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The Stream - Myth of the 'model minority' — Transcript

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0:02[Music]
0:16hi I'm malikal in for fim and you're in
0:19the Stream today in the US are Asians
0:22the model minority we'll look at how
0:24even good stereotypes of Asian-American
0:26success can be
0:28damaging
0:30[Music]
0:36Our Guest digital producer Julio Ricardo
0:38verela is here looking out for your live
0:40feedback Julio I know this is something
0:42that resonates with our community right
0:44resonates as an understatement as as
0:46with the AJ stream Community when you
0:48talk about identity ethnicity race just
0:51cultural issues uh the community shows
0:53up and what I want to do is to sort of
0:55frame the conversation by starting with
0:57a video comment by uh by Caitlyn so let
1:00me let me play that a little bit kind of
1:01give us what it is about the model
1:03minority myth here's
1:04Caitlyn so the Asian model minority myth
1:07does two things right first it defines
1:08all asian-americans as hardworking
1:10overachievers and second it uses that
1:13myth of the hardworking overachiever to
1:16put down other people of color to say if
1:17you just worked harder like an
1:19Asian-American then you too would be
1:21able to get ahead um and that puts Asian
1:23Americans in a double bind right so
1:25you're either a hardworking
1:27overachieving tool of the oppression or
1:31um you're not representative of your
1:32race so keep tweeting in your comments
1:36at hash AJ stream looking forward to
1:39those well joining us on set is Ellen
1:41woo Ellen is an assistant professor of
1:43history at Indiana University and the
1:45author of the color of success
1:48asian-americans and the origins of the
1:50model minority Ellen it's great to have
1:52you here in stream I'm so excited to be
1:54here looking forward to hearing what you
1:55have to say now remember this is a show
1:57that's driven by you so if you have a
1:59suggestion for a future show tell us at
2:02facebook.com/ ajstream your story could
2:05be in the
2:10Stream Buu D my name is Clayton Thomas
2:13Mueller and I am the co-director of the
2:15indigenous tarand campaign of the
2:18Polaris Institute and I am in the
2:23Stream is there such a thing as a good
2:26stereotype for asian-americans the model
2:28minority myth character izes their group
2:30as academic overachievers who are
2:33hardworking and successful listen to how
2:35some YouTubers are discussing this are
2:38you're Asian when everyone thinks you're
2:39a nerd Asians are always very smart no
2:42not all the time I got a B+ on my report
2:45card once Asians are so good at math
2:47most people agree that Asians are smart
2:50but are they smart because they study or
2:52do they study because they're smart no I
2:54don't know the answer to that question
2:55all I know is that we're taking over the
2:58University colle grad school give me
3:00that give me that give me that I like
3:03them well all humor as side statistics
3:05show that asian-americans are the
3:07highest income earning best educated and
3:10fastest growing group in the United
3:12States but there's more to those numbers
3:14as many Advocates say the idea of Asian
3:16success is overshadowing serious issues
3:19faced by their communities to discuss
3:22this we have via Skype in Los Angeles
3:24Christina Wong a comedian and writer
3:26whose work has examined Asian-American
3:28mental health issues in New York Su
3:30ragun Natan executive director of South
3:33asian-americans leading together or salt
3:36that's an advocacy group in the US and
3:39in Los Angeles we have OA sa Pang he's
3:41an actor and writer whose theatrical
3:43works are based on the Lao American
3:46Experience welcome to all of our guests
3:48now let's start the conversation here in
3:50the studio exploring how we got from a
3:52point in time where Asian immigrants
3:54were literally being shut out of the US
3:56to seeing this group become known as the
3:58model minority Alan can you give us a
4:00brief history lesson sure I'll try to
4:02keep it very brief um so it's a very
4:05startling transformation so before uh
4:08World War II since about the middle of
4:10the 19th century when people began to
4:12come to the United States from Asia in
4:14large numbers um asian-americans were
4:17definitely shut out of mainstream
4:18American society they were thought of as
4:20the yellow Peril and um they were really
4:22subjected to a whole web of laws and
4:25social practices designed to exclude
4:28them from all facets of American life so
4:31they could not vote they couldn't become
4:33naturalized citizens they couldn't own
4:34property they couldn't marry white folks
