The MMM (Model Minority Myth) in Today’s America

Thinking throughout the Fall 2020 semester as a first-year University student, I was able to get back to my roots and analyze what I have been doing that made me concentrate on the writing assignments on literacy issues within California. To which is the Model Minority Myth that was created to suppress Asian Americans in their endeavors is a damaging cognition to constantly be reminded of. And after analyzing the negative stigmas of the model minority myth, one must recognize the faults and be able to address this to the Vietnamese community of San Jose to bring change and start the reformation of the rooted racism in America.

To me, this myth was somehow engraved into the minds of the youth growing up, and looking back I realize that there is nothing to be ashamed of. Together, all minorities have struggled to adjust to life in America, and in which the model minority myth is used to wedge between different ethnic communities. Through the research done within the previous articles, there hasn’t been much addressing the myth and much of it is based on experience and claims. It is the untold struggle of Asian Americans, but specifically my people; Vietnamese Americans.

Currently, there is a huge divide between the young generation and the old due to language barriers and the views on politics due to the deep-rooted trauma from wars and unimaginable struggles to provide for the family. There is so much complex difference between two age groups of one culture and without much guidance, multiple families are in poverty despite what the numbers prove.

In America, Asians are viewed as stereotypes derived from the Model Minority Myth and they do not have access to resources like financial education and cultural understanding of each other. This leads to a divide between people of other races as well as age. Currently, with the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been that divide between the Asian American and the African American community. In the future, I aim to find a progressing solution to where differences are put aside so we can understand each other and progress forward as one united community.