Yellow by Frank Wu

The thesis for the article Yellow: Writing Race by Frank Wu is the idea that race needs to stop being thought of as being either white or black, because then there is not place for people of Asian descent fit in since the are “yellow”. He starts out by talking about how people at work will tell them of things Asian related since they remind them of him. They stereotype his as a race and not as an individual. An Asian American that headed a major research university described going onto a bus during the civil rights movement. Since he was neither black nor white, he didn’t know where he fit in. Finally, the article ended with the description of the headline “American beats out Kwan”. Kwan and the “American” who beat her were actually both Americans. Wu states that this shows that Asians Americans are often not considered American.

Usually, Asian Americans are stereotyped as being intelligent, knowing things like karate, etc. What effects do these stereotypes have Asian American lives? Are they similar to the effects that blacks face by their stereotypes? Or is what Asian Americans experience by stereotypes more similar to that of white stereotypes?

I thought the the idea that people need to be looked at as individuals and not as a race could be applied to everyone and not just Asian Americans. I liked the examples that Wu gave, because it made more clear the message that he was trying to get across. I thought it was a quick, enlightening read that brought Asian Americans in as also being a group that needs attention when talking about race.