Read Chap 21 Jeremy Lin Model Minority Problem pg 491 and wri/te 5 paragraph precis. the first three are summaries and the l
Read Chap 21Jeremy Lin Model Minority Problem pg 491 and wri/te 5 paragraph precis. the first three are summaries and the last two could be how does this article relate to your life, how did it affect you, or what did you learn.
I will provide the book below.
C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 6 . N Y U P r e s s . A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . M a y n o t b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r , e x c e p t f a i r u s e s p e r m i t t e d u n d e r U . S . o r a p p l i c a b l e c o p y r i g h t l a w .
EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via AN: 1084151 ; Min Zhou, Anthony Christian Ocampo.; Contemporary Asian America (third Edition) : A Multidisciplinary Reader Account: s8983360
C o n t e m p o r a ry As ia n A m e ri c a
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
This page intentionally left blank
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
Contemporary Asian America A Multidisciplinary Reader
T h i rd E d i t i o n
Edited by Min Zhou and Anthony C. Ocampo
N e w Y o r k U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s New York and London
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
N E W YO R K U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S New York and London www.nyupress.org
© 2016 by New York University All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manu- script was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Zhou, Min, 1956– editor. | Ocampo, Anthony Christian, 1981– editor. Title: Contemporary Asian America : a multidisciplinary reader / edited by Min Zhou and Anthony C. Ocampo. Description: Third edition. | New York : New York University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: L C C N 2015043568| I S B N 9781479829231 (cl : alk. paper) | I S B N 9781479826223 (pb : alk. paper) Subjects: L C S H : Asian Americans. | Asian Americans—Study and teaching. Classification: L C C E 1 8 4 . O 6 C 6 6 2 0 1 6 | D D C 973/.0495—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043568
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are cho- sen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
From Min Zhou: For Philip Jia Guo and Lisa Phuong Mai, the children of
Asian immigrants
From Anthony C. Ocampo: For my parents Myrtle and Chito Ocampo,
immigrants from the Philippines
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
This page intentionally left blank
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
vii
C o n t e n t s
List of Tables and Figures xi Preface to the Third Edition xiii Preface to the Second Edition xvii Preface to the First Edition xxiii
Introduction: Revisiting Contemporary Asian America 1 Min Zhou, Anthony C. Ocampo, and J. V. Gatewood
Pa rt I . C l a i m i n g V i s i b i l i t y : T h e As ia n A m e ri c a n M ov e m e n t 1. “On Strike!” San Francisco State College Strike, 1968–1969:
The Role of Asian American Students 25 Karen Umemoto
2. The “Four Prisons” and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism from the 1960s to the 1990s 60
Glenn Omatsu
Study Questions 9 6 Suggested Readings 9 6 Films 9 7
Pa rt I I . T r av e r s i n g B o rd e r s : C o n t e m p o r a ry As ia n I m m i g r at i o n t o t h e U n i t e d S tat e s
3. Contemporary Asian America: Immigration, Demographic Transformation, and Ethnic Formation 101
Min Zhou, Anthony C. Ocampo, and J. V. Gatewood
4. The Waves of War: Refugees, Immigrants, and New Americans from Southeast Asia 129
Carl L. Bankston III and Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo
Study Questions 1 5 2 Suggested Readings 1 5 2 Films 1 5 3
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
viii | C o n t e n t s
Pa rt I I I . T i e s T hat B i n d : T h e I m m i g r a n t Fa m i ly a n d t h e Et h n i c C o m m u n i t y
5. New Household Forms, Old Family Values: The Formation and Reproduction of the Filipino Transnational Family in Los Angeles 157
