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The issue that comes about when Asian-Americans have to confront issues of racism are twofold, one from other communities of color, and the other from American society in general.
From communities of color, often racism against Asian-Americans is not seen as valid, or not as extreme because there has never been the stigma violence behind it, or it is simply seen as "not as bad" as what has happened to other groups. But Asians in the United States have been the victims of anti-miscegenation laws, laws that prevented them from owning property or even large bills such as the Chinese exclusion act. As far as direct violence, the history of anti-Chinese lynchings in cities such as Denver and San Francisco are often over looked. Even modern day incidents, such as the murder of Vincent Chin are seen more as exceptions to racism/violence against Asians-Americans rather than a overall trend.
Also, the model minority issues often pits Asian-Americans against other ethnic groups. American society holds up Asian-Americans as an example of how an immigrant experience and how people of color have as much opportunity as other groups, which is simply not true. There are a variety of factors of why Asian immigration, especially since 1965 has been considered "successful" in comparison to the experience of other people of color in the United States. "Hey, if the Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese can come over and in one generation get their kids in college, whats going on black/latinos?" So within those communities, there is resentment towards Asian-Americans because it is perceived that Asian-Americans have it much easier, or "the good minorities."
Part of it Asian-America has done to itself. We have certainly pigeon-holed ourselves into that model minority role, because, its a pretty attractive place to be. Who doesn't want to be seen as smart, successful and relatively non-threatening? That role also supports the belief that America is a meritocracy. Asian-Americans keep their heads down, study hard, make money and achieve the "American Dream." Why wouldn't popular American society hold up that sort of work ethic, and success rate to demonstrate the best of what America can be?
That leads into the other part of why allegations and issues of racism that Asian-Americans bring up are delegitimized by both white people and other people of color. The great influx of Asian-Americans into the United States occurred after 1965. This was while the civil rights movement was growing and becoming a great social movement in the United States. For the most part, Asian-Americans were in 3 places, the West Coast, New York and Hawaii. Since the population was not spread out nationally the same way the African-American, and to a lesser extent, the Latino population, the face of Asian-America was largely absent from the civil rights struggle. So when Asian immigrants arrived, there was a perception that they thrived due to the social changes that were made. And often seen as benefitting without paying their "dues."
So one one hand, you have the communities of color, which endured incredible oppression and institutional racism to get place at the starting line, get "passed" by a recent immigrant group. And on the other hand, you have a greater American society that says, "Hey, we made these changes, and this one group is doing really well. Why are the rest of your still complaining?" It put Asian-Americans in an unenviable place in American racial politics.
So you have a group of immigrants in the United States, which is slowly dwarfing the population of 2nd, 3rd and even 4th generation Asian-Americans of Chinese and Japanese origin. Many of the immigrants are from countries, from which the US has military involvement with. So for 2 entire generations of Americans, Asians are seen as the "other." Whether that means easily identifiable foreigners, or potentially former enemies. And this generation of Americans have recently "gotten over" their own immigrant experience, where they are now truly feeling an ownership of America, and now consider themselves "American." The perpetual "other"-ness of Asians in America allows casual discrimination or institutional racism to be more socially acceptable. As in, "Why worry, those people don't even speak English, and I probably fought against them during the war."
So Asian-Americans, when they do have legitimate issues of racism and discrimination that face them, get reactions of, "Its not that bad, especially if you consider what has happened to African-Americans or Latinos." And this argument is especially prevalent in Southern California. Or, because Asian-Americans are still a growing group with no solid definition, as in we have 5th generation Asian-American as well as people who immigrated 3 months ago, America still treats us as "the other," and is dismissive of our issues.
And the reaction for a long time was, "Keep your head down, study hard, make money and Americans will respect you." But there are generations of Asian-Americans, who have read Ron Takaki, Maxine Hong-Kingston, Helen Zia, Carlos Bulosan, Frank Chin, Urvashi Viad, Frank Wu, David Henry Hwang, etc. who want a voice in American politics, and want to have a more active role for Asian-Americans politically and socially. The want you to remember the internment and Vincent Chin, they want you to know how fucked up it is when NBC Sports runs headlines like "Michelle Kwan Beaten By American Lipinski." When those voices are raised, people don't want to hear them. There are a lot of reasons for that. But because Asian-American issues have constantly be delegitimized, or marginalized by American society, or other communities of color, we are forced to elevate these incidents which affect our community.
With Barack Obama being President, Asian-Americans are thrilled. Like how Bill Clinton was the first "black" president. Barack Obama, is the first Asian-American president in many ways. He was raised in Hawaii and Asia, his sister is half-Indonesian, brother in law is Vietnamese, his life story, to Asian-Americans, mirrosr our experiences very well. It is that sort of inspiration which is fueling greater Asian-American involvement in social and political issues. The reaction to the UCLA Youtube girl isn't a flash in the pan, it is an indicator of the greater role Asian-Americans are willing to take in this country.
And I've gone on too long.