4:36they had to attend um segregated schools
4:39and live in segregated neighborhoods and
4:41they only could take for the most part
4:42the most undesirable kinds of
4:44jobs um and so I started to think how
4:47did Asian uh immigrants go from the
4:50yellow Peril to the model minority in
4:51what seems a very short amount of time
4:53really because by the 40s 50s and 60s
4:57asian-americans all of a sudden were
4:59thought about in this very different way
5:01right exactly what you were saying
5:02earlier successful and hardworking and
5:04so forth and and what I found in my
5:07research was that this transformation of
5:10becoming or inventing the model minority
5:12came about first and foremost by
5:15America's Global Ambitions so during
5:17World War II and then the Cold War the
5:20United States was very interested in
5:23kind of a massing kind of a global
5:24street cred right by being by
5:27proclaiming itself as the leader of the
5:28Free World
5:30American uh leaders knew that they would
5:32have to start cleaning up race relations
5:34at home right because they couldn't
5:36fight a war wars in the name of
5:37democracy without doing that um and so
5:40as a result American policy makers
5:43started to dismantle systems of
5:45exclusion like Asian exclusion like Jim
5:48Crow um at the same time asian-americans
5:51themselves were very invested in being
5:54acknowledged and um accepted as
5:56full-fledged American citizens and they
5:59also many asian-americans Chinese and
6:02Japanese in particular worked very hard
6:04to portray themselves as model citizens
6:08and so these efforts then got picked up
6:10and red deployed by the 1960s in the
6:15midst of the black Freedom Movement as
6:17civil the calls for civil rights and
6:19black power were going
6:21on uh both liberal conservative
6:23commentators observers policy makers
6:26started to point to uh Chinese and
6:28Japanese Americans and say well look
6:30like you know here's a group that seem
6:32to have made it in American society
6:34they've got all the right values Family
6:36Values um they're patriotic you know the
6:38Japanese American soldiers of course
6:40during World War II they're
6:41anti-communists uh and so holding this
6:43up basically holding this group up as a
6:46model and cling it up as something to
6:47Aspire to but very explicitly against
6:50two different groups first of all very
6:52much um a model Visa African-Americans
6:56to say look you know those people you
6:58know out in the streets you know they're
6:59complaining Etc um look at this other
7:02group who seem to be quiet getting along
7:04just fine and if they could do it then
7:06why can't Julio I know that there are
7:08community members who are saying yeah
7:10and they're actually saying exactly what
7:12what the professor saying I'm going to
7:13share a couple of comments and here's
7:15Susan who's a Japanese americ she says
7:16the concept of a model minority was
7:18manufactured to justify racism against
7:21African-Americans while offering a kind
7:23of second class status to some Asians
7:26but also the whole issue of the model
7:28minority is is already being challenged
7:30like here's Lucas shama who says you
7:32know growing up being a model anything
7:35is de facto not cool and he hated being
7:38placed in a box hated it so you can see
7:41that people are just are just talking
7:43about the model minority Malik and we
7:45should just toss it out to to Our Guest
7:47because it's it's definitely a topic
7:48that um is is something that it really
7:52resonates with everybody right right so
7:53Christina let's take that to you that of
7:55course you saw that person talk about
7:57being put in a box is that how you felt
7:59growing up absolutely like when I was
8:02growing up um I I was you can't tell
8:06because I'm so gorgeous and smart and
8:08modest um but I was quite miserable
8:11growing up and um and I'll still never
8:14know is was it was I clinically
8:15depressed or was it just Chinese and
8:17like I I I was under a stress that I
8:19think my non-chinese friends could not
8:22identify with and when I tell my white
8:24friends now about just the stress I was
8:26under like even my friends who were like
8:28super emo now are like they're like say
8:30what like they're just they're like like
8:33oh my God I'm like Richard Simmons
8:34compared to like what whatever stress
8:36you were under um I don't know if that
8:37was a a weird reference but anyway I got
8:40the reference I got it but the the idea
8:42is I um in the work that I do as a as an
8:45artist now I uh have worked a lot with
8:47the issue of of mental health in
8:50Asian-American communities and
8:51specifically the high rates of
8:53depression and suicide among
8:54Asian-American communities and this is
