How does the “Asian” identity harm Southeast Asian Americans?
By: Michelle Xèo
Tags: Asian American, Southeast Asia

Images of activists from the Hmong, Lao, Khmer, Viet, and Mien communities in support of AB-1726, a California bill that proposed disaggregating demographic data within the Asian American community. (Image taken by the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center, which is not affiliated with this post.)

Content warning: this article contains a brief mention of suicide.

Let me start by saying that I do not identify as Asian American. I am Southeast Asian. When most folks think of “Asian” people, they’re mostly speaking about East Asians, that is to say Japanese, Chinese, and Korean people; South Asian, Pacific Islander, Central Asian, and Southeast Asian people are usually left out of consideration. For the purposes of this conversation, I will focus on the distinction between Southeast Asian Americans and the dominant East Asian American community, and why we should be intentional about properly addressing members of the Asian diaspora.

The differences between our two communities are largely rooted in hundreds of years of systemic oppression, including waves of American imperialist racism. As a whole, East Asian communities are wealthier, have higher levels of educational attainment, and have deeper roots in America compared to Southeast Asians — this success can be attributed to East Asian countries’ extensive colonization of other Asian countries (China colonized Viet Nam for approximately 1000 years in total), as well as the targeted waves of East Asian immigrants who came to the United States since the 1800s seeking work as physical laborers, or later, as waves of highly-skilled/educated immigrants following the 1965 Immigration Act. East Asians also dominate Asian beauty standards, so while many Southeast Asians have features like darker skin and flat noses, we are also beholden to these norms as well, largely due to previous colonization as well as current East Asian investment into our beauty and entertainment industries.

Compare this to the Southeast Asian refugees who came to the US in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. While there were some Southeast Asians who had come to the US as students or immigrants prior to 1975 (the end of America’s involvement in Viet Nam), for the most part, Southeast Asian people living in the US were fleeing turmoil in Laos, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. As a community, we shared trauma from war and colonization (including colonization by East Asian countries), substandard living conditions, inadequate governmental support, intra-Asian rejection from East Asian American communities, resentment from Americans who blamed us for America’s military involvement in Southeast Asia, all while our communities coped with a complete lack of existing cultural infrastructure such as churches, markets, or interpreting services.

I am not denying the suffering within East Asian communities, but rather acknowledging the need for Southeast Asian struggles to be counted separately in order to make sure our community can get the resources we need. Trying to live up to the East Asian “model minority” standard caused me to attempt to take my own life when I was a teenager, because I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be academically excellent or conventionally attractive no matter how hard I tried, since the “Asian” narrative I was trying to live up to did not account for my family’s trauma from war and displacement, my inability to live up to East Asian beauty standards, or how my parents’ trauma and limited educational attainment impacted their ability to support me academically (especially when I pursued higher education). Again, projecting East Asian narratives and expectations onto Southeast Asians is incredibly harmful.

To add insult to injury, East Asian Americans have continually held Southeast Asian Americans back by fighting against government disaggregation of APIA (Asian Pacific Islander American) data, largely due to fears that this will impact East Asian college admissions, which is incredibly insulting to Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities, for whom accurate demographic data would mean more resources to improve our healthcare, educational access (like resources to help more of our people finish high school or access vocational training), and ability to secure housing assistance.

This is why most do not consider East Asians as BBIPOC (Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color), due to the combination of past and present colonization, as well as the current political dynamic between East Asians and BBIPOC. I implore you to, out of respect for Southeast Asians and other marginalized Asians, be intentional about how you speak about us and address us. Not all “Asians” have trauma from war. Not all “Asians” are refugees. And, as a result of our being viewed as a monolithic unit, not all Asians have the resources they need to succeed educationally, socially, and economically. The ways in which you address us acknowledge our humanity, struggles, and our history.