“What did you get?” my friend asked after our math teacher handed back our midterms. My heart pounded like a set of out-of-sync drums. Hesitantly, I flipped my test to the front page, revealing a bold “B—” scrawled in red ink at the top. “I thought you were supposed to be good at math,” my friend remarked, baffled—as if I had just defied gravity.
Comments like these may seem harmless, but they are subtle discriminatory remarks known as microaggressions. There is a stereotype that Asians are naturally high achievers, labeled as hardworking, intelligent, and successful. These assumptions that are imposed by society fuel the model minority myth, and it places many Asian individuals into a pressure cooker to conform to unrealistic expectations in their personal lives and the workplace. The rollback of DEI initiatives at companies is setting back the progress that we have made in busting the model minority myth, among other issues within AAPI communities.
One of the most persistent and misleading stereotypes is that all Asian Americans are wealthy, a notion popularized by media representations like Crazy Rich Asians. No, we do not all have private jets or own mansions in Singapore. In reality, AAPI communities have the greatest internal wealth gap compared to any other ethnic group in the country. The U.S. Department of Labor reveals that the overall AAPI poverty rate is 13.2 percent, but some AAPI groups have poverty at twice that rate.
To dismantle the harmful misconceptions about AAPI communities, we need to examine how AAPI workers are treated in the workplace. About one in five Asian adults (22%) claimed that they have experienced at least one of three forms of workplace discrimination because of their racial or ethnic identity, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, 15% of individuals reported to have been turned down for a job, and 5% said they had been fired due to their race.
Now more than ever before, we need to start rolling up our sleeves to speak out against toxic workplace practices that target marginalized groups like AAPI. This is where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs come into the picture. DEI is an umbrella term for structures or frameworks that support a company’s mission to foster a workplace environment that values diversity, equity, and inclusivity. Unfortunately, prominent companies such as Amazon, Target, and Meta have publicly announced that they are rolling back DEI programs under the new administration. The action of cutting DEI programs in the workplace sends a message to AAPI workers that their companies do not value their contributions. Due to the model minority myth, AAPI workers are already assumed to be exceptional and free of problems in the workplace. Cutting down on DEI programs will only exacerbate the underlying issues that many AAPI workers face and strengthen the bamboo ceiling.
The impromptu strike-down of DEI programs is threatening not only workers but also future generations. AAPI youth begin to experience the weight of becoming a model minority and adhering to ridiculous expectations at a young age and during their most formative years.
I asked Veda, a high school student who identifies as AAPI, how she felt growing up in an Asian household, and she shared, “There are so many expectations and a higher standard compared to others. You have to be academically successful, really smart, and get all A’s, so it’s a lot of pressure.”
When I asked Laasya, another AAPI high school student, she said, “I definitely play into the model minority myth a lot, but I also see how others in my community who don’t fit the stereotype can be put down.”
The experience of being constantly compared to your peers growing up can be damaging to one’s well-being and pave a path for insecurity and anxiety for the future. While maintaining DEI programs will not mend the intricate scars of the noxious expectations put on AAPI youth, it is a powerful stride toward setting a warm tone in the workplace for groups like AAPI. Protecting the DEI initiatives at companies will also safeguard the professional trajectories that AAPI youth set out in the future.
Although the current political climate will make preserving the initiatives at companies challenging, we need to continue demanding attention and advocating for the communities that are vulnerable right now. As individuals, we can join movements and organizations to combine forces—such as Make Us Visible, a non-profit organization that empowers communities to champion changes in K-12 curricula to represent the hidden narratives of Asian Americans.
Co-directors of the Make Us Visible (MUV) New York chapter, Helen S. Singson and Christine Huang shared how MUV New York engages mainly in grassroots activism through a variety of initiatives like distributing a coloring book featuring Asian American futures and communities to target audiences across the nation.
According to Helen, “Christine and I make every effort to be in our children’s classrooms as much as possible. Since they’re still in elementary school, we can partner with teachers to ensure they have the right resources.”
All in all, it is important to remind ourselves that we need to stick together throughout these difficult times that are testing our patience and endurance. As Laasya shared, “I hope we recognize the importance of solidarity as people of color in America. It’s easy to be divided into groups or to see others as better or worse, but understanding solidarity is key to dismantling systemic structures.”