Now that I think about it you hit value points. New York City is expensive to live in. The real estate market in Manhattan is a different creature compared to the rest of USA but they want to move into Long Island City which is still part of Queens but a developmental condo that they want to move into.

The article talks about up and coming Asian Americans preofessionals. The down side is that it does stereotype that Asian model minority myth that BlackCalAlum points out.

Not all Asian Americans are professional or making whole lot of money. The article mislead that part.

Well…I like to think that the Young Asian American professional will develop a community of their own and grow by marrying among themselves. It is still too soon to say if that is the current trend but the article does point out young professional wanting to stick with their roots (which is their family and the old neighborhood that they grew up in.) I think that is good news.

who cares what white people think. As long as Asian Americans re-populate and know their roots and hopefully grow a 2 generation Asian American community that is good news.

Everywhere I look, my white, black, hispanic, and even Jewish friends have either been laid off or were forced to cut back expenses b/c of inflation and the economic crisis. Conversely, my East Asian friends (Chinese and Koreans) seem to be doing well. They’re the only group so far not to have been hit by the economic crisis.

I think that while articles like this might reinforce the stereotype of Asians as the model minority (especially since they focus on Asians here being six figure income earners working professional jobs), I think the article also hints at how well Asians have fared in comparison to other people during the economic crisis. Like I said, of all the people I know, it appears that East Asians are the only group to have been immune to the economic crisis in the US.

But all that could change though. I do know one Chinese couple who had their son turn down Stanford to go to UC Berkeley b/c of money issues (getting a near full scholarship to Berkeley didn’t hurt though). Of course, they are probably just planning ahead.

The people in that NY Times article seem to represent Asian American elites with 6-figure incomes. The article quotes some prices of units like:
“One-bedrooms with 738 square feet are selling for $531,000 to $631,000, and 654-square-foot studios are listed for $458,000.”

Damn. But that’s New York, I guess.

Secondly, the article also depicts this development NOT as a case of Asian American communities expanding into different areas but rather assimilating and becoming part of the Mainstream.

There are several passages in that article that emphasize this point … almost like it’s reassuring the (White) reader that this development is nothing to worry about in that these upwardly mobile Asians are just following the (approved) path of Italian and Jewish immigrants of the past.

It is too soon to say if Long Island City will become a Asian American community but it’s a good sign.