Understanding Color Blind Racism and the Model Minority Myth
School
Fairfax High, Fairfax**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
ENGLISH 112
Subject
Sociology
Date
Dec 10, 2024
Pages
15
Uploaded by ElderSnow11590
10/8 Reading What is color blind racism and how is it a useful concept for analyzing EO 9066 and Korematsu? What is the model minority myth? How does color blind racism uphold the model minority myth? How do color blind racism and the model minority myth influence policy and SCOTUS decisions on race-conscious affirmative action policies? Lecture Notes: Before the Model Minority Myth Incarceration and Korematsu (1944) Korematsu doesn’t want to be imprisoned and argues that the EO9066 was not a race neutral document. The 14thamendment says you can’t discriminate on the basis of race and that it’sunconstitutional. SOTUS -EO 9066 was about national security not race -Constitutional rights of citizens were violated, but the Constitution allows for such restrictions -Rational basis scrutiny applied to executive action based on national security Concerns about precedent –basically the executive branch is allowed to breach your constitutional rights based on “national security”Asian Americans are unassimilable a “threat”Executive Order 9066(1942) Exclusion zones where any and all persons can be excluded. People who were excluded were supposed to be given accommodation such as food, transportation, and shelter, as well as other accommodations. The order in abstraction
can be a race neutral document because it doesn’t mention any race at all but was used to encamp Japanese Americans. Model Minority MythWhat is the model minority myth? Relies on essentialism- Asian Americans are assimilable but not in a threat to whiteness. While it sounds positive, what are the negative consequences of the myth?pits minorities against each other “these people were able to bring themselves up w/o violence and protests why couldn’t you (other races) be like them”How does the model minority myth promote colorblind racism? -Biologization of Culture oLumping a huge group of people ▪Have different cultures, religions oBut used to explain something about that group -Minimization of racism oIndividuals are to be blamed for their failures oRewarded for their successes -Abstract Liberalism oMeritocracy, “the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all”-Double burden for APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans) oA silencer of the racism Asian Americans experience -Similarities between antisemitism & anti-Asian racism oJewish Americans and Asian Americans have both been represented as rats, as vectors of disease, as threats towards the civil body. The uses of model minority myth -Constructs “reality”oWe think that we see oIt doesn’t describe reality, but essentialism is used to describe what we think that we’re seeing.-Erases APIDA activism -Developed mostly by white politicians as a rhetorical shaming device o“The hundreds of billions being spent to up the negros and other minorities the nations 300,000 chinese americans are moving ahead on their own with no help from anyone”
o“and he said that in contrast to other racialized groups who were engaged in direct political action, right shaming the civil rights movements and the liberation movements, the article said Japanese Americans had succeeded through, quote, Asian cultural traits. like perseverance”o“exemplars of hope and inspiration and then in the next paragraph he would denounce black women as being dependent upon the welfare and being sort of bad women “oAbout pitting other racialized groups against each other -Used to delegitimize white privilege o“Asian Americans show that white privilege doesn’t exist”oUsually backed up by household incomes “Asian American households have a higher income ergo white privilege doesn’t exist.”-Promotes colorblind racism APIDA Consciousness -Developed in the late 1960s -Challenge to pre-existing labels and racial slurs -“A coalition building term”-Anti-War (sensibility against the cold wars, proxy wars”-Anti-Imperialist, post- colonial -Anti-Racist -To be Asian American is to be: oOppositional oCoalitional oPoliticized Model Minority Myth used to Promote Prop 209 The California Civil Rights Initiative (1996) -It was a yes or no on whether we should ban race conscious affirmative action in colleges and universities and public employment -They argued Asian Americans were being harmed by affirmative action. -The data shows that Black enrollment, Latine enrollment, and Asian American enrollment drops after affirmative action is banned. -Fisher v Texas (2016) oDiversity is a compelling interest oLots of inequality in Texas public education oFisher had a college degree, but she filed the lawsuit because she couldn’t get into her first-choice university
-Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023) oDiversity as a compelling interest is no longer good law –Chief Justice Roberts oBanned diversity programs in admissions practices on the federal level SFFA v. Harvard (2023) 2024 Impacts 2024 Admissions Military Affirmative Action -Compromised data set - Military diversity exempted From FAFSA, self-reporting - Diversity remains a compelling -Expansion of recruiting and retention interest in U.S armed forces policies - Why is this still good law? -National Trends - Black and indigenous enrollment down -Latinx up -Asian American Steady-ish Attacking private DEI programs: Fearless fund Lawsuit (+2 other corporations) -Prohibit diversity programs in the private sector oReality: Unmet investment needs among Black Americans, especially women oReality: 1964 Civil Rights Act ▪Legal employers will not prohibit employment based on discrimination Quiz 3 Study Session What is color blind racism and how is it a useful concept for analyzing EO 9066 and Korematsu? What is the model minority myth? How does color blind racism uphold the model minority myth? How do color blind racism and the model minority myth influence policy and SCOTUS decisions on race-conscious affirmative action policies?10/15
Why do media images about Native Americans matter and how are they an ingenious act of colonialism ? What do objectification and co mmodification mean in this class? How do the family separation policies reflect the on-going genocide of Native Americans? 11/14 9thAmendment –Rights that people have that aren’t listed15thAmendment –The right to vote shall not be denied 6thAmendment –The right to a speedy and public trial, to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have the assistance of counsel for his defense In the prison industrial system –petty crime, refused plea, demanded 6thamendment, was stuck in jail for 3 years in solitary confinement 13thargues people are punished for accessing their 6thamendment rights -Right to counsel in criminal trial oGideon v Wainwright (1963) ▪Misunderstood the last portion of the 6thamendment not to have your own public servant but to mount your own criminal defense such as files 8thAmendment - “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Constitutional Issues: -Fees and fines to access constitutional rights -Minors in prison & Jones v Mississippi (2021) Racial Capitalism and “Exception Clauses”-Prison Labor produces $11 Billion annually -Prison Maintenance is largely done by inmates -Prison labor maintains/ protects public infrastructure -Little to no pay, no labor rights or protections -No right to refuse work without losing privileges Critical questions about the prison industrial complex
What is the PIC and what’s new about it? (pt. 4, #3)-First response to the social problems of poverty -Result: Disappear people, not problems (Part 8, #8) -Comprehensive system of control that is a dominant presence in disinvested neighborhoods -Management & control of a dispossessed underclass -Primary mechanism for racial oppression and denial of equal opportunity Defund v Abolition and decarceration Prop 36: How are crime & punishment unlinked? Or what types of crimes get punished? (Pt 9, #9) 12/3 White Flight Equity & Education Questions on longer sourcesReproductive Originalism? Office hours extended What does equality mean? What does equity mean?| What is the difference between equity and equality?Segregation/Desegregation PoliciesPublic Education in the US-Key Features ofLiberalism-Meritocracy due to public educationoEveryone gets the same foundation of public educationoYou can start a businessoRewarded for your skilloAttempt at getting to equal opportunitiesRepublicism
-Uneducated Citizenry = public good parts of protecting civil virturePublic Education in the Federal ConstitutionCalifornia Constitution –Declaration of Rights/ Bill of rights Article IX: EducationEveryone must get education Sect. 5 A system of common schoolsAmended Article 1 –Safe, secure and peaceful schoolCalifornia’s (de)segregation history-Lemon Grove (1931)oNo longer educating mexican american students with white american studentoInstead send them to a “Barnyard”oAround this time Mexicans are being round and sent whether they had citizenship or notoThey sue and win/ first desegregation case in the US-Mendez v Westminster (1946)oSylvia Mendez goes to school with her family and the school admins take her 2 cousins since they’re lighter skin and send sylvia and her brother to another school.oSylvia’s parents challenge this decision and it gos all the way to the Supreme CourtoCali Supreme Court says segregated schools violate the 14thamendmentWhy does segregation violate the 14thamendment?All persons have equal protection from the laws. Equal Protection clause1978 Desegregation policies Californians opposed the polices and keep it in the courts arguing whether it was legal or not for 15 years until 1978-Policy requirement: Busing where “reasonable & feasible” regardless of cause of segregation oBetter Education is one of the reasons they would want to desegregate oDenaturalize segregation oSocial Capital/ Networks is limited with segregation ▪Lead to White Fright –Children were taken out of public schools