Rhacel Salazar Parreñas
6. The Reorganization of Hmong American Families in Response to Poverty 175
Yang Sao Xiong
7. Enclaves, Ethnoburbs, and New Patterns of Settlement among Asian Immigrants 193
Wei Li, Emily Skop, and Wan Yu
Study Questions 2 1 2 Suggested Readings 2 1 2 Films 2 1 3
Pa rt I V. S t ru g g l i n g t o G et A h e a d : E c o n o m y a n d Wo rk 8. Just Getting a Job Is Not Enough: How Indian Americans Navigate
the Workplace 217 Pawan Dhingra
9. Gender, Migration, and Work: Filipina Health Care Professionals to the United States 236
Yen Le Espiritu
10. The Making and Transnationalization of an Ethnic Niche: Vietnamese Manicurists 257
Susan Eckstein and Thanh-Nghi Nguyen
Study Questions 2 8 6 Suggested Readings 2 8 6 Films 2 8 7
Pa rt V. S e x ua l i t y i n As ia n A m e ri c a 11. “Tomboys” and “Baklas”: Experiences of Lesbian and Gay
Filipino Americans 291 Kevin L. Nadal and Melissa J. H. Corpus
12. No Fats, Femmes, or Asians: The Utility of Critical Race Theory in Examining the Role of Gay Stock Stories in the Marginalization of Gay Asian Men 312
C. Winter Han
Study Questions 3 2 9 Suggested Readings 3 2 9 Films 3 3 0
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
C o n t e n t s | ix
Pa rt V I . R ac e a n d As ia n A m e ri c a n I d e n t i t y 13. Are Asians Black? The Asian American Civil Rights Agenda and the
Contemporary Significance of the Paradigm 333 Janine Young Kim
14. Are Second-Generation Filipinos “Becoming” Asian American or Latino? Historical Colonialism, Culture, and Panethnicity 358
Anthony C. Ocampo
15. Are Asian Americans Becoming White? 378 Min Zhou
Study Questions 3 8 5 Suggested Readings 3 8 6 Films 3 8 7
Pa rt V I I . I n t e r m a rriag e s a n d M u lt i r ac ia l Et h n i c i t y 16. Are We “Postracial”? Intermarriage, Multiracial Identification, and
Changing Color Lines 391 Jennifer Lee and Frank D. Bean
17. Mapping Multiple Histories of Korean American Transnational Adoption 404
Kim Park Nelson
Study Questions 4 2 8 Suggested Readings 4 2 8 Films 4 2 9
Pa rt V I I I . C o n f ro n t i n g A dv e r s i t y : R ac i s m , S t e re ot y pi n g , a n d E xc lu s i o n
18. A Letter to My Sister and a Twenty-Five-Year Anniversary 433 Lisa Park
19. “Racial Profiling” in the War on Terror: Cultural Citizenship and South Asian Muslim Youth in the United States 444
Sunaina Maira
20. Racial Microaggressions and the Asian American Experience 464 Derald Wing Sue, Jennifer Bucceri, Annie I. Lin, Kevin L. Nadal, and Gina C. Torino
Study Questions 4 8 5 Suggested Readings 4 8 5 Films 4 8 6
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
x | C o n t e n t s
Pa rt I X . B e h i n d t h e M o d e l M i n o ri t y 21. Jeremy Lin’s Model Minority Problem 491
Maxwell Leung
22. Continuing Significance of the Model Minority Myth: The Second Generation 497
Lisa Sun-Hee Park
23. Racial Anxieties, Uncertainties, and Misinformation: A Complex Picture of Asian Americans and Selective College Admissions 508
OiYan Poon and Ester Sihite
Study Questions 5 2 6 Suggested Readings 5 2 6 Films 5 2 8
Pa rt X . M u lt i pl i c i t y a n d I n t e rr ac ia l P o l i t i c s 24. Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity: Marking Asian
American Differences 531 Lisa Lowe
25. Critical Thoughts on Asian American Assimilation in the Whitening Literature 554
Nadia Y. Kim
26. Beyond the Perpetual Foreigner and Model Minority Stereotypes: A Critical Examination of How Asian Americans Are Framed 576
Jennifer Ng, Yoon Pak, and Xavier Hernandez
27. Race-Based Considerations and the Obama Vote: Evidence from the 2008 National Asian American Survey 600
S. Karthick Ramakrishnan, Janelle Wong, Taeku Lee, and Jane Junn
Study Questions 6 2 3 Suggested Readings 6 2 3 Films 6 2 5 About the Contributors 627 Index 631
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
xi
L i s t o f Ta b l e s a n d F i g u re s
Ta b l e s
Table 3.1. Asian American Population, 1980–2000 (Thousands) 109 Table 3.2. Top Ten Metro Areas with Largest Asian American
