Effects of racism and the model minority myth
Posted by Vox on 17 May 2007
Depression, stress, and, in some cases, suicide.
One evening in 1990, Eliza Noh hung up the phone with her sister. Disturbed about the conversation, Noh immediately started writing a letter to her sister, a college student who was often depressed. “I told her I supported her, and I encouraged her,” Noh says.
But her sister never read the letter. By the time it arrived, she’d killed herself.
Moved by that tragedy, Noh has spent much of her professional life studying depression and suicide among Asian-American women. An assistant professor of Asian-American studies at California State University at Fullerton, Noh has read the sobering statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services: Asian-American women ages 15-24 have the highest suicide rate of women in any race or ethnic group in that age group. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Asian-American women in that age range.
Depression starts even younger than age 15. Noh says one study has shown that as young as the fifth grade, Asian-American girls have the highest rate of depression so severe they’ve contemplated suicide. [Full story]
Another study released Monday talked about how being treated unfairly can shorten someone’s life by putting strain on their heart.
These aspects (racism, sexism, other -isms and oppressions) of U.S. society are so toxic they literally kill people. So where are the articles and journals talking about these epidemics? Where are the government grants and experimental towns to combat these health problems? They’re destroying the health of the people affected and the health of the nation as a whole, and study after study comes out, and still people in power aren’t doing anything.
And when the rest of us do speak up, and criticize, and bring up areas of unfairness, people leap to the defense of those supporting the status quo.
I’ll tell you right now, I have lost a LOT of respect for a few people this week, and I’ve also lost a few links off the blogroll. The response to VALID criticism and questioning isn’t creating a Google bomb to shut up the critics, and it isn’t jumping to someone’s defense with “To which I kindly say, fuck you.” It’s listening, and taking note of problems, and making changes, or at least not claiming to represent a whole bunch of people who don’t want you speaking for them.
Because when you ignore valid questions and comments and jump straight to twisting people’s words, and hiding their words under your own, and etc.? You’re contributing to that same toxic part of U.S. culture. Way to fight the system.
EDIT: RaceWire linked to a similar article published last year, that explores more of the stereotypes Asian American women face, including some sexual stereotypes, and their effects.
17 May 2007 at 1:50
Hi Vox
Did not realise it was as bad as that. No time to read the full story but will get to it.
I am mixed race and have found “that” derogatory comment and look, but have mananged to brush it aside.
Always intending that one day I need to expose it.
Glad you have got that ball rolling.
It is not peculiar to US in any way or form and I think we need to trace the Historic roots of white supremacy and other related ism’s that stem from it.
Thanks
winslie
17 May 2007 at 6:25
Thanks for the thoughtful post. As a father of three girls . . . thanks.
17 May 2007 at 10:33
Thanks for the comment. From what I’ve read of your blog, I think that your daughters may have a better chance than most at being happy, healthy and secure in who they are, but it’s always good to be aware of these things. :-)
17 May 2007 at 18:07
Hi, Winslie. For some reason, your comments keep getting sent to my spam filter. Sorry about that.
I think white supremacy has a lot to do with it. POC are always having to prove they’re good enough, or smart enough, or, in the case of Asian Americans, that they fit right into that model minority mold. Add similar pressures from sexism into the mix, and it can get really tough, I think.
17 May 2007 at 21:44
Thanks Vox
Spam filter has been more active than usual, no worries.
I think we need to look back to the dehumanising of races for the clues how people were treated and still are.
The mental well being of a person needs to be addressed by positive feedback.
winslie
17 May 2007 at 22:44
The effects of racism on mental health just so under-researched, under-theorised, under-publicised… and “colourblindness” makes it worse by blaming people who feel pressured or victimised for their own suffering. Fanon mentioned it, but since Fanon, it seems like critical race theory and postcolonial studies only want to make these feelings carry some political weight, while ignoring the devastating effects they have on human beings.
I think we need new, critical forms of therapeutic intervention to counteract these awful social forces.
18 May 2007 at 0:09
I have to admit that I went through a phase I call “college” where (being in NYC, where I really passed for the first time) I spent five years in an extremely stubborn, denial-driven colorblind phase, and that really screwed me up more than almost anything else has. And now coming at it from the receiving end again, it just enrages me when people play that card, and it really makes me mad at myself that I contributed to that for other people.