8:56surprising for a lot of people because
8:57they think oh but Asian-American am an
8:59are so they're so uh smart and
9:02successful they seem fine to me that's
9:05the phrase that I hear all the time as
9:06someone who towards a show about the
9:08issue and is addressing the issue is
9:10like what's wrong with them they just
9:11they're so beautiful why would anything
9:13be wrong but I think it is this
9:15perception that everything is fine and
9:17also um sort of culturally at least for
9:22me like the idea of seeing a therapist
9:25is not really something that you do it's
9:28it's a foreign idea to to pay money to
9:30go see someone um there's a lot of uh
9:33misconceptions that if you see a
9:35therapist you might not get a job when
9:37you're older that it will is that what
9:39your parents told you yeah yeah they
9:41said it's too expensive and someone and
9:43I was like 11 years old right and I'm
9:45like and I had uh grown up watching the
9:47show Growing Pains where K Kirk
9:50Cameron's father had a therapy office in
9:53their house and I and and it seemed like
9:55wow it seems like magic I want that I
9:58want some wizard like not that he's a
10:00wizard I want a therapist to fix
10:01everything right and um and I remember
10:03asking my mom about it my mom was born
10:05in America right and she's just like ah
10:08it's so much money and if if anyone
10:10finds out even at 11 that you saw a
10:12therapist you won't get a job when
10:13you're older and it's and I don't think
10:15that it's that uncommon from what other
10:18um asian-americans at least from having
10:20you know tour the show around the
10:21country and talk to other
10:22asian-americans it's uh it's it's very
10:24shameful to admit that something is
10:25wrong with your family and and I and and
10:29and like for my grandparents they were
10:31like running from Communists in China so
10:33that's why they stayed under the radar
10:35it's not right of course that makes
10:37sense well Christina I want to pick up
10:39on something you said and and push it to
10:41suan because um you said for other
10:43people it seems they seem fine to me
10:46this seems like a a great thing to be so
10:49summan I pulled up on my screen here
10:51this is a a Pew study now this is um
10:53stats from 2010 but Pew recently updated
10:56their study um using statistics last
10:59year using 2012 data and here you see
11:01asian-americans leading others in
11:03education and income US population about
11:0628% among Asians 49% median household
11:11income down here for the US population
11:13it's about
11:14$49,000 for Asians
11:17$66,000 so when you see things like this
11:21suan what's lying beneath that that
11:24isn't so great uh well what's lying
11:26beneath it for us you know as South
11:28Asians we Face a very interesting
11:30Dynamic where we have a very big tent of
11:32a community so yes um you know median
11:34income for South asian-americans in
11:36particular is really high but you know
11:39um the fourth largest sending country of
11:42the nation's undocumented population are
11:44Indians right we are there are almost
11:46250,000 undocumented Indians in the
11:48country alone uh we have major that's
11:51incredible because I would say I mean
11:53I'm speaking for myself first but I
11:55think others might agree that when you
11:57hear the word undocumented immigrants
11:59most people think of the US Southern
12:01border they think of Mexico they don't
12:03necessarily think of people coming from
12:04south Asia absolutely and they don't
12:06think for example of the napali uh
12:09domestic worker or um you know the bhane
12:12high school student who's struggling in
12:14school because they are you know really
12:17um struggling to acclimatize themselves
12:19to the US education system they don't
12:21think about the Bangladeshi or the
12:22Pakistani limited English proficient
12:24Taxi Driver who's just barely getting by
12:27right so you know when we uh speak speak
12:29to the experience of South Asians
12:30certainly we have um some folks who are
12:33very high high profile who have really
12:35succeeded quote unquote in this country
12:36and founded Silicon Valley companies and
12:38we we welcome their success story but we
12:41also really want to lift up the diverse
12:42set of stories of other South Asians who
12:45are you know frankly facing many of the
12:47same uh struggles and barriers that many
12:49other poor and working class immigrants
12:51have faced in this country for decades
12:53OB I see you nodding your head here here
12:55oh yeah I'm nodding my head responding
12:58to everything that Su and as well as uh
13:00the data had you know when when I look
13:02at the data I'm asking what Asians are
13:04you talking about what asian-americans
