The Asian-American Masking by the Media and Courts
Social structuring that perpetuates whites and the blacks
One of the areas that the media and courts have masked the Asian-American is in their social definition of the various races. The media and the courts have embraced a social structure that promotes the whites and the blacks while making the Asian-American invisible. Often, the Asian American have been categorized together with the whites or the blacks. Such classification has resulted to the masking of the Asian-American s while perpetuating the white and the blacks. For instance, Mears (2013) considers the court .ruling in the Abigail Noel Fisher, Petitioner, v. The University of Texas at Austin, et al. as an aspect of the whites and the blacks. In his article, Mears explains that the claims of Fisher were that the affirmative action discriminated against the whites and the Asian-Americans. Classification of the Asian-American together with the whites tends to obscure them making them invisible since they are a minority while the white are a majority community.
The court further promotes this context of masking the Asian-American by social structuring. In the case of Abigail Noel Fisher and the University of Texas at Austin, the Court appears to further .promote this fact by accepting categorization of the Asian-American in the same group as the white. The plaintiff claimed that the affirmative action policy was harmful to the whites and the Asian-American (Fisher V. University of Texas at Austin, 2013). As earlier mentioned, the white are a majority group while the Asian-Americans comprise a minority group. Classifying the two communities in the same group tends to make the Asian-American invisible.
Domination of the affirmative action debate by the whites and blacks
The debate on affirmative action has been dominated by discussion revolving around the white. Navarrette (2012) considered the situations and the impact of the affirmative action focusing mainly on the white. Navarrette explores the policy as an issue that affects the white while being beneficial to other communities. The media has also been dominated by cases of the white professing to be victims of the affirmative action. Such pin-pointed focusing on the affirmative action on the whites promotes the invisibility of the Asian-Americans. For instance, Mears (2012) explores the case of Abigail Noel Fisher in which he appears to depict her as a product of victimization. Pearson (2013) further explores the issue of affirmative action on Fisher. Pearson depicts the policy as a way of discriminating the white. The article considers the affirmative action as an issue that is facing the white and fails to account for its role on the Asian-Americans and other minorities.
Promoting abolition of affirmative action debate
The affirmative action aims at promoting racial integration in schools. It has been a way of promoting the representation of the Asian-American. The media has however condemned the existence of the policy indicating that it facilitates racial discrimination. Thernstorm (2012) appears to promote the abolition of the policy claiming that racial preference is a vice that hurts some communities. David (2005) further supports the idea of abolition of affirmative action claiming that its causes more harm than benefits. The abolition of the policy is probably likely to cause underrepresentation of the Asian-Americans. Therefore, advocating for the abolition of the policy by the media is a way of promoting invisibility of the minority communities with the Asian-Americans being highly affected due to their low number.
Navarrette (2014) explains that the Asian-American account for 40% of the admissions in the learning institutions. Navarrette further states that the affirmative action is more harmful to the Asian-American. Such representation of the Asian-American can be viewed a proponent for the eradication of the affirmative action. Consequently, the process will result in progressive underrepresentation of the minority group of whom the Asian-American are a part. In such case, the media perpetuates the whites at the expense of the Asian-American. In a similar manner, the media has promoted for the invisibility of the Asian-Americans while advocating for the blacks in an interview with Jim Webb, a presidential aspirant (CNN, 2016). Jim claims to support the affirmative action during the interview. Such an assertion by the presidential candidate and the failure to consider his perspectives regarding the Asian-American makes them invisible while promoting the issue as being of the blacks and the whites.
The court has also been involved in promoting eradication of the affirmative action. As discussed earlier, such an abolition of the policy will result in progressive underrepresentation of the minorities, Asian-Americans. The ruling of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) indirectly implied the abolishment of the affirmative action. The ruling implied that special consideration during admission should not be awarded to students based on their race. The court ruled for Bakke, a white plaintiff, although it did not order for his admission. However, such a ruling implied consideration of the white in similar grounds as the minorities that could have promoted their masking and hence the Asian-Americans. Moreover, the blacks as the minority groups in consideration have dominated the case arguments.
Affirmative action centering its debates on whites and blacks
In a similar manner, the case of Barbara Grutter, Petitioner v. Lee Bollinger et al. (2003) has promoted the masking of the Asian-American. The case involved a white plaintiff, Barbara Grutter, who sued the University of Michigan Law School for its consideration of race as a factor in admitting students. The case’s arguments seem to uphold the role of the blacks as the minority against the white. Consequently, the court arguments hence promote the indication that the issue of the affirmative action is an issue whose context of consideration is within the blacks and the whites. Moreover, Toobin (2013) adds to this fact by considering the affirmative action as an issue of the whites and the African-American and the Hispanics.
