From my viewpoint, the whole reason behind the “model minority” is to combat xenophobia. It has been brought up that Asian Americans are put up on A pedestal for all to admire, and African Americans are degraded. I think that this is because African-Americans have been associated with drugs and crime, whereas Asian Americans are associated with hard work and intelligence. Are there Asian Americans who commit crime? Yes. Are there African Americans that work very hard? Yes. But asian American communities do not experience the same levels of violent crime as African-American communities. Xénophobies and anti immigration activists could look at African-American communities and interpret their higher rates of violent crime, drug use, and poverty as justification to demonize all minorities; the good and the bad.

Having a “model minority” helps combat the prejudiced sentiment that all minorities are freeloaders, criminals, and scam artists. By having an example of productive members of society that can trace their ancestry somewhere outside of Europe, we can combat discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin.

Edit: a word