The Great Wall of Asia

As a Korean-American, I often encounter questions about my ethnic background. From non-Asians, the classic “where are you from?” question stems from an innocent curiosity about the food I eat and the language my family speaks. But when my Asian-American counterparts ask this same question, there is a slightly different intention — one rooted in a knowledge of the nuances in a diverse Asian history and culture.

It’s common for any people group to be the brunt of a few jokes, and Asians are not exempt. Even this past week, Chris Rock’s joke during the Oscars sparked controversy (and it was especially ironic amidst the recent #OscarsSoWhite movement). We have all heard the stereotypes before: all Asians excel at school, play piano, have slanted eyes, and are bad drivers. One of my friends even told me that a teacher at our high school told her class that “guys like Asian women because they’re submissive.” Funnily enough, some of the most outspoken, opinionated Asian-American girls I know were in that class, and together they shared a knowing look and a collective eye-roll.

Even among the Asian community, there are dozens of divisive stereotypes about the different “flavors” of Asian people. Chinese guys make good husbands because they can cook, Korean girls are pretty, Indian boys are all engineering majors, and the list goes on. It’s interesting to note that Asian stereotypes among non-Asian people lump us together, while stereotypes between us highlight our differences.

If we look at the interactions among other minority groups, we see a vastly different situation. Hardly ever do African-American people identify themselves as Ugandan-American or Nigerian-American, and I’ve never heard anyone ask an African-American person which specific country their family is from. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems that the African-American community is one that celebrates the experiences and commonalities that they all share.

The disparity between these two minority communities is rooted in the contentious history between Asian countries. When I was in fifth grade, I attended Korean school every Friday at the local Korean church to learn language, history, and culture. During one lesson about the war between Japan and Korea, my teacher said “we don’t like Japanese people.” My Asian friends of different ethnicities have confirmed that they have been taught similar prejudices about other people groups — Taiwan against China, China against Japan, India vs. Pakistan, etc. My Taiwanese-American friend recently told me that her grandfather refuses to buy anything made in China and even made up a last name when he immigrated to the states so as not to seem Chinese.

While these viewpoints belong more to our older relatives than to the millennial generation, they have instilled a lasting “us vs. them” attitude. The irony is that, to most non-Asian people, we are all the same, or at least so similar that any differences are negligible. (We’ve all heard the obnoxious claim that “all Asians look the same!”) I’m not at all suggesting that we should ignore the fact that each country holds its unique cultures and traditions or shy away from celebrating them; rather, in addition to our specific ethnic identities, we should embrace a broader one — that of the Asian-American. Being an Asian-American means being part of a group of diverse people who share similar experiences by looking a certain way and coming from the same region. It means advocating for ourselves together rather than focusing on our differences and creating a stronger voice than can be achieved separately.

The Black Lives Matter movement is one that has gained a higher platform in recent years, and rightfully so. And while the experience of Asian-Americans, the notorious “model minority,” is incomparable to the systematic oppression that severely disadvantages other minority groups, it is curious that Asian-American voices have been strangely quiet throughout all of the hype about social justice, race, and culture. I would even venture to say that if another comedian had made a similar comment to Rock’s about African-Americans, there would have been an exponentially greater outlash. My intention is not to remove focus from the importance of Black Lives Matter, but to add another dimension to the overarching discussion on race. My hope is that we, as Asian-Americans, can come together in solidarity to create a voice that is stronger than the sum of its parts to contribute our unique experiences and perspectives to a predominantly white culture.