Racial Socialization and Multicultural Education of Asian Families in the United States

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a dramatic surge in anti-Asian racism in the United States. Asians have been blamed for the pandemic. Multicultural education improves cross-cultural understanding and reduces discrimination. Parental racial socialization is an important facet of multicultural education as parents convey racial and ethnic messages to their children. Yet, little research has documented parental racial socialization in Asian families. To address this gap, the authors interviewed 19 Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter shows that discrimination experiences start at an early age and have a lasting impact. Discrimination of Asians is related to the perpetual foreigner stereotype and the model minority myth. These impede how Asians understand their racial discrimination experiences and how families discuss race and ethnicity. All parents in the study expressed how critical parental racial socialization was during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest that schools are essential to supporting multicultural education at home.