I think you’re right that we need to come up with some effective way aside from political action to reduce the effects of racism/-isms in general on people’s mental well-being. I just don’t know how. Something has to be done, though, becuase all these studies showing that there’s a problem aren’t doing anything but confirming what we already know.
18 May 2007 at 0:59
I have zero faith in the mental health system. I’ve had it used against me, from time to time, when I got angry about racism.
I think the mental health system has an individualising focus which is alienating, and militates against any self-understanding of racism or other forms of oppression.
The issue is that different things work for different people. Poc experiences of racism are inflected by class, gender, sexual orientation, religion and various other social specificities. There are poc who are committed to certain degrees of apolitical analysis of the racism they’ve experienced — they deny it’s systemic, chalk it up to “ignorance” or the individual failings of white people, or they’re happy with their place in the hierarchy. Some poc are racist.
It’d be great to study poc who are actively doing anti-racist work and find out how they overcame the psychological wounds of racism, how they name those, and the connections between systemic racism and its psychological effects.
I have a feeling that this is really strong in feminism, but I’m not 100% up on the consciousness-raising side of feminist activity so I wouldn’t know if those practices could be applied to other kinds of oppression.
18 May 2007 at 1:00
H Firefly
I think we need new, critical forms of therapeutic intervention to counteract these awful social forces.
How do you propose this should be done?
Personally I feel that there needs to be a collective voice of the oppressed, because perhaps, just perhaps, they have not been given to opportunity to voice their pain.
18 May 2007 at 1:39
Hi Firefly
Our comments crossed at the same time.
You have a good and deep analysis of the current plight within POC and also sorry to hear about the treatment you have received for your expression of anger.
I too have made the mistake of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong manner and have come to realise that my frustration gets me nowhere. I need to be able to speak in a different language so that I am understood.
I cannot comment on feminism, have no contact except to assume that it is a good thing in a balanced society.
I see racism or any other ism as a form of abuse. We would strive to have the abuser punished so why should that not be the case here too.
The problem is that society has been constructed by those who perpetrated the superiority theory for their own benefit either economically or geo-politically.
18 May 2007 at 1:45
Hi Vox,
Do you see your post as stating the obvious or do you feel that it may get people being free to come out into the open.
There were greater numbers prosecuted for rape cases because the victim felt able to bring the guilty before a justice system. There had been a time when women/girls just did not say anything.
I am drawing parallels.
18 May 2007 at 4:13
The politics of speaking that pain can be very tricky, though. To speak to an audience where white people dominate can be very intimidating, especially for those who don’t like public speaking. Not to mention the chance that their experiences will be invalidated by a white person who has no interest in understanding their point of view or supporting them. OTOH, speaking to other poc can seem like preaching to the converted.
Something like a drive to perfection is also not just healed by speaking about it. There can be several real obstacles to self-understanding before that speech can happen. And self-understanding doesn’t automatically mean healing, either (problems don’t evaporate in a puff of logic!). It requires an ongoing process of change in the environment and life of a person.
If I knew how what an anti-racist therapy looked like, I’d probably be enthusiastically publicising it, not stating that we need it on a blog…
18 May 2007 at 10:33
I’m not really sure, Winslie. I think that it’s obvious that the effects of racism are bad, and that stereotyping people is bad, but I find these new explorations pretty interesting, and I think they bring up something that we all kind of assume everyone knows but don’t really talk about. We should be talking about it.
I think it’s really iffy to draw parallels between specifics of feminism and anti-racism. There are obviously some ways in which the movements mirror each other, but at the same time, both are very complex and what worked for one may not work for the other, and vice versa.
That said, I can see your parallel in that POC are blamed for racism and racial violence much as women are blamed for sexism and sexual violence. However, due to the differences in place, I don’t know that we can work on this the same way, mainly because a lot (not all, but many) of the feminists who have worked on this have had close ties to the white, male mainstream as daughters, wives, mothers, sisters. We don’t have that connection.
Changing things like this requires that we can name them and understand them. The next step, I don’t know.