Population, 2010 111 Table 3.3. Largest Asian American Population Growth, by Region and State,
2000–2010 111 Table 4.1. Socioeconomic and Family Characteristics of the US Population and
of Major Southeast Asian Groups in the United States, 2010–2012 143 Table 6.1. Poverty Rate of Select Racial/Ethnic Categories, 1989–1999 180 Table 6.2. Population of Hmong Alone by Select US States, 1990–2010 183 Table 6.3. Average Household and Family Size by US General and US Hmong
Populations 184 Table 6.4. Proportion in Poverty by US and Hmong Family Type,
2005–2010 188 Table 7.1. Asian Americans in the United States and Top Ten States,
1990–2010 198 Table 7.2. Metropolitan Areas with Largest Asian American
Populations, 2010 199 Table 7.3. Metropolitan Areas with Asian American Population at Least One
Percent of National Total 200 Table 10.1. Top Ten Countries of Origin of Foreign-Born Hairdresser and
Grooming Service Workers in the United States in 2000 263 Table 10.2. Percentage of Nail Technicians in the United States of Diverse
Ethnicities, 1999–2009 264 Table 10.3. Vietnamese Manicurists by Year of Arrival (%), in 2007 264 Table 11.1. Domains and Themes 297 Table 14.1. Everyday Words in English, Spanish, and Tagalog 362 Table 14.2. Panethnic Identification of Respondents (N = 50) 371 Table 14.3. Panethnic Identification by Ethnicity, Second-Generation Asians (N
= 1,617) 372
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
xii | L i s t o f Ta b l e s a n d F i g u re s
Table 14.4. Panethnic Identification by Ethnicity, Second-Generation Asians (N = 921) 372
Table 16.1. Rates of Exogamy among Marriages Containing at Least One Member of the Racial/Ethnic Group 392
Table 16.2. Multiracial Identification by Census Racial Categories 395 Table 16.3. Most and Least Multiracial States 398 Table 27.1. Asian American Vote Choice in the 2008 Primaries, among
Registered Voters 608 Table 27.2. Asian American Vote Choice in the 2008 General Election, among
Registered Voters, by Month of Interview 609 Table 27.3. Asian American Vote Choice in the 2008 General Election, among
Registered Voters, by Primary Vote Choice 610 Table 27.4. Group Distance and the Black-Latino Divide among Asian
American Registered Voters 610 Table 27.A.1. Asian American Vote Choice in the 2008 General Election,
among Registered Voters, by Ethnicity 615 Table 27.A.2. Logit Regressions of Vote Choice in the 2008 Primary and
General Election 615 Table 27.A.3. Ordered Logit Regression of Intended Vote Choice in the 2008
General Election 617
F i g u re s
Figure 3.1. Percentage Distribution of Asian American Population, 1900–2010 107
Figure 3.2. Asian American Population: Percentage Foreign-Born, 1900–2010 109
Figure 4.1. Major Southeast Asian Populations in the United States, 1920–2013 132
Figure 7.1. Detailed Asian Groups by Foreign-Born, Second Generation, and Third and Later Generations 197
Figure 7.2. Chinatown in San Francisco 204 Figure 10.1. Number of Nail Salons in the United States, 1991–2008 262 Figure 10.2. Nail and Beauty Salon Share of Total Revenue in the Beauty Sector,
1999–2007 262
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
xiii
Pre fac e t o t h e T h i rd E d i t i o n
There was a time, not too long ago, when race in America was synonymous with the black-white dichotomy. But since the United States reformed its immigration policy and reopened its borders to newcomers, immigrants and their children have transformed the racial landscape of this country. In the past decade or so alone, the immigrant population has grown tremendously, from thirty mil- lion at the turn of the twenty-first century to over forty million today. The Pew Research Center’s comprehensive study of Asian Americans, titled “The Rise of Asian Americans,” surprised many by pointing out that Asian Americans, not Latinos, constituted the fastest growing racial group, and much of the growth is due to international migration. More than a third (36 percent) of the new immigrants who came to this country in 2010 were of Asian American or Pacific Islander descent, compared to 31 percent of Latino origin.
