“How does it feel to Be a solution?”: Asian American racialization and the politics of U.S. education

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ABSTRACT This paper considers the implications of the Asian American Model Minority being framed as a solution to racial inequality, especially within education. It begins with a discussion of the origins and diversity to be found within the racial category of ‘Asian American’ and then moves to analyse the origins of the Asian American Model Minority stereotype in its socio-political context of United States’ race relations. This paper also addresses how, instead of providing a form of protection for Asian Americans, the Model Minority stereotype has always been connected to viewing Asians as a threat to white America and the United States, and to negative mental health outcomes for Asian American students. This paper ends by suggesting that we need to divest from the Model Minority through a commitment to more expansive solidarities based on anti-racist and activist identities.