourself and well… that’s a recipe for disaster.

You may end up buying into the negative stereotypes assigned to people of color, and spread these ideas and myths about foreigners to the second generation and so forth. Or, you might encourage your children to indirectly support white supremacy by not speaking up about intolerance - by not rocking the boat.

Play the game, don’t be too outspoken, just get a high paying but practical job, and keep your head down as a good American citizen - be the model minority.

Some Asians have benefitted from the model minority myth, created by the white narrative to brush aside oppression against other people of color whom they paint with other negative stereotypes such as being "lazy," "criminals," and so forth.

Asians, as the model minority, are expected to achieve and avoid trouble. This can be seen as yet another paradoxical privilege - to be automatically viewed as hardworking and obediant of the law upon first glance.

Obviously the model minority myth is extremely harmful for all parties involved - it damages the relationship between minority groups, and squeezes all of the Asian American subgroups and ethnicities into one box while erasing our individuality and personality.

It also brushes away America's racist history with Asians as if it had never existed, and is often used as a talking point to "disprove" the disparities and discrimination that Asian Americans continue to face.

Absolutely, we should dismantle the model minority myth.

But first, let’s acknowledge how members of the Asian community use said myth to their advantage, and even promote the same ideals to others: work hard and don’t cause trouble.

Taking China as an example again, though I am sure you would find common principles across different Asian countries, culture and nationalism play a big role in this theme.

Any diversion from the norm is extremely frowned upon in this dystopian-like society. Citizens are raised to be passive and extremely deferential to those in authority.

I, too, was brought up this way by my parents - my education was the number 1 most important thing, next to obeying my teachers and other adults (i.e people with power).

Everything else - including advocating for others - was not on the agenda that my parents had set out for me.

I remember telling my mother that I was a part of a program that taught media literacy skills and advocated for colored youth. Instead of encouraging me to continue, she was genuinely confused on why I would ever have an interest in that field.

Of all the career options available to Asians in America, the least favorable among many Asian parents would probably be activism.

Why? Not only is the idea of activism unsustainable as a job for these older Asians, but back home it could get you imprisoned or killed. It could split your family apart.

As generations of Asians grow up with this idea stuck in their head - that activism and social justice is unsustainable and dangerous - I think any desire they had to make a change was stamped out. Maybe they simply stopped caring as much. What good would it do? Stay down, stay quiet.

I was discouraged to speak out on injustice, and even this comes from a place of privilege - it can be beneficial to keep silent about things. It is also taking the easy way out.

Other people of color have historically not been so lucky and they haven’t had the privilege of sitting tight. For example, where would we be without the civil rights movement? The organized efforts of Black Americans to achieve equal rights under the law has benefitted everyone, including Asian Americans.

However, I am not claiming that there are no Asian activists, which is another harmful misconception about Asians.

I mean, how about all of the incredibly brave activists in Hong Kong, who continue to risk their lives to fight against China’s authoritarian government?

Don’t forget the Chinese doctors and journalists who leaked information about the coronavirus in the first place. Had it not been for them, we might never have known what went on behind China’s closed doors.

These “whistle blowers,” who defy officials and censorship laws so that civilians can have a shot at a better life, all the while risking imprisonment themselves, stay anonymous for obvious reasons. People who speak out literally disappear, so naturally what is left within the majority of the population in China?

Those who are afraid to speak up!

So I think that not only is it unfair when people claim that there are no Asian activists, but also incredibly insulting and ignorant.

Asian American activists such as Iqbal Ahmad and Grace Lee Boggs also don’t catch the attention of the news very often. That’s why organizations and movements such as Asians4BlackLives, Yellow Peril Supports Black Power, and The Asian American Feminist Collective are seldom heard or talked about.

Doesn’t this point to a larger problem with Asian American media representation, and the lack of general awareness when it comes to Asian Americans and our place in the conversation of race and justice?

It's not that there are no Asians interested in advocating for social justice - rather, it's that people aren't interested in seeing or hearing the Asian doing so.

Now more than ever, as anti-Asian attacks around the world are increasing, Asian Americans must be heard. We must continue to fight things like the model minority myth because even though the narrative was traditionally created to undermine other people of color, the stereotype inadvertently harms us too.

No matter what you might think, any privilege that we have temporarily experienced from being seen as the model minority, good samaritan, isn’t going to last. It will not protect us in the long run, as anti-Asian sentiment continues to rise.

America does not actually care about us, as revealed by the continuing social effects of COVID-19, a virus that originated from infected animals in Wuhan, China in late 2019. Look at how quickly Asian opposition returned as soon as the virus reached its way to America.

You see it on the news, in public spaces, and all over social media, the comments made against Asian Americans. I can't even tell you how many Instagram comments I've stumbled across making discriminatory comments against Asians, thinly disguised "jokes" that receive dozens of likes and hardly any backlash. It's gotten to the point where I stop myself from even checking comments on Asian-related posts.

Most of these people blame and take their anger out on us for what is happening in far away countries, despite our utter lack of control over what goes on there.

I fear that all of the violence and irrational blame towards Asian Americans right now will only worsen. What will happen post-coronavirus pandemic, when the American economy struggles to rebuild itself?

We know how businesses have been affected and how countless people have lost their jobs and homes. What we can't predict is the extent of public backlash against Asians in America, who have had no part in causing or spreading the virus.

When that inveitable time comes, America will turn its back on us, as it has done so in the past, reminding us how completely “other” we still are in this society.

That is why it’s important to acknowledge the privileges we do have right now, and refrain from retaliating against racism by attacking other minority groups. Yes, it sounds obvious, but don’t fight hate with more hate!

We know what it feels like to be seen and treated as an outsider, so it is never okay to bully other minority groups as a TikTok trend. It is not funny, and it will not get you any closer to equal footing in society.

In addition to that, America already has trouble differentiating between Asians and Asian Americans - we are all the same to them, so remember that before being racist for views, or taking your anger out on other people of color. I don't appreciate being called a racist for what members of my community have been doing.

Also, keep in mind that admitting your privilege does not mean you are disowning other disadvantages that you experience at the same time. You do not have to feel guilty about certain circumstances that place you ahead of others, circumstances that were present before we were even born.

Everyone experiences some form of privilege, whether that be being able bodied, cisgendered, socioeconomically advantaged, etc.

I’m Chinese American and I don’t feel guilty about the privilege that I’ve been allotted with. To feel bad about that would be like having a guilty conscience for the racism that goes on in China - things outside of my control.

It doesn’t mean that I haven’t worked hard to get to where I am right now or that I haven’t experienced challenges associated with being a Chinese American, but I do recognize that other people of color may not share the same privileges that I have - or they may even have their own.

We should instead use our understanding of privilege to recognize nuances in race politics. By exploring how intersectionality, or the combination of multiple social identities (race, gender, sexuality, class, and so on) affects us, we have a better shot at detecting and dealing with different types of discimination.

If you’re privileged and you know it, be open about that.