An inconvenient minority : the attack on Asian American excellence and the fight for meritocracy

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Title:

An inconvenient minority : the attack on Asian American excellence and the fight for meritocracy

Author:

Xu, Kenny author.

Edition:

First Diversion Books edition.

Subject Term:

Asian Americans -- Social conditions.

Asian Americans -- Education (Higher)

Asian American college students.

Race discrimination -- United States.

Racism -- United States.

Summary:

"Even in the midst of a nationwide surge of bias and incidents against them, Asians from coast to coast have quietly assumed mastery of the nation's technical and intellectual machinery and become essential American workers. Yet, they've been forced to do so in the face of policy proposals-written in the name of diversity-excluding them from the upper ranks of the elite. Going beyond the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case, Xu unearths the skewed logic rippling countrywide, from Mayor Bill de Blasio's attempted makeover of New York City's Specialized School programs to the battle over "diversity" quotas in Google's and Facebook's progressive epicenters, to the rise of Asian American activism in response to unfair perceptions and admission practices.In An Inconvenient Minority, journalist Kenny Xu traces elite America's longstanding unease about a minority potentially upending them. Leftist agendas, such as eliminating standardized testing, doling out racial advantages to "preferred" minorities, and lumping Asians into "privileged" categories despite their deprived historical experiences have spurred Asian Americans to act. Asian Americans' time is now, as they increase their direct action and amplify their voices in the face of mounting anti-Asian attacks. An Inconvenient Minority chronicles the political and economic repression and renaissance of a long ignored racial identity group-and how they are central to reversing America's cultural decline and preserving the dynamism of the free world." -- Amazon.com.

Publication Date:

2021

Format:

Book

Language:

English

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Library	Item Type	Item Barcode	Call Number	Current Location
Searching... Harris Branch	Book	33028012606507	378.1982 X8 2021	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

From a journalist on the frontlines of the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case comes a probing examination of affirmative action, the false narrative of American meritocracy, and the attack on Asian American excellence with its far-reaching implications--from seedy test-prep centers to gleaming gifted-and-talented magnet schools, to top colleges and elite business, media, and political positions across America

Even in the midst of a nationwide surge of bias and incidents against them, Asians from coast to coast have quietly assumed mastery of the nation's technical and intellectual machinery and become essential American workers. Yet, they've been forced to do so in the face of policy proposals―written in the name of diversity―excluding them from the upper ranks of the elite.

In An Inconvenient Minority , journalist Kenny Xu traces elite America's longstanding unease about a minority potentially upending them. Leftist agendas, such as eliminating standardized testing, doling out racial advantages to "preferred" minorities, and lumping Asians into "privileged" categories despite their deprived historical experiences have spurred Asian Americans to act.

Going beyond the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case, Xu unearths the skewed logic rippling countrywide, from Mayor Bill de Blasio's attempted makeover of New York City's Specialized School programs to the battle over "diversity" quotas in Google's and Facebook's progressive epicenters, to the rise of Asian American activism in response to unfair perceptions and admission practices.

Asian Americans' time is now, as they increase their direct action and amplify their voices in the face of mounting anti-Asian attacks. An Inconvenient Minority chronicles the political and economic repression and renaissance of a long ignored racial identity group―and how they are central to reversing America's cultural decline and preserving the dynamism of the free world.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

How Asian Americans have been ill-served by policies of diversity and inclusion. Journalist Xu, who writes for the Federalist, Washington Examiner, and other publications, offers a strident critique of Critical Race Theory, which, as James Lindsay writes in the foreword, "openly denigrates a key American virtue--merit, that combination of talent and hard work that makes for genuine, well-earned success," and in consequence has had "a disproportionate impact on one racial minority group in the United States more than any other: Asian Americans." CRT posits that systemic racism victimizes people of color. According to Xu, it focuses on Black and Latinx groups--people considered "minorities" by liberals and the left--while excluding Asian Americans, who, despite being non-White, have achieved upward social mobility because they prize education and aspire to excellence. Xu shares anecdotes of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans who, despite stellar academic performance, especially in math and science, were rejected by elite colleges--as he was, by Princeton; he took a scholarship at Davidson--or even less prestigious schools, in favor of Black or Latinx students who were not as well prepared but were recruited for the "cosmetic additions they make to the university aesthetic." Even in the tech world, Xu has found, Asians are not considered "diverse" but instead are exploited and underpaid relative to Whites and kept out of leadership roles. Mandates for diversity and inclusion, he argues, are "anti-meritocratic" and undermine "the very principle of objective meritocracy on which this country became a global powerhouse of excellence." Writing as a warning "about what happens when elite discrimination is legitimized and abetted by the world's most powerful institutions," Xu contributes to the ongoing debate about inequality, injustice, and racism that informs recent books such as Daniel Markovits' The Meritocracy Trap and Michael Sandel's The Tyranny of Merit. An ardent defense of meritocracy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Foreword: Within Our Many, an Inconvenient One by James Lindsay	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
A Broken Meritocracy	p. 1
Harvard Is Rotting	p. 47
The Truth About Asian Stereotypes	p. 97
Diversity and Exclusion	p. 135
Shut Up About the Test	p. 165
The Rules Are Changing	p. 195
Afterword: Model Minority	p. 231
A Note on Anti-Asian Violence	p. 239
Acknowledgments	p. 241
Bibliography	p. 242
Notes	p. 243
Index	p. 265
About the Author	p. 274

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Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

Table of Contents