Distressed Asian American Neighborhoods

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Douglas Miller ◽  
Douglas Houston

There is a serious lack of demographic and socioeconomic data about Asian Americans living in distressed areas. The approach suggested to address this problem is community development with professional and academics to provide updated information on many issues such as poverty, educational attainment pertinent to these disadvantaged AA communities. The article discusses the selection criteria employed to choose the fourteen distressed communities that is analyzed. Details describing demographic characteristics, such as most AA communities are racially diverse, are supplemented with statistics to provide concrete data. Unemployment and poverty go hand-in-hand and in distressed AA communities these problems are occurring in higher frequency than other communities. The typical depiction of an AA community as a rich ethnic-enclave is debunked. The dominant problems in these communities are also representative of the problems most immigrants face today. The motivation for this analysis is to compel policy-makers to develop further research into these communities to understand their problems in order to make policies effectively addressing their needs.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari ◽  
Shanika Boyce ◽  
Mohsen Bazargan ◽  
Cleopatra H. Caldwell

The Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDR) phenomenon refers to the weaker effects of parental educational attainment for marginalized groups, particularly ethnic minorities. This literature, however, is limited to Blacks and Hispanics; thus, it is not clear if the MDR phenomenon also applies to the educational performance of Asian Americans or not. To explore ethnic differences in the association between parental educational attainment and youth mathematical performance among 10th-grade American high schoolers, this cross-sectional study used baseline data from the Education Longitudinal Study, a national survey of 10th-grade American youth. The analytical sample included a total number of 10,142 youth composed of 1460 (14.4%) Asian-American and 8682 (85.6%) non-Hispanic youth. The dependent variable was youth math performance (standard test score). The independent variable was parental education. Gender, both parents living in the same household, and school characteristics (% students receiving free lunch, urban school, and public school) were the covariates. Ethnicity was the moderating variable. Linear regression was used for data analysis. Overall, parental educational attainment was positively associated with math ability (test score). We observed a statistically significant interaction between ethnicity (Asian American) and parental education attainment on the results of math test scores, indicating that the boosting effect of high parental educational attainment on youth math function is smaller for Asian-American youth than for Non-Hispanic White youth. While high parental educational attainment contributes to youth educational outcomes, this association is weaker for Asian-American youth than non-Hispanic White youth. Diminished returns (weaker effects of parental education in generating outcomes for ethnic minorities) that are previously shown for Hispanics and Blacks also apply to Asian Americans.


2020 ◽  
pp. 2057150X2097380
Author(s):  
Arthur Sakamoto ◽  
Sharron Xuanren Wang

Recent studies by Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou claim that “hyper-selectivity” is the primary causal factor accounting for the high average educational attainment of second-generation Asian Americans. We critically assess hyper-selectivity, which has not been carefully evaluated in prior research. We argue that hyper-selectivity is inadequately conceptualized and is not clearly supported by data on immigration or income mobility. Hyper-selectivity ignores accumulated facts about Asian American family processes relating to cultural factors and educational attainment. Rather than being a class phenomenon, Asian cultural factors have important effects for most second-generation Asian Americans regardless of the socioeconomic status of their parents. Overemphasizing hyper-selectivity inadequately acknowledges the cultural heritage of Asian Americans and ignores the agency of immigrant Asian American families.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 988-988
Author(s):  
Hosik Min ◽  
Roma Hanks ◽  
Denise Lewis

Abstract This study aimed to understand how the anti-Asian attitude due to the COVID-19 affected Asian American communities in Alabama. We asked whether Asian Americans were worried about going out due to the anti-Asian attitude due to COVID-19. This study conducted online surveys to Cambodians or Laotians, who were 18 years and older, were living in Coastal Alabama, in May 2020. To avoid in-person contact, respondents answered questions online. A total of 353 respondents participated in the survey. In the Cambodian community, more younger adults participated in the survey, while more middle-aged adults participated from the Laotian community. Laotians had longer educational attainment and watched multiple media to obtain COVID-19 related information. Cambodians (72%) were afraid of COVID-19 infection more than Laotians (53%). More Cambodians (73%) were afraid to go out because of the anti-Asian attitude than Laotians (52%). The logistic regression analysis presented that people worried more about the COVID-19 infection were less likely to go out due to anti-Asian attitudes. Educational attainment did not have a protective effect. Watching multiple media sources decreased the worry about the anti-Asian attitude for Laotians. The age cohort showed both a protective and exacerbate the effect. Cambodians, who were in their thirties, were worried about going out. However, Laotian fifties and over did not worry about going out. This difference might be related to the length of the stay in the U.S. Hanks et al. found that Cambodians, compared to Laotians, had more new immigrants who recently came to the community to marry.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Dominique Daniel

