As an Asian American I am well aware of the history of things like the Exclusion Acts, the plight of Chinese railroad workers and etc. and I am not surprised someone would bring this up. While yes there has been a lot of racism towards Asians in the US the vast majority of Asians that are here now, including myself, are not descendants of railroad workers or itinerant farmers who experienced the racism of that 19th and early 20th C. What most of us are are self-selected and the children of self-selected people who often were the most educated and the most ambitious people to leave their countries and come here. Us and our parents never were locked into Chinatowns and only limited to a small range of jobs that Asians prior to the second half of the 20th C. were because we were lucky enough to come here after the Exclusion Acts were repealed and Civil Rights. Also this idea that Asians have succeeded by keeping our heads down, working hard and keeping quiet while blacks are just loud and lazy is frankly tacit racism but also ignores history since our success is largely due to the actions of blacks. Keep in mind that the Civil Rights movement wasn't just a movement that helped out blacks but that helped all minorities. Under segregation we were considered "coloreds" and also subject to discrimination. If it hadn't been for the actions of black leaders like MLK we would have never had the opportunity to become the model minority. Even there most of the people that created the stereotype of the model minority weren't the ones who lived through the racism of the past. Just one more note on stereotypes. The stereotype of Asians as being weak math nerds is one that is relatively new. For much of the history of American culture the stereotype was depraved and degenerate. Even up into the 50's Mickey Rooney could appear in full yellow face and behave idiotically in Breakfast at Tiffany's without much of a fuss. Frankly being portrayed as math nerd is a step up and even then that image has been frequently challenged.
I would have to disagree with the bolded part. If from your logic, then Abraham Lincoln should be the bigger man than MLK. If it wasn't for him, blacks would still be sub-humans in this country. But for some reason MLK is a bigger martyr than Lincoln. Heck MLK's birthday is a federal birthday while Lincoln's is not (He has to share it with Washington for Presidents' Day). Yes, black people did a great thing with the civil rights movement. But to say that Asians' success here in U.S. is largely due to blacks is false. Asian scientists were and have been recruited to study here. They were allowed to immigrate to this country. Most Asians that are here in this country are legally. But blacks were not. So their fight was for their equality.
Except from an Asian standpoint Lincoln did nothing that elevated us. Not his fault for being president before the exclusion acts but in terms of Asian American rights MLK was more important. Asian success is due to the fact that the opportunities opened by the Civil Rights act and ended segregation, was largely led by black Americans. While Asian scientists were recruited if not for Civil Rights they would be subject to segregation. For example my father was recruited to be a PHD student at Rice U. in the late 1960's. I doubt that he would've accepted that if it had been 10 years earlier when segregation was still legal. As far as most Asians being here legally that only happened because of the removal of the Exclusion Acts. Under the Exclusion Acts the only way for many Asians to get here was illegally. If you are ever in SF I suggest visiting Angel Island to get a sense of the Asian immigrant experience under the Exclusion Acts and the Paper Son concept. Anyway to noting that many Asian scientists were recruited to come here only reinforces the point that Asian success is driven largely by the Asians who are here are among the best, brightest and most ambitious. Its not an inherent racial superiority on our part.
Technically, since the Civil Rights Act and other legislation was far more significant than any results achieved by MLK, it is actually the contributions of LBJ and other whites that is most responsible for the elevation of minorities. We're #1, we're #1.
