A model minority is an ethnic group of people who are used to advance the idea of the American dream.  They are typically more wealthy than other minority groups and are more likely to live in integrated communities.  Model minorities are seen as unproblematic, hardworking, and unlikely to challenge the status quo.  They are told that they are more successful than other ethnic groups solely because they work hard, and the majority (in America the white majority) use this idea to dismiss the poverty that exists in other communities as a product of laziness.  However, delving deeper into history, one will notice every minority group has a unique coming to America story.  African Americans arrived as slaves; Hispanic Americans largely arrived as migrant workers; Hmong Americans were refugees of war.  Members of the model minority groups, contrarily, were educated and were middle to upper class in their countries of origin.  When the model minorities believe the narrative surrounding them, it fosters prejudice or racist ideas about other minority groups, maintaining the status quo.  

In the article, “Asian Americans are still caught in the trap of the ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype”, the author claims the ‘Asian American’ label can only be abolished when racism and capitalism are as well.  The author is referencing the treatment of Asian Americans by American society.  Asian Americans are not always seen as true Americans; some aspect of their American identity, such as their English ability, is often questioned.  They are accepted by American society when times are good.  However, when hardships hit the country – such as a pandemic, a recession, or a war – their acceptance is suspended and racism against them becomes prevalent.  Capitalism is partly to blame for this.  When an American corporation decides to move its manufacturing operations to an Asian country, Asian Americans are blamed for the loss of American jobs.  The author argues that rather than blame the minority groups who have no influence on these decisions, we should blame the corporations.  When corporations leave the U.S in search of cheap labor, they show they do not value the livelihood of their American workers.  Capitalists seek to maximize profits and will naturally look for the cheapest source of labor.  Their decisions bring unwarranted discrimination against the people whose country they are going to.  

This essay reaffirmed my skepticism of the model minority narrative.  The article states that when Asian Americans ally themselves “with white people in a country built on white supremacy” racist sentiments against other minorities grows.  As an Indian American, a group of people deemed a model minority, I have seen these sentiments among members of my community.  They are given certain privileges afforded to white people and start to believe that the sole reason for their success is their hard work, and begin to call other minority groups lazy.  This is a dangerous way of thinking in a society that does not see them are true Americans either.