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Asian American
Educators and
Microaggressions

More Than Just Work(ers)

Andrew Wu
Asian American Educators and Microaggressions
 Andrew Wu

Asian American
Educators and
Microaggressions
More Than Just Work(ers)
Andrew Wu
Irvine, CA, USA

ISBN 978-3-031-23458-3    ISBN 978-3-031-23459-0 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23459-0

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
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To My Family- RKW, AKW and BW whose support helped make this book
possible
 Preface

I recently had a conversation with a colleague who expressed surprise that

Asian Americans (AA) faced discrimination. His experience with AAs while
at a large state university was one that AAs were highly successful and did
not face racism or unequal treatment. This perception of AAs as the model
minority did not surprise me as long-standing stereotypes of AAs continue
to be perpetuated in US society.
Diversity and racial equity in corporations and institutions of higher
education have grown in importance during recent years, especially as
contemporary research has been conducted on the experiences of AA fac-
ulty members (Davis & Huang, 2013; Gee, Peck, & Wong, 2015).
However, the higher education research has excluded AAs, with little
complex analysis on AAs’ experiences as student or faculty (Museus,
2009). Most news regarding higher education and AAs usually is relegated
to AAs as high achieving students and/or the debate on affirmative action
in college admissions.
The purpose of this book is to share an interview-based qualitative
study that gives a voice to AA faculty members at Predominantly White
Institutions (PWIs). I utilized a basic interpretive design to examine indi-
vidual experiences that shaped the perceptions of AA faculty members at
their respective institutions. Utilizing the theoretical frameworks of the
Model Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype and the con-
struct of microaggressions, nine AA faculty members participated in inter-
views in which they described their career experiences at PWIs. AA faculty
members stated that they were able to individually transcend microaggres-
sions by drawing from life experiences, taking strategic action, and

vii
viii PREFACE

experiencing the gradual increase of AA faculty members and their aca-

demic program representation at PWIs.
The basic interpretive design methodology that I utilized resulted in
findings that connected and strengthened the theoretical frameworks of
the Model Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype as men-
tioned, with the affects of microaggressions on AA faculty members for
this study. The data collected on AA faculty members’ experiences at
their institutions reveal the affects of the Model Minority Myth, per-
petuating the narrative of monolithic AA success in academia and careers,
yet not in the mold of leadership qualities (Yamagata-Noji & Gee, 2012).
Also the perpetual Foreigner Stereotype, as the xenophobic racism that
minority groups in the United States are considered non or less American
(Armenta et al., 2013). And finally, microaggressions are subtle discrimi-
nation against minorities (Sue, 2010) that affect AAs’ career experiences.
Implications for future research will help higher education administrative
leadership and stakeholders better support career experiences and oppor-
tunities for AA faculty members.
AAs have recently come under attacks, both verbal and physical, stem-
ming from anti-Asian racism and microaggressions from the COVID-19
pandemic. The tragic legacy of anti-Asian racist historical blemishes and
injustice such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the internment of
Americans of Japanese ancestry resurface in modern form, from the physi-
cal assaults of AAs in cities across the country to verbal assaults from the
president of the United States.
I hope that the testimonies, research, and analysis in this book can help
shed light on the racial microaggression and discrimination faced by AA
faculty and help institutional decision makers, administrators, and faculty
better understand the subtle and overt marginalization faced by AAs. And
with this better understanding, strategic planning and actions to mitigate
and ultimately eliminate structural and institutional racism. This is the
vision of this book and the hope for future AA generations.
 Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my faculty mentors, Dr. Susan Swayze, Dr. Rick
Jakeman, and Dr. David Surratt, for their wisdom, guidance, and scholar-
ship. To my professors throughout my undergraduate to graduate pro-
grams that introduced and instilled the salience of diversity, especially in
higher education, I gratefully acknowledge. There are many scholars that
have contributed vital and important work, authoring what is considered
the gold standard of racial microaggressions. Without their scholarship
this book could not have been possible. I can never recognize all by name,
and thus humbly acknowledge collectively. A special gratitude and
acknowledgement to Dr. Chester Pierce, the scholar who is the founda-
tion of scholarship on racial microaggressions.
I’d also like to recognize the AA individuals and organizations that
have stood up and fought AA hate and discrimination, challenged media
and society to recognize and bring equity to AA populations. I hope this
book will offer insight to the general public, students, and administrators
on how microaggressions have historically impacted AAs and the specifi-
cally impacted AA faculty in higher education institutions.
Finally, I would like to thank the AA faculty who spoke up and partici-
pated in this study, it has been an honor to listen to their career stories and
to experience their bravery in sharing their workplace discrimination and
microaggressions. Without their testimony this book would not have been
possible. Their contributions on facing racial injustices at the workplace

ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

were not without personal and professional risk. Not only did they share
with transparency on their own journeys, but also encourage me to con-
tinue to go strong in the field of AA rights as a doctoral student and as a
graduate. I am eternally grateful and inspired for their support and encour-
agement, one of the driving reasons to do this work and continue to con-
tribute to the field.
 Contents

1 China Virus: Asian Americans in the Crosshairs  1

2 Microaggressions: American Snakemen 27

3 Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype: Third Class Americans 41

4 Model Minority Myth: Voice of Asian American Academics 61

5 Motivation: More than Just Work(ers) 89

6 Conclusion: The Emergence of New Tokenism111

Appendix135

Index137

xi
 About the Author

Andrew Wu received his BA and MA degrees from California State

University at Long Beach’s Department of Asian and Asian American
Studies, Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the George
Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human
Development. He has served leadership and faculty roles at a wide range
of higher education institutions in the last two decades.

xiii
 List of Tables

Table 1.1 Participant Profile 4

Table 2.1 Themes Developed as a Result of Microaggression Research 34

xv
 CHAPTER 1

China Virus: Asian Americans

in the Crosshairs

“Wuhan. Wuhan was catching on, coronavirus, kung flu, I could give
you many, many names. Some people call it the Chinese flu, the China
flu, they call it the China.”
—Donald Trump, June 2020.

I recall having feelings of concern and dread upon hearing news reports
about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), towards the end of
2019 and the beginning of 2020. At that time there appeared to be little
effect on life in the United States (U.S.) and with my experience of living
in Asia during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the early
2000s, the feeling of concern was health based. The feeling of dread was
evoked based on the long-standing historical racism and discrimination
faced by Asians and Asian Americans (AA) in the U.S. Far too often AAs
are racially stereotyped and considered as foreign, non-American. The
experience of living in the environment of SARs in Asia, would be quite
different than the effects of a virus that appears to emerge from China and
its potential crash course with the current American governmental rheto-
ric of racism, xenophobia, and climate of dog whistle politics from the
President of the U.S. Looking back to early 2020, I was prepared for some
level of anti-Asian sentiment but did not anticipate the extreme level such
bigotry reached at the end of 2020.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2023
A. Wu, Asian American Educators and Microaggressions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23459-0_1
2 A. WU

In fact, Asian Americans have reported increased racial tension and rac-
ist microaggressions that result in verbal attacks being targets of racially
motivated hate crimes that include physical violence and harassment—
despite the disease impacting people of all races/ethnicities (Gover,
Harper, & Langton, 2020). In March 2020, racist language was captured
by a photographer on President Donald Trump’s notes for a speech at the
White House. Trump had crossed out the words “Corona Virus” and
replaced it with “China Virus”, a racialized phrase commonly used by
Trump, along with “kung flu” (Moynihan & Porumbescu, 2020). In
addition, on the same day Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas., told reporters
that “China is to blame” because the Chinese culture is “where people eat
bats and snakes and dog and things like that” (Smith, 2020).
Blaming ethnic groups can have dangerous impacts, especially since
hate incidents towards Asians Americans have increased in the past several
months. New York State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou, a witness the
virus’ toll, stated that Trump is “fueling the flames of racism with all of his
comments” and to continue calling COVID-19 the ‘Chinese virus,’ is to
basically be racist. It’s fueling the xenophobia we’re seeing all over our
districts” (Yam, 2020). President and executive director of Asian Americans
Advancing Justice, John C. Yang, commented to NBC, that Trump’s
choice of words is not innocuous and is dangerous, “I absolutely think
that words used by him matter,“ he said. “Certainly use of this term by
him and others even in the last couple of weeks have led to a noticeable
incline in hate incidents that we are seeing. I do think that there is a cor-
relation” (Yam, 2020). As of June 2020, hate incidents experienced by
Asian Americans on public transit, in the supermarket, walking on the
sidewalk, at one’s workplace and business, are examples of more than
1800 reports of pandemic-fueled harassment or violence in 45 states
received by Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (Kambhampaty, 2020).
Asian American educators have called from support for Asian American
communities due to the increasing concerns from the COVID pandemic
(CFA, 2020). and a better understanding of the long history of anti-Asian
violence. The California Faculty Association (CFA) asked their colleagues
at the California State University system to take note of:

• People of all geographical areas and cultural backgrounds can be

vulnerable to COVID-19. Avoid terms like “Wuhan virus” or
“Chinese virus” that perpetuate racist rhetoric and inaccurate
information.
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 3

• While the model minority myth has perpetuated notions that Asians
and Asian Americans are “honorary whites” or “white adjacent,”
proliferation of recent xenophobia again demonstrates how racial
wedges serve to silence the embedded nature of orientalism
and racism.
• Understand the very real impacts of “Yellow Peril” rhetoric on Asian
American communities. Here are just a few examples: bullying,
harassment, loss of patronage and income to Chinatown and Asian-­
owned establishments (many of which employ some of the most vul-
nerable communities). (CFA, 2020)

Asian American have been subjected to the violence, harassment, and

discrimination created by COVID pandemic. Long standing historical
anti-Asian racism and microaggressions has been given a new lease on life,
impacting not just the daily lives of Asian Americans families, profession-
als, but also educators. Despite the paucity of research and scholarship on
anti-Asian racist microaggressions, there has been a rising movement of
Asian American organizations, such as the CFA and the Asian Americans
Advancing Justice taking a stand and creating a public platform to address
these current and historical injustices.
This book explores the effects of microaggressions stemming from the
Model Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype on the career
experiences of Asian American (AA) faculty members who are currently
working at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) of higher education.
Diversity and racial equity in academic environments have grown in
importance over the recent years (Loes et al., 2012; Park & Denson,
2013) because contemporary research has been conducted regarding the
experiences of AA students and faculty members (Teranishi et al., 2009;
CARE, 2011). However, the limited higher education research has focused
primarily on AA students (CARE, 2008; Museus, 2009), with minimal
scholarship on the career experiences of AA faculty members (Teranishi,
2010). Moreover, a specific study of microaggressions experienced by AA
faculty members and their effects on career experiences in higher educa-
tion institutions has not been conducted prior to this one.
My research provided analysis of the perceptions and day-to-day experi-
ences of a group of AA faculty members at higher education institutions.
In addition, this study utilized the theoretical frameworks of the Model
Minority Myth and the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype, as well as the con-
struct of microaggressions, to determine how, in combination, they effect
4 A. WU

the career experiences of AA faculty members. Current literature on the

construct of microaggressions points to the intersectionality of racial,
social, and economic constructs that have created a cultural dynamic of
inequity and discrimination (Solorzano et al., 2000; Sue, 2010; Sue,
Bucceri, et al., 2007a; Sue, Capodilupo, et al., 2007b). Such frameworks
serve as interpretive lenses for the career experiences of AA faculty mem-
bers at higher education institutions.
The participant group consisted of nine AA faculty members with expe-
rience at PWIs who volunteered to participate in this study (see Table 1.1).
All participants met the selection criteria of identifying as AAs and having
current or prior experience working as faculty members at PWIs.
Participants were all located in the West Coast of the U.S. Their racial
backgrounds can be described as follows: eight identified as “Asian-­
American” and one self-described as “Mixed Identity AA.” Demographic
information summarizing the participants’ academic experience working
in higher education and ethnicity:
To better understand the effects on microaggressions on AA faculty
members, I examined the historical context of racial discrimination faced
by AAs, comparable experiences of AAs in the technology industry, the
growth of the AA student and faculty member population, and AA faculty
members’ career experiences that have affected their daily work and
advancement opportunities. Microaggressions continue to have a substan-
tial impact on AA experiences (Sue, Capodilupo, et al., 2007b).
Microaggressions are defined as “subtle insults directed toward people of
color, often automatically or unconsciously” (Solorzano et al., 2000,
p. 60). Microaggressions, stemming from the racial discrimination of the

Table 1.1 Participant Profile

Participant Years of Experience as Faculty AA Ethnicity/Gender

Chris 10 East Asian/male

Nick 12 Southeast Asian/male
Ian 21 East Asian/male
Sean 22 Multi-ethnic/female
Nicole 7 Southeast Asian/female
Ben 25 East Asian/male
Sam 50 East Asian/male
Jim 36 East Asian/male
Denise 16 East Asian/female
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 5

Model Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype, have had dam-
aging effects on the careers of AAs in both the technology industry and
academic institutions. Common microaggressions faced by AAs include
comments such as:

• You speak good English.

