Opinion columnist Sawan Patel recently wrote an article entitled “White America wants you to conform – even at U.Va.,” in which he argues the recent Diversity Initiative Award, which will be awarded by the Honor Committee in coordination with the Black Student Alliance, Latino Student Alliance and Asian Student Union, is another example of the white minority “creating conformity” by “pushing Western ideals… on to minority groups.” He then juxtaposes this with the Not a Model Minority Week, an event he argues is a rejection of the idea that the success of certain minorities can be attributed to hard work. In this determination he is belittling the success of these minorities by attributing it to conformity, and unfairly labeling the struggles they face as easily surmountable by simply adapting to American culture.
First of all, to characterize the Diversity Initiative Award as enforcing conformity is a stretch. It is a scholarship intended to foster engagement between minority communities at the University and the Honor system, and to allow these individuals to provide unique perspectives to an organization that does not have strong ties with them. In addition, his assertion that the morals the Honor system represents, such as not lying or stealing, are somehow unique to Western culture is wrong. Islam, Taoism, Sikhism and many other religions all denounce lying. Even the example cited, in which Lord Krishna supposedly shows it is acceptable to steal, involves Krishna stealing food to feed his hungry friends. I fail to see how this story teaches a moral many Westerners wouldn’t agree with — this scene could just as easily be describing the opening scene of Les Miserables, when Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread to feed his family.
Nor do I believe the Not a Model Minority week was, as he puts it, “rejecting the dominant ideas of hard work and cultural dominance to explain the success of model minorities.” Not a Model Minority week is focused on fighting the stereotypes faced by Asian Americans, as well as working to promote understanding of the diversity present in the Asian American population. It’s a necessary step to prevent people placing unfair expectations on Asian American students and to inform people about the heterogeneity in that community. It does not, however, dismiss the accomplishments of minorities that have done well by naming conformity as the source of their success.
If not lying and stealing were all it takes to succeed in America, success would be easy. It’s not. And you cannot pretend that all it takes for a minority individual to avoid bias and prejudice is to talk and dress like an American. Minority groups who have succeeded have often done so in the face of discrimination the same as any other group. What’s more, it’s a faulty logical leap to distinguish between successful and less successful minority groups only by who conformed and who didn’t. A large number of factors go into determining a minority group’s success. For example, the labeling of Asians as a model minority can be traced back to the 1965 Immigration Act, which allowed a disproportionate number of economically successful Asian Americans to immigrate.
Pointing to the economic status of certain groups does not suggest prejudice is easy to overcome. But these groups did it. They succeeded against the barriers put in their way, and it certainly wasn’t just because they started talking and dressing like Americans. It is true that to do well in the United States, certain adaptations have to be made. Language, communication and cultural norms must be understood and adopted, a fact that is is true everywhere. If you want to succeed somewhere, you should know the language and the culture you are entering. But though these changes might be necessary prerequisites for success, they are by no means the only obstacles preventing someone from attaining it.
The stereotypes that face model minorities should certainly be addressed. It should be understood that different ethnic groups come from different and often less fortunate backgrounds than stereotypes would indicate. It can also be noted that allowing the immigration of a select few from a country does not provide an accurate picture of that group as a whole. But that does not mean these people didn’t work for what they had, that their success fell into their laps once they “conformed to the white man’s way.” That statement is insulting and untrue.
Alex Mink is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at a.mink@cavalierdaily.com.
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