Asian Majority

Being a minority in the US has placed a lot of challenging barriers on us including Asian Americans. It’s true that many of us have succeeded in academics and the work place, but there are still barriers to reach the pinnacle in all aspects. This is apparent in the recent success of Jeremy Lin.

Here is someone who rose to the top at all levels of basketball in High School winning states but was under-recruited by schools. He excelled in college and was under-recruited in the NBA. He finally only broke out when Knicks were more desperate.

Let’s take a look at academia where you wouldn’t think Asian Americans would have any complaints. There was a recent article by New York Times on the possible bias that Asian Americans base when applying to elite colleges showing how Asians had to score much higher in tests to get in. For most Asian Americans I know, this was no surprise at all and almost accepted as fact.

That is a problem though to accept such things. There needs to be a fight against this type of discrimination which is hurting students and just another systematic way to hold back a minority. I have seen many arguments that there is a lot more to getting accepted than test scores which is true, but a lot of people I know who did not get into top schools had extra curricular activities that were no less impressive than others accepted.

People try to make claims of diversity, but if that’s the case, should sports not have the same type of diversity clauses too? In fact as shown by Jeremy Lin, it goes the other extreme in sports. If we haven’t seen “your kind” succeed in pro-basketball, then you have to not play as well as everyone but even better to even get in.

Let’s take another look beyond college and into corporations. There are a lot of successful Asians, but are they at the top of the firms and companies? There is under-representation there as well. Many of the exceptions are tech companies that people have founded themselves. Rather than being given opportunities, they had to go create their own. That was the only way to get it.

Many senior managers still think Asian-Americans don’t have the social, leadership, etc. skills to lead and manage. Well, many of us do and will take companies to another level. Give people the chance. If they fail, fine, but don’t assume anything.

NY Times Article

Netherlands-born Pete Hoekstra is trying to steal American jobs! This is just the beginning of having immigrants trying to take away US Congress jobs. Netherland-born people will soon run this country if we allow this to happen!

Be scared! Be very scared! As a US-born Asian American, I say we must protect our jobs. USA! USA!

Ok…all of the above was satire. I have no problem with “foreigners” or people born in another country coming to the US and making it. I have a problem with blatant racism as displayed in Pete’s commercial without apology. Do you see the double-standard? Let’s fix it. Vote against Pete Hoekstra.

This is ridiculous portrayal of a Chinese person. I don’t even know where to start about the actress that agreed to do this. I try to withhold judgment, but this is a job no Asian should accept. I’m not sure what the situation is there…

Regardless, the real perpetrator is Pete Hoekstra who approved this ad.

This ad shows a person riding through rice fields on a bike and stopping to speak some really bad broken English. It’s not even the kind of broken English that makes any sense. Her words are perfect and without accent, but she just skips words and sounds stupid. You go all the way racist, and she would at least have some sort of accent with her English words.

Regardless, most people don’t even know what it’s really like in China. This rice paddy, riding bikes crap is really offensive. Are there parts of China that are still like that? Yes, but there are parts of America that some may consider “backwards” as well.

The best part is always looking at comments left by articles. It’s amazing where you get these comments of “I don’t see why it’s racist…and I’m Asian!” In many cases, these are brain-washed by the media Asians. Then there are the people of other races that don’t understand it at all…but in many cases these people have never felt racism. Not the “they don’t think I can dance because I’m white” racism but real racism where you feel not accepted in the country you were born and grew up in.

Enough for now. On a positive note, Jeremy Lin shattering stereotypes by playing some great basketball with the Knicks!

Huffington Post article

There has been the resurfacing issue of Asian-Americans not being treated fairly. With these articles, I always find it interesting how non-Asians try to actually defend that people should just suck it up or that other minorities are treated poorly too. Yet, many just can’t relate since they have not felt the brunt of that burden.

I think a recent example is the top 10 report by Steven Colbert: racist video.

I’m disappointed the Steven has a Ching Chong Ding Dong character. Again, if he tried to impersonate Africans, I think the outrage would be much greater. And yet, the general US population lets the Asian character slide.

Just listen to how hard the people in the audience laugh and clapping when either Rush’s or Colbert’s character make fun of Chinese by trying to imitate the language. Now listen again to the audience when Rush imitates his version of “African American”. Much more silent. The right answer? Outrage for both. It’s not entertainment for one and outrage for another.

