Publisher's Synopsis
A personal exploration of U.S. racial politics and the Asian American experience as told through a study of the debate over affirmative action and through letters to the author's daughter Writing as both a mother and a race scholar, OiYan Poon presents a narrative deep dive into race relations from the perspectives of Asian Americans with a focus on the ongoing and increasingly controversial debate over affirmative action. Beginning each chapter in thoughtful engagement with her daughter's questions around the Asian American experience, the author then seeks answers to these questions by exploring the debate over Affirmative Action, arguing that this debate best reveals how Asian Americans are engaged in articulating divergent views on what it means to be Asian American. Poon's insightful study of one of the few remaining policy tools to address racial inequalities reveals peculiar contours of racism and anti-racist strategies in America. The Asian American narratives in the book come not only from the author's personal reflections and conversations with her daughter, but from her interview research with Asian Americans across the U.S. who have been actively engaged in policy debates over race-conscious admissions or affirmative action. Each conversation that the author explores with interviewees across the spectrum of the debate speaks to the diversities and nuances of the Asian American experience and guides Poon in the process of responding to her daughter's observations about race and racism. This book features memoir writing by the author and the personal narratives Asian Americans who represent a diversity and multitude of identities. Sharing their life histories, experiences, and observations on race, racism, and education, Poon reflects on and responds to her daughter's central question: what does it mean to be Asian American?