• Can you help with this math/science problem?
• Why are you so quiet? We want to know what you think.
• Be more verbal.
• Speak up more (Sue, 2010).

Microaggressions, which are based on racism, are particularly pervasive

in the media and educational process (Sue, 2010). Sue (2010) defined
racism “as any attitude, action, institutional structure, or social policy that
subordinates persons or groups because of their color” (p. 7). Overt rac-
ism is usually not socially condoned, nor is it common in public discourse;
rather, microaggressions of a racial nature reflect a more innocuous form
of racism (Solorzano et al., 2000) that AA populations experience.
Chester Pierce’s (1974) commentary on mass media and microaggres-
sion was particularly applicable to modern day media. On October 2016,
Fox News aired “Watters’ World,” a recurring segment on “The O’Reilly
Factor,” which consisted of Jesse Watters, correspondent, conducting a
series of mocking interviews of AA residents of New York City’s Chinatown
that was criticized for its stereotypical portrayal of AAs and displays of
overt racism (Stack, 2016). This contemporary media example of the
Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype and overt racism was demonstrated during
a 5-minute video edited with clips referring to Asian cultural stereotypes
such as martial arts and scenes of the correspondent getting a foot massage
and playing with nunchucks. In addition, the host deliberately asked ques-
tions to local residents who appeared not to have a strong English lan-
guage proficiency, ridiculing them when they did not understand or could
not provide answers (Watters’ World, 2016). The video included edited
clips from well-known movies including The Karate Kid and Chinatown as
a reinforcement of the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype theme.
Among the segment’s critics were New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who
stated, “The vile, racist behavior of Fox’s Jesse Watters in Chinatown has
no place in our city” (de Blasio, 2016, para. 1). Other critics included
New York Councilman Peter Koo, stating that passing off this blatantly
racist television segment as gentle fun not only validates racist stereotypes,
6 A. WU

it encourages them. The entire segment smacks of willful ignorance by

buying into Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype (Stack, 2016). This portrayal
of microaggressions and racism mirrors Pierce’s (1974) statement that
mass media portrayed minorities in ways that continue to teach White
supremacy. The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and Los
Angeles Times have all portrayed AAs in alignment with the success myth
(Chun, 1980), in particular in regard to educational attainment, and at
the same time by White superiority as the privileged foreigner whose status
is dependent on his ability to be accepted by White natives (Chin &
Chan, 1972).
Institutional and historical conditions directly apply to the structural
issues faced by AA faculty members and extend into the core foundation
of the AA social framework in the U.S. Asian Americans have been racially
triangulated vis-à-vis Whites and Blacks through two interrelated pro-
cesses of relative valorization (Whites valorizing Asian Americans relative
to Blacks) and the process of civic ostracism (Whites constructing Asian
Americans as foreign and Other; Ng, Lee, & Pak, 2010). AAs have been
placed in a separate third class of racial group, apart from the White major-
ity and Black minority, a third outlying foreign group. In part this triangu-
lation represented the foundation of the denial of racial reality and
Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype, because AAs are considered neither the
majority or severely oppressed, and anecdotal evidence of AA professional
or academic success is unfairly cast on all AA groups.
The denial of racial reality was exacerbated by AAs being labeled with
the Model Minority Stereotype, perceived as singularly focused on hard
work and lacking motivation to higher education leadership roles. Some
researchers, such as Ng et al. (2007), argue that AA groups are not in the
top achieving echelon, despite the model minority stereotype. The Model
Minority Myth portrays AAs as lacking the right leadership style due to
being quiet or passive, perpetrating an image of foreignness, continuously
marginalized, and not being embraced by the majority at the highest levels
of higher education.
In the technology field, Gee et al.’s (2015) article continued the Model
Minority Myth discussion by identifying three major Asian leadership gaps
in awareness and expectations, role models, and behavior. Their research
found that technology organizations showed disparity in placement of AA
in leadership roles, “Asians were found to be 27.2% of the professional
workforce, but only 13.9% of executives in the professional workforce at
Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, LinkedIn, and Yahoo” (Gee et al., 2015,
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 7

p. 3). Gee et al. suggested issues of cultural deference to authority. This

deference often implies weakness, ineffective communication and influ-
encing skills, political naiveté/dexterity (i.e., a lack of understanding how
organizational business decisions are made), and aversion to risk-taking in
business and career, all of which ultimately hinder AAs’ access to executive
roles. These themes were examined in further detail in this study.
Stemming from the Model Minority Stereotype, a key barrier to AAs
obtaining executive level positions is the inaccurate perception that Asian
Americans lack the right leadership style because AAs are considered to be
reticent or deferent to authority, thus lacking leadership potential. These
challenges are evident in industries where AAs play substantial role. For
example, self-reporting by social media companies shows that Asian
employees are almost on par with White employees in professional non-­
executive areas at Facebook (Williams, 2014). Gee et al. (2015) provide
quantitative metrics and attempt to elucidate the factors that have led to
the underrepresentation of Asian American leadership diversity in
Silicon Valley.
Higher education institutions in the U.S. have experienced substantial
increases in AA college enrollment; between 1979 to 2009, there was a
fivefold increase from 235,000 to 1.3 million of AA students (CARE,
2011). Asian Americans are currently the fastest growing college-going
population across a wide range of institutions in the U.S. (Chang et al.,
2007). Between 1990 and 2000, “AA enrollment rates increased by 73.3
percent in public two-year colleges, 42.2 percent in public four year col-
leges, and 53.4 percent in private four year colleges” (CARE, 2008,
p. 13). The changes in population growth of AA students enrolled at insti-
tutions of higher education demonstrate the importance of increased
equity required in relation to AA faculty member representation. AA col-
lege students also face similar racial inequities related to the Model
Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype (Lee & Kumashiro,
2005), such as being told “go back to where [they] came from” and being
looked at strangely when they receive grades. Existing stereotypes include,
“the smart and hard-working Asian, the lazy and incapable Pacific Islander,
the illiterate refugee draining the community’s resources, the gangster, the
quiet and mysterious Other, and so forth” (Lee & Kumashiro, 2005,
p. 19). In addition, with the recent increase of Chinese students (Allen-­
Ebrahimian, 2015) and the increased financial impact of such enrollments
(Bothwell, 2018), the potential for Asian and AA discrimination or racism
may persist. AAs are often assigned to a monolith group, which includes
8 A. WU

Asians in general; the stereotypes and discrimination transcend both

groups, ultimately effecting AAs. As a result, references to Asia or Asians
in this study directly apply to AA groups as an underserved, marginalized
population of Americans with Asian heritage.
On the surface it would appear that AA faculty members have good
representation in comparison with other faculty of color at college and
universities. Indeed, “as of 2005 there were 42,858 AA faculty, represent-
ing 7.2% total” (Teranishi, 2010, p. 136). However, large disparities in
promotion and tenure have been discovered in recent studies including:
White faculty being twice as likely to be promoted as Asian faculty to
the rank of associate or full professor. Similar to other faculty of color, AAs
had a lower proportion of faculty with tenure (36.3%) compared to Whites
(45.9%). However, there was a larger portion of AA faculty on the tenure
track, but not tenured (25.4%) compared to other racial groups. (Teranishi,
2010, p. 137).
The dearth in AA higher education leadership roles reveals an even
lower representation at college and universities. In 2005, “only 2.8% of
AAs were professional executive, administrative, and managerial staff
“(Teranishi, 2010, p. 141). Positions of leadership held by AAs at colleges
and universities was even lower, consisting of “only 1% of college presi-
dents” (Teranishi, 2010, p. 141). Without executive level AA administra-
tors and experienced tenured AA faculty giving voice and authority to
address systemic institutional issues, overt and subtle forms of racism con-
tinue to target AA faculty members and students.
Although there has been little scholarship on the effects of microag-
gressions on AA faculty members, “AAs are simply left out of the report-
ing of data” (Teranishi et al., 2009, p. 64), a comparison of higher
education and technology industries has illuminated the disparities and
inequalities of leadership roles. This lack of leadership roles, in turn, has
demonstrated that AAs face threats related to common stereotypes, such
as the Model Minority Myth, the stereotype that virtually all AAs are well-­
educated, affluent, and self-sufficient (Lu & Coloretti, 2015), but at the
same time reinforces the stereotype that AA lack leadership qualities (Sue,
2010). The U.S. Department of Labor (2015) recently reported that, in
reality, the AA community is not a monolithic group and each subgroup
faces specific challenges. In addition, the U.S. Census Bureau reported
that AA racial categories consist of 48 different ethnic groups spanning a
full range of socioeconomic positions, from poor and underprivileged to
affluent and highly skilled (CARE, 2011). Contrary to the Model Minority
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 9

Myth, one out of three AAs does not speak English fluently and certain
subgroups, such as the Hmong and Pacific Islanders, have low levels of
educational attainment and high levels of unemployment (Lu & Coloretti,
2015). A recent study reported that 80% of East and South Asians enrolled
in college earned a bachelor’s degree, whereas other AA subgroups, such
as Southeast Asians, reported 30–40% having attended college but not
earned a degree (CARE, 2011).
Although the U.S. Department of Labor report (2015) represented an
important step in bringing forward AAs’ socioeconomic issues, it did not
provide representation of microaggression events that effect AAs in higher
socioeconomic groups such as higher education faculty members. In part,
the stereotype that AAs are well-educated, affluent and self-sufficient is
reinforced, thus requiring a closer examination of the connection between
the lack of AAs in leadership roles in the technology field and the low
percentages of AA faculty members in leadership roles in academia.
Recent studies in both the technology and higher education fields have
established that there is a disproportionate percentage of AA representa-
tion in leadership positions. This research has drawn a connection between
the apparent underrepresentation of AAs in leadership roles in academic
and business organizations. For example, a study presented in 2014 by the
social media giant Facebook, demonstrated the clear separation of AAs in
senior management versus AAs in staff roles. At Facebook, in the technol-
ogy category, Asian non-senior tech employees are represented at 41% in
comparison with White non-senior tech employees at 53%. However, at
the senior level, Asian employees are represented at 19% whereas White
employees are represented at 71% (Williams, 2014).
This deficit of AA leadership was mirrored in higher education, as dem-
onstrated by a 2013 report sponsored by The American Council on
Education. This report found that 1.5% of college and university presi-
dents were AAs and AAs led all other racial minority groups in the per-
centage of full-time tenured faculty members at 7%, but held only 2% of
chief academic officer positions and 3% of deanships (Davis & Huang,
2013). These metrics presented a salient issue with AA equity in senior
positions as a reflection on the existing framework of higher education
administrative research. Further research is needed to examine solutions
that could correct conditions in the traditional higher education power
structure to allow for increased participation of AAs in leadership roles.
The lack of AAs in leadership roles has been exacerbated by the current
political climate in the U.S. The resignation of 10 members of the
10 A. WU

