ABSTRACT
For non-White immigrants, the change of their status from being a racial majority in the sending country to a visible minority in the host society requires tremendous adjustment, even for those who are privileged with their social class. Asian immigrants and their offspring have a more than 150-year-long history of racial oppression in the United States. From the “yellow peril” over a century ago to the 1922 Ozawa case when the US Supreme Court justified denying their naturalization by ruling that “Asian immigrants were not White,” historically, Asian immigrants have been perceived as an “alien race.” Regardless of the persistent racial hostility and inequality Asian Americans face, their experiences with everyday racism are largely invisible in social research. Foreign-born non-White immigrants often add another type of status marker to their social interactions with others the minute they speak with a foreign accent.
