Disparities Among Cambodian Population Show Asian Americans not a Monolith

Photo Credit: Heidi Krin

As humans, we like to put things into boxes. Our brains are wired that way. It keeps our brains from literally exploding from information and sensory overload.

But oftentimes we get too carried away with boxing things into blanket categories that do more harm than good.

Sure, it’s useful when referring to something generally. But when we’re talking about inequity and inequality, generalizing often compounds and perpetuates disparities that exist between discrete groups of people with different experiences.

This is especially true in how Americans as a whole view Asian Americans and I will illustrate by looking at disparities in the data on Cambodian Americans.

Cambodians have higher rate of poverty.

When we start to separate out the data by ethnicity, that is when we begin to see a clearer picture of where the disparities exist.

According to Pew Research Center’s 2015 analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, 19.1% of Cambodians (both U.S. and foreign-born) live in poverty compared to 12.1% for Asians and 15.1% for all Americans.

But those figures are based on Pew’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, which can be incomplete. For instance, a study referenced by President Obama’s White House initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders put the poverty rates among Cambodian Americans closer to 28%.

Data on poverty only scratches the surfaces, however, and indicates that other problems may exist in a community. Looking at Pew data in other key areas, we can find more disparities that may contribute to the poverty rate being so high among the Cambodian community.

English proficiency lower among Cambodian Americans.

When it comes to English proficiency, only 59% of the Cambodian American population are proficient, which has an impact on which jobs they apply for, their ability to read and comprehend school and financial documents and applications, and comfort level in expanding social networks beyond the home, which may lead to social isolation.

Fewer Cambodians 25 and older go to or finish college.

Education is often considered one of the clearer determinants of upward social mobility. If that is the case, then the numbers for the Cambodian American population are dire.

Only 20% of the U.S. born and 12% of the foreign born Cambodian American population 25 and older have completed college and earned a Bachelor’s degree, compared to 30% of all Asians. And only 4% of Cambodian Americans have a postgrad degree, compared to 21% of all Asians and 11% of all Americans.

In other words, most Cambodian Americans over age 25 have a high school education and have started on but haven’t finished college. This not only means they do not have the same access to good paying jobs and good benefits as those with college degrees, but they are also saddled with student loan debt for unfinished degrees.

Health disparities and lack of access show population struggling to overcome trauma and cultural barriers.

Practitioners know very well the challenges that people who have endured genocide and trauma deal with.

Unresolved trauma among the Cambodian American population, particularly the foreign born and elder population, manifests in behavioral health issues such as alcohol misuse; problem gambling; and domestic violence. Given this, the population has higher rates of anxiety and depression, often compounded by social isolation.

The Asian Model Minority is a Myth

The data on disparities among Cambodian Americans dispels the myth of the Asian Model Minority.

Asian Americans, since first arriving as cheap labor in the late-1800s during the industrial revolution and period of railroad expansions, have gone from evil caricatures come to steal jobs from the white, working man, to, post-World War II, being referred to as “model minorities.”

The myth of the model minority is perpetuated by many stereotypes like “Asians are good at math, smart and studious” or “Asians are so humble and submissive.” .

But lumping people of Asian background into one category and slapping on an “approved by white people” label ignores the very real disparities that exist among the different Asian communities here in America - especially the Cambodian and Hmong communities.

For instance, Pew Research in 2018 found that income inequality was growing most rapidly among the Asian American population.

Today, income inequality in the U.S. is greatest among Asians. From 1970 to 2016, the gap in the standard of living between Asians near the top and the bottom of the income ladder nearly doubled, and the distribution of income among Asians transformed from being one of the most equal to being the most unequal among America’s major racial and ethnic groups.

In this process, Asians displaced blacks as the most economically divided racial or ethnic group in the U.S., according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. While Asians overall rank as the highest earning racial and ethnic group in the U.S., it is not a status shared by all Asians: From 1970 to 2016, the gains in income for lower-income Asians trailed well behind the gains for their counterparts in other groups.

Source: Pew Research, Income Inequality in the U.S. Is Rising Most Rapidly Among Asians.

A data snapshot provided by Propserity Now illustrates this well.

Asian Americans as a whole have a household median income that is 39% greater than the national average, with Indian Americans leading the charge with a household median income of $101,591. Coming in behind Indian Americans are Filipino ($82,839), Japanese ($70,261) and Chinese Americans ($69,586).

But when factoring in education, White American men with bachelor’s degrees earn on average $15,678 more than Asian American men with the same degrees. That figure is less when comparing White American women to Asian American women, but still clocks in at a difference of $4,000 on average.

In addition, Asian Americans earning higher household incomes tend to have larger households than their White counterparts and live in metropolitan centers with higher costs of living. So any perceived benefits of a higher household income are eaten up by larger family and higher living costs.

This partially explains why the poverty rate is higher among Asian Americans than White Americans, despite the higher household median income.

Conclusion

I highlight these disparities to raise awareness about the need to assess where systematic barriers may exist and the need for culturally compentent and community based approaches to increasing health access and positive outcomes.

But the first step in doing that is to dispense with the myth of the model minority.

The next time someone mentions to you that Asians are so smart and are an example of how people of color and minorities should behave, remind them that Asian Americans aren’t a monolith and that disparities exist among the many different ethnicities and sub-groups that are swept underneath the rug of generalization.