Institutionalized Identity: The Impact of the Model Minority Myth on Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong Americans

By Ethan Kong

On January 9, 1966, William Petersen, an American sociologist, published an article in the New York Times entitled, “Success Story: Japanese American Style.” Through this story, William Petersen coined the term “model minority” to refer to the story of the Japanese American community. The goal of this story was to compare the Japanese Americans’ experience of overcoming the adversity of discrimination and Japanese internment camps to achieving the American dream, with that of the African American community. Petersen’s comparison of these two communities with two very different histories sought to convince the African American community, which was in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, to follow in the footsteps of the stereotypical Japanese American success story: in other words, to assimilate, be passive about social injustices, work for success (even without support from the government) and therefore become “model minorities” in society.
With an influx of immigration from Asia in the years following the publication of this article, the model minority myth would be liberally applied to all Asian Americans. For instance, in 1987, Time Magazine published, on its front cover, a news story called “Those Asian-American Whiz Kids.” The magazine displayed six Asian American school children amongst textbooks, backpacks, and computers, clearly depicting all Asian Americans under a monolithic image of the model minority myth. Not only did the model minority myth have a profound impact on the image of Asian Americans and interracial relationships in the United States after its creation, but it also failed to take into account the diverse experiences of the Asian American community, including different immigration pathways, and an immense wealth gap. This myth exacerbated inequalities within the Asian American community itself by failing to recognize and therefore address factors contributing to the struggles of three largely marginalized subgroups: Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong Americans.

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Published by Critical Debates HSGJ.