- During any debate about white privilege or the pay gap, you'll usually come across this common argument: But what about Asians? They make more money than all of us, right? Well, wrong. (pop music) From books like Crazy Rich Asians, to characters like London Tipton, from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, the archetype of the super-wealthy, educated Asian American is a common one. And it didn't come out of thin air. Asian Americans do earn more that white Americans on average, but what the data rarely shows is that economic inequality is a huge problem in the Asian American community. And to help me talk about it, I've enlisted the help of my friend, Lily Du. - Thanks, Franchesca. Contrary to what you might believe, not every Asian American is spending their days sipping caviar, and eating champagne. 2014 study found that while Asian Americans generally earn more than white people, they also have a much higher rate of poverty. Plus the, "What about Asians," I guess we'll call it an argument, hides huge disparities amongst different Asian ethnic groups. Indian American earn twice the national average in median income, while Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Bangladeshi families are at the very bottom of the list. So, this begs the question: If not all Asian Americans are makin' it rain, and many are extremely far from it, where did this stereotype come from? Well, like most bull(beep), it starts with a, what's the measurement for racism again? Oh, (beep) ton of racism. But, maybe not the type you usually hear about, because it's couched in very positive terms. What we're dealing with, more specifically, is the Myth of the Model Minority, a fairytale of white supremacy, designed to draw a wedge between Asian Americans and other people of color. Let me tell you how it works. The myth came to prominence in wake of World War II, you know, after Japanese Americans were literally sent to internment camps by the U.S. government. And plays on the idea that by being hard working, education focused, and family oriented, Asian Americans found success, and overcame the massive amount of discrimination and institutionalized racism they faced since the 1800s. The goal of the Model Minority Myth was two-fold. One, which was kind of legitimate, was to explain why Asian families were doing so well economically in the 20 years after World War II. The much more insidious part, was to also reinforce damaging stereotypes about Blacks and Hispanics as lazy and uneducated. Basically, the Model Minority Myth is used to ask harmful questions like: Geez, if Asians can make it in America, why can't blank do it as well? But here's the thing. It wasn't hard work, education, or assimilation that helped some Asian Americans find more success than other people of color. It was opportunity brought on by, wait for it, less racism. New research has found that what actually helped Asian Americans was American society simply becoming a tiny bit less racist towards them. In 2016, researcher, Nathaniel Hilger, found that between 1940 and 1970, Asian Americans, regardless of education levels, started being paid like white people. What happened was that both college educated Asians and Asian high school dropouts began to make the same as college educated whites and white high school dropouts, which prior to that time period, was not the case. Plus, in 1965, the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act, eliminated a huge bias in favor of European immigrants, and drove in a new group of highly selected, highly educated Asian immigrants. For example, 51% of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. are college graduates, compared to only 4% of adults in China. Now, you may be thinking, "But Lily, what's wrong "with believing all Asian Americans are hard working, "highly educated, and flush with sweet, sweet cash? "Isn't that a good thing?" Well, no. Not really. Believing all Asian Americans are rich is just as bad as believing that Dev Patel, hello, and Aziz Ansari, hello, are the same person. They're not. Well, certain stereotypes may not seem all that bad on the surface, but the rich Asian American myth actually erases the experiences of a large part of the Asian American community. It allows people to ignore the economic disparities faced by other groups like Vietnamese and Cambodians. Plus, lumping in all these different ethnicities into one broad Asian category and focusing on averages, masks the wealth disparities between very different ethnic groups. Who doesn't love being erased? So, with the help of the Model Minority Myth, it becomes easy to ignore the fact that in New York City alone, more Asian Americans live below the poverty line than any other minority group at 27%, but they receive less than 1% in state funding, 'cause all Asians are doing fine. I'm fine. I'm great. Poor Asian Americans are being seriously overlooked when it comes to things like government funding and aid for seniors, which is a double tragedy, since we all know that Asian grandmas are stylish as (beep). Back to you, Franchesca. - Look, we have to fact the fact that all stereotypes are harmful, even the ones that seem good on the surface, because the rich Asian stereotype leads to a lack of visibility for the issues that poor Asian Americans face. And because they're ignored, this ridiculous cycle is allowed to continue. So no, not all Asian Americans are rich, and just because some are, doesn't mean we get to pretend like racial, gender, and economic disparities don't exist. Sorry, not sorry. Special thanks to Lily Du, for helping out this week. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time, right here, on Decoded. (pop music)