President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

in objection to the president’s “portrayal of immigrants, refugees, people
of color and people of various faiths as untrustworthy, threatening, and a
drain on our nation” (Lee, 2017, para. 2) is a salient example. Not only is
there a lack of representation of AAs in business and academic leadership,
but also AA government administrators have faced racism and microag-
gressions in the new presidential administration, creating a significant loss
in representation.
Despite the reputation of AAs’ professional and academic success, this
is considered one of the many challenges that emerge when examining the
lack of advancement opportunities for AA higher education faculty mem-
bers. Current data demonstrates both the lack of AAs in executive roles in
both academic and business organizations and provides insight into the
overall issues related to AA leadership opportunities. In U.S. society, two
of the main environments that have high levels of AA involvement, as
demonstrated by the Facebook (Williams, 2014) and the Ascend
Foundation (Gee et al., 2015) reports, would be the technology arena,
which has a direct connection to the higher education arena. In fact, the
high involvement in higher education enabled AAs to establish careers in
high technology fields, even to flourish with numbers comparable to the
White majority. Yet, the question remains as to why there has been a sub-
stantial percentage of AA employment in education and technology, but a
clear lack of AAs in leadership positions in these two industries. Two key
conditions contribute to microaggression experiences: the Perpetual
Foreigner Stereotype and the Model Minority Myth. Along with institu-
tional/historical racism and discrimination as referenced framework, these
factors contributed to the lack of access and equity for AA faculty mem-
bers in higher education career opportunities and trajectories.
Therefore, my research sought to illuminate the applicability of the
described theories and constructs in terms of how well they combine to
serve as interpretive lenses for the experiences of AA faculty members.
More specifically, I investigated the question, how do AA faculty members
at higher education institutions describe their professional experiences and
perceive career paths in relation with diversity issues? These were the prob-
lems and issues that I sought to address in the follow chapters.
Microaggressions, Model Minority Myth, Perpetual Foreigner
Stereotype.
The effects of microaggressions, the Model Minority Myth, and the
Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype are all critical issues faced by AA faculty
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 11

members in higher education leadership advancement (Davis & Huang,

2013). The continuing discrimination and prejudice resulting from real
life experiences, both professional and personal of the two theories and
one construct served as forces that continue the marginalization of AA
faculty members. Many AA faculty members face longstanding historical
racial obstacles and limitations that have relegated the diverse AA group to
third class status. Davis and Huang (2013) stated that “individuals, even
those most familiar with higher education in general, fail to recognize that
Asian Pacific Islander Americans are underrepresented in senior leader-
ship” (p. 4). This suggests that issues in the career pipelines that AA fac-
ulty members face require a heightened awareness by leadership and
policymakers at institutions of higher learning (Teranishi, 2010).
At the time of writing this book, there was limited research on the indi-
vidual AA faculty members’ career advancement experiences and the chal-
lenges they faced. Microaggressions and discrimination toward not just
AA faculty members, but AAs as a whole, are present and continuing issues
in the U.S. (Stack, 2016). The current overt presence of microaggressions
and discrimination toward AAs as demonstrated in the media is alarming
due to historical overt discrimination against this population such as the
Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese Internment during WWII, especially
given that these instances are seen as obstacles that the U.S. has overcome.
Microaggressions were present even at the highest level of government
from then-candidate and current President of the U.S. questioning the
origin of an American of Korean descent reinforcing the Perpetual
Foreigner Stereotype (Guillermo, 2015). Overt acts of discrimination
only fostered and supported the use of subvert microaggressions
toward AAs.
AA faculty members are affected by the consequences of microaggres-
sions in their day-to-day experiences at institutions of higher education. As
racial minorities, AA faculty are not treated equally, especially where there
is an ideal and practice of education as a meritocracy (S. Lee, 2002).
Additional research is required to address these critically important issues.
Even when AA faculty have limited success in the realm of higher educa-
tion, the rules change, perpetuating Euro-American methods of domi-
nance, such as racial exclusion and assimilation. Those in positions of
power make the claim that AA faculty members lack qualities such as per-
fect English or assertiveness (Chan, 1989). This is particularly salient due
to the presence of an estimated 1 million AA students and 45,000 AA
faculty members in the U.S. as of 2006 (Teranishi, 2010). These
12 A. WU

substantial totals impact the perceptions of AA faculty and how higher

education policy and practice effect their daily experiences.

Research
The purpose of the book’s research was to provide insight into the percep-
tions and day-to-day experiences of AA faculty members, as well as to
strengthen the connection among microaggressions, the Model Minority
Myth, and the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype as obstacles for AA faculty
members.
I sought to identify factors that created a negative career impact for AA
faculty members with respect to leadership roles. Through this study, the
applicability of the aforementioned theories and construct is captured,
especially as to how well they uniquely and/or in combination represent
the experiences of AA faculty members. The overall contribution of this
study is to inform and assist leadership at institutions of higher education
to improve the workplace experiences of AAs. Consequently, as a result of
increased awareness of AA faculty members’ experiences, diversity mission
statements at colleges and universities will better support underrepre-
sented faculty and staff. Specifically, the questions established for this book
were as follows:

1. How do Asian Americans (AA) faculty members perceive their

career experiences in higher education?
2. How does the Model Minority Myth shape AA faculty members’
experiences at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs)?
3. How does the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype shape AA faculty
members’ experiences at PWIs?
4. How do microaggressions, stemming from the MMM and PFS,
effect AA faculty members’ careers at PWIs?

Importance of Research
The research in this book has provided a scholarly contribution in two
areas: (a) research regarding the career experiences and opportunities of
AA faculty members at higher education institutions; and (b) contributing
to the existing body of literature by applying the construct of microag-
gressions to the theories of the Model Minority Myth and the Perpetual
Foreigner Stereotype. This research has contributed to the significance of
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 13

these elements by connecting the lived experiences of higher education

faculty members who identify as AAs and their lived professional experi-
ences in the context of career tenure and promotion. Microaggressions
have not only created discriminatory experiences for AAs, but also created
challenging obstacles faced by AAs, not just in higher education career
leadership opportunities (Teranishi et al., 2009), but also in U.S. society
as a whole.
In addition, the exploration has provided a multi-perspective approach
to the understanding of why there is lack of leadership roles held by AAs
working in higher education institutions. Research for this book incorpo-
rated unique frameworks and provided new information to other research-
ers who are interested in ways in which the frameworks of microaggression,
the Model Minority Myth, and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype were used
to promote further scholarship in this neglected area. These theories were
conceptualized into the negative psychological effects AAs suffer as a
result of microaggressions in the workplace.
The research focus on AA higher education faculty members has pro-
vided valuable data that will inform policymakers and leadership in higher
education institutions about ways to transcend traditional discriminatory
power constructs with respect to AA faculty members’ experiences in lead-
ership roles and advancement opportunities. Although the investigation
for this book was qualitative and focused on the individual experiences of
each participant, the connection between these experiences and the themes
that appeared with greater frequency could inform policymakers in higher
education on how to support AAs and the mission of diversity at most col-
leges and universities. This investigation also sought to identify factors
creating a negative career impact for AAs with respect to leadership roles.
The potential findings aimed to assist policymakers and executive boards
within higher education to help increase recruitment, retention, and lever-
age the collective experience and skills of highly qualified AA faculty
members.
Additionally, this research placed an emphasis on applying theories such
as the Model Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype to the
construct of microaggressions experienced by AA faculty members in
higher education. It was important to gain an understanding of racial
issues stemming from social constructs and frameworks. Utilizing the
aforementioned framework that encompassed three key areas, I gained a
better understanding of the discriminatory experiences faced by AAs. The
first key area was the racism toward AAs, beginning with the Yellow Peril
14 A. WU

label, continuing to the Chinese Exclusion Act and the internment of

Americans of Japanese descent during World War II; these events form the
central foundation of subordination to which AAs have been subjected
throughout modern U.S. history. Next, the necessity to challenge and
dispel the discriminatory labels of the Model Minority Myth and Perpetual
Foreigner Stereotype applied to AA groups. The contemporary experi-
ences of AAs and their challenges facing their career path demonstrated
the application of new experiential knowledge that has the potential to
drive awareness and prompt new scholarship for positive change and
increased diversity in AA senior leadership opportunities. Finally, the
effects of microaggressions on individual academic and business points of
view as described AA professionals and faculty members brought an aware-
ness of this area of discrimination by elucidating their unique experiences.
Without recognizing the historical and racial frameworks in relation to the
daily perspectives of current AA faculty members, they will continue to
face marginalization and discrimination, influencing equity in the current
multicultural American experience.

Theoretical and Construct Foundations

This book utilized a variety of different lenses through which to view the
experiences and effects of microaggressions on the career experiences of
AA higher education faculty members. Civil and ethnic rights studies have
addressed issues of microaggressions, but placed them in a broader lens
that includes economics, history, context, group- and self-interest, and
even feelings and the unconscious (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). There is
the notion that virtually all AAs are self-sufficient, well-educated, and
upwardly mobile (Ng et al., 2010), and the invisibility of racism and dis-
crimination faced by AA groups (Chou & Feagin, 2015). The theoretical
frameworks of the Model Minority Myth, Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype,
and the construct of microaggressions were used as interpretive lenses for
this study due to their combined breadth and varying views on the topic.
It is important to establish that, for this study, microaggressions were the
main conceptual construct, with the Model Minority Myth and the
Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype being used as theoretical frameworks that
manifest in the form of microaggressions. The justification was that such
theories are primarily based on the racial experiences of people of color
and underrepresented minorities, and they are applicable to the study of
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 15

current AA professionals in the corporate world and among higher educa-

tion faculty.

Model Minority Myth

The theory of the Model Minority Myth—the stereotype that virtually all
AAs are self-sufficient, well-educated, and upwardly mobile—was a label
placed upon AAs, incorrectly defining a diverse group to be singularly
focused on hard work with a tunnel vision approach to higher education
achievement. Ng et al. (2007) argued that the Model Minority Myth ste-
reotype presents AAs as not having the right leadership style because they
are quiet or passive, evoking ideas of their foreignness. Although AAs have
been considered the model minority and are hardworking, something else
keeps them from being embraced fully by the majority at the highest levels
of higher education; as a result, they continued to be marginalized.
The Model Minority Myth stereotype casts AAs as monolithic group
whose members achieve universal and unparalleled academic and occupa-
tional success (Museus & Vue, 2013). Additional research in these areas
utilized a self-assessment model approach to address issues with AA lead-
ership in the technology area of Silicon Valley. Gee et al. (2015) identified
three major Asian leadership gaps: a gap in awareness and expectations,
role models, and behavior. Then they proposed a self-driven solution to
resolve issues of cultural deference to authority. In part that deference
often implies weakness, ineffective communication and influencing skills,
political naiveté/dexterity (i.e., understanding how organizational busi-
ness decisions are made), and a reluctance to take risks for business
and career.
Gee et al.’s (2015) research findings imply that a good faith approach
to self-ownership is presented at some level as career improvement for
AAs, and that AA professionals should seek out their corporate training
organizations. This training develops soft skills, providing the training and
tools required to develop the skills and behaviors required for AA execu-
tive leadership. However, the question remains whether it either corrects
or continues to reinforce the Model Minority Myth. This study sought to
explore if the participants utilized a self-ownership approach in addressing
the issue of existing microaggressions experienced by AA faculty members.
16 A. WU

In addition, examination of further bias and stereotyping of AA as merely

good workers as detailed by contemporary researchers as they state that
many managers expect Asians to be good workers but do not expect them
to be potential leaders was conducted. The self-ownership approach has
the potential to support the negative stereotype of AA employees lacking
management soft skills, thus confining the value of the employee to one
that is a good worker and technically proficient, but unsuitable for
leadership.
The Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype.
The Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype, which theorizes that some ethnic
minorities do not fit the definition of what it means to be American, may
manifest itself in subtle, covert marginalizing incidents, such as question-
ing an individual’s hometown, complimenting his/her command of the
English language, or mistaking him/her for a foreigner (Liang, Li, &
Kim, 2004). Recent research found an overwhelming propensity to more
readily ascribe the American identity to European Americans rather than
to ethnic minorities. In the minds of both European Americans and ethnic
minorities (Asian Americans and Latino/as), being American is equated
with being White (Armenta et al., 2013).
As the researchers note, AAs and other minorities such as Latino/
Hispanic Americans consider such subtle experiences of racism offensive
and invalidating of their participation in their own country, perpetuating a
structural worldview that they are foreigners in their own land. This for-
eignness is reinforced by the stereotypes of Asian Americans as not having
the right leadership style because they are quiet or passive (Hyun, 2005).
In addition, as part of this enduring foreignness stereotype, AAs have been
labeled as proficient workers, but are perceived as lacking leadership traits
due to cultural and ethnic generalizations (Mundy, 2014). The literature
suggested that this was a primary example of microaggressions faced by
AAs during their career paths.

