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March 2, 2009
Hyphen Lynks: Model Minority Crap, American Idol's Anoop Dog
- Oh, barf! This opinion piece in Forbes says Indian Americans are the new model minority. In a typical divide-and-conquer tactic, it then goes on to compare Indian immigrants with others to put down those other groups and suggest changes to immigration policy. "In sharp contrast to Indian Americans, most U.S. immigrants, especially
Mexican, are much less wealthy and educated than U.S. natives, even after many
years in the country. A new immigration policy that prioritizes skills over family reunification
could bring more successful immigrants to the U.S. By emphasizing education,
work experience and IQ in our immigration policy, immigrant groups from other
national backgrounds could join the list of model minorities." The piece was written by Jason Richwine, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
- Deepa Iyer of SAALT calls Richwine out on the tired and racist thinking of the model minority myth in this rebuttal on the Colorlines blog.
- Speaking of the model minority myth, here's an opinion piece by Alex Kuo, an English professor at Washington State University about the myth and how racism is alive and well in academia.
- The San Jose Mercury News has a story on the founder of Song That, the country's first Vietnamese gay and
lesbian radio program, which started 10 years ago: For a decade, Song That Radio has waged war against homophobia.
- That's a lot of heavy stuff I just threw at you. So here's a more uplifting item. Here's a nice profile in the L.A. Times about Tad Nakamura, a filmmaker who just finished a triology of documentaries about Asian Americans. I screened his first film, Yellow Brotherhood, about Asian American activists fighting drugs in their community, at my shorts festival, Slant: Bold Asian American Images, a few years ago. His second film, Pilgrimage, is about a 1969 trek to Manzanar to draw attention to Japanese American internment. And the newest film, A Song for Ourselves, is about musician and political activist Chris Iijima. It just premiered this weekend in L.A. to a sold-out crowd.
- Lastly, I know this is a few weeks old, but I just want to say that Anoop Desai aka Anoop Dog was robbed -- robbed! -- on American Idol when he was voted off. Dude shocked the hell out of Simon and company with his soulful voice at the auditions. They didn't expect such a voice out of a shabbily-dressed grad student. (He's studying folklore at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.) Granted, one probably shouldn't go to auditions in flip-flops and shorts, but Simon just had to make a remark that Anoop looked like he just came from a meeting with Bill Gates. (Newsflash to Simon: Not all South Asians work in Silicon Valley.) Anoop was funny and charming and hey, any man whose college honors thesis is on barbecue as religion has got my vote. There are rumors he might re-appear in the wildcard round. Let's hope he does.
Posted by Melissa at March 2, 2009 12:50 PM
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Go Anoop!
congrats tad!
deepa iyer btw
Doh. Correction made.
Hi Melissa,
This is Tiffaney from Applied Research Center / Colorlines Magazine.
Thanks for the mention from the Colorlines Blog "Model Minority? No, Thanks [Op-ed]". We recently released the book "The Accidental American" which chronicles the story of immigration workers through the story of Fekkak Mamdouh. It lays a baseline for a humantistic approach to immigration policies. A great read. You can also read more on the racial equality work that we're doing at www.arc.org.