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4 Asian L. J. 71 (1997)
Model Minority, Yellow Peril: Functions of Foreignness in the Construction of Asian American Legal Identity

handle is hein.journals/aslj4 and id is 75 raw text is: Model Minority, Yellow Peril: Functions of Foreignness in the Construction of Asian American Legal Identity Natsu Taylor Saito t Those of Asian descent are often portrayed as the model minority. How- ever, the very same elements which comprise the model minority can also be read as components of the yellow peril. The author argues that Neil Gotanda's con- cept of 'foreignness rectifies the contradictory images simultaneously attributed to Asian Americans. By characterizing those of Asian descent as 'foreigners, dominant society is able to slipfreelyfrom the model minority to the yellow peril label. She posits that this freedom has historically enabled those of Asian descent to be used as cheap labor and as a mask to hide real issues of discrimination against Asian Americans and other minorities. Presently 'foreignness serve to reinforce racial hierarchy in the US. She concludes that recognizing that foreign- ness creates this duality for Asian Americans may allow society to more effectively combat the presumption that Asian Americans are foreign and thus entitled to lesser standards ofprotection I. INTRODUCTION: MISSING PIECES Hardworking, studious, unassuming, thrifty. Inscrutable, sneaky, competitive. Those of Asian descent are sometimes portrayed as the model minority,1 people who are succeeding in America despite their © 1997 Asian Law Journal t Associate Professor, Georgia State University College of Law. My thanks go to Robert Chang for organizing this symposium and for inviting me to participate, to Neil Gotanda for challeng- ing and expanding my understanding of foreignness, and to Kelly Jordan for his thoughtful criticism of this essay. My work was greatly facilitated by the assistance of Soo Jo and Rand Csehy. Many of the ideas in this essay are considered in greater detail in Alien and Non-Alien Alike: Citizenship, Foreignness, and Racial Hierarchy in American Law, _ OREGON L. REV. _ (forthcoming Spring 1997). I am grateful to Keith Aoki, Kelly Jordan, Robert Chang, Neil Gotanda, and Kevin Johnson for their comments on drafts of that piece, and to the many people who gave me comments at the second annual conference of Asian Pacific American Law Professors and the eighth annual Critical Race Theory Workshop, where versions of that paper were presented. 1. Su Sun Bai, Comment, Affirmative Pursuit of Political Equality for Asian Pacific Ameri- cans: Reclaiming the Voting Rights Act, 139 U. PA. L. REV. 731, 744-46 (1991). See also Asian- Americans: A Model Minority, NEWS\VEEK, Dec. 6, 1982, at 40; David A. Bell, The Triumph of Asian-Americans: America's Greatest Success Story, NEw REPUBLIC, July 15 and 22, 1985, at 24; 60

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