2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Ho '01 on the myth of the 'model minority'
Joanna Wohlmuth
Issue date: 11/6/07 Section: Campus News
Entertaining the Salomon 101 audience with instructions to "deface his face" on the event pamphlet and think of Southeast Asian winners of their favorite Bravo reality shows to consider Southeast Asian stereotypes, keynote speaker Lam Ho '01 spoke Monday on "Defiance: The Struggle for Self-Definition" at the Southeast Asian Heritage Week Opening Convocation.
Ho's speech focused on the role defiance plays in overcoming obstacles. Economic and social problems that plague the Southeast Asian community can only be solved if Southeast Asians seek to embrace their heritage and deny the "myth of the model minority," which portrays Asians - particularly immigrants - as obedient and silent, Ho said. Southeast Asians must defy friends, family and cultural values in order to push beyond the roadblocks that hold them back.
"We must remember the history of struggle in summoning our collective voice," said Ho, who was on the Third World Center staff while a Brown student. "We should speak loudly of the circumstances and experiences of how we and our families came to the United States."
Members of the Southeast Asian community in the United States faces extreme poverty, lack of educational opportunities and violence. Domestic violence is common, but the rate of reporting incidents is very low compared to the national average, Ho said. Sexism, racism, classism and homophobia are also common within the community.
Even though he now works to help abused women, Ho cited the shame he faces knowing that he did not help his mother when she was being abused by his father. He also mentioned the experiences of Lisa Ok, who spoke at the convocation earlier in the evening.
Ok, a 16-year-old Cambodian-American high school senior and youth coordinator of the Providence Youth Student Movement, was the convocation's Youth Activist Speaker. She shared her experiences as a child growing up in "the hood" in the south side of Providence and the deterioration of her family as her parents became involved in gambling and drugs.
Ho's speech focused on the role defiance plays in overcoming obstacles. Economic and social problems that plague the Southeast Asian community can only be solved if Southeast Asians seek to embrace their heritage and deny the "myth of the model minority," which portrays Asians - particularly immigrants - as obedient and silent, Ho said. Southeast Asians must defy friends, family and cultural values in order to push beyond the roadblocks that hold them back.
"We must remember the history of struggle in summoning our collective voice," said Ho, who was on the Third World Center staff while a Brown student. "We should speak loudly of the circumstances and experiences of how we and our families came to the United States."
Members of the Southeast Asian community in the United States faces extreme poverty, lack of educational opportunities and violence. Domestic violence is common, but the rate of reporting incidents is very low compared to the national average, Ho said. Sexism, racism, classism and homophobia are also common within the community.
Even though he now works to help abused women, Ho cited the shame he faces knowing that he did not help his mother when she was being abused by his father. He also mentioned the experiences of Lisa Ok, who spoke at the convocation earlier in the evening.
Ok, a 16-year-old Cambodian-American high school senior and youth coordinator of the Providence Youth Student Movement, was the convocation's Youth Activist Speaker. She shared her experiences as a child growing up in "the hood" in the south side of Providence and the deterioration of her family as her parents became involved in gambling and drugs.