Objective – To assess how the age, gender, and race characteristics of library users affect their perceptions of the approachability of reference librarians with similar or different demographic characteristics. Design – Image rating survey. Setting – Large, three-campus university system in the United States. Subjects – There were 449 students, staff, and faculty of different ages, gender, and race. Methods – In an online survey respondents were presented with images of hypothetical librarians and asked to evaluate their approachability, using a scale from 1 to 10. The images showed librarians with neutral emotional expressions against a standardized, neutral background. The librarians’ age, gender, and race were systematically varied. Only White, African American, and Asian American librarians were shown. Afterwards respondents were asked to identify their own age, gender, race, and status. Main Results – Respondents perceived female librarians as more approachable than male librarians, maybe due to expectations caused by the female librarian stereotype. They found librarians of their own age group more approachable. African American respondents scored African American librarians as more approachable, whereas Whites expressed no significant variation when rating the approachability of librarians of different races. Thus, African Americans demonstrated strong in-group bias but Whites manifested colour blindness – possibly a strategy to avoid the appearance of racial bias. Asian Americans rated African American librarians lower than White librarians. Conclusion – This study demonstrates that visible demographic characteristics matter in people’s first impressions of librarians. Findings confirm that diversity initiatives are needed in academic libraries to ensure that all users feel welcome and are encouraged to approach librarians. Regarding gender, programs that deflate the female librarian stereotype may help improve the approachability image of male librarians. Academic libraries should staff the reference desk with individuals covering a wide range of ages, including college-aged interns, whom traditional age students find most approachable. Libraries should also build a racially diverse staff to meet the needs of a racially diverse user population. Since first impressions have lasting effects on the development of social relationships, structural diversity should be a priority for libraries’ diversity programs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Covarrubias ◽  
Daniel D. Liou

Background Prevailing perceptions of Asian Americans as model minorities have long situated this population within postracial discourse, an assumption that highlights their educational success as evidence of the declining significance of race and racism, placing them as models of success for other people of color. Despite evidence to repudiate the model minority thesis, the visibility of Asian Americans in higher education continues to reinforce essentialist paradigms about their presumed success while rendering invisible the educational experiences and diminished educational earning power of low-income, women, and noncitizen Asian populations. Purpose The purpose of this article is to situate the most recent data on the mobility of Asian American students within the K–Ph.D. educational system in the new so-called colorblind postracial America. This article presents the most recent national educational outcomes for Asian Americans by looking at differences in attainment across race, class, gender, citizenship, and educational earning power. Research Design Drawing from the March Supplement of the Census’ 2010 Current Population Survey (CPS), we carried out multiple cross-tabulations that allowed us to disaggregate the educational attainment and earning power for Asian Americans across various social categories. The March Supplement of the CPS, referred to as the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), is given once a year over 3 months—the 2010 ASEC was given to 77,000 households, with a response rate of over 91.5%. This quantitative analysis of the intersectional effect of race, class, gender, and citizenship provides a more nuanced examination of their interactional impact on educational attainment. Findings/Results Our intersectional analysis of educational attainment and earning power reveals the multiplicity of experiences and heterogeneity among Asian Americans. There is a clear positive relationship between class and educational attainment, but the intersectional impact of gender with class, and gender with citizenship points to a nonlinear relationship between these constructs and educational attainment when they are examined together. The data also make evident important gaps in earning power for Asian Americans compared with White Americans, and an especially disproportionate burden of diminished earnings for Asian American women. Conclusions/Recommendations This study sounds the alarm as postracial discourse has created several new challenges on issues related to Asian Americans, affirmative action policies, and the vitality of ethnic studies in the K–Ph.D. system. As a result of this study, the authors warn that the model minority thesis inaccurately depicts Asian Americans in policy discussions on education, race relations, poverty, and civil rights. This article makes important recommendations for coalition building, research approaches, and a new educational policy framework that can mediate current policy failures to include Asian Americans in discussions of equity.


2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Takeuchi ◽  
Oanh Meyer ◽  
Nolan Zane ◽  
Stanley Sue ◽  
Manveen Dhindsa ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-46
Author(s):  
Oliver Wang

Oliver Wang interviews documentary filmmaker Arthur Dong. Originally from San Francisco, Dong began his career as a student filmmaker in the 1970s before releasing the Oscar-nominated short film, Sewing Woman in 1982. Since then, his films have focused on the role of Chinese and Asian Americans in entertainment industries as well as on anti-LGBQ discrimination. In the interview, Wang and Dong discuss Dong's beginnings as a high school filmmaker, his decision to turn the story of his seamstress mother into Sewing Woman, his struggle to bring together the Asian American and queer film communities and his recent experience in staging a “Hollywood Chinese” exhibit inside a renovated bar in West Hollywood.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
Mallory Yung

The perception of racial tensions in North American settler countries has historically been focused on the Black/White relationship, as has much of the theoretical legal discourse surrounding the concept of “race”. Accordingly, the scope of much critical race scholarship has been restricted such that it rarely acknowledges the racial tensions that persist between different racially-excluded minorities. This paper hopes to expand and integrate the examination of Black and Asian-American racialization that critical race scholars have previously revealed. It will do this by historicizing the respective contours of Black and Asian-American racialization processes through legislation and landmark court cases in a neo-colonial context. The defining features of racialization which have culminated in the ultimate divergence of each group’s racialization will be compared and contrasted. This divergence sees the differential labeling of Asian-Americans as the ‘model minority’ while Blacks continue to be subjugated by modern modalities of exclusionary systems of control. The consequences of this divergence in relation to preserving existing racial and social hierarchies will be discussed in the final sections of this paper.


2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Park ◽  
Mitchell Chang

This article examines the development of legislation to create a federal designation for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) serving institutions. Specifically, the article draws from interviews with nineteen policy makers, congressional staffers, and community advocates in order to address their motivations for establishing this designation and the related challenges that they encountered. Besides the complexities of ushering legislation through Congress, one of the major challenges highlighted includes the lack of political infrastructure for advocating Asian American issues related to education. Recommendations for the future sustainability of federal support for AAPI serving institutions are also discussed.


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