The invisible racialization of the invisiblized: Asian American experiences of White supremacy

This paper aimed to explore the importance of how Asian Americans understand and experience a White supremacist society in the United States. White supremacist ideology, born from and as the most radicalized form of White dominant worldviews, describes a cluster of beliefs that include White superiority over other racial groups, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and opposition to race-mixing. Scholarly fields have explored White supremacy as a systemic issue to varying degrees and have historically examined race and racism through the individual’s experience. Less attention has been given to studying how a White racial hierarchy and White dominant culture condition people of color (e.g., Asian, Black, Latinx, and Native Americans).

Race research regarding Asian Americans have been limited in scope, outside of the Model Minority Myth. Given that each racial group has a unique experience of racism, there is need for additional research study of Asian American experiences of White supremacy. To conduct this study, we utilized consensual qualitative research, a qualitative, semi-structured approach to ask the following research question: How do Asian Americans experience and interpret events of White supremacy in their lives? Findings included themes of experiencing racism and the observing societal preferences for Whites that contribute to perceptions of a White racial hierarchy and the racial triangulation of Asian Americans. Implications include the importance of interracial solidarity between marginalized groups, comprehensive learning of U.S. history to facilitate further development of the understanding of one’s self and racial identity, and the need to seek inclusive scholarship.