The Curious Case of the Asian American Victim
Compare what you've heard about recent anti-Asian hate crimes with the actual statistics. Then ask yourself, "Who wins when reality is distorted?" Tweet
Highlights
Sometimes the prevailing view on a controversial issue can be at great odds with reality...
...and here's just one case that proves that point.
Prominent Asian Americans have embraced a narrative of pervasive, historical victimization by whites against much evidence to the contrary, Richard Bernstein reports for RealClearInvestigations. He writes that the shift, triggered by the recent Atlanta-area killings of Asian women by a disturbed man, is a remarkable illustration of the power and ascendancy of critical race theory, which holds that racism, not liberty, is the core value of American society.
Bernstein reports:
- While significant, the new view among the Asian American intelligentsia doesn’t necessarily represent that of Asian Americans broadly, particularly on policies like affirmative action that hurt them.
- Asians’ economic and academic success compared with whites — despite whites’ supposed efforts to maintain dominance — belies the narrative of victimization, even conceding that Asian Americans have experienced historical exclusion and violence.
- A spike in “white supremacist” anti-Asian hatred since the onset of the Chinese coronavirus looks to be exaggerated: Many perpetrators are from minorities or are disturbed individuals. What’s more, the vast majority of the reported anti-Asian incidents were verbal or nonviolent.
- The aspirational “model minority” narrative of Asian success through hard work and study is now itself under attack as racist. Detractors say this “myth” is used to imply that if blacks changed their behavior, they could do just as well.
- Such ideas have consequences. California’s Model Ethnic Studies Curriculum includes a sample lesson titled “Asian American Pacific Islanders and the Model Minority Myth.”
- The term Asian American lumps together people from over 20 diverse nations and regions, reflecting both the wide ambitions of the victimization narrative and its debatable generalizations.
The full article can be read here.