Diversity of Asian Americans shatters the “model minority myth” – Axios

Data: Pew Research; Chart: Jacque Schrag/AxiosAsian Americans hail from dozens of countries — and their experiences in America are starkly different depending on their origins.Why it matters: This vast, diverse group is often lumped together under the “model minority myth” — the stereotype that all Asian Americans are well-educated, wealthy and successful. If you look at averages, Asian Americans appear to be richer and better educated than the average American.If you disaggregate the data, the model minority myth crumbles. We see high levels of poverty and below-average levels of educational attainment.But because that data is seldom disaggregated, “Asian Americans have had to make the case over and over again that they suffer from racism and hostility and violence,” says Ellen Wu, a history professor at Indiana University. The big picture: The U.S. Asian American population doubled from 2000 to 2019, hitting 22 million. Asians are the fastest-growing group in America — outpacing white, Black and Hispanic Americans and projected to pass 46 million by 2060.”They all have very different starting points,” says Neil Ruiz, associate director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center.Consider, for example, an Indian immigrant who comes to the U.S. via H-1B visa for…
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