This is why I don’t like frats (no offense)

I feel obligated to first establish that I am Asian-American.

A few weeks ago, maybe days, a text chain was released from the group chat of one of NYU’s fraternities. I forgot what the name of the frat was, but I do know all the kids were Asian, and they had a few things to say about the African American community not aiding in the plight of Asian-Americans. I have a distaste for fraternities and hold the belief that they’re essentially groups of kids who want to pay money to have friends. However, when it is a group of students of the same minority background, I will concede that it has the chance to become something more relevant to the social issues that they face. Obviously, that didn’t happen. At least not in a positive way.

As a group of Asian-American males at one of the country’s leading educational institutions, these students had the chance to drive a conversation about the struggle of Asian-Americans, aid in the problems of other minorities, and shine a light on their own hardships. It’s difficult, more so impossible, to understand what being African-American is like, no matter how many books you’ve read and how many documentaries you’ve watched. And maybe it’s hard to care when you’re not African-American. But if you’re Asian-American, you have an obligation to know some things about your own history and where we stand compared to African-Americans. And because I’m so generous, I’ve decided to educate some of you here.

The term “model minority” was coined in a newspaper article from 1966, using the phrase to refer to Asian-Americans, a group of minorities that, at the time, were quietly living relatively successful and happy lives. This article was written a year after a the 1965 Moynihan Report that blamed African-Americans for their own socio-economic problems. The Asian-Americans were hard-working, with strong, supportive family structures, and as a result, they thrived in America. African-Americans were not, and therefore suffered the consequences. We were the model minorities and African-Americans were the problem minorities. American leaders, all Caucasian, could point at Asian-Americans, who were quietly living decent lives, and tell restless African-Americans that this is the example. This is what they should strive to obtain. Just be quiet, work harder, and operate within the confines of what we designated for you, and we’ll let you live decent lives. Not only was this a lie, but African-Americans didn’t want to be equal to Asian-Americans. They wanted to be equal to Caucasians and raised their voices even louder.

This simple phrase, the “model minority”, not only deflected blame from the white elite, but also pitted minority groups against each other.

In some ways, the existence of Asian-Americans and the acceptance of the model minority stereotype was a hindrance to African-Americans in their fight for civil justice. Because we exist, Caucasians have a group of minorities that they can use to their advantage when discussing where minorities stand. Many racial inequality deniers like to bring up the claim that white people aren’t that privileged, since Asian-Americans have higher average salaries than any racial group in the country. This, while true, completely ignore the massive income disparities within Asian American groups and the distribution of executive/leadership roles between races. The bamboo ceiling (a derivation of feminism’s “glass ceiling”) is a very real, very prevalent thing. But I’d rather not get into that now when there’s a separate group of minorities fighting for equality in the country’s basic justice system. Yes, I do think the plights of African-Americans are more serious than the issues that my race faces at the moment, because I don’t have to be afraid of the cops. Like I said before, if you can trust the law enforcement system in this country, consider yourself privileged.

It is absolutely nobody else’s fault but the Asian-American community’s, that we accepted the placement of the model minority stereotype. I can imagine it would have been difficult not to accept it — these people were allowed to live good lives in a time when minorities were largely seen as a disruptive force in the success of the United States. I don’t think it’s too late to lose the model minority tag, but the very idea of not helping other minorities is a major part of the model minority stereotype. Think about that. The very fact that those kids were unwilling to help African-Americans, even put them down, is a testament to how ingrained the stereotype is. Which tells me that we’re nowhere near truly shaking the collar off.

Now, everything I just wrote has zero sources apart from what I remember from various articles and paper I’ve read, and is a very abridged form of my own, likely stunted knowledge of this subject matter. You’re inclined to think whatever you want, but if you really think African Americans, the people who built this country, don’t deserve better, I don’t really know what to say. Maybe join a frat or something. I hear there’s one for Asian guys at NYU that’s looking for new members.

Originally published June 9, 2020