Asian American Stereotypes
Pertaining to Tracy Lai's article titled, "Asian American Women", Lai discusses how stereotypes dehumanize people while turning them into objects to be manipulated. Lai touches on the topic of how Asian people and cultures are stereotyped as being inferior and exotic. The problem that Lai brings to our attention is that it is a struggle to be an Asian in America due to the fact that Asians have been denied political, economic and social equality in America. Lai also brings to our attention the die hard myth that Asians have made it in America, which is far from the truth. I sense that Lai's argument is extremely effective due to the fact that stereotypes are not only seen among Asians, they are also seen in many other cultures and genders. For instance, women for years were battling for woman's equality to be able to vote, and today women are still battling for equality in political and economic areas. In addition, African American's are still trying to be accepted into certain political roles throughout our society. Since Tracy Lai is a Asian in America I feel that her argument holds great validity due to the fact that Lai shared her own personal experiences. By reading Lai's personal feelings, it allowed me to understand her beliefs to a greater extent because I was able to see where she was coming from. Certainly I agree with Lai's views because I have noticed that Asians are depicted as being inferior. For example, if you have ever seen a movie or a television show that had an Asian character, nine times out of ten the Asian character is depicted as being mathematicians, naive, and speaks with broken English. I have also noticed that there are very few Asian politicians, as well as very few women politicians, within our culture. I do not know if this problem stems from Asian Americans not having a historical/authoritative figure like Dr. Martin Luther King representing African Americans, and Susan B.