Dear Robert Lee

I find many of your arguments about the Asian-American experience rather compelling; however, your need to co-opt language from the black experience in america, and further compare the experience of black and asian americans contradicts your assertion of the Asian as the "true alien", and reaffirms the black people are indeed the most alien of racial minorities. As I explain in my essay, other racial groups were historically compared to and defined based on their physical differences vis-a-vis black americans. The american racial paradigm establishes a black/white binary, and positioning other ethnic groups in relation to the two. All of other americans, because of their phenotype contrast to blacks, have been able to successfully melt into whiteness. Your argument that Asians were the "model minority" simply reify's this point, since their are only "model" in comparison to the social reality of blacks. This convention of comparing blacks to other minorities as you have done in constructing your "model minority" theory is problematic as it completely oversimplifies and neglects the structural limitations experienced by black americans. I hope that this letter helps you reconsider many of your thoughts, and engage racial history of America more critically.

Best,

Toni Morrison