About Asian Americans

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About Asian Americans

The Asian population in the United States is diverse. Asian populations are a group of people with origins from the Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Indian subcontinent. The 2019 Census Bureau population estimate of 2019 is that there are 18.9 million Asian Americans living in the United States, accounting for 5.7% of the total population. In 2019, states with the highest Asian American populations included Texas, New York, California, Illinois, Florida, Washington, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Hawaii. Asian Americans have dozens of languages and ethnicities, among them Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Indian, Laotian, and Vietnamese ancestry.

Historical Background

Asian Americans immigrants first arrived in the United States in large numbers nearly two centuries ago. They mainly came as low-skilled male laborers who farmed, mined, and built railroads. They persevered generations of racial prejudice that were officially sanctioned. The prejudice included regulations which prevented the immigration of Asian women and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act that prevented all new immigrations from China (Yip, Cheah, Kiang, & Hall, 2021). Another official sanction that they had to endure was the Immigration Act of 1917 as well as the 1924 National Origins Act that pushed the immigration ban to virtually incorporate the entire Asia and the forced internment and relocation of approximately 120, 000 Japanese Americans 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Immigration from Asia on a large scale did not happen until the landmark Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed. Over the years, the new wave of immigrants from Asia has become increasingly educated and skilled. Currently, present arrivals from Asia into the United States are twice as likely to happen as those that came three decades ago to pursue a degree. Most the Asian immigrants venture into high-paying fields such as medicine, science, finance, and engineering. The evolution was sparked by changes in United States labor markets and immigration policies. It was also sparked by globalization forces in a digitally interconnected world than ever before, as well as by economic growth and political liberalization in the originating countries. These trends have increased the education levels of all immigrants from all races in recent years however, Asian immigrants outdo other ethnic groups and races with respect to the shares of those that are college graduates and college students.

Countries of Origin

Asian Americans are originally people from the South East Asia, East Asia, and Indian subcontinent. Asian Americans primarily originate from Japan, India, Korea, China and the Philippines. As immigrants these people were contracted as workers that labored in plantations. As of 2019, six groups, including Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino and Japanese accounted for 85% of Asian Americans. Together, the groups largely shape the demographics of the overall United States Asian population. Asians of Chinese descent comprise the single largest group in the United States accounting for 24% of the total Asian population of 5.4 million people (An, 2022). The second largest groups are Indian Americans accounting for 21% (4.6%) and Filipinos accounting for 19% (4.2 million people). Asians with roots from Japan and Korea have populations of at least 1 million. The remaining 15 Asian origin group comprise at least 2% or less of the total Asian population in the United States.

Values and Beliefs

Asian values were a set of values promoted by Asian intellectuals and political leaders in the late 20th century as a conscious substitute to Western political values such as democracy, human rights, and capitalism. Some of the common Asian values cited included hard work, discipline, educational achievement, frugality, balancing societal and individual needs and the deference to authority. Advocates of these value claimed that fast development of various East Asian economies after World War II was a because of shared cultures between societies, particularly those of Confucian heritage. These proponents of Asian values opined that Western political values were not suited for East Asia as they fostered legalism and individualism that threatened to destroy social dynamism and social order. On the other hand, critics of Asian values disputed the role that the values played in economic growth and maintained that they were employed to safeguard the interests of authoritarian elites.

Customs and Traditions

Asian Americans often face challenges in establishing cultural identity particularly second-generation immigrants that struggle to maintain balance to traditional ideas that have strain of being assimilated into the American culture society. Whenever one is working with people of Asian ancestry, they need to put in mind the three main philosophies including Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism and their effect on Asian culture (Farina, Klumpner, Alvarez, Azhar, & Nguyen, 2021). Families tend to be highly hierarchical, patriarchal, and structured according to these philosophies. Within Asian family systems, children are trained that integrity and welfare of the family are important and not to bring shame in the family. The Asian philosophies teach principles of balance, harmony, and peace which makes some Asians keep away from confrontations or come off as passive, indecisive, or passive. For Asian students that have strong ties to family culture, employing indirect communication methods is also appropriate. Asians have various holidays, with the most common one being Diwali, the festival of lights. The festival is observed by Sikhs, Hindus, and Jains across the world to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. Indians celebrate Diwali by setting fireworks, lighting candles, and eating sweet treats with family members. Other common festivals celebrated by Asians include Chinese New Year, Songkran, Loi Krathing, Jakarta International Jazz Festival and Gion Matsuri.

Experiences of Asian Americans with Discrimination and Oppression

Asian Americans have experienced prolonged periods of discrimination and oppression. Even before the emergence of the 2020 global health crisis, Asian Americans were at victims of racism and discrimination. However, at the height of the pandemic, the former president termed it as a ‘chinese virus’ which was not helpful in riding the nation of anti-Asian racist actions. Even before the emergence of the health crisis, the narrative about Asian Americans as minority group has always existed. The concept of minority emerged during and following World War II asserting that Asian Americans were ideal color immigrants to the United States as a result of their economic success (Chen, Zhang, & Liu, 2020). However, Asian Americans across the United States have being deemed a threat to a country that promoted an immigration policy for white people only. Asian Americans were referred to as a ‘yellow peril’ to mean that they were unclean and not fit for American citizenship. History indicated that Asian American communities have faced lots of disparities with four in ten Asian adults admitting to having acted in an uncomfortable manner because of ethnicity and race reasons.

Interesting Facts/Information

One of the interesting facts about the Asian community is that civic engagement in the community tends to be rather high. According to statistics, in the 2008 presidential election, 48% of registered Asian American voters showed up to vote. Additionally, the total number of eligible Asian American voters in the 2008 elections increased by nearly 50% from the 2000 elections. Another interesting fact is that Arizona and Nevada have registered a sharp rise in their Asian populations over the years (Jun & Nan, 2018). Another interesting fact is that Asian Americans contribute to the country’s economy as entrepreneurs and consumers. Asian entrepreneurs are estimated to create employment for over three million workers and own over 1.5 million businesses across the United States.

References

An, S. (2022). Re/Presentation of Asian Americans in 50 States’ K–12 US History Standards. The Social Studies, 1-14.

Chen, J. A., Zhang, E., & Liu, C. H. (2020). Potential impact of COVID-19–related racial discrimination on the health of Asian Americans. American Journal of Public Health, 110(11), 1624-1627.

Farina, A. S., Klumpner, S., Alvarez, A. R., Azhar, S., & Nguyen, C. M. (2021). Experiences of racist encounters among Asian Americans: Analysis of# thisis2016. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 1-12.

Jun, J., & Nan, X. (2018). Determinants of cancer screening disparities among Asian Americans: a systematic review of public health surveys. Journal of Cancer Education, 33(4), 757-768.

Yip, T., Cheah, C. S., Kiang, L., & Hall, G. C. N. (2021). Rendered invisible: Are Asian Americans a model or a marginalized minority?. American Psychologist, 76(4), 575.