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From Philly to Boston: Re-Thinking the Model Minority
by Charles Chea
September 13, 2004
When I first arrived at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, transferring from Drexel University in Philadelphia, I had my eyes set upon the vast collegiate connections and resources that Boston had to provide. As an outsider to Boston, I saw it as the stereotypical liberal hub of academia that it is perceived as by most outsiders. I had high hopes of finding a family of Asian Americans activists whose experience and expertise I could be a student and friend of.
Academically, I found many resources and ?older? people whose longevity in Asian American Studies and activism helped me plenty in my own personal development. This was in stark contrast to the predominately Southeast Asian circle I grew up with, where it was quite rare to even find an elder or young person even referencing himself or herself as ?Asian American?. My situation was further complicated by the lack of college degree carrying first generation adults and the lack of second-generation children who were set for college or the completion of college. I felt quite blessed to find Asian Americans in Boston who were highly educated and whom I had assumed would be fighting for what my community needed. After all, we both acknowledged each other as Asian American and felt a common bond in our ancestral continental origins.
I found myself amongst a group of loud Asian Americans who didn?t resist the urge to criticize the racism we witnessed on a day-to-day basis. I joined in, and as I learned more from their analysis and what had seemed to be troubling them the most, my voice grew louder in the hopes of further strengthening our alliance as brothers and sisters. Before coming to Boston, I didn?t notice the social problems that these Asian Americans were complaining about the most. I didn?t feel most of these conditions applied to me, but in the effort for a stronger alliance, I re-conditioned myself to see these problems as a unified one for all Asian Americans.
Almond Eyed Lens in Boston - Next
