AAPI Professionals: The No Problem Problem

Today is the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) History Month, a month to celebrate people from the AAPI community, as well as bring visibility to AAPI history which is often overlooked and undervalued.

Yet as I enter this month, I am thinking less about celebration and more about framing the “problem” of AAPI inequality.

Why problems?

You may wonder why I want to focus on problems instead of success. To answer, I think about a phrase used by the late Stanford legal scholar Deborah Rhode: the “no problem problem.”

Rhode described gender inequality as an issue that is obscured and thus seen as “no problem.” But just because it is hidden from view does not mean it is nonexistent. Similarly, AAPI inequality is a “no problem problem”—the myth of Asian success and other stereotypes about the diverse AAPI community can prevent folks from seeing that there is indeed a problem. And therein lies the heart of the issue. As long as nothing is wrong, nothing needs to change.

If, as you read this article, you argue in your head, “Why create a problem when there isn't really anything wrong?” – you are in fact demonstrating my point.

With the murders in Atlanta, the rise in anti AAPI hate, and the many recent anti-AAPI murders, Asian inequality is indeed “a problem.” And as Professor Jennifer Lee explains, this problem has a deep historical foundation.

Not underrepresented overall

I remember sitting in a meeting talking about underrepresented minorities where I started to speak up about my own experience. Oh, Asians are not underrepresented, the leader stated and cut me off.

I was surprised. When I looked around, I was the only Asian professional in the room. I didn’t see many Asians in the manager meetings. Then, I realized her point. As a percent of the population, Asians as a percent of the population are not always underrepresented. For example, we represent 7% of the population yet are 27.2% of the professional workforce in top tech companies. Thus, some would say, we are overrepresented.

Yet, as with women, representation does not mean equity.

Asians are not overrepresented overall. We tend to have strong representation in certain roles and occupations, such as tech, but not in others such as sales or leadership. As with women, such gaps are often attributed to “preferences” or inherent “strengths” – yet, the overall trend suggests that historical barriers are still in place.

Furthermore, representation does not erase the experience of being a minority. Being a minority can lead to experiences of microaggressions, which can create harm and exclusion. Most Asian Americans have had to answer the question, “Where are you from?” or “Where are you really from?” Unique to the form of exclusion facing Asians is a sense of being a permanent outsider where our Americanness is ongoingly questioned, or as actor John Cho describes: our belonging is “conditional.”

Shouldn’t we be grateful that it’s better than before?

Words associated with the AAPI community have evolved over time – but are they better or worse? AI shows the historical language associations with Asians, as researchers from Stanford discovered.

In the 1910s, Asians were associated with words such as “barbaric” and “monstrous.” By the 1990s, those associations have evolved to words such as “passive” or “sensitive.” These words align with what is known as the “model minority” stereotype (in a later article, I will share how this stereotype separates the AAPI community from other represented groups).?

I shared these insights with a group interested in the power of inclusive language. One participant asked, “Isn’t it better to be associated with the model minority stereotype than with being monstrous?”

“Well,” I answered. “It is still a constraint. I would rather have the freedom to act in any way–modest, outgoing, leaderlike, bold—than in the limited way afforded by the model minority stereotype.”

The participants responded with embarrassment. “I’m part of the AAPI community and I didn’t even catch that.”

Seeing the problem may be a path to freedom?

This is the heart of the issue. If we do not name the constraints on the AAPI community as a problem, we cannot see them. As members of the AAPI community, we live inside these constraints. And as organizations, we limit the expression and potential of our AAPI members.

So, by seeing and naming the “problem” we have a chance at breaking down inequality which limits our own advancement and also the advancement of others who experience a “problem.”

And thus, I name and see the problem because I wish to imagine a world where we all are free and able to act to our fullest potential, without the constraints of stereotypes and barriers. To me, this possibility is worth the pain of seeing that we are not yet truly there.

#AAPIHeritageMonth #DiversityEquityandInclusion #Asianprofessionals