UNCjigga
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2000
- 25,556
- 10,238
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When I was younger and definitely more biased (ok probably a lil racist too but most everyone was still racist in the 90s) I used to think that black people begrudged Asians’ relative success as immigrants and the whole “model minority” myth. Asian/South Asian immigrants—most of whom came to this country in the 60s and early 70s with only modest savings—had created a level of generational wealth in 20 years that many black families found hard to achieve. By the 1990s, their kids were going to elite universities and getting coveted jobs in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.
So yeah, I just thought these “lazy bums” were just jealous of Asian success.
It took me awhile to realize that maybe, just maybe, Blacks were actually witnessing what their success would look like if some of the institutional racist barriers that they had encountered over multiple generations over hundreds of years never existed. Maybe there were hard-working black families, with both parents at home, who prioritized academic achievement with their kids, but whose kids still wouldn’t have the same opportunities as Johnny and Amy Hsu down the block.
So yeah, I just thought these “lazy bums” were just jealous of Asian success.
It took me awhile to realize that maybe, just maybe, Blacks were actually witnessing what their success would look like if some of the institutional racist barriers that they had encountered over multiple generations over hundreds of years never existed. Maybe there were hard-working black families, with both parents at home, who prioritized academic achievement with their kids, but whose kids still wouldn’t have the same opportunities as Johnny and Amy Hsu down the block.