Over the past half century, Asian Americans grew from fewer than one mil- lion (or 0.6 percent of the total US population) in 1960 to more than nineteen million (or 6 percent of the US population) in 2013.1 Although Asian Americans compose a tiny proportion of the US population, they form an increasingly vis- ible racial minority group. Many Americans assume that Asian Americans con- gregate along the coastal states of the Pacific West, but in fact their numbers have increased most rapidly in new destinations of the US South, a region considered to be the “geographic center of black-white relations.”2 Asian Americans have now complicated Americans’ notions of race. By virtue of their presence all over the country, it is now impossible for nineteen million people of Asian origins to remain unseen.
As the contributors of the following chapters demonstrate, Asian Ameri- cans have carved out niches and made themselves visible within many arenas of American life—schools and colleges, community-based organizations, sub- urbs and ethnoburbs, neighborhoods and “gayborhoods,” political movements, and even professional sports leagues. Asian American immigrants and their children work in every echelon of the mainstream and ethnic labor markets— professional occupations, service sectors, hospitality industries, and health care and medicine—and have achieved measureable positive socioeconomic out- comes. Unlike the European and Asian immigrants of yesteryear, they excel in the education arena and fare well in American society on economic terms. They also have more resources and technology to intimately and economically tether themselves to the home countries they left behind. The emerging popularity of
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
xiv | Pre fac e t o t h e T h i rd E d i t i o n
social media has helped democratize American pop culture, and Asian Ameri- cans have used the Internet to raise social consciousness (e.g., 18millionrising. com, Hyphen magazine), blog about Asian American racial injustices (e.g., Angry Asian Man), and build a fan base for their music and comedy (e.g., The Fung Brothers of Monterey Park, CA). Historically touted as “forever foreign- ers,” Asian Americans throughout the United States are weaving themselves into the tapestry of American society and continue to be lauded as “the model minority.”
Yet despite significant advances in social mobility, Asian Americans have yet to achieve a social status in the United States that is on par with that of their European counterparts of yesteryear. In spite of the widespread popularity of the “model minority” trope, there are Asian Americans who are poor and strug- gle to make ends meet, who barely make it into community colleges because of both academic and financial challenges, who live in the shadows because of their legal status, and who continue to be subject to overt and covert forms of racial discrimination on a daily basis. No matter what their levels of cultural and economic assimilation, they are still considered the racial other because of their phenotype, even those who are adopted by and raised in white families and communities for their entire lives. They continue to face a bamboo ceiling that blocks their mobility to leadership positions. Their representation in upper-level management in corporations, college and university administrations, Hollywood televisions and films, and even the US Congress remains negligible. Despite the fact that American society is more open than ever before, and an Asian Ameri- can basketball player in the NBA has evolved into a national news sensation, Asian America is still on the margin of mainstream America. As French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr famously declared, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Even the Pew Research Center report about the “rise” of Asian Americans was rife with controversy. To the credit of the organization, they consulted with several of the leading Asian American social scientists in the country; however, it was their reporting of the data that brought tremendous angst to Asian Ameri- can leaders around the country. At its heart, the report seemed celebratory in nature—in total congruence with the model minority stereotype. In opting to highlight the successes, the report marginalized the segments of the commu- nity that were most in need. For every Asian American success story, there are many more Asian American families and communities who continue to suf- fer through the indignant effects of racism, sexism, homophobia, violence, and poverty. Given the scarcity of think tanks that address Asian American issues, the Pew Research Center report was a missed opportunity. In the eyes of many Asian American activists, scholars, and policymakers, they were “blindsided” by a one-dimensional depiction of what they know—and have proven with their life’s work—to be a culturally and socioeconomically heterogeneous population.3
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
Pre fac e t o t h e T h i rd E d i t i o n | xv
Like the Asian American population in the United States, Contemporary Asian America continues to evolve. We have enlisted an interdisciplinary group of sociologists, political scientists, psychologists, and ethnic studies scholars to contribute to this third edition new chapters that underscore the growing com- plexity of Asian American communities and social issues. Some of the chapters tackle new frontiers in Asian American studies. How is Latino immigration reshaping how Asian Americans think about race? How have gay Asian Ameri- cans carved out their agency in a time when LGBT individuals have reached unprecedented levels of acceptance? How has the age of Obama reshaped the political behaviors of Asian Americans? Other chapters address issues that Asian Americans continue to endure. How does race affect the everyday experiences of Asian American students and workers? What strategies do Asian Americans use to maintain their cultural and social ties to their home country? How do the historical, economic, and political relations of the United States across the Pacific affect Asian Americans’ experiences in this country today? These are complicated questions, to which our book does not propose to provide a solu- tion. Nonetheless, this third edition does hope to inspire a new generation of students—Asian American or not—to critically consider these issues, rather than reduce a population of nineteen million rising to mere Orientalist stereotypes.
