Summary: The Centrality Of Racism

When filling out surveys or job applications, all Asians must check off the “Asian American” box regardless of national origin or place of birth, forcing a single classification on an extremely diverse group. This aggregated approach to understanding Asian American is not new, it has been present since the us versus them Occident-Orient approach that powered racism against early Asian immigrants. With the increasing presence of second and third generation Asian Americans, it is time to redefine what it means to be Asian American and to discover a new manner of framing the Asian American experience as unified yet diverse. The best approach to emphasize diversity is through stressing the national, socio-economic and gender differences within the Asian American

As the situation currently stands, there is no problem with the presentation of Asian American as a unified experience. This unification of all Asian Americans in America’s eyes – especially those of white Americans – can be seen through two lenses: the treatment of past immigrants and the beliefs about current Asian Americans. In his article The Centrality of Racism in Asian American History, Ronald Takaki states, regardless of Asian Americans’ contribution to the development of the American West, when “one hears Americans tell of the immigrants who built this nation…one is often led to believe that all our forebearers came from Europe.” America does not want the Asian American portion of its population to be recognized because the fact that the ‘Orient’ assisted with the building of the United States is contrary to all standing American and emphasizes the indebtedness of America to the Asians to crossed the ocean to supplement their economy. Primarily, Americans viewed Asian immigrants as “clannish, rigidly attached to their old country and old culture” or in other words as a group which cannot possibly be assimilated