Honoring Asian American Identities

When the phrase Asian American was created — in 1968, according to activists and academics — it was a radical label of self-determination that indicated a political agenda of equality, anti-racism and anti-imperialism. Asian American was an identity that was chosen, not one that was given.

Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the U.S. and the most economically divided racial group in the U.S. - with wide disparities in income, poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment rates. The Asian American population is expected to reach 14% of the total U.S. population by 2065.

The Asian experience in America is richly complex and intersectional, more than most people realize. From model minority to yellow peril, the narratives of Asian Americans have been largely told through a dominant white settler lens. How do we begin to know ourselves when our histories have been erased, poorly documented, and our identities lumped into a singular category? Reclaiming narratives by sharing our stories is a good start. This article centers just a few Asian American experiences that remain largely hidden from mainstream narratives.

This series by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center explores and challenges the idea of a monolithic Asian American identity and centers the diversity of Asian American experiences and cultures. Start out by viewing: The Model Minority Myth and Making the Invisible, Visible: Southeast Asian American Experience in the United States. What are the factual inaccuracies of the model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes? How do they cause harm to Asian American students? How might you (non-Asian and Asian educators) have upheld these stereotypes and how can you disrupt and counter them? 

Continue your reflection as you complete the self-guided professional learning activity Recognizing and honoring community cultural wealth during remote learning in service of shifting toward practices that recognize and honor the community cultural wealth of families and communities they serve.

This one is especially for our Asian American educators. Asian immigrants are often faced with the concept of race for the first time when they arrive in America. In response, white culture is often idealized, including the specific racial prejudice toward Black people called anti-Blackness. If we [Asian Americans] want to help move society forward, we must recognize our flaws and work to fix ourselves. Progress comes from within. Progress does not come from believing falsities that propel one group of people forward, while setting other groups of people back. This is complicated and difficult work for Asian Americans given the abundance of lived experiences we hold. Still, we have to be willing to unlearn the false narratives that we’ve been taught in order to recognize how anti-Blackness causes harm to our students. The article ends with some ideas on how to fight against anti-Blackness. Are there steps that can you personally take?

Scroll down this webpage from Social Justice Books to find early childhood, upper elementary, young adult, and adult titles on Asian Americans and Asia. The Asian Lit for Kids website offers additional books focused on South Asian, Southeast Asian, and West Asian cultures.   Check out this New York Public Library booklist for additional titles of Asian American literature that challenge the literary canon.

Jose Antonio Vargas was 16 when he realized the green card his grandfather had given him was not real. He was 30 when he publicly revealed his status as an undocumented immigrant, and 31 when he graced the cover of TIME, urging us all to reconsider our approach to the debate around immigration. In this powerful examination of the experience of undocumented Americans, he asks the rest of us to join him in the fight. He asks, “Your silence is no longer acceptable, what are you going to do?” 

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the non-profit media advocacy organization Define American, named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. In 2020, Fortune named him one of its “40 under 40” most influential people in government and politics. His best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, will be published by Pantheon Books in 2023. 

Blasian Narratives is a multi-media “Docu-Theatre” project that began as a collaboration between Morehouse and Spelman College students documenting and exploring the identity formations of individuals with mixed Afro-Asian heritage, colloquially known as “Blasians.” The grassroots project aims to bring historically polarized communities together by illustrating the complexities and unity of identity awareness–how you see yourself vs how you are seen–in hopes of building solidarity along the way. This project was developed by Blasian Project, a media company that focuses on the experiences of Afro-Asian individuals (over 8.9 million people in the U.S.). Content topics will include anti-Blackness, colorism, and mixed privilege. 

Being Asian American can mean a multitude of things, and it encompasses a myriad of little-known stories and unique experiences of people straddling two cultures. See the world through the eyes of others with these stories illustrated by Angel Trazo, the author and illustrator of the children's book We Are Inspiring: The Stories of 32 Inspirational Asian American Women (2019). Her scholarship has been published in Intersections: Critical Issues in Education and ASAP/Journal, and her visual artwork has been featured on PBS and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

Dear Asian Youth is a youth-led, global organization that promotes intersectional activism, solidarity with other marginalized communities, and equality and equity. Through our digital platform, grassroots organizing, and community-based advocacy, we strive to showcase diversity in the Asian community as well as accurate and holistic representation.