The Making of Asian America: A History

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction, Part 1, Chapters 1-2

Part 2, Chapters 3-4

Part 2, Chapters 5-6

Part 2, Chapters 7-9

Part 3, Chapters 10-12

Part 4, Chapters 13-14

Part 4, Chapters 15-16

Part 5, Chapter 17-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 5, Chapter 17-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5: “Twenty-First-Century Asian Americans”

Chapter 17 Summary: “The ‘Rise of Asian Americans’? Myths and Realities”

In the 21st century, the media declared “the rise of Asian Americans” (373). Asian Americans were once perceived as “inassimilable and racially inferior foreigners” to an economic powerhouse (373). However, the situation is far more complex because there are “persistent inequalities and disparities among Asian Americans” which, at times, rely “on a new and divisive language or racism’ (373). Indeed, both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum feature Asian Americans, as the 2010 census data reveals. For example, more than 15% of Cambodian families live in poverty compared to 10.5% of the total US population.

Asian Americans are typically viewed as “the model minority” (374). At times, they are seen as competing with whites, especially at elite academic institutions. They are also contrasted with African and Latin Americans. In this context, “African American poverty has been increasingly explained as the byproduct of a dysfunctional culture with delinquent family values” instead of focusing on a slowing economy, deteriorating urban environments, and institutional discrimination (375). “Culture” is a new way to explain racist concepts of group inferiority and superiority. Ignoring institutional factors, “the cultural explanations for success and failure treat culture in the same way that we used to talk about race”—something that is permanent and heritable (381).

In addition to socioeconomic disparities, there are other areas of concern, such as hate crimes against Asian Americans. Some crimes, like the 1983 murder of Vincent Chin, became a motivating factor for civil rights activism. Furthermore, when an Asian country of origin is doing well, it is perceived “as an all-out assault on the United States from both within and without” (383). This was the case with Japan in the 1980s and, more recently, with China. For example, in 1999, Taiwanese American physicist Wen Ho Lee was arrested and investigated for five years. The investigation yielded no evidence of espionage for China.

US foreign policy remains relevant. In the aftermath of 9/11, hate crimes targeting South Asian Americans, such as Sikh men wearing distinctive turbans, increased. Indeed, George W. Bush’s war on terror “was directly linked to controlling immigration in the United States" (386). As a result of the racist backlash and threat of detention, an estimated 100,000 Pakistanis left the US between 2003 and 2013.

Epilogue Summary

The story of Asian American immigration displays “both the limits and the possibilities of America” (391). In the 21st century, their lives may be a contradiction of acquiring political power and privileged social status, on the one hand, and “still being victims of hate crimes” on the other (391). First-generation immigrants were only allowed to naturalize in the US after World War II. Now, they are an important voting bloc and a group that holds political power. They are also “uniquely positioned to raise questions about what it means to be American in the twenty-first century” (396). For example, many Asian Americans are multiracial, displaying further ethnocultural complexities.

There are several examples of Asian American politicians and civil rights activists, such as Minnesota’s Mee Moua of Hmong descent and the Japanese American Fred Korematsu, who did not comply with Executive Order 9066. In 1983, Korematsu’s criminal conviction for non-compliance with the WWII “military necessity” rules was invalidated “on the grounds that the Supreme Court had made its decision based on false information” (395). In 1988, the Civil Liberties Act issued an official apology to the interned Japanese Americans and granted them reparations. Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and recognized “as one of the country’s most important civil rights leaders” (396).

Activists like Jose Antonio Vargas claim their American identity as undocumented immigrants “based on ideals and practice rather than on papers and legal status” (401). There are also organizations, such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), to champion Asian American rights. For example, Asian American organizations may focus on “the plight of undocumented Asian immigrants” (398).

Chapter 17-Epilogue Analysis

The final section of The Making of Asian America addresses the importance of continuity in civil rights activism. Lee identifies a direct trajectory between the key figures of the past, such as Fred Korematsu, paving the way for new figures like Jose Antonio Vargas. Korematsu challenged the validity of Executive Order 9066. Vergas invited the public to reconsider what it means to be an American. Here, Lee also focuses on two chief themes, Asian Immigration in the Framework of Race, Gender, and Class, and The Impact of Immigration Law on Asian Americans.

The criteria of race, sex/gender, and class remain relevant in the 21st century. Despite the ethnocultural diversity of Asian Americans, they continue to be viewed as the same group. Described as a success story, Asian Americans are even pitted against other groups, such as African and Latin Americans, to demonstrate their perceived superiority. Rather than using the outdated explanation of racial differences, the media relies on the seemingly immutable concept of “culture” to play a similar role. The latter is racism by another name in Lee’s view.

Lee demonstrates that the 2010 statistical data shows a far more complex picture, in which Asian Americans are overrepresented on both ends of the economic spectrum. Thus, not only does the media ignore the importance of class, such as those living in poverty, but it also does not differentiate between different Asian groups with diverse historical experiences, as well as a growing community of multiracial Asians. Some Asian Americans also continue to challenge gender roles. Lee provides an example of Mee Moua, a female politician of Hmong descent in a state legislature, despite her upbringing, in what Lee describes as a patriarchal Laotian culture.

The Impact of Immigration Law on Asian Americans remains significant, while Asian Americans remain vulnerable. Lee demonstrates the way the treatment of Asian Americans changed depending on US relations with their ancestral country of origin. For example, the 1940s brought an end to Chinese exclusion because China was a World War II ally. Yet after the 1949 Revolution, Chinese Americans came under scrutiny as possible Communists in the context of the Cold War. Starting in the 1990s with China’s economic success, Chinese Americans once again began to be questioned about their loyalties, as in the case of the scientist Wen Ho Lee.

Similarly, the War on Terror of the George W. Bush administration had a negative impact on South Asian Americans racially by profiling some and causing others to return to their home countries: “US interventions in Asia and the Middle East in the global War on Terror translated into the mistreatment and marginalization of some Asian American and other communities in the United States” (388). Thus, US foreign policy continues to uproot large groups of people in conflict zones and create refugee flows to the Americas.