Assimilation

The author mainly defines “Assimilation” as a process of Asian American changing from the minor group to the major group of United States. The process is not natural because it is a kind of passive cultural mixture but also not simple because it is unique due to the specificity of Asian’s group.

Du Bois’s idea is that if one is living in the US, then the person must tend to assimilate into white, because in Du Bois’s era, the majority of America is still white.(pp.1) Thus, the racism is not a problem but a kind of definition that is naturally formed by graphic (where you live) as well as cultural (what the majority is) reasons. While, Robert still believes racism is a problem and he put his effort into find out how the two different groups interact with each other. His idea is that we cannot avoid assimilation. When the two different groups live in the same society, they begin with competition and then end with assimilation, which means assimilation is an inevitable consequence. (pp.1) Also, Richard Alba and Victor Nee has claimed that Assimilation has been “justifiably repudiated”. (pp.2) This is the similar explanation with the above ideas, which shows Assimilation is not a natural consequence but a passive negotiation between two different culture.

Specifically, the Pew research center found that Asian American was changing from “low-skilled”, “low wages” and “Targets of official discrimination” to the group which is approach to the majority of America. It is not a kind of simple process of Assimilation because not every group can be the majority after the assimilation. They benefit from the assimilation by share the white’s source like jobs, houses, welfare but also get to marry with the white. (pp.3) C.Kim posts an interesting idea that Asian America is identified as American citizens but also foreigners, which means they have two different roles in the US society. However, it doesn’t matter or produces conflict. My understanding is that he considers these two different identities as a perfect balance or equilibrium of Asian Americans. That is where Asian Americans come from.

Different from the author, Eugene Yi considers the assimilation as a process of fading into white in her article “Fade to White: Asian American Assimilation”. He thinks the boundaries between the white and Asian America has been more generous. While the idea of Lark is that the boundary still exists, and this becomes a power to promote the assimilation. Or in other words, Eugene thinks Asians are becoming Americans (the white) while L. Lark thinks Asians are becoming Asian Americans.

But my question is that how can we define the boundary between the white and Asian American? If we have the label for the white and Asian American, how can we say we shouldn’t have racism?