1) In the “The Cold War Origins of the Model Minority Myth”, Robert Lee argues that assimilation reflects the U.S.’s political agenda on a national and global scale as a way to maintain racial control as well as influence over other countries.
2) The U.S.’s political agenda is illustrated through the film Sayonara: “Sayonara establishes the anticommunist necessity of ethnic liberalism and presents the war bride as a model of ethnic assimilation” (Lee 162). By being more accepting of minorities through ethnic assimilation, Lee talks about how the U.S. hoped to minimize communism’s reach around the globe by providing an option that reflected the U.S.’s championed democratic values. Here, Lee discusses how the war bride serves as a concrete figure as well as tool in demonstrating the benefits of adopting a liberal approach. Lee also points out that the higher tolerance for Asians was due to a lower tolerance for blacks, as “…the writer of the U.S. News article described America’s Chinatowns as ‘havens for law and order’ and made no fewer than six references to low rates of delinquency among Chinese American youth”, reinforcing the title of model minority for Asians while also maintaining the systematic racism in the country against the progress of black citizens (Lee 151).
3) The author references the historical context of the terms: assimilation and the model minority, and how the two terms play off each other. Assimilation can be defined as being accepted as part of (white) American society despite a different ethnic/cultural background and origin. For Lee, assimilation can be defined as becoming American through the use of what the country produces: “Linda’s status as an All-American girl is measured by her clothes, perfume, jewelry, and cars, items that transform the Asian body into an American body. Mei Li is transformed into an American by television” (Lee 178). This example of assimilation from Flower Drum Song that Lee references demonstrates how assimilating into Western culture is (like many other cultural practices) performative – an on-going process that involves active participation. The consumption of American television speaks to that performance aspect of being influenced to carry out certain behaviors that the characters act out. The term model minority is typically used to describe well-adjusted Asians into American society who have assimilated successfully.
4) Lee’s discussion of the model minority lends itself to the stereotype of Asian and Asian American students expected to be model students. The model minority idea is so pervasive that it translates to how individual students are assumed to excel in every course. Through the expected hard work ethic necessary for such academic success and the consequential perceived potential for positive contribution to the public from such efforts, the model minority lives on through Asian students.
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