'Inconvenient Minority' author: How are Asian Americans succeeding if US is systemically racist?

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Author: Asian-American success ‘inconveniences critical race theory narrative’

The author of a new book argues Asian Americans are an 'inconvenient minority' to critical race theory because their community succeeds on merit alone.

Asian Americans are an "inconvenient minority" to the critical race theory narrative because their community succeeds based on merit alone, the author of a new book argued Wednesday on Fox News.

"Critical race theory asserts that the world and America are divided into a racial caste system, Whites on the top, Blacks on the bottom," Kenny Xu, author of "An Inconvenient Minority: The Attack on Asian American Excellence and the Fight for Meritocracy," said on "America Reports." "But they have no idea what to do with the Asian Americans because the Asian Americans are a minority that has been discriminated against in this country, and yet they succeed and they achieve. And that, I think, inconveniences the critical race theory narrative today, and that's why I wrote this book."

Xu attributed Asian-American success to "culture" because they tend to "study twice as hard," are typically raised in two-parent family structures, and place "strong value on education." 

"It's the love for hard work and for meritocracy, and that's at stake with critical race theory because critical race theory believes that merit is racist,"  Xu said. "So if policies like Harvard's discrimination against Asian Americans are allowed, guess who loses out? It's the hard-working Asian Americans that work so hard to get their spot."

According to the Pew Research Center's statistics on the economic status of Asian Americans', they are performing "well" compared with the overall U.S. population. However, it explained further that it "varies widely among Asian origin groups." 

"In 2019, the median annual household income of households headed by Asian people was $85,800, compared with $61,800 among all U.S. households. Foreign-born Asian households earned slightly more than those headed by U.S.-born Asians ($88,000 vs. $85,000)," according to the Pew Research Center.

"All told, 12 Asian origin groups had higher median household incomes than the median among all Americans."

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Xu's book attempts to debunk the critical race theory narrative that opportunities for non-Whites are limited because of systemic racism in the United States. "An Inconvenient Minority" examines how Ivy League universities such as Harvard discriminate against qualified Asian Americans to maintain a particular racial makeup in their student body. He found that race-based admissions processes designed to push diversity at elite institutions crush the narrative being pushed by much of the mainstream media. 

Mainstream media hosts and pundits such as MSNBC’s Joy Reid have fiercely pushed back on critical race theory's critics, although there is apparent disagreement as to the extent of its influence over U.S. educators. Many claim it’s not even being taught in schools and also erupt over the threat of laws that would ban it from being taught outright. 

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After analyzing 90,000 Harvard admissions data, Xu learned that for the past 30 years, the admission of Asian-Americans had been kept at "cap" between "18 and 15 percent" of the student body. He said that Harvard’s own estimate is that if Asians were not discriminated against, they would comprise "43 percent" of the student body.

"People are saying, well, is that too many Asians? I say I'm indignant at that claim," Xu said. 

"I am indignant that Asians are all the same kind of person, the same kind of face with no personality, we have to look past race in this country and I wrote this book, hopefully, to heal America and to bring Americans together in service of meritocracy."

Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.