This article provides a theoretical analysis and ethnographic account of Asian American student leadership in higher education. Existing literature highlights Asian and Asian American leadership styles as cultural differences. I shift the analysis from culture to racism in order to work toward a more socially just conception of Asian American student leadership, grounded in the social and historical realities of racism in the U.S. I bring the issue of racism to the forefront by framing this project in racial formation theory and Orientalism and by looking at Asian American student leadership in the context of anti-racism activism. Participants challenged the notion of "Asian American leadership" in two ways: First, students described how they struggled with the Asian American racial category in their day-to-day lives as student leaders, and second, they discussed the negative consequences of being racialized as Asian American leaders.