Microaggressions
The construct of microaggression was originally developed by Harvard
University professor Chester M. Pierce (1974). More often than not, the
dominant race’s issuing of microaggression commentary has little or no
effect on the perpetrator. Microaggressions are “brief and commonplace
daily verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional
or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 17

slights and insults that potentially have harmful or unpleasant psychologi-

cal impact on the target person or group” (Sue et al., 2007, p. 273). The
psychological effects of such subtle racism further reinforce institutional
issues of dominant racist ideology and create negative stress and psycho-
logical trauma on AA individuals. As Sue, Bucceri, et al. noted, AAs and
other minorities such as Latino/Hispanic Americans consider such subtle
experiences of racism to insult and invalidate their participation in their
own country, due to a structural worldview that they are foreigners in
their own land. As mentioned in the above research, labeling AAs as pro-
ficient workers, but lacking in leadership traits such to cultural and ethnic
generalizations, is a primary example of a microaggressions faced by AA
professionals during their career paths. The article then pointed out that
overt examples of racism in contemporary U.S. culture are rare due to
increasing social awareness and the nature of racism has become more
insidious, covert, and private. Thus the manifestation of microaggressions
is a common form of racism and discrimination by the White institutional
power over people of color.
Current contributions to the literature on microaggressions have been
made by scholarship such as Derald Wing Sue (2010) and Daniel Solorzano
et al.’s (2000) research demonstrating the substantial impact of microag-
gressions on minorities such as AAs. In addition, these authors provide
support regarding the foundation of microaggressions by defining racism
as a system of ignorance, exploitation, and power used to oppress African
Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Americans, American Indians and
other people on the basis of ethnicity, culture, mannerism, and color
(Solorzano et al., 2000). The use of microaggression commentary and
actions by the dominant systems may elicit little or no effect on the perpe-
trator. This established the manifestation of microaggressions as a com-
mon form of racism and discrimination by the institutional power
constructs over people of color.
The intersection of the construct and two theoretical frameworks
revealed the common aspects of microaggressions, Model Minority Myth,
and Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype. Others’ stereotypical racial percep-
tions of AA faculty members have affected their career environments. In
this study, the data collected from interviews helped draw the connection
between the daily experiences of AA faculty members and the respective
construct and theories. Evidence of microaggressions faced by AA faculty
members manifested in two primary areas: negative stereotypes of AAs as
foreigners and positive stereotypes of AAs as a successful minority group
(Sue, 2010). As mentioned in interviews, specific examples of being
18 A. WU

treated as foreign and being labeled as successful in academically and pro-

fessionally provided a detailed understanding of the effects of microag-
gressions on AA faculty members.

Method of Research
According to Creswell (2013), qualitative research is appropriate when
investigating a problem or issue that needs exploration. Therefore, I uti-
lized an interview-based qualitative basic interpretive design was deemed
appropriate as the primary source for data collection when researching AA
faculty members’ experiences in higher education institutions. The inter-
views elicited candid, direct responses from AA faculty members in rela-
tion to their professional experiences. The individual representations of
experiences gained from the interviews was the direct opposite of prede-
termined data from literature or prior studies, such as those used in quan-
titative research.
According Maxwell (2012), the value in conducting interviewing lies in
their ability to give access to others’ observations. Through interviewing,
researchers can learn about places they have not been and about settings
in which they have not lived. For this book, I implemented a semi-­
structured interview protocol with 13 initial exploratory interview ques-
tions to gain an understanding of the AAs’ faculty members job experiences
with respect to diversity issues. An additional 11 exploratory questions
were presented to establish respondent validation during a second
interview.
The initial analysis of the interview data consisted of reading the inter-
view transcripts (Maxwell, 2012), which involved listening to the elec-
tronic recordings prior to transcription. The researcher took notes and
memos based on the recordings, leading to development of tentative
themes concerning categories and relationships. Coding was the primary
form of categorical analysis used in this study. This process allowed the
data collected from the interviews to be organized into broad themes and
gradually broken down into more precise and specific themes and issues.
Specifically, open coding (also known as initial coding) allowed for the
separation the collected interview data into distinct parts, examination,
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 19

and comparison. I utilized the construction of vignettes, stories, and nar-

ratives to describe the participants and develop themes to answer the
research questions. Afterwards, the collected vignettes were coded into
separate data categories (Saldana, 2016), yielding eight themes: percep-
tions, status, stereotyping, societal labels, student success, career recogni-
tion, roles, and management importance.
The experiences of diversity issues faced by AA faculty members are of
significant research value. Therefore, a basic interpretive method approach
was able to clearly identify and reveal their experiences as a part of building
new scholarship in this area. Relevant examples included the lived experi-
ences of issues faced by AAs such as career path limitations and the Model
Minority Myth.
I assumed that there would be high level of participation and compe-
tence in terms of the ability to understand, process, and communicate the
questions presented in the course of interviews due to the study partici-
pants being experienced middle-level faculty members working within
higher education institutions. Participating higher education faculty mem-
bers were assumed to have completed at a minimum a bachelor’s degree
and possibly a graduate degree in their respective fields of study. Rapport
and connection with the participants were based on their combined edu-
cation, management, and work experience in developing an interpersonal
relationship that would be effective in the process of the interviews.
The participants that I interviewed were similar to me in terms of shar-
ing similar career experiences as AAs. In addition, I assumed that the
interview questions would be answered with reflection and directness. I
also assumed that the condition of anonymity and understanding that the
purpose of this study was to generate awareness and equity for the AA
community would promote genuine responses emphasizing integrity, eth-
ical reflections, and perspectives. Due to the need to build scholarship and
research in this area, I assumed that the participants would willingly share
information and experiences that were critical to this study. The popula-
tion of this study was limited to AA faculty members’ experiences at higher
education institutions. Although the study looked at a specific racial
group, it did not include any comparisons to any other specific minority or
underrepresented groups. In this focused, descriptive study, I only consid-
ered data collection about the experiences of those who identify as AA
faculty members in PWIs.
The research presented in this study had certain limitations that should
be brought to light. Naturally, the data collected from the participant
20 A. WU

interviews came from their own personal professional/life experiences and

perspectives. The interviews conducted in this study should not be consid-
ered a collective representation of all the roles of all AAs in higher educa-
tion faculty and cannot be seen as a mirror image of other AA experiences.
However, internal generalizability was a potential exception because it
related to common findings within the study itself. Issues of external gen-
eralizability refer to the findings’ “generalizability beyond that case, set-
ting, or group, to other persons, times, and settings” (Maxwell, 2012,
p. 137). As a result, reviewers of this research are advised not to take a
generalizable approach to findings to all external AA diversity issues.

Key Terms
The following definitions were used in this book:
Higher education administrator—“Postsecondary (higher) education
administrators oversee student services, academic affairs, and faculty mem-
bers’ research at colleges and universities. Their job duties vary depending
on the area of the college they manage, such as admissions, student life, or
the office of the registrar. Postsecondary education administrators work in
colleges, universities, community colleges, and technical and trade
schools” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). “Most work full time.
Although a bachelor’s degree may be acceptable for some entry-level posi-
tions, a master’s degree or terminal degree is often required. Employers
typically prefer to hire candidates who have experience working in the
field, especially for occupations such as registrars and academic deans”
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.).
Higher education faculty members—Faculty members or professors,
also known as postsecondary teachers, are experts in different subjects and
fields. Faculty members’ responsibilities can vary with their positions in
higher education institutions such as universities or colleges. In large col-
leges or universities, faculty members can divide their duties in activities
such as teaching, conducting research or experiments, applying for grants
for research, or supervising graduate teaching assistants who are teaching
classes. Postsecondary teachers who work for 4-year colleges and universi-
ties typically need a doctoral degree in their field. Some schools may hire
those with a master’s degree or degree candidates for some specialties,
such as fine arts, or for some part-time positions (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2015).
 1 CHINA VIRUS: ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE CROSSHAIRS 21

Microaggression—Microaggressions are “brief and commonplace daily

verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or
unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial
slights and insults that potentially have harmful or unpleasant psychologi-
cal impact on the target person or group” (Sue et al., 2007, p. 273).
“Simply stated, microaggressions are brief, everyday exchanges that send
denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a racial
minority group. These exchanges are so pervasive and automatic in daily
interactions that they are often dismissed and glossed over as being innoc-
uous” (Sue et al., 2007, p. 273).
Model Minority Myth—“The stereotype of Asian Americans as model
minorities, especially in education. The image of supposed academic
achievement of Asian Americans used as a beacon to highlight the proto-
typical American success story, a group to be admired and emulated by
others” (Ng et al., 2007, p. 95). “At the same time, however, it is used to
produce a heightened sense of fear, particularly in schools, that the Asian
horde will take over the classrooms to raise test scores, resulting in a new
form of White flight” (Ng et al., 2007, p. 95). “These concerns are pres-
ent all levels of education, from the PK–12 level to higher education. In
either case, one thing remains clear; Asian Americans are excluded from
the framework of normalcy” (Ng et al., 2007, p. 95).
Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype—This stereotype presents the argu-
ment that some ethnic minority groups, AAs for example, are considered
as other in the majority White society in the U.S. Ethnic minorities, such
as AAs, have experienced “discrimination, awareness of the Perpetual
Foreigner Stereotype, conflict between ethnic and national identities,
sense of belonging to American culture, and demographics” (Huynh
et al., 2011, p. 133). In addition, with respect to AAs, “above and beyond
perceived discrimination, awareness of the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype
significantly predicted lower hope and life satisfaction for Asian Americans,
and [it is] a marginal predictor of greater depression for Latinos/nas”
(Huynh et al., 2011, p. 133).
Predominantly White Institution (PWI)—“The term used to describe
higher education institutions such as college and universities in which stu-
dents of White racial background account for 50% or greater of total
enrollment. However, the majority of these institutions may also be under-
stood as historically White institutions in recognition of the binarism and
exclusion supported by the U.S. prior to 1964” (Brown & Dancy, 2009,
p. 2). “It is in a historical context of segregated education that
22 A. WU

predominantly White colleges and universities are defined and contrasted

from other colleges and universities that serve students with different
racial, ethnic, and/or cultural backgrounds” (Brown & Dancy, 2009, p. 2).

Summary
Ultimately the research conducted for this book demonstrated both the
challenges and opportunities for building and continuing research on
microaggressions and how it effects the career experience of AA higher
education faculty members. I assumed that the complex and nuanced phe-
nomenon of microaggressions would present a set of findings of complex
and intersectional racial and social processes, and was confident that these
lived experiences could be researched, interpreted, and analyzed.
In addition, the research demonstrated that the qualitative research
approach utilized in an organized and deliberate manner allowed for
delineation of the multifaceted interdisciplinary aspects of the AA faculty
members’ career experiences. Therefore, the findings yielded opportuni-
ties for further research to strengthen representation of the realities of AA
faculty members in higher education. This basic interpretive study was
able to gain a deeper understanding of the participants’ lived experiences
as a foundation for ongoing scholarship.

