Sitting quietly at a table in a bustling elementary school cafeteria, I anxiously opened a box of one of my favorite home-cooked dishes, Vietnamese egg rolls.  Undoubtedly, these egg rolls stuck out like a sore thumb amidst all the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that lined every lunch table.  Eyeing my food, a friend sitting across from me asked, “So where are you from?”

“I’m from here. I’ve lived in Virginia my whole life.”
“No, where are you really from… are you Chinese, or Japanese, or…”
“Um… well I was born in the United States.  My parents are from Vietnam.  I have a grandmother who is Chinese, though.”
“Oh, so you are Chinese!”

This was when I realized I didn’t quite represent the typical American.  The issue lies in the fact that there is a conceptual divide between Asian Americans and other Americans, a divide that is engendered by a concept known as the perpetual foreigner syndrome, a perspective that prevents Asian Americans like myself from discovering a sense of belonging, a sense of inclusion.

In many ways, we are distanced from our peers simply due to this conceptual divide.  This recurring issue is present not only in personal accounts, but also in areas of law, politics, and education.   It is a problem that nearly all Asian Americans share, but is somehow overlooked through the view of the model minority.  

Perhaps I should be flattered by the portrayal of Asian Americans as the model minority.  But in fact, I find this quite problematic.  The problem is that there exists a perception that all Asians are highly educated and highly successful, a perception that only tells one story within the Asian American narrative.  There exist many stories among Asians within the United States, and several are not always positive. 

The concept of the model minority obscures several realities prevalent amongst many Asians and Asian Americans within the United States.  I remember when my own father told me of his own narrative, of how he fled the deprivations of war and Communism in Vietnam, immigrating to the U.S. as one of the “boat people” after spending time at a refugee camp.  He arrived in America virtually penniless.  He brought barely more than a single set of clothes at merely the age of sixteen.  Perseverance and selfless dedication allowed by father to attend university.  Yet, he still had to work several days and nights a week washing dishes at an Italian restaurant to pay for his tuition and make a living.  Moreover, his “heavy” Vietnamese accent and strong Asian values initially caused him to feel slightly excluded amongst his peers and coworkers.  Now as an engineer, my father may seem to represent this “model minority,” but his successes are masked by hidden stories of struggle.  My father’s story was just one of countless stories; in the United States, Asian Americans speak dozens of different languages and hold origins from about 20 different countries.  The Asian population within the U.S. is not homogeneous and does not represent a single story.  In reality, it is composed of several narratives that may not fit within the “model minority.” 

Looking beyond these seemingly positive stereotypes, one of the hidden struggles lies within the prevalence of poverty in Asian American populations.  The public has a tendency to overlook the statistics that show how Asian Americans may earn higher incomes, but are actually more likely to be in poverty than Caucasians. In 2015, for example, the poverty rate for Asians, was 11.4 percent, and whites not of Hispanic origin had a poverty rate of 9.1 percent.

There is also discrimination within the workplace.  Nearly 31 percent of Asians experience discrimination within the workplace, which is the highest percentage of any racial or ethnic group, with African Americans at twenty-six percent.

The model minority myth only silences the authentic narratives of Asians and Asian Americans.  Unfortunately, it is a myth obscuring the struggles stemming from poverty, discrimination and the perpetual foreigner perspective.  Perhaps these struggles may provide a reason for a change in policy or more space in the media to talk about these stories.  Ultimately, there needs to be more awareness of the racial divide, the discrimination and the struggles that Asian Americans endure.