Why Are Asian Americans The Model Minority?
During the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, Asian Americans were first characterized as the model minority. In reaction to efforts in removing institutional, legal, and social disparities between majority and minority groups, political conservatives pointed to Asian Americans as an exemplar and testimony that the American dream was colorblind. The message was loud and clear: “If Asian Americans can succeed in America, why not Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans?” In 1966, William Petersen solidified this ideology by coining Japanese Americans the “model minority” (Petersen, 1966). The success of Japanese Americans quickly generalized across all Asian ethnic groups, regardless of their diversity in culture, education, and class.