Bill Hing writes an excellent post about the recent suicide of Private Danny Chen and other atrocities throughout US history in this article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-ong-hing/ching-chong-chinaman-the-_b_1176564.html

At least 3/4 of an applause to Chick-Fil-A for firing an employee who used derogatory terms when doling out receipts to Asians at the US Irvine location. Two customers were provided receipts with Ching and Chong as the names and not even asked their real names. There are a few interesting things to note about the article.

The first is the reaction of the customers who were offended. I applaud them for not being passive and actually calling attention to this issue to the manager. Sometimes I wonder though whether being irate and loud are more effective though in this case they got their point across and taken seriously.

Shifting focus, maybe I’m reading way too much into the reaction, but Chick-Fil-A seems to excuse the behavior as stupid, young-person behavior. I do applaud the decision to fire the person, but there does seem to be some downplay of the offense in their wording. I always try to imagine if this had happened to an African American whether reactions and wording would be exactly the same. I generally find that it’s more of an offense to be racist to African Americans than to Asians in this country. They should both be equally unacceptable.

Full article here: Chick-Fil-A Racism

In one of the few areas where we may accept the stereotype of being very smart as Asians can backfire on us. Where can we get a break? In an article in USA Today, there is a strategy used by Asians to not check the “Asian” category to increase their chances of getting accepted.

The tenet is that in elite Ivy League schools that are not completely colorblind, Asians need to test a lot higher than other ethnic groups to be accepted. This is outrageous! In a country where there are many roadblocks, this is blatantly wrong.

A lot of the justification comes towards having a diverse student body or similar arguments. BUT, people are quite selective when it comes to this reinforcement. Do they legislate that NBA or other sports should be forced to be as diverse? Is intellectual talent really all that different than athletic talent? In fact, even when it comes to athletic talent, Asians are slighted as was the case with Jeremy Lin who didn’t get into neighborhood Stanford despite excelling with many of the top honors in his High School career.

As an aside, it is interesting to note in the article that almost all the students interviewed had Asian mothers and Caucasian fathers. The only exception was one person where both parents are Asian. I don’t want to read too much into it, but is this just more of the media control? These days there are more Caucasian women dating Asian men that I see on the streets.

How to correct injustices? It takes action and keeping hope. Even for those who don’t get into the top schools, you can still succeed immensely by doing what you can with what you’re given. There will be obstacles in the work place too due to discrimination but keep striving for yourself.

Original article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2011-12-03/asian-students-college-applications/51620236/1

Recently the story of Private Danny Chen in the US Army surfaced after his death in a guard tower in Afghanistan as reported by the New York Times. He was found shot to death in the head, and military officials didn’t know at this point whether it was self-inflicted or by someone else.

What was revealed was abuse and ethnic slurs by superiors. This is a disgrace to the US Army when the leaders abuse the ones that are fighting for their country. This is an outrage when minorities are fighting for the country that we clearly also belong to. And yet, the majority of this country still can not accept us for who we are. Civil rights has not been fairly obtained for Asian Americans, especially males.

This is bad for the Army. Asian Americans can offer a lot, but I would think twice before allowing anyone I know enlist due to the dangers…from our own people. Another story of abuse here. Let’s clean up and work together and fight our common enemy, not ourselves.

Article: another perspective on Danny Chen

Sadly, there is no surprise for me when I read this. Still 54% is a crazy high number. I have personally felt the effects of this growing up though, and it’s no joke.

One thing to ponder though is what makes it so pervasive towards certain minorities. Back a few decades ago, African Americans suffered a lot of discrimination, but they have made very impressive progress. I’m not naive and still believe some discrimination still occurs, but not quite in the same way.

A lot of people are so dismissive when media feeds stereotypes or make fun of Asians. Sadly, a lot of Asians are also dismissive of it. We are all a product of our culture and media plays a significant role. Imagine a world where all TV shows portrayed the Asian American male and female as strong, powerful, most attractive, etc. When bombarded with that message, it will take hold. That is what people will believe.

