The Inadequacy of the Term “Asian American” Details MEDIA WATCH-Sarath Suong has often felt like the term “Asian American” doesn’t really serve him. “I was told that I am Asian American when we came here,” says Suong, a Cambodian refugee who immigrated to the US as a child. “But I faced a lot of colorism, a lot of classism, and not a lot of understanding about who Southeast Asians are and how we fit into the Asian American context.” Suong and his family were among tens of thousands of refugees who fled during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, ev...