Asian Americans: Model Minority Myth

Recently, I read an article The Model Minority: Asian American "Success" as a Race Relations Failure. It was fascinating in the sense it discussed the myth of Asian Americans being a model minority, and how this can actually have a negative affect on them, and other minorities. While you would generally think that it would be a good thing being perceived as a model minority, such as excelling in mathematics, possessing jobs with high incomes. It actually has a negative affect on many Asian Americans, and African Americans as well. Obviously, there are many Asian Americans in this country that do not fit the stereotype of all Asian Americans being successful, and this prevents them from being mentioned during civil rights campaigns. The author Frank Wu gives three strong reasons why the model minority myth should be rejected. "First, the myth is a gross simplification that is not accurate enough to be seriously used for understanding 10 million people. Second, it conceals within it an invidious statement about African Americans along the line of the inflammatory taunt: 'They made it; why can't you?' Third, the myth is abused both to deny that Asian Americans experience racial discrimination and to turn Asian Americans into a racial threat."