Imagine a world in Asian American males are portrayed as weak, submissive, undesirable, nerdy, threatening, etc…well, welcome to the USA. I will give some credit…change is happening but VERY slowly. More slow than other minorities it seems. So why haven’t Asian Americans fought for more change? Many of us don’t feel we have to. Many of us feel successful in well paying careers. We win the long battle in the corporate front. But there are still barriers in climbing the highest ladders if you haven’t started the company yourself though.

Some real protests to injustices we see is reasonable. We just need to believe enough to fight when appropriate.

So, I blogged earlier about Miley Cyrus and the photo taken of her and her friends making slanty eyes which is mocking to Asians. After quite the weak “apology”, she finally came out and provided a more sincere one after pressure continued to mount. The backlash continues with a lawsuit being filed against her by lawyer Lucie J. Kim, and even Margaret Cho getting in on the act and calling Miley a “disgrace” (on a tangential note, great job Lucie! Smart way to show we won’t stand down and to bring some nice publicity to yourself.

I have to say that I am proud of the Asian Community finally standing up and making noise. We will no longer be silent!

Still though, I want to put some context around everything. I have looked through many news sites, blogs, etc. and viewed various comments and would like to provide a viewpoint on some of the most popular ones.

1) “She’s just a young teenager!”
But she’s not. She’s a celebrity and as such, you unfortunately don’t get the same rights and privileges as other people. Celebrities are not the same as you and me. Also, if she did something insulting to say African Americans or Jewish people, would they say the same line that she’s just a teen?

2) “I’m Asian, and I’m not insulted.”
This one just makes me sad, and yet we are often the product of our society. Up until now, the mass society said it’s ok to make fun of Asians, but I hope the tide is changing even more now. Anyhow, hopefully these people become independent thinkers and not brain-washed anymore.

3) “This picture is taken out of context.”
I have to agree that there may be a lot of validity in this one. I’m not saying that it excuses the initial unapologetic behavior, but if I were to make a bet on whether or not she really is a racist, my guess is likely not. Was she just having fun with friends? Possibly. Probably. And yet, as I mentioned before, you need to respond appropriately and apologize anyhow because as a celebrity, your actions impact others. You just don’t have the same rights.

4) “There’s an Asian guy in the picture!” or “The Asian guy is making round eyed face making fun of Caucasians.”
It’s a bit related to comment #3. And also though, it may be related to #2. I don’t know what that Asian person is thinking. Maybe they’re all close friends having fun and being goofy. Maybe he’s brainwashed and hates being Asian. I don’ t know. It’s a tangential point though. Interesting thought though. I wonder what the impact would be if say say John Cho and a bunch of Asian people pushed in their faces to make “Caucasian” eyes would be. Likely the public sentiment would be to throw a bunch of racial slurs at them. Sad…there isn’t even a really young teenage Asian person I can think of as a celebrity of the same fame.

5) “This lawsuit is ridiculous!”
Yes. Agreed. The thing you need to remember though is that this isn’t really about money. It’s about making a statement and saying that it’s not ok to make fun of Asians. Do they really think they’re going to win money in such a suit? No, I don’t think so, but in America, this is one way to make a statement. Is it the most effective way? It definitely does have an effect. More powerful may be economic protest in no longer purchasing or endorsing her shows, products, etc.

I think this covers the big ones. Feel free to comment or ask for an opinion on your own thoughts or others you have seen out there.

One of many articles: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/02/12/2009-02-12_comedian_margaret_cho_calls_miley_cyrus_.html

You would think that people would learn lessons from others. Hollywood in the past wouldn’t hire African American actors but are now making a fortune off of many of them. So…don’t exclude other races, especially when some roles are actually meant for them such as Asian Americans!

So the latest blunder has to do with the animated cartoon “Avatar: the last airbender” which aired on Nickelodean. This hit show in itself did actually provide a platform for Asians to see an Asian-inspired show with Asian-inspired themes and characters. The success inspired a live-action movie.

Dig in a little deeper and that’s where it starts to go bad. The cartoon itself was created by two Caucasians which is ok, but I wonder if two Asian Americans pitched the same idea that it would have launched. Maybe that’s too much speculation, but the outrage is that the new cast of unknowns are all Caucasians too! This is ridiculous given the themes and content of the cartoon.

We’re making some inroads, but obviously not quick enough.

Story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/01/28/apop012809.DTL