Letter to Manna

Stephen Ngai

To Whom It May Concern:
I am an 18 year old Asian American student attending Eckerd College, Florida. I recently read your “Restrictive Portrayals of Asians in the Media and How to Balance Them” piece and found myself agreeing with most, if not all of the points made.
Movements to raise awareness of stereotypes and generalizations in the United States is required to remove these deeply ingrained images. I know of people who have been changed or treated differently because of the images Hollywood feeds to the public. In my high school, all of the Asian American students all conformed to the model minority stereotype. They were either in class or studying in the library. I know that there is a portion of Asian students who would do this with or without Hollywood’s influence, but having no exceptions to the model minority rule shows the influence movies and television shows have over the race.