Model Minority as Gook

¶ … Minority as Gook, Robert G. Lee describes the divided representation of Asian Americas as both the hardworking, upwardly mobile model minority, and the shadowy figure of the Viet Cong, waiting in the darkness to destroy the American soldier. He notes that this representation of Asian-Americans found its roots in the decline of the Fordist structure of the economy, and a destruction of national boundaries. To America, Asians began to represent a return to family values, obedience, and discipline, characteristics seen in the Protestant work ethic.

Notes Lee, "the Asian-American model minority is thus a simulacrum of both an imaginary Asian tradition.. And an American culture for which it serves as a nostalgic mirror." Lee argues that the political Right has managed to change issues of race into issues of culture. For example, black families have been labeled as creating a "culture of poverty." With this labeling, the dysfunction of the black family became a focus for social debate, rather than focusing on race.

Other examples of coding race in terms of culture appeared in the 1980s, as blacks culture was portrayed as a culture of chaos and violence. At the same time, the "mythic" family of Asian-Americans has been held up as a positive example to black and Latino minorities. The Asian-American family fits the post-Fordian social conservatism as well as the emphasis on productivity seen in the same era. Asian-Americans constantly portrayed as excellent and motivated parents, who instill both discipline and success in their children.

Lee notes several examples in the popular press that praise Asian-American families as intact and disciplined, while simultaneously chastising other minorities as under-achieving single parent families. These examples suggest that Asian-American successes come from the traditions of Asian culture, seen only in the limited context of discipline, motivation and obedience. Lee argues that many academic scholars also tend to oversimplify the relationship between Asian traditions and achievements.

He notes that many academics oversimplify by erroneously ascribing success to Confucian traditions, while noting that "gentler" Buddhist traditions lead to lesser academic successes. Interestingly, Lee notes that Asian-American successes as well as poverty can be attributed directly to recent immigration patterns for Asian-Americans, rather than to traditional Asian family values. He notes that a large proportion of Asian immigrants were already middle class, thus making their assimilation into American culture significantly easier than the assimilation of other minority groups who had to struggle with greater financial and cultural issues.

Ultimately, Lee argues that Asian-Americans are both help up as the model minority for seemingly embodying the traditional American ethics of family values and hard work, and at the same time are vilified as a silent peril that is tied to images of the Vietnam War and the beginning of the collapse of America's great empire. He argues that a discussion of cultural differences has become.