13:06are you talking about because Asian
13:07America is a diverse
13:11array you know Asians so that's what I
13:15mean and so if it's focusing on the the
13:17Chinese and that Japanese who have been
13:19here longer I mean you're looking at a
13:20Southeast Asian-American man here from
13:22La um when suan was mentioning um you
13:26know uh the newest immigrants and
13:27refugees I've been working recently with
13:30Southeast Asian uh refugees and
13:32immigrants here in Los Angeles uh
13:34Cambodian Burmese you know and they're
13:37coming here and they're struggling um
13:39talk about uh in terms of uh graduation
13:42weights for laian Americans 38% uh of
13:46laan's uh high school students that's
13:48that's 38% is the dropout rate for these
13:52La Americans I'm one of the few that I
13:54mean I'm not a model minority but I'm an
13:56exception you know um I'm not part of
13:59that right so um well personally for me
14:02go go ahead oh no our community um
14:04Malika is actually talking about the
14:05myth and actually the whole concept of
14:07buying into the model minority myth and
14:09I just want to share a tweet by Amin and
14:12kind of share it with with the guests
14:14and it says it's because many
14:15asian-americans actually buy into the
14:17quote unquote model minority narrative
14:20so
14:21summan that's a really sweeping
14:23generalization in terms of the model
14:25minority narrative in the Asian-American
14:27Community is buying in to it how would
14:29you respond to that and how would you
14:31challenge that I would say that you know
14:33I actually don't think that there is a
14:34level of Buy in I think that uh many of
14:36the South Asian uh folks and communities
14:38that we work with actually identify
14:40frankly with many other immigrants as
14:43coming to the US for more opportunity
14:45and don't appreciate frankly being
14:47pitted against uh their Latino or
14:50African-American neighbors right um I
14:52think that U many South Asians really
14:54strive to um you know live up to the
14:57dreams that they came to this country
14:58with similar to the waves of immigrants
15:01who came before them and so you know I
15:03would actually question whether folks
15:05actually buy into that myth or whether
15:07they're just trying to um you know push
15:09their lives forward and frankly make a
15:11better life for their children you know
15:13those undocumented South Asians that we
15:15work with who are organizing protests
15:16against you know the NYPD or uh writing
15:20uh aeds urging uh South Asians to sign
15:22up for the Affordable Care Act you know
15:24I think that those folks are really
15:26trying to push forward their communities
15:27to just make a better for themselves in
15:29the US well I want to talk about some of
15:31those obstacles a little bit deeper dive
15:33into some of those obstacles because
15:34Christina you mentioned in your answer
15:36you talked about mental health and of
15:38course you have you had a show that was
15:40Touring that dealt with that um I wrote
15:43down one quote that you you said a
15:45little bit earlier was I clinically
15:46depressed or was I just Chinese so I
15:48want you to have a look at this uh this
15:50is a graph from aapi voices Asian
15:52American Pacific Islander um voices.com
15:55percent of high school students who
15:57seriously consider suicide these are
15:592009 statistics you have Asian in blue
16:03and non-hispanic white and green for
16:05total
16:0718.9% among asian-americans
16:1015.5% among non-hispanic whites so what
16:13do you tell people who might you know
16:15might be in this category of high school
16:17students considering suicide where do
16:19they turn to and is it because there's
16:21just too much pressure from within it it
16:24could be pressure I think there's also a
16:26huge stigma about ackn olog that
16:29something is wrong like even though I
16:31tore a show it's called W FL the C I
16:33tore a show about depression suicide
16:34even I have a hard time coping to uh my
16:38own struggles growing up because of what
16:40that makes me seem like it it already I
16:43feel somewhat invisible of as a as an
16:45Asian woman and if on top of that uh I I
16:49am labeled depressed I become sort of
16:52like a stock photo of a a depressed
16:54Asian woman and I don't I I for me I
16:57have a hard time letting people label me
16:59that way so I can see why that's
17:01difficult I think it's also that these
17:03uh that it's like I said it's it's
17:05difficult for for some asian-americans
17:07to graph to understand what what therapy
17:09is and most modalities are Western talk
17:12therapy modalities and seem can seem
17:15very foreign um and they are not uh
17:19doing great jobs I think of of
