Introduction
The United States of America citizens who possess roots in Southeast Asia, the Far East, and the Indian Subcontinent are included in the Asian Americans group. It originated with the help of immigration to the U.S. of inhabitants of China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Despite the origin from different countries, the people had corresponding peculiarities, but at the same time, differences were also present. Asian Americans group is described by considerable diversity of ethnic groups that have received a unified definition in the U.S. due to extrinsic factors.
Asian Americans and their features
The cultural heritage of the entire Asian region is so considerable and diverse that each nation has its unique history and origin. The area is considered to be located on the crossroads of civilizations, and it has been interacting with many parts of Eurasia (Hermans, 2020). Therefore, it can be said that more distant cultures have influenced China, Korea, Japan, and other previously mentioned countries. Even among Asian American communities with significantly varied financial resources, the monolithic “Asian” categorization in extant literature perpetuates the common notion of a shared culture (P. Ho, 2019). Apart from similar external features, the only factor that strongly unites Asian Americans is targeted racism and discrimination against people with matching appearances. In particular, pressure has increased in the last two years due to the emergence of the COVID-19 because anti-Chinese racism and xenophobia apply to everyone who is perceived to be Chinese, even by mistake (J. Ho, 2021). The external environment forced rather different people to group up under the pressure of society.
Conclusion
To summarize, Asian Americans are believed to possess distinctions, although countries of their historical homeland have existed side by side for millennia. Living in the U.S., these people over the years have experienced the horror of discrimination and racism that constantly united them into a separate group.
References
Hermans, E. (2020). A Companion to the Global Early Middle Ages. Amsterdam: ARC, Amsterdam University Press.
Ho, J. (2021). Anti-Asian racism, Black Lives Matter, and COVID-19. Japan Forum, 33(1), 148-159. Web.
Ho, P. (2019). Young Adults’ Patterns of Leaving the Parental Home: A Focus on Differences Among Asian Americans. Journal of Marriage and Family, 81(3), 696-712. Web.