Curtis Chang’s “Streets of Gold: The Myth of the Model
Minority” centers discussion around the idea that Asian-Americans have not
achieved racial equality in the United States, despite what media “mythology”
would claim.
Chang argues firstly that “making it” in America is not necessarily “achieving material wealth” and that statistics claiming that the average Asian-American has achieved material wealth equivalent to Whites is misleading (Chang 376). Chang states that although the “U.S. Census Survey of Income and Education data” states that Asian-American family median income “is $22,713 compared to $20,800” this statistic does not explain the difference in the average household between Asian-Americans and Whites. Chang explains that “Asian-American families generally have more children and live-in relatives” and “[average] more than two family income earners (whites only have 1.6)” on top of “[living] disproportionately in high cost of living areas which artificially inflate income figures” (367).
Chang argues firstly that “making it” in America is not necessarily “achieving material wealth” and that statistics claiming that the average Asian-American has achieved material wealth equivalent to Whites is misleading (Chang 376). Chang states that although the “U.S. Census Survey of Income and Education data” states that Asian-American family median income “is $22,713 compared to $20,800” this statistic does not explain the difference in the average household between Asian-Americans and Whites. Chang explains that “Asian-American families generally have more children and live-in relatives” and “[average] more than two family income earners (whites only have 1.6)” on top of “[living] disproportionately in high cost of living areas which artificially inflate income figures” (367).
Chang then goes into further detail with other facts such as
“Asians work in low income and low status jobs 2 to 3 times more than whites”
and juxtapositioning them against headlines like “The Triumph of the Asian
Americans” (367, 366). This use of
statistical shortcomings and media headlines put up against more detailed facts
that statistics (and the media) conveniently omit makes clear the illusion of
the “model minority” and it’s true purpose.
Chang compares this to the “teacher’s pet”—an individual (or in this
case, a group) held up “in order to communicate to the other ‘students,’ the
Blacks and Hispanics, ‘Why can’t you be like that?’” (370).
The main argument in this article is that Asian-Americans
are held up as this “teacher’s pet” figure, shifting the focus away from the
systematic racism and toward blaming the individual for not being “good enough”
or working “hard enough” to achieve equality.
The Institution would have the marginalized groups believe that they are
failing not because of racial inequality, but because they are not working hard
enough, or because they are lazy. The
truth of the matter is that institutionalized racism makes achieving true
equality impossible, and statistical census data creates the illusion of
equality and should not be taken for actual equality.
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