17:22understanding that this is a community
17:24that needs to be reached in a more
17:26specific way and that these stigmas
17:28exist and not to just go off they look
17:30fine to me but to understand that if
17:32higher suicide and depression rates are
17:34higher that uh that there needs to be
17:37another way to get into that Community
17:39to um get people help and take shame
17:42around looking for help oh go ahead yeah
17:45what what Christina is saying really
17:47resonates with me as well um having
17:49toward Refugee Nation a play that I
17:51co-wrote with my uh partner in crime
17:54leani Chan um which is about the LA
17:57American experience and and one of the
17:59things is uh that as an artist I mean I
18:02I reflect the community that uh we we do
18:05and the good and the bad and one of the
18:07issues that that always comes up is that
18:10you know there are gang problems for the
18:12LA American Youth and Southeast Asian
18:13youth uh what's interesting to me is
18:15that uh you know from the community
18:17sometimes they don't want to see that
18:19they don't want to see their bad they
18:20only want to see their good oh you know
18:22the the traditional loud stuff or you
18:24know the folk dance and no no I you know
18:25there there's more to it than that and
18:27is this the mod minority uh-uh it's the
18:30myth so you know that's that's where I
18:33come you know and and I'm one of those
18:35voices that you know wants to again
18:37reflect the community and so um I'll
18:41props to that Christina too thank you um
18:45Malika people are talking about
18:47obstacles and one and I just want to
18:48share one tweet to to talk because we've
18:50been talking about what Paka saying you
18:51know mental health Refugee but other two
18:54issues were language and Civic
18:56disenfranchisement the political process
18:58so I want to ask the professor you know
19:01talking about political engagement for
19:03the Asian-American Community now and how
19:06you know how do you become more you know
19:08move away from disenfranchisement like
19:10what what what how does that go you know
19:12how do you how do you achieve that okay
19:15I well first of all I should my
19:16disclaimer is I'm not a political
19:19scientist um but I can play one on TV um
19:24you know I think that what of those
19:26damaging um implications right that you
19:28opened up with Malika is that um the
19:30model minority myth is a barrier to what
19:33I would say folks in the racial Justice
19:35movement think about in terms of
19:36organizing across racial lines like um
19:39in in kind of multi-racial
19:42movements because um the model minority
19:45concept really makes asian-americans
19:48seem not like black folks not like other
19:50Brown folks right or not like even you
19:53know um indigenous folks so one um I
19:58think one way to start addressing that
20:00is to really make it clear that the
20:03harmful effects of the model minority
20:05stereotype go beyond the Asian-American
20:07Community right because the the ideology
20:10itself uh reproduces an anti-black
20:13racism it it also has its roots in an
20:16anti-native Hawaiian kind of racism
20:19right the modern minority myth um
20:21actually help to justify Hawaii becoming
20:25a state in the 1950s well is there a
20:27difference though I mean what you're
20:28saying kind of begs the question is
20:29there a difference between whether or
20:30not this myth is perpetuated within the
20:33Asian-American Community or whether it's
20:35just outside I think that's a great
20:36question you know I've U thought a lot
20:38about that um I think a lot of it comes
20:42to the question of power right and we
20:44have to understand in some ways where um
20:47ideas about race are made and how
20:49they're circulated and so it's very
20:51powerful for a big um news organization
20:54let's say CNN right or something um
20:56calling out any names here
20:59I won't I won't but uh a certain Yale
21:02law professor for instance right who has
21:04spoken out a lot and and I would say
21:07very much embraced and commodified this
21:10stereotype for you know am cha who again
21:13not naming names right but she herself
21:16is in a position of power and has the
21:20access to certain um channels of
21:23communication right and so I guess I'm
21:25trying to answer your question by saying
21:27uh
21:28it's maybe it's less about within and
21:30without Asian-American communities but
21:32really who who is doing the circulation
21:37of this idea who are they talking to who
21:39are they able to reach also great
21:40questions and I just want for our
21:42International audience who Christina was
21:44talking to and who Ellen talking about
21:45and who Ellen was very thinly Veil
