The American cultural mythos of the “model minority” is toxic, insidious, and rampant. It perpetuates racial injustice that harms every member of the Asian-American community, even though most who use it “mean well.” The inherent othering baked into the term — when paired with the unspoken comparative to which “model” a “minority” must strive to be more like — is deeply rooted in Whiteness and structures of white supremacy.
I am tired of being othered.
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