Asian Americans are divided along generational lines when it comes to affirmative action. This is especially true for Chinese Americans, according to the article by David Noriega.
Many recent immigrants see affirmative action as part of a long history of discrimination against Asians in this country. Many American-born Asians see affirmative action as an important tool.
“A lot of recent immigrants have the mentality that if you work hard enough, and prove yourself with high GPA and SAT scores, then that should be all you need” said C.N. Le, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, about the college admission process. He says Chinese Americans, who have assimilated in this country over generations, are more likely to support “the structural factors that led to the formation of affirmative action” in the first place.
A 2014 poll by the National Asian American Survey found that 69 percent of Asian Americans in California polled support affirmative action. Among Chinese Americans, its 60 percent. The poll does not break down according to generations. It only includes registered voters, which could potentially exclude more recent immigrants who would not have citizenship and therefore would not be eligible to vote.
At one time, I had reached out to a prominent Asian American researcher about this generational divide between recent immigrants and American-born Asians, but he declined to comment.
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