Racial Politics, Resentment, and Affirmative Action: Asian Americans as “Model” College Applicants

Abstract

This article uses philosophical analysis to clarify the arguments and claims about racial discrimination brought forward in the recent legal challenges to affirmative action in higher education admissions. Affirmative action opponents argue that elite institutions of higher education are using negative action against Asian American applicants so that they can admit other students of color instead, using race-conscious affirmative action. We examine the surrounding controversy, positing that the portrayal of Asian Americans as a model minority in this debate foments a politics of resentment that divides racial groups. Our analysis centers on how key concepts such as racial discrimination and diversity may be central to this politics of resentment. Given persistent threats to access and equity in higher education, it is important to gain conceptual clarity about the racial politics of anti-affirmative action efforts. Keywords: affirmative action, Asian Americans, college access, model minority myth, politics of education, race need to be based on philosophical ideas related to college access and educational opportunity and holistic reviews of applicants' qualifications, and not solely or even primarily on quantitative measures of academic merit or percentages of students (Guinier, 2015;Gutmann, 1999;Moses, 2002). We thus make two primary normative claims regarding the complex relationship between Asian Americans and affirmative action: 1) selective colleges should not discriminate against Asian American applicants or limit their numbers, nor should colleges treat them as if they are all the same; and, 2) Asian American students who feel wronged should not blame raceconscious affirmative action for the negative action that selective institutions of higher education may be perpetrating against them.A Note on Theory Critical race theory (CRT) frames how we understand the complexities of affirmative action, Asian American applicants, and discrimination. Like Teranishi et al., we find CRT to be a valuable framework to use in examining how Asian Americans are positioned in educational institutions (Teranishi et al., 2009). Deriving from critical legal studies, critical race theory helps analyze how power is distributed; in particular it focuses on the interactions between race, racism, and social institutions (Donahoo, 2008). At the same time, we draw on history and philosophy to understand anti-affirmative action strategies past and present. We leverage three tenets from critical race theory to frame our perspectives: the permanence of racism, majoritarian narratives, and counternarratives (Donahoo, 2008;Lynn, Jennings, & Hughes, 2013; Taylor, Gillborn, & Ladson-Billings, 1995). Relying on critical race theory, first we recognize that racism is an ordinary and permanent phenomenon deeply embedded within American legal landscapes and cultural practices (Taylor, Gillborn, & Ladson-Billings, 1995). Racism

Racial Misdirection: How Anti-affirmative Action Crusaders use Distraction and Spectacle to Promote Incomplete Conceptions of Merit and Perpetuate Racial Inequality

“…Following Moses et al (2019), we underscore two “normative claims” (p. 2) about the complex relationship between Asian Americans and affirmative action, and Harvard’s (and other similarly prestigious schools’) responsibility to Asian applicants. First, Asian American students rejected from admission should investigate possible practices of negative action rather than blaming affirmative action for the rejection.…”

“…, 2020). This plays into the spectacle that SFFA has created, in which Asian Americans are used for the political goal of ending affirmative action in higher education admissions (Matsuda, 1997; Moses et al, 2019; Poon & Segoshi, 2018).…”

“…Unlike so many cases before it, SFFA did not cast a sympathetic White applicant as its central character. Instead, in an uncharacteristic plot twist, Asian American students were cast purposefully as the plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (Moses et al, 2019; Poon & Segoshi, 2018; Poon et al, 2019). On the surface, SFFA’s argument against the use of race in competitive college admissions in this case seems air-tight—democratic, even.…”

Internationalization, Whiteness, and Biopolitics of Higher Education

“…White racial resentment at that perceived injury has a documented negative impact on a wide array of higher education issues ranging from funding (Taylor, et al, 2019) to college admissions (Moses et al, 2017) and college athletics (Wallsten et al, 2017). That speaks both to the importance of higher education in maintaining white supremacy and the opportunity for higher education institutions to engage in dismantling it.…”

A Critical Analysis of Media Discourse on Affirmative Action and Asian Americans

“…First, this trope is used to justify the exclusion of Asian Americans from racial discourse, their invisibility within higher education and other sectors (e.g., health and politics), and the dismissal of their racial challenges and need for support (Museus & Kiang, ; Suzuki, ). Second, the model minority trope suggests that Asian Americans have transcended racism and contributed to a false narrative that individual efforts are deterministic of social outcomes (Moses, Maeda, & Paguyo, ). In doing so, this skewed portrayal of Asian American experiences and outcomes masks the systemic nature of racism and downplays its disastrous effects on communities of color.…”