21:48talking about was the writer of a book
21:51about tiger moms and them being the
21:53reason why Asian kids are the way they
21:55are because of their moms um but while
21:58Ellen was talking Suman you were nodding
22:00your head what was going on well I was
22:02just thinking about so in particular
22:04around Civic engagement right um you
22:05know if you look at the struggles uh
22:08that communities of color in this
22:09country have faced to vote right which
22:12you know of course are manifest continue
22:14to manifest in African-American
22:16communities have been manifested in
22:18Asian-American communities you know is
22:20codified in the Voting Rights Act you
22:22know South Asian communities continue to
22:24face the same uh barriers right around
22:26language but also around access to the
22:28polls you know I've done poll monitoring
22:30for many many years um and I can tell
22:32you that almost every election there is
22:35some poll worker in the middle of
22:37Cosmopolitan New York City as well as
22:39many other cities who refuses to let an
22:42individual who is perhaps South Asian
22:43who is a sick American who's wearing a
22:45turban or an individual who is brown who
22:47might be Latino or a Chinese grandmother
22:49who appears to be limited English
22:51proficient there is always a challenge
22:52for those folks to be able to record and
22:54make their voices heard at the polls
22:56right and so the work that we continue
22:58to do is to actually actually speak to
23:00the shared uh experience frankly of
23:03exclusion and oppression of our communi
23:05as of South Asian communities with our
23:07other communities of color with Native
23:09communities to be able to speak to how
23:11we all need to expand the opportunity
23:14and create more opportunity and a bigger
23:16pie for all of us so that we can't be
23:18pitted against each other all really
23:21good recommendations um Christina I want
23:23to go to you before we get the last word
23:25from our community um we have about a
23:27minute left and on my screen here is one
23:28of the popular memes that's circulating
23:30online this is if at first you don't
23:32succeed don't come back home and you see
23:35right there an Asian father looking
23:36pretty sternly Christina is is is the
23:39way to stop perpetuating things like
23:41this to talk about these kind of
23:42stereotypes is that the way to break
23:44them down and is that
23:45necessary um I yeah I think that's a
23:48place to start that's definitely a place
23:49to start for me I uh as an artist I'm
23:52always trying to figure out how to
23:53subversively as I definitely feel that I
23:56do benefit I I got a job I'm like
23:58hoarders if you go to my house it's like
24:00hoarders but like I got a job once many
24:02years ago as an office manager to
24:04organize stuff and so I mean there are
24:05examples of my life where I've used it
24:07but but as an artist I also feel like
24:09this has been and a comedian this is
24:11sort of a disguise right that I look
24:13like a harmless Asian woman and then I
24:14come out and I'm like birds coming out
24:17of my hands like middle finger birds and
24:19like uh but I think that is Christina
24:22Wong she's a comedian and you will see
24:24her in the post show I have to wrap up
24:26the main show right now that's all the
24:28time we have now on the next show
24:30India's BJP won a live slide Landslide
24:32election sets the controversial Modi to
24:35be the next prime minister what will it
24:37mean we'll tell you tomorrow in the any
24:39time we'll see you
24:40[Music]
24:56online
24:59[Music]
25:09welcome back everyone this is the
25:11streams online post show we're talking
25:12about the model minority myth and how it
25:15impacts asian-americans in the US let's
25:17get right back to the conversation I
25:18want to go to our community because I
25:19know they're tweeting us they were
25:21tweeting us sending in video comments
25:23and I wanted to share one video comment
25:25from Miranda who talks about the
25:27stereotype but also about parts of the
25:30stereotype being a passion I don't like
25:32when my passions are explained by the
25:34model minority myth sure I do like like
25:38some of the stereotypical Asian
25:39activities but it's not because it's
25:41part of The Stereotype it's because
25:43that's my actual passion so OA I have a
25:46question for you because when you start
25:47talking about the model minority myth
25:49and and the
25:51stereotypes you know what people in our
25:53community are also saying you know I am
25:55high achieving I am someone that does
25:57this and I don't want to be defined
25:59because of my background how do you how
26:02do you you know what would you add to
26:04that uh I I think I mean it from the
