Civic Engagement Exhibition 💭

USC Pacific Asia Museum and APASA’s virtual Civic Engagement Exhibition, Debunking the Model Minority Myth, as told from the perspective of Co-Advocacy Chairs Leon Zha and Echo Tang.

I think the first time I heard of the model minority was in middle school. Back then, it was painted like a compliment, that somehow Asian Americans were just inherently better and hard-working. But was that really true? The model minority has so many more implications, some of which are felt outside of the APIDA community. We learned that the term was originally coined by a white man using Japanese Americans as an example of how “problem minorities” were not doing their part to combat racism. While Asian Americans fought hard to preserve a label framed by white supremacy, the model minority simultaneously invalidated marginalized communities’ struggles under systemic racism. It was then we decided that our advocacy theme for this year would be Debunking the Model Minority Myth from Inside Out. So much of the harm the model minority does is endured by other minority groups, but it also hurts us with the internalized pressure to link our capabilities to our race. Now, more than ever, we can’t let something like this pit us against each other and against other BIPOC. 

How do we reach a wide audience when everything is virtual? After some long and hard though, the two of us decided that rather than having a one time event as the Civic Engagement Project has traditionally been, we would be experimental. Inspired by the Humans of New York blog posts, the two of us gathered together stories from our member organizations as they experienced, perpetuated, and subverted the Model Minority Myth. We approached the USC Pacific Asia Museum (shoutout to the amazing folks who work there) not only because we thought their mission was in line with our vision, but also because their reach was far wider than APASA’s.

After the submission window ended, we got together to look over the twenty-something submissions we had. What we read was raw, vulnerable, angry, passionate, bittersweet, hopeful. In all our own ways, may that be little or big, we are trying our best to fight against this myth and what fracturing it has already done to our community. We were incredibly moved and proud to see the solidarity and grace reflected in these stories. Hopefully, by reading these stories, we can start to change the narrative of the “model” Asian American into one of resilience and power, even by just a little bit.