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Andrew Yang’s Appeal To White Supremacists Reveals His Own Racism
As found at Wear Your Voice Mag [wearyourvoicemag.com], of Intersectional Feminist Media.
Andrew Yang is one of the Democratic Party’s brightest new stars. As an Asian American tech entrepreneur, he is most recognised for his proposal of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). His supporters are the coolly nicknamed #YangGang, proud to be promoting a well-liked minority candidate with charisma and charm. He seems poised to go far in politics and, given the dearth of Asian American representation in government, this is a positive step forward.
However, there are certain things about Andrew Yang that should give us pause. For one, Yang’s record on race raises some startling questions.
Yang often employs the model minority myth. He refers to himself as the Asian guy who is good at math. This seems funny on the outset but is incredibly harmful in many ways. The trope erases other Asians, especially Southeast Asians and refugees who do not have access to resources and opportunities more available to East Asians. It is also used to deny racism against Black people‚ (look if the Asians can do it, why can’t you!) who are compared disfavorably to Asians. The model-minority myth is, at its essence, anti-Black, and therefore, essential to propping up white supremacy. Yang also uses it to justify the need for immigration, which is in itself unsettling because it seems to imply that immigrants need to be exceptional in order to be considered valuable enough to emigrate to the U.S. He later defended the use of the model minority myth to Asian American activists, saying that he didn’t believe his “jokes about Asians and math and doctors were harming anyone.”
At a time where many Chinese Americans are moving further towards the right, are displaying more conservative ideals and are at the forefront of trying to destroy affirmative action, Yang’s lack of response to pressing issues around race while playing into the model minority myth is actually feeding white supremacy in a country that does not need any more of it, and worse, from a minority candidate.
