When someone from a poor minority group – whether it be blacks or Native Indians – complain of being treated unfairly by the job market or the legal system, the conversation invariably veers toward well-trod territory. Somebody will, at some point, highlight the fact that Asian immigrants have done well for themselves financially in their adopted countries, therefore the blacks and Natives have only themselves to blame for their poor conditions.
At first glance, the Asian argument appears to be a significant one, worthy of discussion and heavy consideration. Although I never agreed with it, there did exist some superficial evidence to substantiate the claim. When I first began writing, I vowed to write about this topic at some point.
Time Wise, Znet contributor and author of White Like Me, has beaten me to the punch. He writes:
Whereas the black population represents a cross-section of background, the APA community is highly self-selected. Voluntary migrants from nations that are not contiguous to their country of destination tend to have the skills and money needed to leave their home country in the first place. As many scholars have found, Asian immigrants are largely drawn from an occupational and educational elite in their countries of origin.
Blacks and Natives are more like to have been born in their country of residence, whether it be Canada or the U.S. Most Asian immigrants have not.
A total of 10.7 per cent of Canadian immigrants come from either Africa or the Caribbean while over 36 per cent of immigrants hail from Asia. Native Indians, of course, have not immigrated from anywhere, unless we count Australian aboriginals and scattered Central American tribes – which Stats Can does not. The likelihood of an Asian immigrant having a college degree compared to blacks matches up perfectly to the immigration percentage:
As the Glass Ceiling Commission discovered in 1995, between two-thirds and three-quarters of the highly educated APA community already had college degrees before coming to the U.S., or were in college upon arrival. Thanks to preferences for educated immigrants, APAs are two-thirds more likely than whites and three times more likely than blacks to have a college degree.
So it would seem that Asians aren’t harder working or more innately intelligent than other minority group. After all, one would only have to take a stroll through many of parts of China or India to see that there are many who are in as much need for help as Canada and America’s native minorities.
I doubt any amount of writing on this subject will change the minds of those who subscribe to the “model minority myth.” With such a charged subject as race, who could expect different?
Tags: africans, asians, canada, native indians, racism
