Asian people are the exact opposite of this. They also went through periods of hardship throughout history here in the United States, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, all had to face internment camps or something similar. What did they do? They just work hard. Now, they on average make more than White people. No one ever talks about Asian privilege.
I thought (and still sort of think) the same thing, but let me provide a counterpoint to this that made sense to me when I heard it.
The biggest difference between Asian and Black demographics is that most Asians immigrated to America very recently. There was a huge amount of immigration from Asia in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and so on. These immigrants were hand picked on the basis of eligibility. They had to show proof of a good amount money to support themselves, and immigration decisions were very heavily biased by education—rightly so. Same thing goes for Southeast Asians (Indians in particular).
These demographics do extremely well on the job market simply because they have been “hand selected,” so to speak, by the high bar of entry in the immigration process. So of course they do very well for themselves. In other words, if we expected them to show up and slum around, then they wouldn’t have been granted permission to immigrate to begin with.
The massively low propensity of Asians to commit crime is certainly a cultural aspect though. You match demographics almost identically to whites and their crime rates are much lower. Same thing goes for leadership positions though; holding education, income, experience, etc. equal, whites are much more likely to seek and to hold leadership positions.
Anyway that was a tangent but I hope the point makes sense.
This is why there is this thing about Asians being the “model minority.” You essentially pick a group of educated and financially well off immigrants and allow them access to America, then they succeed, and then you say, well, look at Asians, they are a minority but do so well! This is the argument against your point.
Do you know what sources they used to say that Asian immigrants were hand selected on the basis of education / income? Seems dubious on multiple levels. Educated and financially well off individuals generally don't leave their own country to start over in a foreign land. I would also expect to see a higher number of old asian immigrant professionals in various industries, which I don't.
Most Korean immigrants from that time were certainly not educated or financially well off. In fact most korean immigrants were from the worst part of Korea, Joella. Saying most immigrants from Joella were educated and well off is like saying most people from Compton or Baltimore are educated and well off. So the truth is that the US took in the poorest Koreans, not the richest.
Thats a great reply, but do you think if Asians were in the place of Blacks during slavery that they would still be in such a hole? Probably not, theyd probably be ruling the country right now if we imported them on the same level of Afro Americans .
I thought (and still sort of think) the same thing, but let me provide a counterpoint to this that made sense to me when I heard it.
The biggest difference between Asian and Black demographics is that most Asians immigrated to America very recently. There was a huge amount of immigration from Asia in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and so on. These immigrants were hand picked on the basis of eligibility. They had to show proof of a good amount money to support themselves, and immigration decisions were very heavily biased by education—rightly so. Same thing goes for Southeast Asians (Indians in particular).
These demographics do extremely well on the job market simply because they have been “hand selected,” so to speak, by the high bar of entry in the immigration process. So of course they do very well for themselves. In other words, if we expected them to show up and slum around, then they wouldn’t have been granted permission to immigrate to begin with.
The massively low propensity of Asians to commit crime is certainly a cultural aspect though. You match demographics almost identically to whites and their crime rates are much lower. Same thing goes for leadership positions though; holding education, income, experience, etc. equal, whites are much more likely to seek and to hold leadership positions.
Anyway that was a tangent but I hope the point makes sense.
This is why there is this thing about Asians being the “model minority.” You essentially pick a group of educated and financially well off immigrants and allow them access to America, then they succeed, and then you say, well, look at Asians, they are a minority but do so well! This is the argument against your point.
My own opinion lies halfway in the middle.
Do you know what sources they used to say that Asian immigrants were hand selected on the basis of education / income? Seems dubious on multiple levels. Educated and financially well off individuals generally don't leave their own country to start over in a foreign land. I would also expect to see a higher number of old asian immigrant professionals in various industries, which I don't.
Most Korean immigrants from that time were certainly not educated or financially well off. In fact most korean immigrants were from the worst part of Korea, Joella. Saying most immigrants from Joella were educated and well off is like saying most people from Compton or Baltimore are educated and well off. So the truth is that the US took in the poorest Koreans, not the richest.
Thats a great reply, but do you think if Asians were in the place of Blacks during slavery that they would still be in such a hole? Probably not, theyd probably be ruling the country right now if we imported them on the same level of Afro Americans .