Why is Desegregation a health policy? More correlation with better health/social economic class status California’s (de)segregation historyProp 1 (1979 ballot) replaced 1978 state standards with these federal standards: -Busing required only when segregation had resulted from intentionalacts of discrimination on the part of school system officials -Prop 1 becomes article 1, Section 7 of the CA Constitution oEqual Protection of the laws may not be violated oVoluntary busing and other desegragation polices allowed oBut discriminatory harm must be a result of a specific violation (intention acts of discrimination) oNo state policy can exceed federal requirements Plessy v Ferguson (1986) -“Seperate, but equal” doesn’t violate 14thamendment -Jim crow is constitutional Brown V. Board of Education (1954) & Brown II (1955) -Segregation violates the 14thamendment & orders desegregation in schools President Barack Obama -Desegregation too politically toxic to discuss -Education policies invoke seperate, but equal logic President Donald Trump -Judicial appointments refuse to affirm Brown v. Board President Joe Biden -Opponent of desgregation policies, like busing Ochoa & Academic Discourse “The Asians seem to be motivated and driven. The Latinos don’tseem to value education in the same way. [Their] parents don’t seem to be as involved the way the Asian parents are.”- Model Minority Myth “Whether or not somebody is academically successful? What influences that? Oh, first and foremost, their family life, how they were raised, the culture of the family, what the
family belives—100 percent, and that’s why we have a gap at this school between the Asian population, Hispanic... You’re going to see the number one diffrence is what’s going on in the home, not what’s going on in the classroom.”- Biologically smart or not - Its whether how you’re challenged or exposed to“framing the Gap” : Named and unnamed Gaps-Opportunity Gap oCommonly called the achievement Gap oTracking, both positive and negative oStumbles -Punishing/Policing Gap oPreschool to prison: no child too young for zero-tolerance 12/5 Came super late Options for action - Unity with conflict and an embrace of difference Allyship without naming, history, connection or investment is not allyship -Accomplices -Dreaming new futurities -Transformative portals Red New Deal: covid -Non-reformist reforms are necessary -Liberation and justice not equality.
Final Test PrepRacism Social construction of race/racial formation process The fact that race itself is not a biological means but a social means used to add labels to people. Critical race theory Race used as a means for political power. Race fluctuates based on political, economic, and social factors. CRT challenges common sense ideas about race and the use of racial logic to justify exploitation and oppression. Essentialism Fixed or underlying essence, unchanging over time, single axis way of thinking Intersectionality Multiple categories of self Macro-level interlocking systems of privilege and oppression Call to action
Model minority Abstract liberalism Biologization of culture Meritocracy If you work hard enough you will be rewarded on your work Modules 2 & 3 terms: Settler colonialism Racial capitalism liberalism republicanism systems of entitlements/affirmative action for white Americans Structural inequality How is it defined in Part 4, #1? How does it relate to racial capitalism?
Why is housing policy a good example of structural inequality? Reproductive justice non-consensual sterilizations and eugenics Belly of the Beast will be folded into the sources for this week Why is a choice framework inadequate? Reproductive originalism Define this term within the context of the 9th and 14th Amendments from the Gans pdf Prison industrial complex 13th will be folded into the sources for this week What is the nature of the PIC and what's new about it? decarceration v defund How does the PIC relate to racial capitalism? Social determinants of health upstream causes How does it relate to racial capitalism? How does the racism in public health research relate to racial capitalism? Immigration as race-making institution Alien citizen How does it relate to racial capitalism? Equality v. Equity
Examples of inequality in education Punishment/policing gaps and the school-to-prison pipeline Examples of equity policies for education Educational gaps Academic achievement/opportunity gaps Power evasive (I will use this term from Ochoa's chapter on the final exam) Biologization of culture, essentialism, model minority myth White flight Policies, Cases, Laws, etc. Cases: Naturalization cases from day 1 of Module 2 People v. Hall (re: citizenship in CA) Dred Scott v. Sanford (re: 14th Amendment and citizenship) Elk v. Wilkins (re: 14th Amendment, settler colonialism, and citizenship) Plessy v. Ferguson (re: its influence on education policy) Shelby County v. Holder (re: its impact on the VRA) Desegregation cases from California
Amendments to the US Constitution: 6th Amendment 8th Amendment 13th Amendment 14th Amendment 15th Amendment California Constitution: Use the laws and state constitution to answer the question, "Is California a free state?" Use laws, cases, and citizenship rights in California to answer why California legislators refused to ratify the Reconstruction Amendments (de)segregation and the CA Constitution Policies: Voting Rights Act Impact of discrimination v. intention to discriminate Housing policies—There will be questions about the significance of housing policies. You won’t have to define them. Rather the questions will focus on their relationship to structural inequality and the racial wealth gap. You should know the similarities and differences between:
Phase 1: Federal housing policies from 1930s and 1940s (includes the Federal Housing Act & GI Bill) Phase 2: Fair Housing Act (1968) Phase 3: 21st Century housing policies (includes subprime mortgages and economic collapse of 2008-2010; the unaffordable housing crisis from Pt 5, #3) 1965 Immigration Act Why is it significant? Why is it a paradox? 1978 Desegregation policies in California Impact of discrimination v. intention to discriminate