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 CHAPTER 2

Microaggressions: American Snakemen

“China is to blame because the culture where people eat bats & snakes
& dogs & things like that, these viruses are transmitted from the
animal to the people and that's why China has been the source of a lot of
these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the Swine Flu.”
—John Cornyn, March 2020

Shortly after the coronavirus was declared a national emergency in March

2020, Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, made a statement that was racist,
incorrect and xenophobic. In one broad stroke, the senator, in defense of
Donald Trump use of the phase “the Chinese virus”, perpetrated Asian
racist stereotypes and incorrectly blamed the sources of prior epidemics.
The MERS outbreak was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and the
swine flu pandemic started out in 2009 in Mexico and the
U.S. (Shepard, 2020).
In response, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., the chair of the Congressional
Asian Pacific American Caucus, called Cornyn’s comments disgusting, an
attempt to shift attention away from President Trump's truncated response
to the coronavirus pandemic (Wu, 2020). Chu also commented:

Disparaging an entire ethnic group and culture like this is bigotry, plain and
simple. Over the past few days, Trump has repeatedly labeled this pandemic
as the ‘Chinese virus,’ and his loyal Republican followers have come to his

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 27

Switzerland AG 2023
A. Wu, Asian American Educators and Microaggressions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23459-0_2
28 A. WU

defense in increasingly hateful terms. Their words are inciting racism and
violence against Asian Americans in the U.S. (Shepard, 2020)

In addition, Cornyn’s comment dog-whistles American taboos against

eating certain animals, but without evidence that eating Chinese cuisine
leads directly to the spreading of pandemics. Cornyn failed to mention
that in his home state of Texas, snake meat snacks were presented in annual
state festivals (Wu, 2020). In addition, the senator published a column on
his senate website in 2019 titled, “The Texas Snake Man: Jackie Bibby and
His Rattlesnake Roundups” (Wu, 2020). The casual and subtle combina-
tion of several false accusations of Chinese culture and incorrect attribu-
tion of disease origin was racist discrimination of Asians as a group.
The COVID-19 pandemic stimulated the rise of anti-Asian racism and
micro-aggressions within American society (Solórzano & Huber, 2020).
As mentioned in the earlier in this book President Donald Trump called
COVID-19 “the Chinese virus” and the “Kung Flu virus” and many Asian
Americans across the U.S. have been victims of racial hostility and attacks.
The anti-Asian events and expressions evoked, for many Asian Americans,
painful and repressed memories of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and
the internment of Japanese Americans during the 1940s (Solórzano &
Huber, 2020).
Microaggressions are often indicative of environments that place
minorities such as AAs at risk of experiencing discrimination. The con-
struct of microaggressions was originally developed by Harvard University
professor Chester M. Pierce. Pierce’s (1974) definition of microaggres-
sions, framed by mass communications, was that virtually all Black-White
racial interactions were described as White put-downs that were perpe-
trated in an automatic, preconscious, or unconscious fashion. Pierce con-
cluded that the accumulation of these disastrous mini interactions had a
“pervasive effect on the stability and peace of this world” (Pierce, 1974,
p. 13) . Described as a contemporary form of discrimination, the perpetra-
tors of microaggressions potentially do not recognize their role or are
unaware of the consequences of their actions. Racist jokes, asking a to
speak or represent their race, or expecting a person’s race to result in
reduced quality of work performed are subtle but create great psychologi-
cal distress (Burrow & Hill, 2012). Being denied a job promotion or
housing due to race suggest that even with the less overt nature of racial
microaggressions, such experiences have negative impacts on the well-­
being and health of the target person or group.
 2 MICROAGGRESSIONS: AMERICAN SNAKEMEN 29

Pierce (1974) described mass media as portraying White superiority in

relation to Blacks. Often Blacks as represented in film and television as in
non-menial as well as menial roles in films and on television, despite the
argument of how marvelous it is that Blacks are now seen regularly, regard-
less of the presentation of Blacks in media, overall has been key keeping
Blacks in a reduced status. For example, Blacks are more often the server
than the served, in a commercial the Black person pumps the gas while the
White person is the driver of the car, or the Black woman is the cab driver
while the White man’s uncivil remarks give her a headache.
In addition, Pierce (1974) described mass media as depicting Blacks
less often as thinking beings. This is evidenced by a Black person portray-
ing a district attorney who solves a case with his fists in a television pro-
gram. A White police lieutenant whose position is lower than the district
attorney, instead uses his brains to solve the same problem. Another exam-
ple of Black portrayal as a non-thinker is a public service advertisement
concerning White and Black adults and youths’ testimonial of White chil-
dren getting eyeglasses. This resulted in better school grades and increased
ability to concentrate. Then one sees a Black child stating that getting
one’s eyes tested is fun. As a result of these inferior representations in the
mass media, the Black person is repeatedly seen in such guises as a server
and a non-thinking physical creature. Even his or her own health is
addressed only because it is shown as fun and immediately gratifying.
Ultimately, mass media offers the clear message that Whites control,
decide, and plan what is viewed by an audience of millions. The founda-
tion of these offensive maneuvers by Whites stems from the mental atti-
tude of presumed superiority. Thus, Whites feel they can initiate actions,
direct unilateral operations, and control Blacks, whom they are told over
and over are unthinking, physical creatures dependent and available for
entertainment, gratification, and exploitation (Pierce, 1974).
Microaggressions are also defined as commonly experienced indigni-
ties, either intentional or unintentional; verbal, behavioral, or environ-
mental; that demonstrate forms of hostile, derogatory, negative, slights,
and insults to targeted people of groups of various racial, gender, sexual
orientation, and religious backgrounds (Sue, 2010). Sue (2010) described
examples of the effects on microaggressions as an African American stu-
dent changing majors, a female worker missing opportunities for promo-
tion, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people being punished for
coming out.
30 A. WU

More specifically, racial microaggressions are a representation of the

changing nature of the three types of racism: overt individual, institu-
tional, and cultural (Sue, 2010). In addition to the representations of rac-
ism described by Pierce (1974), other overt forms of racism include
serving Black patrons last, using racial slurs, preventing a White son or
daughter from dating or marrying a person of color, or not showing cli-
ents of color houses in affluent White neighborhoods. Because there are
few repercussions to the dominant race in individual, institutional, and
cultural racism, when there are examples of issuing of microaggression
action, the continuation microaggressions goes unchecked.
The following adapted passage (as cited in Sue, 2010, p. 15), for exam-
ple, indicates how microaggressions were perceived by Don Locke, an
African American man:

I am tired of—
Watching mediocre White people continue to rise to positions of author-
ity and responsibility.
Wondering if the White woman who quickly exited the elevator when I
got on was really at her destination.
Being told I do not sound Black.
Being told by White people that they “don’t see color” when they inter-
act with me.
The deadening silence that occurs when the conversation turns to race.
Having to explain why I wish to be called “African American.”
Wondering if things will get better. Wondering if the taxi driver really did
not see me trying to hail a ride.
Being told that I should not criticize racially segregated country clubs
because I wouldn’t enjoy associating with people who belong to them anyway.
Being followed in department stores by the security force and pestered
by sales clerks who refuse to allow me to browse because they suspect I am
a shoplifter.
Never being able to let my racial guard down. Listening to reports about
people of color who failed as justification for the absence of other people of
color in positions of authority.
Being told that “we are just not ready for a Black person in that position.”
Having to explain that my sexual fantasies do not center on White women.
Feeling racially threatened when approached by a White law enforcement
officer.
Explaining that not all African Americans are employed to meet
some quota.
 2 MICROAGGRESSIONS: AMERICAN SNAKEMEN 31

Being told that I need to openly distance myself from another African
American whose words have offended someone.
Having people tell me that I have it made and then telling me that I have
“sold out” in order to have what I have.
Explaining why I am tired. Being tired.

This testimony of multiple examples of microaggressions show the

damaging effects of the constant marginalization of minority groups. The
common and routine nature of these experiences has harmful effects that
diminish the quality of life of those targeted, either intentional or uninten-
tionally. Although Locke’s commentary was reflective of the African
American experience, many of the comments are applicable and similar to
the AA experience.
Despite the increasing racial diversity of the U.S., White Americans
continue to have a difficult time distinguishing between Asian American
groups and often respond as if no difference exists (Sue, Capodilupo,
et al., 2007b). As a result, there are common racial assumptions and beliefs
in the White Western worldview regarding nearly all Asian Americans.
Two are especially powerful beliefs in the manifestation of racial microag-
gressions toward Asian American are: (a) negative stereotypes of Asian
Americans as foreigners, and (b) positive stereotypes of them as a success-
ful minority group:

When the general public thinks about Asian Americans, these are some of
the images and stereotypes that come to mind: spies, sneaky, backstabbers,
disloyal, slanted eyes, stingy, subhuman, model minority, bright, hardwork-
ing, obedient, studious, quiet, good in math and science, wealthy, passive,
lack of leadership skills, poor interpersonally, unassertive, men are unmascu-
line/sexually unattractive, women are domestic, exotic, and sexually pleas-
ing, and poor English skills. (Sue, 2010, p. 152)

For example, AA women, despite being Americans by birth or natural-

ization, experience common microaggressions; they are expected to be
like foreigners, possessing vast knowledge of their ancestors’ cultures, his-
tories, and languages, as well as to be able to cook Asian food, offer culi-
nary or travel advice, and speak on the immigrant experience (Endo,
2015). According to Endo (2015), additional assumptions regarding for-
eignness of AA women included the expectation that they are cultural
experts who could act as cross-cultural brokers or translators. If their
32 A. WU

perspectives did not match with stereotypical perceptions of AAs as for-

eign and immigrants, AA women were discredited.
All of these images are reflected in racial microaggressive themes
directed against Asian Americans: aliens in their own land, ascription of
intelligence, denial of racial reality, eroticization of Asian American
women, invalidation of interethnic differences, pathologizing of cultural
values/communication styles, second-class citizens, and invisibility.
Research has hypothesized that AAs are more likely to face microaggres-
sion themes of perpetual foreigner, an alien in one’s own land, than other
forms of microaggressions. This category of microaggression, microinvali-
dation, is considered to be the most insidious because it seeks to nullify
the experiential reality of racial minorities. Themes of xenophobia or per-
petual foreignness are some of the most commonly experienced microag-
gressions experienced by AAs. Being viewed as a perpetual foreigner was
found to be associated with symptoms of depression (Ong et al., 2013).
Examples of xenophobia revealed the practice of microaggressions
toward AA students. Xenophobic comments such as Asian invasion, Asian
flush, too many Asians, too many international students, and go back to
Asia were encountered by AA students who were mistaken for interna-
tional students (Yeo et al., 2019). These statements revealed an unwel-
coming climate for international students and exposed the hostility faced
by both AAs and Asians on PWIs.
Although Asian Americans may be well represented in the higher ech-
elons of management, evidence suggests that they must possess higher
levels of education and training to attain a comparable position to their
White colleagues (Sue, 2010). In other words, the super minority syn-
drome must be achieved to obtain an equal occupational level as White
employees.
Sue, Bucceri, et al. (2007a) provided another salient definition of
microaggressions. The old-fashioned type of racist hatred that was overt,
direct, and often intentional has increasingly morphed into a contempo-
rary form that is subtle, indirect, and often disguised (Sue, Bucceri, et al.,
2007a, p. 88). Thus, the manifestation of microaggressions as a common
form of racism and discrimination by the White institutional power over
people of color (Sue, Bucceri, et al., 2007a, p. 88). The psychological
effects of such subtle racism further reinforce institutional issues of domi-
nant racist ideology, creating stress and psychological trauma for the AA
individual. As the authors note, AAs and other minorities such as Latino/
Hispanic Americans consider such subtle experiences of racism to insult
 2 MICROAGGRESSIONS: AMERICAN SNAKEMEN 33

and invalidate their participation in their own country due to a structural

worldview that they are foreigners in their own land. As mentioned in
prior research, labeling AAs as proficient workers but lacking in leadership
traits such to cultural and ethnic generalizations is a primary example of a
microaggressions faced by AA professions during their career paths.
A contemporary definition of racial microaggressions is defined by
Solórzano and Huber (2020) as one form of systemic, everyday racism
used to keep those at the racial margins in their place. Racial microaggres-
sions are:

