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HH: The other label that you may have heard, "model minority." To what extent do you identify with that label?

MW: All right, how about the label "model minority," and to what extent do I identify with it? That label takes me back to all the years that I spent with the Pacific Asian Coalition where we were getting together a group of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from throughout the country. And I think the trouble with that label is that one likes to be considered an individual and not to be considered a part of a large group. And to label them all is stereotypes, because by doing that, one tends to forget that there are all of this range of people, and you do not want to have those people that could really profit by having attention and their needs met as everyone else's needs are being met, simply by being shoved aside by being called a "model minority." I think it's just one of those labels that somebody else might look at you and say, but I tend to say, "Hey, wait a minute."

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.