AAPI Heritage Month: Exploring Asian American Visibility in the Midwest

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and an opportunity to reflect on underrepresentation of AAPI people in media depictions of the Midwest, most recently ignited by Yao and Li Jun Li's performances in Ryan Coogler's "Sinners" (2025).

Despite existing in the Midwest for hundreds of years, Asian American Midwesterners are broadly invisible, and our stories are severely underrepresented. Today, Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders are two of the Midwest’s fastest growing racial groups (Asian Americans Advancing Justice, 2012). We’ve been here, you just might not have known.

There are historical implications we can look at that point to some of the systemic reasons as to why Asian American representation is lacking in Kansas. The 1886 Chinese Ouster Attempt in Wichita illustrates the nationwide outlook on Asian immigrants at the time. In 1886, amid a national wave of anti-Chinese sentiment and “Yellow Peril”, the city of Wichita attempted to oust their local Chinese community members through boycotts, retaliatory journalism, and even violence. Despite it all, the small Chinese community in Wichita, Kansas continued to expand their communities and businesses: “The Chinese of Wichita, no matter how much of a perceived threat, did not ‘go away.’ The number of Chinese laundries actually increased to twelve in the 1887 city directory listings following the boycott and intimidation attempts.” (Julia Courtwright, “A Slave to Yellow Peril: The 1886 Chinese Ouster Attempt in Wichita, Kansas”, 2002). The active and growing Chinese population in Wichita, Kansas coupled with the instatement of organizations like the Wichita Chinese Association and the Wichita Asian Association reflect the resiliency of Asian American Midwesterners' ability to not only survive, but thrive despite hate, racism, and xenophobia.

Asian Americans have hundreds of years of experience living in the Midwest, yet disparities continue to persist when it comes to accurately reflecting the realities of the Asian American Midwest experience. Asian Americans are the least likely to fill out their census form and are most concerned their answers will be used against them. Largely due to language barriers, distrust in government and technology, and fears regarding anti-immigrant agendas getting ahold of private personal information, Asian American communities especially in the Midwest have a long history of examples to feel distrust in major institutions. Disparities in census data directly affect how billions of dollars in federal funding are dispersed and who/where gets translated voting materials, and “the more accurately that we can describe the need of our community ... the better we’re able to access the dollars that we need” (Chris Fuchs, "For Asian Americans in the Midwest, the census is a new — and difficult — challenge", 2019). The palpable fears of Asian Americans in the Midwest that persist today are obstacles that threaten to stifle the free expression of our communities in the media. The impact of our presence in census data directly affects how our voices are heard at the polls, or how our faces are seen in media on our screens.

"There’s a very narrow view of who/where Asian Americans are allowed to be, and it is typically believed to be completely isolated from the standard Midwest experience. But our history is your history. Asian Americans have been in Kansas helping to build and strengthening our communities for hundreds of years. My hope is that we begin to see more Asian American stories come to the forefront as we continue to live and thrive in the Midwest."

Special thanks to artist Thepy Chanthalangsy for partnering with us on this project.