1. verbal and nonverbal assaults directed toward People of Color, often

carried out in subtle, automatic, or unconscious forms;
2. layered assaults, based on a Person of Color’s race, gender, class,
sexuality, language, immigration status, phenotype, accent, or
surname; and
3. cumulative assaults that take a psychological and physiological toll
on People of Color (Solórzano & Huber, 2020)

Solórzano (Solórzano & Huber, 2020) also defined racial microaggres-

sions as “a form of systemic everyday verbal or non-verbal assaults directed
toward People of Color. They are also layered assaults, based on a Person
of Color’s marginalized identities…. [T]hey are [also] cumulative assaults
that take a physiological, psychological, and academic toll on People of
Color” (cited in Harmon, 2019).
Beyond the macro view of the issues faced by AAs and their representa-
tion in senior leadership in higher education, the daily experiences of dis-
crimination are equally important. On the micro level, microaggressions
have substantial impact on AAs’ professional experiences. Defined as “sub-
tle insults directed toward people of color, often automatically or uncon-
sciously” as shown in Table 2.1 (Solorzano et al., 2000, p. 60), common
microaggressions faced by AAs include “You speak good English,” “Help
[me] with a Math or Science problem,” or “Why are you so quiet? We want
to know what you think. Be more verbal. Speak up more” (Sue, 2010,
p. 34). These microaggressions are further validated by the definition of
racism, namely “the belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all
others and thereby the right to dominance” (Solorzano et al., 2000, p. 61).
In addition, the authors provide another relevant definition of racism, “a
system of ignorance, exploitation, and power used to oppress African
Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Americans, American Indians and other
people on the basis of ethnicity, culture, mannerism, and color” (p. 61).
34 A. WU

Table 2.1 Themes Developed as a Result of Microaggression Research

Article Definition Main Themes

Racial microaggressions and Brief and commonplace daily verbal, Alien in own
the Asian American experience behavioral and environmental land
(Sue, Bucceri, et al., 2007a)* indignities, whether intentional or Ascription of
unintentional, that communicate intelligence
hostile, derogatory or negative racial Denial of racial
slights and insults that potentially have reality
harmful or unpleasant psychological
impact on the target person or group.
Racial microaggressions in Racial microaggressions are brief and Alien in own
everyday life: Implications for commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, land
clinical practice (Sue, or environmental indignities, whether Ascription of
Capodilupo, et al., 2007b) intentional or unintentional, that intelligence
communicate hostile, derogatory, or Color blindness
negative racial slights and insults
toward people of color
Critical race theory, racial Microaggressions are subtle insults Group
microaggressions, and campus (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) superiority
racial climate: The experiences directed toward people of color, often Racist power
of African American college automatically or unconsciously. Minority
students. (Solorzano et al., marginalization
2000)
Psychiatric problems of the Almost all black-white racial Reduced status
black minority (Pierce, 1974) interactions are characterized by white Controlled and
put-downs, done in an automatic, directed
preconscious, or unconscious fashion.
These mini-disasters accumulate.
Contesting the model Contemporary characterizations of Non-Americans
minority and perpetual Asian Americans reveal the persistence The model
foreigner stereotypes: A of the foreigner and model minority minority
critical review of literature on stereotypes in mainstream culture and
Asian Americans in education more educated, professional
(Ng, Lee, & Pak 2010) communities.
Where are you from? A Such threats appear to be commonly Foreigner
validation of the foreigner experienced by many ethnic minorities objectification
objectification scale and the in the U.S., who may view themselves Identity denial
psychological correlates of to be just as American as their
foreigner objectification European American counterparts, but
among Asian Americans and also may be aware that they are
Latinos (Armenta et al., 2013) viewed as less American than are
European Americans