Fire Fly, I’m really beginning to think that the POC who deny that racism is systemic do so as a defense mechanism. It’s certainly easier, at least on the surface, to get along in white society if you can convince yourself that only the occasional jerk is racist and that most people are not. Otherwise, you have to admit that because of something you can’t change, you’re seen by many as a second-class citizen or a threat.
I think you’re right that we should talk to people doing anti-racist work and find out how they’ve dealt with it, and how (and if) they’ve healed. Maybe that will give us the next clue to work something out?
I’m kind of thinking about how the arts might work into all of this. I know of a woman who uses her paintings to explore race, gender, and her feelings and reactions to them. Or, for example, Kip Fulbeck deals with his feelings of not fitting in with either white America or Asian America with his films and his book. I know a lot of us turn to writing or music, too. Maybe talking to artists who explore these things is a good idea, too. Art isn’t the answer for everyone, but maybe some of the process can be adapted.
Whew, long rambly comment. Sorry.
18 May 2007 at 18:07
Winslie, while I do think that some people can exploit racism for personal gain, I don’t think the overall dynamics of racism are based on individual actions. Racism is too generalised for that. Punishing an “abuser” individualises the problem rather than addressing its systemic nature. Punishing abusers also doesn’t really result in healing for anyone — in the case of Eliza Noh’s sister, much of the abuse would have come from internalised oppression. I don’t think it helps to treat people like helpless victims, which is what the “abuser” model implies.
Vox, I think feminism’s movement between personal and political issues is quite unique, and that feminists have developed interventions into personal life that are about healing while also recogising and acting on the political nature of the problem. I think that kind of praxis is important, even if anti-racist work requires different techniques and emphases. But again, I’m not 100% up on those techniques, since I haven’t participated in consciousness-raising, and don’t know anyone who has.
Poc who deny systemic racism often have a stake in it, or are looking to use it to get ahead. Racial hierarchy isn’t dualistic, it’s multi-tiered. And it’s worth remembering that every colonial and racist regime has had ‘native’ informants and agents enforcing it.
I’m a bit fed up with the arts, because I’ve just had a really wonky relationship with arts. I was really arty when I was young, but parents enforcing said model minority myth, and the pressures of immigration, served to put an end to it. And nowadays I get really frustrated by poc who make films like ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ illustrating a happy, apolitical hybridity, while not dealing with the violence and exploitation of racism.
I understand that art therapy might work for others, though. I just got through reading Gloria Anzaldua’s Letter to Third World Women Writers, which has a lot of powerful messages about writing, poetry, and honesty. The heartfelt truth of it brought tears to my eyes. It situates the craft of writing in its material circumstances, and makes no mistakes about saying who the writing should be for. And yeah, it’s inspired me to write poetry again, so it must be good. :-)
18 May 2007 at 20:02
What you say about the personal and political is very true, Fire Fly. I think that there is a lot of potential in that; kind of like what Kevin was saying over at Slant Truth about our stories being our truths.
I do think we’ll have to implement it in a slightly different way, though, because of the connections. With feminism, there’s an obvious heirarchy in place based on gender, but even the people most benefitting from that structure tend have very close personal ties with women, which makes their experience hit home harder. With POC, that’s rarely the same, though I think this is beginning to shift a bit, at least in the U.S.
“And it’s worth remembering that every colonial and racist regime has had ‘native’ informants and agents enforcing it.”
Also true. I won’t deny that people like Michelle Malkin and Thomas Sowell have to push the individual racism model to keep what power they’ve gained despite structural racism. I do think some self-defense plays into that as well — nobody wants to admit, even to themselves, that they’ve gained power by stepping on the backs of others and sucking up to The Man — but you’re very right that there are self-interest and other motivating factors in place as well.
19 May 2007 at 5:06
Wow Firefly and Vox.
your comments are enlightening and make me realise how embarassingly shallow is my thinking in comparison.
I am driven purely from a subjective analysis of how I respond to racism and superiority thinking.
Secondly I sense that there needs to be a solution at least for the next generations that follow, or in the least a recogniton by a good volume of the universe that there needs to be a solution.
21 May 2007 at 11:34
[...] in this thread, Fire Fly, Winslie and I were talking about ways that people might try to heal psychological wounds [...]
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