![\"\"](\"https:\/\/objects-us-west-1.dream.io\/racefiles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/asian-black-labor-strike3.jpg\" "\\"Asian")
<\/a>On Sunday before Memorial Day, I tuned in to MSNBC to watch Melissa Harris-Perry<\/a> lead a discussion about Asian American voters. The show started out with some promise. But as it progressed, I found myself descending into a rant. By the end, I was full-on pissed. For all of the good intentions, one subtle but unbroken thread ran through the discussion – Asian Americans are the model minority.<\/p>\nIn response to the relative absence of Asian American stars in Democratic Party politics, panelist William Schneider<\/a> said, “…they have not relied on politics to get ahead as many other disadvantaged groups have…”<\/p>\n So how is it that we supposedly got ahead? Schneider used the example of another panelist, comedian Margaret Cho<\/a>, citing her “talent and determination” as the ingredients of her success. He also talked about Asian American success in “business, professions… science…” all, apparently, without working the political system.<\/p>\n I’m not sure what qualifies Mr. Schneider to speak to the issues of Asian Americans, but he’s wrong. Asian Americans are politically active. Asian Americans have also ridden the coattails of the Civil Rights Movement, benefiting from the Voting Rights Act<\/a>, Affirmative Action<\/a> and The Higher Education Act of 1965<\/a> among other gains.<\/p>\n While we can’t claim these achievements as our own, they were won through political protest and are among the ingredients of our supposed “success.” We did not just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.<\/p>\n In about 15 minutes, I saw a demonstration of the ubiquity of anti-Asian racism. It is so commonplace, in fact, that we don’t even see it as racism, making it a powerful wedge dividing Asians from other people of color while maintaining white dominance of politics.<\/p>\n Here’s what I mean –<\/p>\n First, let’s get it straight. The model minority myth<\/a> is just that, a myth.<\/p>\n The myth first entered the popular consciousness of Americans in the 1960s, shortly after the passage of federal civil rights legislation. It started with a 1966 New York Times<\/em> article, \u201cSuccess Story: Japanese American Style\u201d that argued that Japanese Americans, just 21 years after virtually the entire community was interned, had risen to success through quietly working hard and making sacrifices to create opportunities for their children.<\/p>\n U.S. News and World Report<\/em>\u2019s \u201cSuccess Story of One Minority Group in U.S.\u201d in 1968, and Newsweek<\/em>\u2019s \u201cSuccess Story: Outwhiting the Whites\u201d published in 1971, sealed the deal.<\/p>\n The model minority myth is rooted in the backlash against the Black civil rights struggle. When Federal legislation resulted in programs like Affirmative Action<\/a>, the media abruptly pivoted from Asians as sneaky foreigners to the model minority stereotype. The myth served the purpose of isolating African Americans in particular, and provided cover to those using coded racism to attack social programs and civil rights gains. The myth allows conservative policy makers to characterize these gains as dependency breeding crutches<\/em>.<\/p>\n