The Model Minority to a Chinese American Gen Z person in the 21st Century
We live in a world where I have read about the discrimination towards us since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. I have read about Chinese immigrants coming in from San Francisco working on the western half of the Transcontinental Railroad and not making out alive.
I went to a workshop about Asians and how we can stop being treated the way we are a few months before quaritine hit. We talked about the model minority a lot.
All of us were teenagers or early 20s and had decided we were going to do something about how to break the stigmatism about the model minority. This isn't only affecting Chinese Americans. This is now affecting all Asians because some Americans don't wish to learn the difference between the different ethnicities. Back to the model minority.
We keep our heads down because we have been taught by our elders to not ask questions about the injustice happening around us. We have been taught just like the black community to "just take it" because it's better than the alternative. Just because we get some leeway because we happen to not be black doesn't mean it doesn't happen. People need to take responsibility for that and white supremacists... Please listen up!
The model minority myth is just that... A MYTH! We have been taught to be "submissive and obedient" because that way we get ignored. Yes it's wrong and yes I don't believe in staying quiet. I've broken the model minority myth so many times I can't even count on twenty digits. Yes letting the black community take the heat is extremely wrong and gen z is trying to rectify the mistake of our elders (who knows if it will ever be fixed?) because we know what it's like to be discriminated against.
I stand with my fellow Asian Americans and say here that the model minority myth must be broken and we need to support the black community in their fight for equal rights for all! I will never stop fighting for equal rights for POC and it pains me to see America and other western countries just starting to try to fix their mistakes.
Sorry for my Ted talk! Thank you for reading!