AAPI Experiences
and History

The term "model minority" refers to minority groups that have ostensibly achieved a high level of success in contemporary US society. The term has been used most often to describe Asian Americas, a group seen as having attained educational and financial success relative to other immigrant groups. The "model minority" label on its surface seems to be an accolade because it appears to praise Asian American for their achievements. However, a critical analysis of the way the term is used and the consequences of its use suggest that there are pernicious effects of classifying Asian Americans, or any racial group, as a model minority. Read more about it : https://depts.washington.edu/sibl/Publications/Model%20Minority%20Section%20(2011).pdf

Asian Americans are perceived as “perpetual foreigners” regardless of how long they or their families have lived in the United States, according to results of a survey released by AAPI Data and SurveyMonkey on Tuesday, March 30. About 64% of Asian American respondents said they’ve been asked questions such as: “Where are you from, assuming you’re not from the U.S.?” This perception of Asian Americans as outsiders has been on display in disturbing footage of various violent hate crimes against people of Asian descent where a perpetrator, generally of another race, yells out that the victim doesn’t belong in the U.S. or that they should go back to their own country. Read more about it: https://www.pe.com/2021/03/30/new-survey-shows-asian-americans-perceived-as-perpetual-foreigners-in-u-s/

Between 1975 to 1992, almost two million Vietnamese risked their lives to flee oppression and hardship after the Vietnam War, in one of the largest mass exoduses in modern history. Escaping by boat, many found freedom in foreign land, many were captured and brutally punished, and many did not survive the journey. This population of people are known as the ‘Vietnamese Boat People' and these are their stories. Listen to the podcast: https://www.vietnameseboatpeople.org/

Those policies would have far-reaching effects that extend to the present: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Scott Act of 1888 destroyed all but pre-existing Chinese communities for nearly six decades. While it failed to actually end Chinese migration, it simultaneously barred Chinese people in the United States from naturalization and encouraged continued abuse of Chinese workers. It’s the development of this policy and its legacy that Lew-Williams has studied, tracing how white supremacist interests constructed modern notions of citizens and aliens. Read more about it: https://newrepublic.com/article/149437/echoes-chinese-exclusion

A secret group organized by white sugar plantation owners, businessmen, and descendants of missionaries, set up a provisional government to replace the Hawaiian monarchy. Defying U.S. President Grover Cleveland, their ultimate goal was to overthrow Queen Lili‘uokalani and seek annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States. Watch a video about it: https://kcts9.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ha06.ush.ind.overthrow/the-overthrow-of-queen-liliuokalani/

Kauai writes, “From one of the most progressive independent states in the world to one of the most forgotten. If not for the US, where would Hawai‘i rank among the countries of the world today in regard to health care, political rights, civil rights, economy, and the environment? In the 19th century Hawai‘i was a global leader in many ways, even despite its size (Willy Kauai, The Color of Nationality (doctoral dissertation, political science, University of Hawai‘i (2014), p. 298).” Read more about it: https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/impact-us-occupation-hawaiian-people