26:07beginning when Ellen had mentioned it's
26:09a double-edged sword I mean I I look at
26:11that and I go well I'm not perfect I
26:13mean I'm definitely going to try to
26:15succeed and do what I can and I think
26:17that's that's many of us here in this
26:18country um it it makes me reflect uh
26:21from the conversations before about how
26:23um in Refugee Nation i i in terms of our
26:26community I talk about how here in
26:29America um there is three mentalities
26:31that we have the refugee mentality The
26:33Immigrant mentality and the citizen
26:35mentality and that's where ultimately we
26:37all want to be to be able to to engage
26:39but when you're in a refugee status
26:41you're just trying to survive you're
26:43just trying to you know uh keep your
26:45family together when you're in an
26:46immigrant uh status in the mentality you
26:49are working you don't have time to have
26:51the luy of going to see theater or or
26:53you know to be civically engaged and so
26:56it it takes time time um it takes effort
26:59but but it's it's you know getting us to
27:01be open and and and aware of all of that
27:04so I want to play a clip um this is a
27:08this is a satirical clip it is from Wong
27:10Fu Productions it's called do you love
27:12your job and it's about Job expectations
27:15this is taking you back to the younger
27:16generation many of whom are watching
27:18this show right now and this is talking
27:20about career expectations so have a look
27:23at
27:24this I know what you're thinking Asian
27:27guy trying to be a basketball
27:29player good
27:31luck but even after
27:33Yao even while Jeremy
27:36Lynn this still looks weird
27:40huh well I don't blame you everyone
27:43knows that if you're Asian there are the
27:45sacred four pillars of occupation your
27:47family and friends expect you to go
27:49into
27:51medicine business or
27:54Finance science and engineering and law
27:57hey unfortunately I suck at all those
28:00things and I'm awesome at
28:03basketball he sucks at those things he's
28:05great at something else um for all of
28:07the panel panelists uh here on our show
28:09today none of you are in those four
28:11categories at least to my knowledge so
28:12suan what did your parents say you're
28:15you're the child of Indian immigrants
28:17what did they say um when you decided to
28:20become your current career choice they
28:22said go show them how it's done girl
28:24make some
28:26noise my parents really Progressive and
28:30um you know they rais me with a social
28:32justice mentality and to you know create
28:34more opportunity for other folks so my
28:36dad to this day every time I talk to him
28:38about some work that I'm doing he says
28:40give them hell girl right on what about
28:43you Ellen um you know what I'm actually
28:45thinking of there was a Chinese Auntie
28:47who came to my house when I was u in
28:49college and she kind of berated me for
28:51wanting to go into the humanities and I
28:53was just so I'd like to say to Auntie
28:55Rebecca that you know know it's worked
28:57out and U my mom supported me you know
28:59she helped me through um get through
29:02graduate school and uh she isn't around
29:04anymore but I think she would be pretty
29:05excited and is the thinking behind that
29:08Auntie's um words of admonition that
29:10what are you going to do with that
29:11you're not going to be able to make a
29:12lucrative career I think that's right I
29:14mean and rightly so you know maybe the
29:16job path isn't as clear the
29:18opportunities are a little more
29:19difficult to find but but I think as a
29:21community we have to support you know um
29:24a range of passions like we're talking
29:26about and uh and try to get into these
29:28different kinds of positions yeah and uh
29:31and the media and the community is
29:33actually talking about voices and
29:35amplification of voices and
29:36representation and I can see OA nodding
29:38and so I'm going to set up some tweets
29:39and then go to OA in a second but here's
29:41what Dennis is saying he's saying you
29:43know lifting up the voices and and
29:45working in solidarity with the black and
29:47the brown Community which is which is
29:49something that is a theme that we're
29:50hearing and also uh Lucas who was
29:52talking about just Asian faces in the
29:54media for him just weren't around while
29:56he was growing up up so OA um you were
29:59nodding you were talking about voices
30:02you're an actor you know how is first of
30:04all media representation first part of
30:07the question and how is this changing um
30:10how how are you how is this changing in
30:12terms of the lack you know how
30:14presenting more voices to reflect this
30:16authent authenticity yeah yeah
