1. In Lisa Sun-Hee Park’s article, Assimilation, Parks argues that the term “assimilation” for Asian American refers to many different definitions ranging from the integration into the so-called “White America” to the inevitable progression of societal standards and racial differences. Throughout the article, Park illustrates the representations of Asian communities in America through their social status, marriage rates, and even educational benefits in order to highlight the significant cultural differences that perpetuate within communities deemed “foreign” or “outside”.
2. One definition of assimilation that Park mentions in her article is from another article titled “The Conservation of Races” by W.E.B. Du Bois where he claims that assimilation “was understood as meaning to absorb into white America” (14) and also argued that “racial difference was not the problem; it was the racism” (14). Du Bois argues that because racism and the rejection of other races intermingling with white culture exists, assimilation is more of conforming to the ideals of whiteness under the assumption of racial inferiority. Another definition of assimilation that Park mentions in her article is from Robert E. Park who “viewed assimilation as a solution to racial difference, which he understood as a social problem” (14). In this definition, assimilation is the balancing of racial differences that are apparent in society through the interaction with one another. With two seemingly contradicting definitions from W.E.B. Du Bois ad Robert E. Park, the term assimilation is still being assessed as to whether or not it is helpful or harmful to society.
3. A key concept that Park references in her article is the idea of Asian Americans being perceived as the “model minority”. A model minority is defined as a demographic group whose members are perceived to achieve a higher degree of socioeconomic success than the population average. Although it may seem to compliment the achievements of Asians in an American society, it is actually quite a harmful stereotype of Asians. Park denies this concept and denounces it as just merely a myth, however, it is still widely conceptualized in society due to the statistics present in research. Park accounts for the research compiled by the Pew Research Center which claims that “Asian Americans are models of assimilation, enjoying high educational achievement, good (white) neighborhoods, and interracial marriages to whites” (16). As Parks states, “the privileged Asian Americans of today are not the same Asian Americans of a century ago” (16). The positive and high-achieving representations of Asians obscures the history of poverty and low-wage laborers of the past.
4. In the Forbidden City documentary, the Asian American performers all experienced a sense of assimilation into American cultures through the entertainment business (particularly in the night club industry). The perception of “Chinese dolls” in reference to the beauty displayed by Chinese women and the idea of exploring “exotic” and “foreign” land in reference to the cultural theme of the night club was merely just the performers putting on an act in order to appeal to westerners who have never experienced Asian cultures or are interested in viewing Asian Americans in a predominately white society. In order to survive and thrive in the entertainment and night club industry, the performers of the Forbidden City nightclub had to display tremendous acts of singing, dancing, and acting in order to even be acknowledged for their talent among other white performers due to the predominately harmful stereotype of Asians only being able to excel in academics. Although they were criticized by even their own family and communities for breaking traditions and conforming to the ideals and societal standards of America, the performers were truly pursuing their passion in order to inspire other Asian communities to not only be able to succeed as an Asian American but to also negate harmful stereotypes and principles that would obstruct their own goals.