Asian American Is Not a Color

“A provocative must-read.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A love letter, a call to action, an homage to a genealogy of resistance: Poon’s book is all of the above. This book is about the histories that Asian Americans carry with them as they forge their place—and future—in a country hell-bent on erasing them. I promise: you will not be the same after reading this book.”
—Anthony Christian Ocampo, author of Brown and Gay in LA

“While Asian Americans have been central to the debate over affirmative action in education, we have also been all but silenced in it. Here, finally, Poon—one of our leading scholars—restores the record. With courage and rigor but most of all bottomless empathy and heart, she debunks the false narratives and reveals the complexities of how Asian Americans actually feel about race and the future. An intimate, indispensable portrait of Asian America.”
—Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

“This book goes there—taking on race and racism within the Asian American community. In these catastrophic times, Dr. Poon’s patient analysis of competing worldviews shows a way out: respectful listening across differences. Not because ‘all sides’ are equally valid but because human beings can change and grow. Fighting for justice sometimes requires walking with those whose steps don’t quite match ours. This lovely amalgam of qualitative research and memoir shows how to walk that walk.”
—Mari Matsuda, coauthor of We Won’t Go Back: Making the Case for Affirmative Action

“Bravo! This is that rare scholarly volume that will capture the imagination of additional readers (parents and teachers) looking to explain the complex and difficult problems of race to inquisitive youngsters. Poon’s approach is brilliant, engaging, and long overdue!”
—Carl A. Cohn, professor emeritus in the School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University

“Asian American Is Not a Color is a fast-paced, dynamic book that pulls us into challenging conversations about what we should do in a society riven by deep racism. Few books are as sophisticated but also as accessible in exploring Asian American racial identities as they’ve been made, and also as Asian Americans are remaking them today. A fabulous must-read!”
—Ian F. Haney López, author of Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class