“Asian Americans Are Still Caught in the Trap of the ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype. And It Creates Inequality for All” an essay written by Viet Thangh Nguyen, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist and professor, primarily discusses the concept of “model minority.” Nguyen, a, primarily discusses the concept of “model minority” through the application of rhetorical questions, repetition, and his personal experience of racial oppression as an Asian-American. Nguyen explains that a “model minority” is an Asian-American who is favored rather than discriminated against, or better put, “the nonthreatening kind of person of color.” Asians who are acceptable in American society because of their high socioeconomic achievement are therefore part of the “model minority” suffers from persecution even if it is not from physical harm. Like the author mentioned, he has never encountered physical assault in terms of racism, rather, it was the energy directed towards him. For instance, the writer experienced racism in the sense of “the airwaves, the ching-chong jokes of radio shock jocks, the villainous or comical japs and chinks and gooks of American war movies and comedies.” Even though Nguyen and other Asian-Americans considered part of the “model minority” have not experienced physical racism, this label is still dangerous to the Asian community because it forces them to suppress the Asian part of their culture, causing them to feel ashamed of various aspects of their culture that they should instead be proud of.

Furthermore, the novelist goes on to say that “the end of Asian Americans only happens with the end of racism and capitalism” to illustrate that the “American Dream” is only possible because of the exploitation of cheap Asian labor, which provides white Americans with a better lifestyle while still viewing Asian-Americans as inferior beings and an economic competition. Americans can enjoy the American dream because Asian countries supply cheap products. Nevertheless, Asians are still perceived as a “threat” to the American economy because Americans blame them, particularly Chinese people, for the loss of American jobs or the increased susceptibility of economic competition. As a result, hatred and prejudice are born from the stereotype of Americans believing that Asians are attempting to take their employment.