Suppressed Voices of Asian Americans and Implications of Education Policy and Practices for Racial Justice

• In Event: Teachers' voices in the educational policy conversation

Proposal

Abstract
This proposal critically analyzes the social movements of Asian American communities against systematic racism and anti-Asian violence through collective action (e.g., political campaigning) and the efforts at state and institutional levels to promote the voices of Asian Americans in US education. Using the AsianCrit framework, this paper argues that racism in the United States stereotypes and misrepresents Asian Americans by considering them as a monolithic racial group. This paper reports the state-level legislation, the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act in Illinois, as a response to a surge in Asian American hate incidents and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)’s efforts to support the implementation of the TEAACH Act. This proposal concludes with how this action aims to eradicate racial bias toward Asian Americans and promote inclusive education for racial justice.
Introduction
Despite the large number of Asian American communities in the United States, their stories and history have been excluded from the school curriculum, driven by embedded stereotypes such as “model minority” and “perpetual foreigners” (Jang, 2022). The absence of teaching Asian American history and the misrepresentation of Asian Americans have motivated the otherness of Asian Americans, which further leads to anti-Asian hate attacks.
During the global pandemic, more than 6,600 anti-Asian hate violence were reported between March 2020–March 2021 (Zhou, 2021). The shooting at Atlanta spas in March 2021, which killed six Asian women, catalyzed further discussions about anti-Asian hate attacks and digital civic engagement, “#StopAsianHate” (Cao et al., 2022). Asian American communities participated in this activism by tagging #StopAsianHate on social media for Asian American civil rights. Asian American youth organizations were also founded (e.g., Dear Asian Youth). This coalition led to successes: President Biden’s COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act (Sprunt, 2021); Illinois’s 2021 TEAACH Act, mandating teaching Asian American history in public schools. This paper has two main research questions:
(1) How does racism in the United States exclude Asian Americans from school curricula?
(2) How does education policy envision the invisibility of Asian American experiences?
Connecting to the theme, this proposal analyzes the voices of Asian Americans who faced racial injustice through collective activism, and how these struggles and biases can be mitigated by education policy and school curriculum at the state and institutional levels. The AsianCrit framework is used to analyze and evaluate racial biases toward Asian Americans.
Literature Review on Marginalized Asian American History
Asian American history has been invisible in school curricula, focusing on a few historical events (e.g., Japanese American internment during World War II) (Zhou, 2021). Asian Americans are portrayed as the victims of racism and nativist sentiment rather than as contributors to US history, in addition to being a monolithic ethnic group. Jang (2022) argues that the “model minority myth” and “forever foreigner ideology” contribute to erasure and stereotyping, alienating Asian Americans from education policy.
White-dominated teachers’ demographics in public schools also impact the invisibility of Asian American history in school curricula. There would be a systemic flaw where unintentional bias determines how subjects are taught. Teacher demographics in public schools indicate that about 80% of teachers are White, 7% Black, 9% Hispanic, 2% Asian American, and fewer than 2% are either Native American, Pacific Islander, or mixed races (Schaeffer, 2021). This majority of White teachers cause an unawareness of students of color’s racial experiences, which contributes to existing racial biases.
Theoretical Framework
AsianCrit, grounded in critical race theory (CRT), is used to understand how racism influences Asian Americans and to help recenter their experiences in US education. According to Museus and Iftikar (2014), AsianCrit framework consists of seven tenets:
1. Asianization: Native racism contributes to lumping Asian Americans into a monolithic group model minority, perpetual foreigners, and threatening yellow perils.
2. Transnational context: Historical and current economic, political, and social contexts construct the lives of Asian Americans.
3. (Re)Constructive history: Excluded Asian American history from American history must be re-analyzed to incorporate their voices.
4. Strategic (anti)essentialism: Asian Americans’ activism has an impact on political power against racial oppression.
5. Intersectionality: systemic racism and other systems of oppression intersect to shape Asian American experiences.
6. Story, Theory, and Praxis: Stories of Asian Americans inform theory and practice, theory guides practice, and practice can uncover stories and utilize theory (p. 27).
7. Commitment to social justice: AsianCrit is a lens for eradicating systemic racism and oppression.
For example, the monolithic model minority myth of Asian Americans can be resisted by AsianCrit in US education (Jang, 2022). This is helpful for policymakers and practitioners to employ policies, programs, and practices to deconstruct racial stereotypes toward Asian Americans and validate their experiences in US history.
TEAACH Act and Institutional Efforts
The state of Illinois passed the TEAACH Act in 2021, which requires the inclusion of Asian American history in the public schools’ curriculum. As the nation’s first state, public schools in Illinois have started teaching a unit on Asian American history and their contributions to US history starting with the 2022-2023 school year (Jang, 2022). This legislation contributes to uncovering Asian American history and expecting Asian Americans to actively participate in civic and political engagement. As Illinois provides a model to lead the inclusive curriculum, five other states (NJ, CT, RI, CA, and FL) have further implemented legislation to include Asian American history in the curriculum.
UIUC has developed online microcredential modules for professional development (PD) in 2021. A group of faculty and doctoral students helps Illinois teachers effectively teach in their classes by providing PD credits. This team has been partnering with other Asian American organizations. More details on their work will be shared in the presentation session.
Scholarly Contribution
This proposal analyzes the social movement against anti-Asian hate crimes and racism toward Asian Americans through the AsianCrit framework. The TEAACH Act uncovers the invisibility of Asian Americans in US education, and UIUC’s efforts contribute to promoting racial justice and acts of solidarity in schools. It is essential for policymakers and educators to continue to assess the school curricula and to include Asian American history beyond Illinois.

Author

• Hanna Kim, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign