The question of whether Asian Americans qualify as people of color has become increasingly pertinent, especially after The Sun published an article about admissions statistics for the class of 2023, stating, “Nearly 55 percent of this year’s admitted students are ‘students of color’ — underrepresented minorities or Asian Americans — a new record for Cornell.”So then, are Asian Americans people of color? Individuals like Yuri Kochiyama, Grace Lee Boggs, Fred Ho, groups like the Asian American Political Alliance and Asian Americans for Action and publications like I Wor Kuen, Wei Min She and Gidra all further exemplify the contributions of Asian Americans in the civil rights movement at large. The murder of Vincent Chin due to the ignorant homogenization of all East Asian people, the rise of the Dotbusters (a hate group in Jersey City, NJ that attacked and threatened South Asians), and the targeting of South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh immigrants post the Sept. 11 attacks (well documented by South Asian Americans Leading Together) demonstrate that Asian Americans were precluded from it. The consequences are profound, delegitimizing the experiences of racism and institutional oppression that Asian Americans face while also producing new issues within our communities, like underreporting cases of mental health issues and illnesses, domestic violence, and most prevalently, rampant colorism and anti-Blackness. However, not experiencing these should not then allow for drawing a conclusion that Asian Americans must be white-aligned.

Source: Daily Sun April 28, 2019 22:41 UTC