As the coeditors, we are incredibly thankful to New York University Press (NYUP), who not only provided the initial spark to develop this reader into the new edition, but, as a publisher, has also made itself an important ally to the growing field of Asian American studies. We are grateful for their continued willingness to provide an important space for contemporary Asian American issues to be debated in a critical fashion. NYUP editor Jennifer Hammer has offered her unending support and enthusiasm for this project, as she did in the previous editions. We thank Eric Zinner for playing a key role in providing this important scholarly space for Asian American studies. We also thank Constance Grady and Dorothea Stillman Halliday, who have patiently guided us through the necessary steps in the publishing process, and Joseph Dahm, who is our meticulous copy editor.
We are grateful for our contributors, both old and new, who have not only helped make Contemporary Asian America a repository of the multifaceted experiences of Asian Americans, but also given us an important set of tools for understanding the current state and the future of this ever-evolving community. Their brilliant chapters shed new light on the history and current state of Asian America and inspire scholars and students of Asian American studies. When it comes to this extraordinary group of passionate scholars, “the past isn’t dead; it’s not even past,” to invoke the words of the American writer William Faulkner.
This volume would not have been possible without the support of our past and present home institutions. We would like to express our gratitude for the insti- tutional and funding support we have received from the School of Humanities
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
xvi | Pre fac e t o t h e T h i rd E d i t i o n
and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore; the Department of Sociology, Asian American Studies Department, Asian American Studies Center, and the fund from Walter and Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in US-China Relations and Communications at the University of California, Los Angeles; the Department of Psychology and Sociology at Cal Poly Pomona. We thank our home institutions for continuing to believe in the field of Asian Amer- ican studies.
Finally, we would like to thank our wonderful colleagues, research assistants, students, friends, and family. Min would like to thank her colleagues and stu- dents in the Department of Asian American Studies at UCLA who have helped nurture her Asian American sensitivity and inspire her research in the field. Anthony would like to thank his colleagues at Cal Poly Pomona, the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, the Association of Asian Ameri- can Studies, and the community of immigration, race, and gender scholars within the American Sociological Association, for their support. We thank our incredibly hardworking research assistants—Jin Lou, Jingyi Wen, and Hao Zhou from NTU and Audrey E. Aday, Sarine Aratoon, Irisa Charles, Joseph Cipriano, Jessica Galvan, and Milio Medina from Cal Poly Pomona. We appreciate the help from Antonio Ocampo for proofreading the manuscript. Min dedicates this book to her son Philip Jia Guo and daughter-in-law Lisa Phuong Mai. Anthony thanks his brothers and sisters from the UCLA sociology PhD program; his dearest friends both in and out of academia (especially Daniel Soodjinda and Elmer Manlongat); and his partner Joseph Cipriano. He dedicates this book to his mother and father, Maria Myrtle and Antonio “Chito” Ocampo, whose own migration story inspired him to pursue this profession. Min Zhou, Singapore Anthony C. Ocampo, Los Angeles May 23, 2015
N ot e s 1 Pew Research Center, “U.S. Hispanic and Asian Populations Growing, but for Different
Reasons,” http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/26/u-s-hispanic-and-asian- populations-growing-but-for-different-reasons/ (accessed May 23, 2015).