(continued)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Mr. Trimblerigg did not in after days actually set fire to anything in
order that he might come running to the rescue when rescue was too
late; but he did inflame many a situation seven times more than it
was wont to be inflamed, setting people by the ears, and causing
many an uprooting in places where no replanting could avail. And
when he had got matters thus thoroughly involved, he would apply
thereto his marvellous powers of accommodation and persuasion,
and, if some sort of peace and order did thereafter emerge, regard
himself quite genuinely as the deliverer.
At a later date his zeal for the Lord’s House broke up the Free United
Evangelicals into separate groups of an unimportant size, which
when they seemed about to disappear wholly from view, he reunited
again; and having for the moment redoubled what was left, regarded
his work as good, though in the religious world the Free Evangelicals
had forfeited thenceforth their old priority of place, a circumstance
from which (when convinced of its permanence) he made his
personal escape by embracing second Adventism. And though
doubtless he carried his Free Evangelism with him into the field of
modern prophecy, the Free Evangelicals within their own four walls
knew him no more. Very effectively he had burnt them out, and in
their case no insurance policy provided for the rebuilding: in that seat
of the mighty, probed by the beams of a new day, only the elderly
grey ashes remained of men whose word once gave light.
 CHAPTER THREE
Trial and Error
AT a very early stage in his career, before his theological training
had overtly begun, the moral consciousness of Mr. Trimblerigg was
far more accurately summed up in the words, ‘Thou, Davidina, seest
me,’ than in the more generally accepted text which shone with
symbolic rays from an illuminated scroll hung over his bed. That text
with its angel faces and gold edgings did not pierce the joints of his
harness, to the discovery of vulnerable spots, with the same sharp
efficiency as did the dark watchful eye of Davidina.
As he entered into his ’teens with the instinct for spiritual adventure
growing strong, he had an uncomfortable sense of transparency
where Davidina was concerned—or rather where she was not
concerned but chose to intrude—which made him cease to feel a
self-contained person. If there was anyone in the world who knew
him—not as he wished to be known, but as in his more disconcerted
moments he sometimes suspected himself to be—it was Davidina.
Under the fixture of her eye he lost confidence; its calm quizzical
gaze tripped his thoughts, and checked the flow of his words:
initiative and invention went out of him.
The result was truly grievous, for though he could do without self-
respect for quite long intervals, self-complacency was the necessary
basis for every action. Davidina deprived him of that.
Her power was horrible; she could do it in a momentary look, in a
single word; it seemed to be her mission in life, whenever he
whitewashed the window of his soul for better privacy, to scratch a
hole and look through.
When, for instance, he first experimented in kissing outside the
routine of family life, Davidina seemed by instinct to know of it.
Secretively, in the presence of their elders, she held him with her
eye, pursed her lips, and made the kissing sound; then, before he
could compose a countenance suitable to meet the charge, her
glance shot off and left him. For Davidina was a sleek adept in giving
that flick of the eye which does not wait for the repartee; though on
other occasions, when her eye definitely challenged him, there was
no bearing it down; it stabbed, it stuck, it went in, and came at his
back.
It was in these wordless encounters that she beat him worst; till Mr.
Trimblerigg, conscious of his inferiority, went and practised at the
glass a gesture which he hoped thereby to make more effective—a
lifting of the nose, a slight closing of the eyelids, a polished putting-
off of the hands, deprecatory but bland; and a smile to show that he
was not hurt. But the first time he used it upon her was also the last.
‘Did you practise that in the glass?’ said Davidina; and the gesture
died the death.
Truly at that time of her life he wanted her to die, and slightly
damped her shoes on the inside after they had been cleaned, that
they might help her to do so. But it was no good; without saying
anything, she damped his also, rather more emphatically, so that
there could be no mistake; whereas his damping was so delicately
done that she ought not to have found it out.
The most afflictive thing about these encounters was his constant
failure to score a victory; only once, in the affair of the pocket-money
already narrated, had he succeeded in holding his own. Perhaps it
was all for the good of his soul; for in matters of finance his sense of
probity remained in after years somewhat defective; victory over
Davidina in that respect had apparently done him no good. But in
other directions she continued to do her best to save his soul; and
though he was now committed to the ministry, and was himself to
become a soul-saving apparatus, he did not like her way of doing it;
temperamentally (and was there ever a character more largely
composed of temperament?) he would much rather have gone his
own way and been damned, than saved by Davidina on the lines she
chose. She stung him like a gad-fly in his weakest spots, till the
unerring accuracy of her aim filled him with a superstitious dread;
and though never once uttered in words, ‘Thou, Davidina, seest me,’
was the motive force which thus early drove him so deeply and
deviously into subterfuge that it became an infection of his blood.
And though against her it availed little, in other directions, pricked to
it by her incessant skill, he had a quite phenomenal success, and
was—up to a point—the nimblest being that ever skipped from cover
to open and from open to cover, till, in the development of speed, he
ceased to distinguish which was which; and what he told would tell
with the most complete conviction that, if it told to his advantage, it
must be truth; and then, on occasion, would avail himself of the truth
to such dazzling effect that, lost in the blaze of his rectitude, he
forgot those other occasions when he had been truer to himself.
Of Davidina’s inspired pin-pricks here is an example, notable for the
early date of its delivery, when they were at the respective ages of
twelve and eleven. Brother and sister had fallen out in guessing at
an event as to which with probability all the other way, Davidina
proved to be right. Not believing this to be a guess, ‘You knew!’ he
cried indignantly.
‘I didn’t,’ she replied smoothly, ‘I only knew better.’
This was superfluous: it enabled Mr. Trimblerigg to get in with a
retort. ‘Even very conceited people,’ he said, ‘do sometimes manage
to guess right.’
Davidina recovered her ground. ‘I’m not as conceited as you,’ she
replied, ‘I never think myself good.’ It was the sticking-out of her
tongue, and adding ‘so there’! which gave the barb to those words.
At the earliest opportunity Mr. Trimblerigg retired to consider them. It
was evident that Davidina had penetrated another of his secrets; she
had discovered that he thought himself good. Many years after,
when asked by an American reporter what it felt like to be the
greatest man in the world, he replied that it made him feel shy, and
then was ready to bite his tongue out for having so aimed at modesty
and missed. He saw twenty reporters writing down the words, ‘It
makes me feel shy’; and within twelve hours it was all over the world
—a mistake which he couldn’t explain away. That was to be one of
the worst moments of his life; and this was another, that Davidina
should have unearthed so hidden and central a truth. He was deeply
annoyed, partly with her for having discovered it, much more with
himself for having let it appear.
Yet his cogitations brought him in the end to a conclusion which had
in it a measure of comfort. ‘After all,’ he said to himself, ‘I am good
sometimes.’
It was that ‘sometimes,’ and the consciousness of it, that in the future
was to work havoc with his soul. He did know desperately well that
he was good sometimes; and the fervour of it used to spread so far
beyond the appointed limit that he ceased to know where his
goodness began, and where it left off. As from an oasis in the
wilderness exhales fragrance from the blossom of the rose, regaling
the dusty nostrils of sand-bound travellers, as into its airy horizon
ascends mirage from waters, and palm-trees, and temples, that are
real somewhere—but not in the place where they so phenomenally
display themselves—so from parts of him excellent, into other parts
less excellent, went the sense that he was ‘somehow good’; and he
never perceived, in spite of the very genuine interest he took in
himself that what made him more interesting than anyone else was
the extraordinary division of his character into two parts, a good and
a bad, so dexterously allied that they functioned together as one,
endowing him with that curious gift of sincerity to each mood while it
lasted, which kept him ever true to himself and the main chance,
even as the bits of glass in a kaleidoscope always shape to patterns,
however varied, having the same fixed centre—a haphazard
orderliness which no amount of shaking can destroy.
As has been hinted already, a time unavoidable for youth came in
Mr. Trimblerigg’s life when kisses began to have an attraction for
him: in his case it came rather early, and the attraction grew strong.
But so also grew his fear of them—or perhaps it would be more true
to say his fear lest Davidina should get wind of them. Davidina had
an unlovable scorn for kisses, which she paraded to the world; she
kissed nobody except her parents, and them only from a sense of
duty, and became known, in a country-side where kisses were easily
come by, as the girl from whom nobody could get a kiss.
Few tried; the first who did so had been made a warning for others.
It is likely enough—since moral emblems have their contrary effect—
that the impregnable barrier set up by Davidina was responsible for
the thing becoming so much a vogue in other quarters; and Lizzie
Seebohm, the prettiest small wench of the village, in pure derision of
Davidina’s aloofness, and under her very eyes, made open sale of
her kisses at a price which, starting from chocolates, rose to a penny
and thence to twopence.
For this amiable weakness she got from Davidina the nickname of
‘Tuppenny,’ and in view of the feud which thence arose, Mr.
Trimblerigg was instinctively advised of danger to his peace of mind
if he put himself on Tuppenny’s list. And so it came about that,
whatever his natural inclinations in the matter, he saved his pocket-
money and did not apply for her favours.
In this Lizzie Seebohm saw the influence of Davidina; for which
reason and sheer spitefulness, Mr. Trimblerigg became her quarry.
So one day a communication reached him, artfully told by the small
maiden commissioned thereto as a breach of confidence. She had
heard Lizzie say that Jonathan might have a kiss of her not merely
for nothing; she would give twopence to get it. A sense that he was
really attractive made him fail to see deep enough, and when the
offer rose to sixpence he succumbed.
Within an hour—Lizzie Seebohm had seen to it—Davidina got the
news. Her wrath and sense of humiliation were deep; in the great
battle of life which lay ahead for the possession of her brother’s soul,
she had lost a point, and that to an opponent whom she regarded as
insignificant. It was not a case for silence. Davidina descended upon
him before the sixpence in his pocket had had time to get warm.
‘You’ve been kissing Tuppenny!’ she cried.
‘Who says?’ he demanded, scared at discovery so swift. Then,
bettering his defence: ‘Tuppenny, indeed! she’s not worth it. I haven’t
given her tuppence; I haven’t given her a penny. I haven’t given her
anything, so there! If she says I have, she’s a liar.’
This seemed almost conclusive; Davidina’s faith in the report
wavered. But whenever Jonathan was voluble she distrusted him; so
now.
‘It isn’t her word I’m going by,’ she said. ‘Somebody saw you.’
Mr. Trimblerigg’s mind made an alert movement—very characteristic.
He was not ashamed of what he had done; he only didn’t like being
caught.
‘You said Tuppenny,’ he retorted. ‘And I say—I didn’t give her
tuppence.’
Davidina pressed him along the track, as he meant her to. ‘Then
what did you give her?’
‘I didn’t give her anything; I’ve told you so already. She gave me
sixpence.’
His tone was triumphant, for now, in his own time and in his own
way, he had made a clean breast of it. Davidina’s face was a study.
‘Sold again!’ he said, watching the effect; and curiously he did not
mean himself, or his virtue, or anything else belonging to him; he
meant Davidina. Having got ahead of her with the facts, he
considered himself top-dog for that once at least.
But within a few hours of that avowal an amazing thing happened. It
happened during the night; for when he went to bed the sixpence
was in his trouser pocket, and when he got up in the morning it was
gone; nor did he dare to tax Davidina with the theft.
In chapel, the next Sunday, when the plate came round for foreign
missions, Davidina with ostentation put sixpence into it. Is it to be
wondered that, before the week was over, he had got sixpence back
from somewhere, and took care that Davidina should see him
spending it. Davidina meant well, I am sure; but it is to be questioned
whether her method of clipping his wings was the right one. He
became tangential to the orbit of her spells; they touched, but they
did not contain him.
Meanwhile, without Davidina’s aid, even without her approval, Mr.
Trimblerigg’s call to the ministry was becoming more assured. And
the question mainly was whether, in that family of cramped means,
money could be found in the years lying immediately ahead to
provide the necessary training. It meant two years spent mainly
away from home at the Free Evangelical Training College; two years
of escape from Davidina for whole months at a time; it meant leaving
home a boy and coming back very nearly a man. Even had the
ministry not appealed to him, it would have been worth it for the
peculiar attraction of those circumstances.
Whether this could become practically possible depended mainly
upon old Uncle Trimblerigg—Uncle Trimblerigg whose investments
in house property had been inspired by holy scripture, but whose
theological tenets were of a kind for which up-to-date Free
Evangelicalism no longer provided the college or the training. Nor did
he believe that either college or training were necessary for the
preaching of the Word. He had done it himself for fifty years, merely
by opening the book where it wished to be opened and pondering
what was thus presented. The verbal inspiration of Scripture, not
merely in its writing but in its presentation to the sense of the true
believer, was the very foundation of his faith. The sect of ‘the True
Believers’ had of late years sadly diminished; for as all True
Believers believed that while they believed truly they could never
make a mistake in their interpretations of Scripture, it became as
time went on dangerous for them to meet often or to exchange
pulpits, since, where one was found differing from another, mutual
excommunication of necessity followed and they walked no more in
each other’s ways. Only at their great annual congress did they meet
to reaffirm the foundation of their faith and thunder with a united
voice the Word which did not change.
Thus it came about that dotted over the country were many chapels
of True Believers cut off from friendly intercourse with any other by
mutual interdict; and the hill-side chapel of Uncle Trimblerigg—built
by himself for a congregation of some twenty families all told, his
tenants, or his dependents in the building trade—was one of them.
So among the True Believers there was small prospect of a career
for the budding Mr. Trimblerigg; and yet it was upon the financial aid
and favour of one of them that he depended for theological training
in a direction which they disapproved.
It speaks well for the sanguine temperament and courage of our own
Mr. Trimblerigg that the prospect did not dismay him, or even, in the
event, present much difficulty.
 CHAPTER FOUR
The Beard of the Prophet
UNCLE PHINEAS, the uncle of Mr. Trimblerigg’s father, lived at an
elevation, both physical and spiritual, among the stone quarries a-top
of the village. His house and the chapel where he ministered stood
adjoining, both of his own building; and in the days when Jonathan
knew him he was seldom seen leaving the one except to go to the
other. For he was now very old, and having made his money and
retired from business, he had only one interest left in life, the
preaching of the strict tenets of True Belief to the small congregation
which had trickled under him for the last fifty years.
The True Believers had a worship which was all their own; they
flocked by themselves, never going elsewhere, though others
sometimes came to them. No instrument of music was allowed within
their dwelling, nor did they sing—anything that could be called a
tune. When their voices were lifted in praise they bleated upon a
single note, which now and again they changed, going higher and
higher, and when they could go no higher they stopped.
To our own Mr. Trimblerigg this form of worship was terrible; he liked
music and he liked tunes; diversity attracted him; and here, by every
possible device, diversity was ruled out. But the importance of Uncle
Phineas, both present and prospective, obliged certain members of
the Trimblerigg family to ascend once at least every Sunday, to hear
him preach and pray, and though none of them professed an
exclusive conversion to the teaching of the True Believers, they kept
an open mind about it, and listened respectfully to all that Uncle
Phineas had to say.
Lay-preaching and the ministry of the Word ran strong in the
Trimblerigg family, also in that of the Hubbacks, to which on his
mother’s side Jonathan belonged; and had he cared to divide
himself spiritually among his relations there were five sects from
which to choose—a division of creeds which did not amount to
much, except in the case of the True Believers. Grandfather
Hubback, between whom and Uncle Phineas there was theological
war, ministered to the Free Evangelicals at the Bethesda which
Jonathan had helped to renovate; Uncle James was a Primitive
Brother; Uncle Jonah a First Resurrectionist; his Sunday exercise—
the practising of the Last Trump—a welcome relief perhaps, from his
weekday occupation of undertaker. Mr. Trimblerigg, during his
childhood, had sat under all of them; the difference being that under
his Uncle Phineas he had been made to sit. Then came the question
of his own call to the ministry, and the further question as to ways
and means. It was from then on that Mr. Trimblerigg went more
constantly and willingly to hear the doctrine of the True Believers,
