"Not Outsiders"

The book cover of “Not Outsiders.”

I’m thrilled to announce the release of a new book in two weeks. The book title is “Not Outsiders: Asian Americans’ political activism from the 19th century to today.” All paid subscribers to this newsletter are eligible for a free e-book via Kindle. Please confirm it via email: helen@helenraleighspeaks.com.

Everyone else can pre-order the E-book here. If you prefer the traditional feel of a book, please wait until April 26 (my daughter Allie’s birthday) to order a paperback. The excitement doesn't end there-we're planning at least one book launch party in Colorado, and I can't wait to share more details with you soon.

Below, you’ll find an introduction to the book, which explains what motivated me to write it.

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PROLOGUE

The seed of this book was planted when some progressives started to describe Asian Americans as being “white adjacent.” I was so stunned by this derogatory term that I decided to embark on a journey to understand the progressive thinking behind it.

According to Layla Saad, author of Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor, “white adjacent” refers to a person of color “who holds white privilege” but is not white, including “persons who may be biracial, multi-racial, or white-passing people of color who benefit under systems of white supremacy from having lighter skin color than visibly Brown, Black or Indigenous people.”

Self-identified anti-racist blogger Nimisha Barton claims,

“Asian Americans – even dark-skinned South and Southeast Asian Americans like myself – most clearly fall into the category of white-adjacent people of color” because Asian Americans’ “model minority myth furnished us with a fragile adjacency to whiteness.”

The “model minority” phrase refers to Asian Americans’ reputation of achieving stellar academic and economic success. It is not a myth that the educational attainment and economic well-being of Asian Americans as a group have been above the average for decades. For example, in 2019, Pew Research found that more than half of Asians ages 25 and older (54%) have a bachelor’s degree or more education, compared with 33% of the U.S. population in the same age range. The median annual household income of house-holds headed by Asian Americans was $85,800, compared with $61,800 among all U.S. households. Asian Americans credit their strong work ethic and a shared culture of valuing education as the root causes for their success.

However, the progressives have denounced Asian Americans’ “model minority” label as a myth that “minimize[s] the role racism plays in the struggles of other minority groups, such as Black Americans.” They would rather attribute Asian Americans’ success to acting white and adopting white culture, as if only whites work hard and value education. Hence, the progressives started calling Asian Americans “white adjacent.”

In recent years, especially in the aftermath of a nationwide racial reckoning since George Floyd’s tragic death in 2020, the progressives, including influential figures such as the New York Times’ Nikole Hannah-Jones (co-author of the highly controversial and inaccurate 1619 Project), have publicly declared Asian Americans should not be part of the “People of Color” coalition.

Of all the racial slurs against Asian Americans, the term “white adjacent” stands out as particularly offensive, carrying with it a weight of discrimination and marginalization. It robs all Asian Americans of agency and dignity. It discounts the long history of discrimination and segregation Asian Americans have endured in the United States. It erases Asian Americans’ significant and often overlooked contributions to the Civil Rights movement. It ignores courageous political movements that Asian Americans have led and participated in since the mid-19th century, all of which have helped make this nation closer to its founding ideal of “All men are created equal.”

Accusing Asian Americans of benefiting from so-called “white” traits such as hard work and pursuing educational attainment is an insult to all Americans, regardless of their ethnicity and race, because having a good work ethic and doing well in school are valued by all cultures.

Categorizing Asian Americans as “white adjacent” is not only demeaning but also has led to policies, such as race-based college admissions, that specifically discriminate against Asian Americans and threaten our constitutional right to equal protection.

I decided to write this book to refute the “white adjacent” label of Asian Americans. However, I soon realized the challenges I faced. First, I had to answer the question: who are Asian Ameri-cans? According to Pew Research, the term “Asian American” is a political construct that emerged out of Berkeley, California, in the 1960s as a reaction to the long history of discrimination and exclusions Asians faced in the country. This discrimination includes the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Today, more than 22 million Asian Americans trace their roots to more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Many within the Asian American community feel the label has failed to fully capture the rich diversity in each subgroup’s unique histories, cultures, languages, religious beliefs, and other characteristics.

If I covered all the subgroups within the Asian American community, this book would be longer than Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Since 85 percent of Asian Americans in the U.S. are represented by six subgroups: Chinese, Indian, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Japanese (see Appendix 1), I chose to center on the experiences of a few large subgroups in this book.

My second challenge was that writing about every aspect of all six large subgroups’ experience in America would still be a massive undertaking. To keep this writing project manageable, I focused on only a few of the most significant subgroups’ political activism from the 19th century to the present. These subgroups were selected based on their population size and historical significance: Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Indians. Since these four subgroups arrived in the United States at different times and sometimes faced various challenges, their political activism didn’t happen all at the same time or in the same forms; readers will notice that some groups’ activities and experiences are emphasized more than others, depending on the historical period.

Lastly, I emphasized the importance of recognizing and sharing Chinese Americans’ experiences and political activism for these reasons: Chinese Americans, with their long history in the U.S., are the largest subgroup, comprising 5.4 million people, which is 24% of the total Asian American population. They are also one of the most politically active subgroups within the Asian American community. This unique historical significance provides a wealth of material to explore. It’s crucial to understand that sharing more about Chinese Americans does not diminish the experiences, efforts, and contributions of other subgroups within the Asian American community. As history has shown, the political activism of every Asian American subgroup has played a crucial role in advancing equality for all races and ethnicities in this country.

As the fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S., Asian Americans are projected to reach a population of 46 million by 2060. This growth trajectory not only underscores the increasing diversity of the U.S. but also suggests a promising future with a surge in political activism from a diverse range of Asian American subgroups. This anticipation of increased activism is a cause for optimism, and I am confident that future writers will do justice to these subgroups by sharing their experiences with the world.