2 Monica McDermott, Working Class White: The Making and Unmaking of Race Relations (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 1.
3 Karthick Ramakrishnan, “When Words Fail: Careful Framing Needed in Research on Asian Americans,” Hyphen Magazine, June 27, 2012, http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/ archive/2012/06/when-words-fail-careful-framing-needed-research-asian-americans (accessed January 31, 2015).
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
xvii
Pre fac e t o t h e S e c o n d E d i t i o n
It was no small coincidence that the US population hit the three-hundred- million mark just as we were putting the finishing touches on the second edition of Contemporary Asian America in October 2006. For most Americans, this unique historical moment was fairly anticlimactic. There were no visible signs of celebration—no parades with colorful floats and marching bands, no fire- works, not even a public gathering. President Bush—a politician who has an unusual way of speaking to the moment—delivered what can only be described as a tepid response to the demographic change. In a press release issued by the White House, the president lauded that people were “America’s greatest asset,” and praised the American people for their confidence, ingenuity, hopes and for their love of freedom. He concluded that “we welcome this milestone as further proof that the American Dream remains as bright and hopeful as ever.”1 This brief blip in the news cycle disappeared almost as suddenly as it came. To be cer- tain, any celebrations that might have occurred were dampened by an ongoing debate in the United States about immigration and it impact on the environ- ment, natural resources, public services, and quality of life.
By contrast, the arrival of the two-hundred-millionth American in November 1967 was a more splendid affair, marked by celebrations and extensive news cov- erage. Addressing the nation while standing before a giant census clock, Presi- dent Lyndon Johnson delivered his own message of hope and caution for the future. As Haya El Nasser recounts, President Johnson’s words were broken on several occasions by the sounds of applause from the crowd of onlookers who had converged on the Department of Commerce to hear the president speak.2 Among the many events that celebrated the two-hundred-million mark was a contest of sorts, sponsored by Life magazine. The editors at Life sent teams of photographers to twenty-two cities across the United States, finding the baby who arrived closest to the hour appointed by the US Census Bureau when the two-hundred-millionth American would arrive. The winning baby was a fourth- generation Chinese American, Robert Ken Woo, Jr., born at Atlanta’s Crawford Long Hospital at 11:03 a m , November 20, 1967, to Robert and Sally Woo. Woo’s story was—to paraphrase the writer Gish Gen—“typically Asian American.” Bobby’s great-grandfather had come to Georgia after the Civil War to work on the Augusta Canal. His mother’s family had fled the Communist Revolution in China and settled in Augusta in 1959 after several years of waiting for permis- sion to emigrate. Both of parents were college graduates; his father worked as a
EBSCOhost – printed on 1/21/2022 5:13 AM via . All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
xviii | Pre fac e t o t h e S e c o n d E d i t i o n
certified public accountant in Georgia. Bobby Woo was one of a small number of Asian Americans growing up in the suburb of Tucker. He attended Harvard University as an undergraduate and as a law student. Today, he is a practicing attorney (and the first Asian American partner at King & Spalding, one of the most prestigious law firms in America), an advocate for immigrant rights, and the father of three children.
Woo’s story is both fascinating and symbolically appropriate. Even though it was by happenstance, Woo’s selection as the two-hundred-millionth Ameri- can anticipated drastic changes that had altered the country’s demographic, social, and political landscape since his ancestors first arrived in America nearly a hundred years before his birth. Woo’s parents and Woo himself were beneficiaries of the growing educational and economic opportunities that were made available to them and other racial/ethnic minorities only within a relatively short span of time—the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (also known as the McCarran- Walter Act), the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and subsequent changes in public policies and public attitudes toward racial/ethnic minorities as a result of the civil rights movement. The passage of the 1965 amendments to the Immigra- tion and Nationality Act (Hart-Celler Act), two years before Woo’s birth, made possible the coming of hundreds and thousands of imm
Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers
Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.
Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS
Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?
Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.
We write plagiarism Free Content
Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.
Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.