A mother and race scholar seeks to answer her daughter’s many questions about race and racism with an earnest exploration into race relations and affirmative action from the perspectives of Asian Americans

Product Code: 9331
ISBN: 9780807013625
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Beacon Press
Pages: 240
Published Date: 04/30/2024
Availability:In stock
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Price: $27.95

Before being struck down by the US Supreme Court in June 2023, affirmative action remained one of the few remaining policy tools to address racial inequalities, revealing peculiar contours of racism and anti-racist strategies in America. Through personal reflective essays for and about her daughter, OiYan Poon looks at how the debate over affirmative action reveals the divergent ways Asian Americans conceive of their identity. With moving sincerity and insightful study, Poon combines extensive research with personal narratives from both herself and a diverse swath of individuals across the Asian American community to reflect on and respond to her daughter’s central question: What does it mean to be Asian American?

Poon conducts interviews with Asian Americans throughout the US who have been actively engaged in policy debates over race-conscious admissions or affirmative action. Through these exchanges, she finds that Asian American identity remains deeply unsettled in a contest between those invested in reaching the top of the racial hierarchy alongside whiteness and those working toward a vision of justice and humanity co-constructed through cross-racial solidarity.

Poon uses these contrasting viewpoints to guide her conversations with her daughter, providing a heartfelt and optimistic look at how understanding the diversity and nuances of the Asian American experience can help us envision a more equitable future.


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Contents

INTRODUCTION
“But Asian American Isn’t a Color”

CHAPTER 1
The Ancestors and Their Contrasting Dreams

CHAPTER 2
Commonalities Across the Affirmative Action Divide:
Do We Even Know What We Are Arguing About?
CHAPTER 3
Community Divides:
Theories of Change, Social Media, and Identities

CHAPTER 4 “If Not Me Then Who?”:
Chinese Americans Reacting to Racial Erasure
CHAPTER 5
“K(No)w History, K(No)w Self”:
Asian Americans in Solidarity for Justice
CONCLUSION
Asian American Identity Is a Solidarity Ethic and Practice

Acknowledgments
Interview Participants
Notes
Index

“This book goes there—taking on race and racism within the Asian American community. In these catastrophic times, Dr. Poon’s patient analysis of competing worldviews shows a way out: respectful listening across differences. Not because ‘all sides’ are equally valid but because human beings can change and grow. Fighting for justice sometimes requires walking with those whose steps don’t quite match ours. This lovely amalgam of qualitative research and memoir shows how to walk that walk.” —Mari Matsuda, coauthor of We Won’t Go Back: Making the Case for Affirmative Action with Charles Lawrence

“Bravo! This is that rare scholarly volume that will capture the imagination of additional readers (parents and teachers) looking to explain the complex and difficult problems of race to inquisitive youngsters. Poon’s approach is brilliant, engaging, and long overdue!” —Carl A. Cohn, Professor Emeritus in the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University

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