Big Phat Stats + "Asian Privilege"

Friday, October 24, 2014

Just some random thoughts.

Asian Privilege Lives In My Left Butt Cheek Along With Reverse Racism

I don't even know how this topic gets started, re-started, let's throw out everything we've learned from the application of the model minority and how it obfuscates the inequities that exist for the APIA community, but apparently it's coming up--talk shows, internal conversations, posts, comments, et al.

And I just have to wonder...

What happens when I get poison ivy and scratch by left butt cheek so hard it falls off?

Will my left butt cheek grow back?

Will I need to get therapy for my right butt cheek?

What if it never grows back?

Truly, and with laughable disdain, these are my thoughts on anyone who tries to push the subject that "Asian Privilege" exists.

Household Income Tells Me Nothing Of Racism and Inequality

My income says nothing about the racism that I have to confront, work around, or just hear about in my daily life as an Asian American and Person Of Color. At all income levels there is racism and inequality and that fact can never be denied and it truly is as simple as that.

Fine. Let's Talk Data

You can have four people in your household (related by family or not) where combined, everyone makes 120K. What that number doesn't tell you is the distribution of those funds. One of those people could be making 60K and the other three could be making 20K because they've reached the glass ceiling in their organizations - household income doesn't measure wage gaps by race (or gender) and by industry. At the same time, according to the ACS 2013 report, Whites still make more than any other group on a per capita basis and sure, while someone can argue about the mean versus the median, I can argue back that using this comparison, because of the distribution being the same across all groups (in regard to a calculated average) tells me more than household income, or the median income, about a specific group.

Is it as arbitrary and flawed as throwing out household income when talking about privilege and racism?

Yes.

But that's the point.