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Race and Ethnicity Paper

February 24, 2014









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After the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, it
was suggested that we now live in a post-racial, colorblind society, in which race
matters and racism are practically irrelevant (Lwin 2010). In the midst of these
claims, the experiences of many Asian American citizens living in the United
States counter such an assertion. Many Asian American people still face various
forms of systemic racism and oppression in their everyday lives on both
institutional and interpersonal levels, as individuals and members of a group,
causing fluctuations in personal wellbeing, self-esteem and psychological stress
for these individuals (Liang 2007). Their experiences challenge the concept of
post-racial colorblindness, in that they illustrate how racism is still something they
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continue to face even as the percentage of people of color in our society
increases.
President Obamas election drew a number of responses regarding the
current state of race and racism in the U.S. Some of them asserted that civil
rights problems and struggles with regards to race were a thing of the past, and
that Obamas election signified a new era for politics beginning with the election
of a person of color to a high position of power (Lwin 2010). Others equated this
alleged post-racial era with increased colorblindness and the dissolution of
perceived cross-racial differences (2010). Obamas election to the Presidency
was being used to illustrate the idea that Americas problem with racism was over
because it had finally elected a black president. One significant problem with
these statements is that they suggest that no further attempts to protect people
from racial discrimination, oppression and marginalization are necessary, being
that racism and race itself are being referred to as things of the past (2010).
Suggestions that our society is in a state of post-racial colorblindness
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exemplify the compartmentalization aspect of racism, in that the majority is
attempting to persuade (brainwash) its citizens into believing that everything is
okay with regards to racism. Minority groups are being told to buy into the idea
that oppression and discrimination are a thing of the past (in essence to get over
it) when it is obvious that they are still present and active.
Asian Americans are still a minority group in the U.S. Indeed, in 2050 their
numbers are expected to increase from around 5 percent of the population to 9
percent (2010). These numbers stand in contrast to those of other minority
groups. For example, by 2050 the population of Latino Americans is expected to
rise to 30 percent, while African Americans are projected to rise to 15 percent of
the U.S. population (2010).
Being that Asian Americans are projected to continue to be a relatively
small minority of the U.S. population, racial stereotypes about them will continue
to be an issue within our society (2010). Similarly, being a small minority of the
U.S. population also suggests that the attitude to Asian Americans will be one of
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expecting them to conform and assimilate to larger society rather than stand on
their own as a group and be able garner more civil rights and protections against
racial discrimination (2010).
In general, it would seem that Asian Americans contend with dual
projections from our society; they are often stereotyped as intelligent, educated
model citizens while also being treated as perpetual foreigners (2012). While
being stereotyped as model citizens who are able rise to positions of relative
acclaim and success, fear of the domination of Asian Americans in the job
market and economy is also present (Liang 2007). Despite generally higher
educational levels than white people, Asian Americans were found receive lower
wages for the same jobs and have lower access to quality healthcare and mental
health services, as well as lower rates of utilization of mental health services
(Tawa 2012).
Personal accounts of the systemic and interpersonal racism experienced
by Asian Americans illustrate the persisting and pervasive forces of racial
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discrimination and oppression active in our society. Asian Americans face racism
in the institutions they interact with on a daily basis, such as school and the
workplace (Talbot 2009). In an incident of being taunted by schoolmates for her
appearance and ethnic identity, Donna Talbot reflected on how her teacher
watched on and laughed as she was bullied at school. Although she was half-
Japanese American and both of her parents were naturalized American citizens,
her family was turned away from community clubs and she was discouraged by
an administrator at her high school from accepting the offer to attend Amherst
college, because the administrator did not want the first representative of their
high school to be an Asian American (1999). Rather than shrink from life and
participation in society and the struggle for civil rights for minorities and women,
Talbot expresses that these experiences spurred her interest in social work to
shed light on and fight against injustices as a woman of color (1999).
Her experiences illustrate the ways in which racism takes place on both
interpersonal and institutional levels, and how, although attempts were made to
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both contain and compartmentalize her, she resisted both while continually
maintaining a strong grasp of her Asian American identity, rather than bowing
down and assimilating to larger white culture.
It is worth noting that institutional and interpersonal racism and
discrimination are differentiated in research on Asian American experiences of
racism. Perceived structural racism (PSR) is conceived of as the means by which
racial minorities are systemically oppressed and marginalized by the current
power structures in place in American society (2012). Perceived interpersonal
racism (PIR) differs in that it emanates from a persons own stereotypes and
belief systems about a racial minority, thereby affecting their concept and
treatment of a member of that racial group (2012). Furthermore, self-esteem, with
regards to research on its correlation with perceived racism, falls into two
categories: personal self-esteem and collective self-esteem, or how one feels
about, perceives themselves in, as well as fits into their own racial group (2012).
Higher rates of perceived interpersonal racism correlated with lower rates of
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personal self-esteem among groups of both Korean and Japanese Americans
(2012).
Conversely, Tawa (2012) found that higher rates of perceived structural
racism among Asian Americans contributed to higher collective self-esteem, in
that PSR was perceived as the function of a flawed social structure and was not
a reflection of the failings or flaws of the racial group or the individual as part of
that group. Further, awareness of that the cause of PSR is a problematic and
unequal social structure that is set up in such a away to continually subordinate
and marginalize racial minorities was linked to higher rates of belongingness
within ones own group (2012).
Tawas research (2012) sheds light on containment as an aspect of the
racism Asian Americans experience. Asian Americans report feelings of greater
group belongingness in the face of systemic racism, illustrating that sticking
together as a group is a mechanism by which they, as individuals, cope with
racism. They are contained within their own minority group, marginalized and
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oppressed as individuals and as a group, separate from the majority.
In conclusion, the attempts to dismiss racism and race matters as things
of the past, as exemplified in the statements that we are now living in post-racial
colorblind society, as well as the data gleaned from qualitative and quantitative
examples of the persistence and pervasiveness of racism show the competing
forces at work in a racially diverse society. From these sources, it is possible to
see how the majority group, consisting primarily of white people, attempts to
suppress, contain and compartmentalize both the activities and ideology of Asian
Americans (as well as other minority groups), through institutional and structural
means as well as socio-political rhetoric.
As Asian Americans continue to grow as a minority group in the U.S.
population, they remain a relatively small percentage, even in projection, in
comparison to groups of Latino and African Americans. For this reason, their
ability to stand up as a group and be recognized as oppressed and in need of
protection in the obvious continued struggle for civil rights as a racial minority is
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something not to be taken for granted.










































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References

Liang, C. H., Alvarez, A. N., Juang, L. P., & Liang, M. X. (2007). The Role of
Coping in the Relationship Between Perceived Racism and Racism-Related
Stress for Asian Americans: Gender Differences. Journal Of Counseling
Psychology, 54(2), 132-141. doi:10.1037/00-0167.54.2.132

Lwin, M. (2010). The Numbers Game: Covering Asian Americans and Post-
Racial America. Asian Pacific American Law Journal, 15(1), 92-113.

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Talbot, D. M. (1999). Personal Narrative of an Asian American's Experience With
Racism. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 77(1), 42.

Tawa, J., Suyemoto, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2012). Implications of Perceived
Interpersonal and Structural Racism for Asian Americans' Self-Esteem. Basic &
Applied Social Psychology, 34(4), 349-358. doi:10.1080/01973533.2012.693425