In another case, the affirmative action has been portrayed as an issue of the blacks and the whites (Blake, 2013). The Parents involved in community schools, petitioner v. Seattle school district no. 1 et al. (2007) case ruling promoted for the eradication of race consideration in assigning assignments to students. The case involved Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle public school systems and parents opposed to the systems claiming that they discriminated the white. The federal government had mandated Kentucky to desegregate its schools. After the mandate ended, the district school adopted a plan for the student’s assignment based on racial guidelines. The highest court in Washington ruled that the consideration of race as a factor does not violate the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment. Seattle also has a plan that assigned students to higher schools based on race. Parents opposed to the plans claimed that they penalized the white students. The Supreme Court ruled that the plans were unconstitutional in a five-to-four decision. The ruling implied a failure to promote diversity and consequently promoting masking of the minorities.
The Supreme Court ruling implied a limitation to the process of desegregation in the learning institutions. The process of racial profiling in the two plans adapted by the public schools ensured representation of all the communities in the admissions. The ruling implied a progressive decline in the hope of promoting school integration. The court failed to account for the use of racial profiling to achieve beneficial ends rather than racial discrimination (Chemerinsky, 2014; Mears, 2013). The Supreme Court ruling implied that race is not a factor for consideration in classroom composition. Such an assertion professes the continuation of ‘racial discrimination of the Asian-American, who are part of the minorities.
The media has also failed to account for the role of the Asian-American in the affirmative action. The media has pinpointed the issue of affirmative action as an issue of the white and the black. For instance, David (2005) explores the issue covering the two communities. In his article, David explores the implication of the affirmative action to the blacks and the white people failing to account for the existence of the Asian-Americans. The lack of consideration of the Asian-American implies that the debate on the policy is only limited to the two communities. Hanna (2012) adds to this inference in her article on the ruling of the court on the Michigan affirmative action. She depicts the affirmative action as an issue affecting the whites, blacks, and the Latinos and consequently masking other Asian-Americans communities. Granderson (2012) adds to this factor of considering only the blacks and the Latinos as the minority.
Moreover, Zelizer (2013) adds to the issue of promoting invisibility of the Asian-American in his article, ‘It’s no time to retreat from affirmative action, voting rights.’ The article explores the benefits of the affirmative action to the African-American. Therefore, it is prudent to infer that the article considers the blacks as the only minority group in the country that is affected by the affirmative action. Such depiction of the blacks promotes to the invisibility of the Asian-American in the social policy issues. Zelizer explains that the social policy has been critical in promoting opportunities for the blacks while failing to consider the Asian-Americans and hence masking their existence regarding the policy.
Other areas masking Asian-American
In their article, Sander and Taylor (2012), discredit the use of the affirmative in admissions in the higher education institutions. The affirmative action aims to promote equality in higher education institutions admissions. Through the implementation of the policy, the minorities can secure admission slots in institutions. Abolishment of the policy will incur the special consideration of the minorities, especially in elite institutions. Consequently, the minorities are likely to be secluded from fair representation in the institutions. According to Domsic (2006), the minorities were already underrepresented in the learning institutions. The Asian-American being the smallest community is more likely to be masked in the admissions.
Sander and Taylor (2012) also explain that racial profiling in admissions has been applied with large preferences. In this case, Sander and his colleagues depict the minority as not being competitive. The two journalists explain that the admission of the minorities into rigorous and competitive classes will cause them to retreat to softer courses. Such depiction of the minorities, Asian-Americans, tends to promote the fact that they are academic dwarfs when compared to the whites. An inference from this assertion is the masking of the minority communities in academic grounds on the base of their ‘poor performance.’ The media also advocates for the reform of the affirmative action by limiting racial preference size (Anonymous, 2003; Sander & Taylor, 2012). Such a reform is likely to mask the admission of the Asian-American, the minorities, in admission to learning institutions.
Conclusion
The above discussion has illustrated various ways through which the Asian-Americans have been made invisible while perpetuating the black-white binary concerning the affirmative action. The discussion draws out two aspects that highlights the role of the blacks and the whites in the affirmative discussion while masking the Asian-Americans. The media and various court ruling have been indicated to promote yellow peril and model minority. The yellow peril concerns with the classification of the Asian-Americans as whites (Lee, 2006). The high number of the whites masks them and consequently makes them invisible in the affirmative debates masks them.
The other aspect regards to the model minority. In this aspect, the Asian-Americans are classified and referred to as the African-America (Lee, 2006). The blacks and the Asian-American are two different communities culturally and in skin color. The discussion has portrayed various cases when the media refers the minorities as African-American as was with the interviewing of Jim Webb. Referring Asian-Americans as the blacks also masks them making them invisible. Consequently, the yellow peril and the model minority promoted by the media depict the issue of affirmative action as an issue of the whites and the blacks. Consequently, the Asian-Americans are made invisible in the debates.
References
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