30:18definitely um in terms of the media
30:21obviously there's still more work to be
30:23done uh in terms of having
30:25Asian-American faces out there in terms
30:27of uh you know big media um I myself am
30:31one of those change agents I'm a
30:33catalyst being one of the few La
30:35American actors out there having that
30:38voice creating that voice uh inspiring
30:41and empowering uh you know people
30:43through um the play that I've been doing
30:45Refugee nation and touring um the impact
30:48that we've had has been amazing um La
30:50American Youth and Southeast Asian Youth
30:52and and the show itself uh you know it
30:55just inspires them to want to um speak
30:58out to have a voice um and so I'm so
31:00happy to be a part of that and for me
31:02growing up in Hawaii hello I know Hawaii
31:05was mentioned over there um being from
31:08ending up in Hawaii being around all
31:11these what we call locals um you know
31:13and something about to me just
31:15referenced how um Asian-American to me
31:18was even a new thing because I never
31:20considered myself Asian-American until I
31:22moved here to the mainland so which is a
31:26whole another conversation
31:28especially because Asia is so big so to
31:31be grouped into one Asian ameran lump
31:34does seem a little weird yeah and even
31:36within that I mean I I speak about
31:38within the play I talk about within La
31:41there are also very um 49 different
31:43ethnic groups so even even though you're
31:45from La like for example you know you
31:47hear about the Mong the Mong are people
31:48from Laos but they are ethnically a
31:51different ethnic group and so again like
31:53the diaspora of South Asians um we have
31:56the same the same issues um another
31:58thing I wanted to chime in was just the
32:00fact that for me personally I've uh have
32:03had a wonderful supportive mother and a
32:05supported parents who I mean she she
32:08wanted me at first to be a doctor a
32:11lawyer you know one of those traditional
32:14um you know but but that's because I
32:15think she was really concerned about my
32:18well-being knowing that and that's where
32:20she comes from but she was also very
32:22Progressive enough like San's FS to be
32:24able to say heyy go pursue your dream
32:26you go for it see what happens and here
32:28I am you know making her proud making
32:31impact in the community so hey that's
32:34that's where we're at right now having
32:35this conversation good for you well
32:37Christina I want to um give you an this
32:41next question based on an article that
32:43you wrote not too long ago this is from
32:45xojane.com um and the article is called
32:48I thought being miserable was just part
32:50of being Chinese and so the quote that
32:52I'm actually I'm pulling out here as we
32:54prepare to wrap up this show you say I
32:56was never raised raised to be happy as
32:58much as I was raised to be successful so
33:01Christina how do you define today how do
33:03you define
33:07success to wrap up with this um I think
33:11I think it's feeling that um it it it's
33:14it's having a personal Vision that
33:15you're able to own and find your own joy
33:18and follow it and and thrive in um in
33:22pursuing your own joy and not someone
33:25else's vision of joy and I think that's
33:26where a lot of my misery came when I was
33:28younger is that there was there was like
33:30there was you can be this which is a
33:32doctor and then there was everything
33:34else and and I was so afraid of that
33:37everything else because to me it it was
33:40conflated with failure and uh my folks
33:42are actually very supportive now they
33:44just constantly need me to hand them a
33:46crib sheet to explain to their friends
33:47what it is I do but um other than that
33:49they've been really
33:51supportive so um Le I just want to close
33:55with one comment because I think just
33:56hearing what everyone's talked about I
33:59it's safe to say and I I I'm pretty sure
34:01that the guests will agree with this
34:02this comment that comes from Suzanne she
34:04says as a Japanese American I reject the
34:07model minority there's no substitute for
34:09full equality and equal standing with
34:12everybody else well for us all
34:16someday thanks to Our Guest that's all
34:18the time we have for this conversation
34:19now thank you to Ellen woo Christina
34:21Wong Suman ragun Natan and OA sa Pang
34:24now on the next show India's BJ P has
34:27just won a landslide election what can
34:30the world's largest democracy look
34:31forward to with the controversial
34:33Narendra Modi leading the country we'll
34:35talk about that tomorrow in the meantime
34:37we'll see you online thanks for
34:39[Music]
34:46watching

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