This article is part of Mochi’s winter 2023 issue, exploring what “environment” means to us as Asian Americans. From the environmentally friendly to your workplace, favorite neighborhood bar, or ethnic enclave — our environments are all that surrounds us, influences us and makes us who we are. Check out the rest of our issue here!
“Let me hurry home. Let me hurry home before the sun sets,” says a New York City–based Chinese woman. A new report, “Strangers at Home: The Asian and Asian American Professional Experience” from Coqual describes the experience of our communities in the workplace, where the impact of ongoing violence against Asians can manifest daily.
The report is based on a survey of over 2,500 respondents, along with interviews and focus groups that shed light on how anti-Asian racism and violence continue to negatively affect the mental health and experiences of Asian American professionals. According to the study’s survey, 62% of Asian Americans have a greater fear of racial discrimination due to the ongoing barrage of anti-Asian attacks.
“The historical prevalence of the model minority myth has rendered the experiences of Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander professionals relatively invisible,” says Coqual Vice President of Research Sy Stokes. “The myth perpetuates a dangerous assumption that they do not need targeted support systems.”
But discrimination against Asian Americans isn’t new — even if the news has only decided to highlight it over the last few years. As Stokes discusses, the racism and violence we see today is an extension of stereotypes such as the model minority myth. The report explains how the model minority myth, which was “introduced into public discourse in the 1960s, referred to — and ultimately, helped reinforce — a misconception that all Asian Americans experience academic, professional, and social success.” The myth blatantly ignores the differences in socioeconomic status
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