‘Crazy Rich Asians’ highlights growing gap between wealthy and poor
CHICAGO: Kevin Kwan’s novel
is a fun romp through the kind of wealth and privilege so stratospherically decadent that it’s nearly incomprehensible to the kind of people who pack their lunch for work every day.
The newly released movie of the same title is reportedly an eye- popping “jewel- andcouture bedecked” luxury fantasy, which is spurring a thousand buying guides and “best fashion moment” pieces on the internet.
The film is a triumph because it’s the first big Hollywood movie in a quarter- century that tells a distinctly Asian American story and features actual Asian Americans.
It’s about time, considering that the US Asian population grew 72 percent between 2000 and 2015, from 11.9 million to 20.4 million — the fastest growth rate of any major racial or ethnic group, according to the Pew Research Center.
( That’s right — while many people have been busy freaking out about Mexicans at the border, Hispanics were, by comparison, only the second- fastest growing group, clocking a mere 60 percent increase during the same period.)
But while Asian Americans have been both buoyed by and saddled with the stereotypical label of “model minority” because of high academic achievement and financial prosperity, the reality is far less sunny.
In fact, in addition to being the fastest growing race group, Asian Americans recently surpassed blacks as having the most income inequality in the United States.
According to a Pew analysis of government data, the gap in the standard of living between Asians near the top and the bottom of the income ladder nearly doubled from 1970 to 2016.
It’s a story that those who study the expansive diversity of the Asian American community know well: In the aggregate, Asians rank as the highest earning racial and ethnic group in the U.S.
But when you look at specific nationalities — such as Burmese, Bhutanese, Hmong and Malaysians, who experience poverty at nearly twice the national U. S. average — it’s easy to see that large swaths of a heterogeneous population have been left behind.
The gulf between wealth and need among Asian Americans has not only mirrored that of other segments of the US population, but it has been even more dramatic.
The earnings of higher- income Asians — those at the 90th percentile — nearly doubled from 1970 to 2016, rising 96 percent, while the income of Asians at the 10th percentile increased only 11 percent over the same period. It’s extraordinary stagnation when you compare that 11 percent to the gains for lower- income blacks ( 67 percent), whites ( 45 percent) and Hispanics ( 37 percent).
Advocacy groups like Asian Americans Advancing Justice, based in Los Angeles, have been at the forefront of reporting on the challenges faced by Asian populations in the US. They have done this by disaggregating census data to study the various Asian-nationality subgroups.
Such data dives uncover eyeopening statistics. For example, while Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women overall are paid an average of 86 cents for every dollar a Caucasian male is paid, disaggregated data shows that Vietnamese, Laotian and Samoan American women earn 61 cents; Burmese American women 53 cents; and Bhutanese American women only 38 cents.
These nationality subgroups are the same ones that are likeliest to be comprised of immigrants and, therefore, to be fearful of a census form inquiring about citizenship. This is why Advancing Justice and other immigrant advocacy groups have done so much to ensure that the 2020 census does not include an untested citizenship question, which could potentially discourage Asians from participating in the decennial count.
As a result, the dominoes would continue to topple because when people living in fragile circumstances aren’t counted, they are likelier to lose out on community- based programs and services that could help lift them out of poverty, setting up a vicious cycle of marginalization.
None of this is to say that Kevin Kwan’s escapist, summer fairytale shouldn’t be enjoyed. It is truly a moment to celebrate that “Crazy Rich Asians” was made and is enjoying so much mainstream love at the box office.
However, once the popcorn is eaten and the joy becomes a warm memory, it’s important to understand that pockets of economic inequality can’t come to the fore in a society that incorrectly believes there is a monolithic Asian “community” that is homogeneously upwardly mobile.