and began to display towards it something wider than an open mind.
At the age of fifteen he had got into the habit of going to see and
hear his uncle on weekdays as well, and very quietly he would
endure for hours together while the old man expounded his
unchangeable theology.
Everything about Uncle Phineas was long, including his discourses.
He had a long head, a long nose, a long upper lip and a long chin. To
these his beard served as a corrective; long also, it stuck out at right
angles from his face, till with the weight of its projection it began to
droop; at that point he trimmed it hard and square, making no
compromise, and if none admired it except its owner, it was at least
in character. With such a beard you could not kiss people, and
Phineas Trimblerigg was not of a mind to kiss anybody. In spite of
old age, it retained a hue which suggested a too hasty breakfast of
under-boiled egg; while trying to become grey it remained
reminiscently golden.
And the beard symbolized the man; square, blunt and upright,
patriarchal in mind and character, he lived in a golden age of the
past—the age of romantic theology before science had come to
disturb it. His only Tree of Knowledge was the Bible, and this not
only in matters of doctrine; it was his tree of genealogy and history
as well. From its topmost branch he surveyed a world six thousand
years old, of six days making, and all the wonders that followed,—
the Flood, the Tower whose height had threatened Heaven, and the
plagues, pestilences and famines, loosed by an outraged Deity on a
stubborn but chosen people, and the sun and the moon which stood
still to assist in tribal slaughter, and the special vehicles provided for
prophets, at one time a chariot of fire, at another a great fish, at
another a talking ass,—all these things gave him no mental trouble
whatever; but joy rather, and confidence, and an abiding faith. He
believed them literally, and had required that his family should
believe them too. And truly he could say that, in one way or another,
he had to begin with made them all God-fearing. If in the process five
had died young, and one run away to sea and got drowned, and
another fallen into evil courses from which he had not returned alive,
so that Phineas in his old age was left childless—all this had but
made him more patriarchal in outlook than ever, turning his attention
upon nephews and nieces of the second generation, especially upon
one; which, indeed, is the reason why here he becomes an important
character.
Fortified by fifty years of prudent investment based upon revelation,
and with a comfortable balance at his bank, he cast his other cares
upon the Lord; lived frugally, gave a just tithe of all he possessed to
the foreign and home missions of the True Believers, drank no wine
or strong drink—except tea, denounced the smoking of tobacco, but
took it as snuff, believed firmly in Hell, war, and corporal punishment
for men, women and children alike, was still an elected, though a
non-attending, member of all local bodies, but in the parliamentary
election (regarding it as the evil thing) would take no part. To him life,
in the main, meant theology.
At the now sharply dividing ways he stood with old Pastor Hubback
(or rather against him) a leading and a rival light among the local
Free Churches; and because he had money to give and to leave he
was still a power in the district as well as in his own family. This was
the oracle to which Mr. Trimblerigg, in his fifteenth year, began to
give up his half-holidays.
Uncle Phineas was always at home; he had legs which never
allowed him to get farther than his own gate, except once a week to
the Tabernacle of True Belief, of which he was minister and owner.
The larger chapel in the village lower down had not known him for
thirty years when the youthful Jonathan first became aware of his
importance, and began under parental direction to pay a weekly call
at ‘Pisgah,’ and there learn from the old patriarch things about
himself and others, including God, to which he listened with an air of
great respect and interest.
Jonathan’s way with him was wily but simple: he would ask a great
number of intelligent questions, and receiving unintelligent answers
would appear satisfied. Now and then, upon his birthday, or when
revivalism was in the air, the old man would give him sixpence,
sometimes even a shilling, advising him to bestow it upon the foreign
missions of the stricter Evangelicals, especially those to the native
races of Central Africa and America, where the undiluted truth of the
Word had still necessarily to be taught. For those primitive minds the
taint of modernism had no effect; Heaven had so shaped them to the
divine purpose that nothing short of literal True Belief could touch
their hearts and soften their understandings. And the old man would
talk wondrously to Jonathan of how, in the evil days to come, these
black races were destined to become the repository of the true faith
and reconvert the world to the purer doctrine.
Uncle Phineas was on the look-out for punishment on a world-wide
scale, and had he lived to see it, the War of Versailles would have
gladdened his heart. For he wanted all the Nations to be punished,
including his own,—a point on which Mr. Trimblerigg ventured
privately to differ from him; being in that matter a Free Evangelical,
and preferring Heaven to Hell. Uncle Phineas preferred Hell;
punishment was owing, and the imaginary infliction of it was what in
the main attracted him to religion.
Punishment: first and foremost for man’s breaking of the Sabbath;
then followed in order drink, horse-racing, gambling, the increase of
divorces, modernism, and the higher criticism, with all its resultant
forms of infidelity, the agitation for Women’s Suffrage, and finally the
impious attempt of Labour to depose Capital.
All these things were of the Devil and must be fought; and in the
discussion of them Jonathan began—not to be in a difficulty because
some of them made an appeal to his dawning intelligence, but to
become agile. Luckily for him Uncle Phineas’s information was very
nearly as narrow as his intelligence, and Mr. Trimblerigg was able to
jump to and fro across his sedentary and parochial mind with small
fear of discovery. But the repeated interviews made him brisk,
supple, and conversationally adaptable; and once when the old man
remarked half-approvingly, ‘Aye, Jonathan, you’ve got eyes in your
head, but don’t let ’em out by the back door,’ he had a momentary
qualm lest behind that observation dangerous knowledge might lurk.
But it was only his uncle’s constitutional disapproval of a mind that
could move; and of Jonathan’s outside doings and opinions he had
at that time heard nothing to rouse suspicion. But clearly when Mr.
Trimblerigg was called to the ministry and began to preach there
would be a difficulty; for what would go down at Bethesda among the
Free Evangelicals, where his obvious career was awaiting him,
would not do up at Horeb, the chapel on the hill; and it was well
within the bounds of possibility that owing to his family connections
Mr. Trimblerigg might find it advantageous to preach at both.
That, however, was a problem still lying some few years away;
meanwhile Uncle Phineas might very reasonably die; and it was just
about this time that I heard Mr. Trimblerigg beginning to pray for
peace to the old man in his declining years, that he might not be kept
unduly on the rack of this tough world after so good a life.
And indeed it was a life in which he had accomplished much; for a
man of his small beginnings he had become of notable substance,
and his income derived from quarries and the houses he had built for
his workers was reckoned to amount to anything from six to eight
hundred a year, of which, in spite of generous gifts to foreign
missions, he did not spend one-half.
His expectant relatives did not talk among themselves about the
matter where, of necessity, interests were divided; but they thought
much, and occasionally they had their fears.
‘I shouldn’t wonder,’ said Jonathan’s father one day, ‘if when Uncle
dies it isn’t found that he had an unsound mind.’
It was to obviate such a calamity that Jonathan was sent to pay his
weekly visit, and that one or another of the family, at least once
every Sunday, went up to Horeb to pray.
Quite early in his examination of the tenets of True Belief, anxious
that she should keep him in countenance, Mr. Trimblerigg asked
Davidina what she thought of them.
‘My belief is,’ said Davidina, ‘that we can all believe what we want to
believe; and if you only believe it enough, it comes true—for you, at
any rate. You can believe every word of the Bible is true, or that
every word of it is false; and either way, you can live up to it. The
True Believers are right there, anyway. And if,’ she added, ‘you’ve
got nothing else to believe, you can believe in yourself: and you can
smile at yourself in the glass, and look at your teeth, and think they
are milestones on the road to Heaven, till they all drop out.
Believing’s easy; it’s choosing what you mean to believe that
matters. I believe the kettle’s boiling over.’
She went, leaving Mr. Trimblerigg to his meditations, also to a doubt
whether she had taken him quite seriously.
With his Uncle Phineas it was all the other way; they were nothing if
not serious together; but it often puzzled his ingenuous mind how his
uncle managed to believe all the things he did.
One day: ‘Uncle Phineas,’ he said, ‘how did you come to be a True
Believer?’
‘When I felt the need of conversion as a young man,’ replied Uncle
Phineas, ‘I started reading the Scriptures. Every day, before I
opened the book, I said, “Lord, help me to believe!” And by the time
I’d read ’em three times through, I believed every word.’
‘I’ve only read them twice yet,’ said Jonathan in meek admission, but
glad to get hold of the excuse.
‘Read ’em again,’ said his uncle.
‘And all the genealogies, too, Uncle?’ he inquired, for all the world as
though he felt genuinely committed to the task if the other should say
‘yes.’
‘Why would you leave them out?’ queried his uncle. ‘It’s the sowing
of the seed. When you sow a field, you’ve not to care about this
grain or that, picking and choosing: it’s the sowing that matters. Sow
your mind with the seed of the Word, and don’t leave gaps. You
never know how you may come to need it hereafter. “Abram begat
Isaac; and Isaac married Rebecca, and begat Jacob:”—that was the
text the Lord showed me when He would have me choose a wife,
whose name was Rebecca.’ He fetched a sigh. ‘And I did,’ he said.
‘She was a poor weak wife to me, and the children took after her; so
now not one of them is left. It was the Lord’s will.’
‘But if you had married some one else, wouldn’t it have been the
Lord’s will too?’ inquired Jonathan.
‘That we won’t discuss,’ said his uncle. ‘I shouldn’t have chosen
without first looking to Scripture. There was only one Rebecca in the
village, and I hadn’t thought of her till then. ’Twas a marvellous
showing, and she on a bed of sickness at the time.’
Mr. Trimblerigg was properly impressed; but he doubted whether he
would choose his own wife that way, even should he become a True
Believer. So, not to linger on doubtful ground, he changed the
subject and began to ask about missionaries; having a wish to see
the world, they attracted him.
‘If I become a True Believer,’ he said, ‘I shan’t stay and preach in one
place; I shall go out and preach everywhere.’
‘You’ll do as the Lord tells you,’ said his uncle. ‘It’s no good one
that’s not a True Believer talking of what he’ll do when he becomes
one.’
‘No, Uncle,’ said Jonathan meekly, still out to do business; ‘but living
at home makes it very hard for me. I’m much nearer to being a True
Believer than Mother is, or Father, or Davidina. Davidina says you
can believe anything if you’ll only make yourself. She says she could
make herself believe that the Bible was all false, if she were to try.’
‘Has she tried, does she mean?’ inquired Uncle Phineas grimly.
‘I don’t know,’ replied Jonathan ingenuously. ‘It would be very wicked
if anyone did try, wouldn’t it?’
‘It would,’ said his uncle. ‘I’ve known men struck down dead for less.
I knew a man once who tore a leaf out of his Bible to light his pipe
with, and he was struck by lightning for it the same day. Yet his sin
was only against one leaf, one chapter. How much greater the sin if
you sin against the whole of it. She thought that, did she? When you
go home, send Davidina up to me: I’ll talk to her.’
Then Mr. Trimblerigg had a divided mind; for his fear of Davidina was
not less but rather more than his fear of Uncle Phineas. Indeed he
only feared Uncle Phineas for what he might fail to do for him in the
near future, but Davidina he feared for what she was, here and now.
‘I think, perhaps, Davidina only meant—anybody who was wicked
enough. But please don’t tell Davidina that I said anything!’
‘Heh?’ cried Uncle Phineas, his eye suspicious: ‘That so? We’ll see.’
He got up, went slowly to his Bible and opened it and without looking
put down his thumb.
‘Listen to this, Jonathan,’ he said; and in solemn tone and with long
pauses, he read:
“She put her hand to the nail ... and her right hand to the workman’s
hammer ... and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his
head ... when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.”...
You hear that, Jonathan?’
‘Yes, Uncle,’ he replied, not yet understanding the application of the
text.
‘You see, Jonathan,’ said his uncle, ‘Davidina was getting at you.’
Being a True Believer’s interpretation, it was not open to discussion,
not for Jonathan at any rate. Uncle Phineas was a mighty hunter of
the Scriptures before the Lord: the true interpretation never escaped
him.
It was a curious and unexplained fact that Davidina was a great
favourite of Uncle Phineas, so far as one so entirely without affection
could be said to have favourites. Davidina was far from being a True
Believer, yet he trusted her; and he did not yet quite trust Jonathan.
But he saw well enough that Jonathan had in him the makings of a
prophet and of a preacher; if only he could trust him, he would help
him to go far. But the testing process took time.
So, day by day, Mr. Trimblerigg laboured to win his trust, and often,
after long hours of boredom in his uncle’s company, success seemed
near; for intellectually he was now growing fast, and to the cultivation
of an agile brain added the cultivation of a wily tongue, and even
where his future career did not depend upon it he loved to sustain an
argument.
But he never got the better of Uncle Phineas; for when Phineas
could not answer him, the Book did. He began to loathe the Book—
that particular copy of it, I mean—and to make faces at it behind his
uncle’s back. But a day came when he loved it like a brother.
At the right time for the forwarding of his plans, Mr. Trimblerigg
professed a desire for larger book-learning; he wanted to study
theology, and that not from one point of view alone. Ready to satisfy
him, up to a point, Uncle Phineas plied him with books containing the
true doctrine, some he would make him sit down and read aloud
upon the spot while he expounded them; others he let him take away
to study and return, questioning him closely thereafter to discover
how well he had read them. They were all good books—good in the
moral sense, that is to say—books written to inculcate the principles
of True Belief; but all, from the contemporary point of view utterly
useless, and all deadly dull.
One day Mr. Trimblerigg asked his uncle, ‘Where all the other books
were—the bad ones, which taught false doctrine.’
Why did he want to know? inquired Uncle Phineas.
‘I want to read them,’ said Jonathan greatly daring. ‘If one doesn’t
read them, how is one to know how to answer them? I want to read
them because they deceive people.’
‘Not True Believers,’ said his uncle.
‘No,’ replied Jonathan, ‘but people who might become True
Believers.’
‘They should read their Bibles. There you find the answer to
everything.’
‘Yes. So I did; I did it last night as I was going to bed: I opened it, just
as you do, Uncle, and there it was—written: the thing I was wanting
to know.’
‘What was it?’
‘It was this, Uncle: “Oh, that mine adversary had written a book.
Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown unto
me.”’
‘That doesn’t say read it,’ objected his uncle.
‘No, but it means it. It means that if wicked books are written we’ve
got to do with them, we’ve not just got to let them alone.’
‘We’ll see,’ replied the other; ‘we’ll ask the Lord to show us.’ He got
the Book and opened it. ‘There, Jonathan, listen to this:
‘“What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven
it; the molten image, the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work
trusteth therein to make dumb idols” ... God’s answered you,
Jonathan.’
‘But that’s about the man who wrote it,’ objected Jonathan. ‘He trusts
in his work, but I don’t; he’s not going to make a dumb idol of me.’
‘You’re running your head into danger, Jonathan. If you are not a
True Believer, the Book may be only a trap set for you by the Devil.
He can quote Scripture when it suits him, as well as any.’
‘But I prayed first,’ said Jonathan. ‘And I’m trying to become a True
Believer.’
‘When you’ve become a True Believer, we’ll talk about it,’ said his
uncle.
After that for a whole week his uncle saw no more of him. Then one
day, waking up from his afternoon nap, the old man found Jonathan
sitting and looking at him.
It was quite five minutes since Jonathan had crept in, and during that
time he had not been idle. He had gone to the Book, and arranged a
marker, and three and four times he had opened and without looking
had put his finger to the exact place; just a finger’s length from the
bottom on the right-hand side, it was easy to find. Then, sitting far
away from the Book, he had waited for his uncle to wake.
He did not allow the haze of sleep to disperse before he made his
announcement.
‘Uncle,’ he said, ‘I’ve become a True Believer. I’ve had a call: God
has shown me the way.’
‘How do you know you’re a True Believer?’ questioned the old man
cautiously.
‘I’ve His Word for it. Every time I open the Book it speaks to me—so
plain, that at first it frightened me. Then I felt a great joy and a light
filling me. And everything in the world is different to what it was.’
‘Aye,’ replied his uncle, ‘that sounds the real thing. What has He
called you to do?’
‘To go out and preach, Uncle. And He’s told me I’m to go to college.’
‘How has He told you that?’ inquired Phineas, sceptical again.
‘I asked Him to show me what I was to do, where I was to go; I
opened the Book and put my finger on the page; and there—college
was the very word!’
‘You tell me that you found the word “college” in the Bible?’ inquired
his uncle incredulously.
‘It was found for me,’ said Jonathan: ‘Hilkiah the priest, and Achbor,
and Shaphan, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum;
and she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college; and they communed with
her.’