Asian Majority

Not too long ago, the Washington Post ran an article about a steak house which opened in 1949 called Chink’s Steaks. Note that the origin of the name is due to the founder who was nicknamed “chink” because he supposedly had slanted, Asian-looking eyes. Owner Joseph Groh wants to keep the name due to “tradition” as he claims.

Once again, this is a classic example of a double-standard. You think that if someone opened a restaurant called N*****’s Steaks because he grew up with dark skin would keep a name like that today? And yet, they’re getting away with it when making fun of Asians. We really need to take a page from the African Americans to expedite change. Or how about asking for some help from outside the Asian community from others who want equality?

Interestingly enough, the person who decided to fight is Susannah Park who is actually an adopted daughter of white parents. It even got mocked by a magazine: “Philadelphia magazine in its “Best of Philly” edition mocked Park and called her effort “the worst complaint” of 2004.” Wow! Not even do we not get respect, when we fight for it, we just get more trodden on. Militancy is not endorsed in my book, but I can’t disregard the fact that fear causes change as well. There must be a way for peaceful change as well. Anyhow, much respect to Susannah and the others she will inspire.

I know we can fight for change. If you want to reach the restaurant to voice your complaints, here is the number: (215) 535-9405. I woudn’t recommend taking it out on the host or hostess necessarily though. It’s really the owner who has full responsibility for the actions so it would be best to direct complaints directly to him.

Here is the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/14/ST2008041403097.html

So right after a positive posting about Hollywood changing, here’s one to show you not much has changed. The movie ’21′ is based on the book “Bringing Down the House” about a few MIT students that were very effective at card counting to take millions from casinos. So, why is it so insulting?

ALL, not some, but ALL the main characters in real life were Asian American. Hmm…let’s take Coach Carter and cast him as a white person. How does Hollywood get away with it for Asians?!?!? As Asians, we need to take a stand here. There is a lot more Asian talent in Hollywood so give us the opportunities. And when we get slapped in the face like that, we need to fight back.

Yet sadly, even the real life character, Jeff Ma, does not appear to have an issue. In fact he said he’d be more insulted if the character were cast with a Japanese or Korean actor?!?! Come on, at least you are in the same ballpark and getting some Asian American exposure. That’s the sad part of this all. At least there appear to be one or two Asian characters even if the roles are smaller.

The media really does brainwash kids, and without any positive role models and pride, we will not gain ground for our image. At least they didn’t cast a male lead with an Asian female love interest (like a recent VW commercial…at least in that one, the African American holds the keys). So until that point, most Asians will buy into the hype and not have enough independent thinking to have pride in themselves and stand up for themselves. Instead, we will continue to look down at ourselves, shun members of our own race, and never grow.

Young minds, make the change now and be the generation that can affect the change! Be proud of who you are. African Americans used to suffer from lack of pride and see how far they have come. Let’s make progress.

Two articles:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-03-25-jeff-ma-21_N.htm

http://www.gambling911.com/Movie-21-Jeff-Ma-032708.html


Movie trailer:

Shall we protest and boycott the movie?

Retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Staff Sergeant Frannie Richards, a Filipino woman was subjected to racial slurs from an employee. After asking where the fitting rooms were, the employee mocked her English and called her a mail-order bride. She was actually born in raised in Chicago and speaks English perfectly fine!

I’m glad to see that protesters actually rallied in front of the store as this behavior is unacceptable. Why do people think they can keep getting away with these slurs? Were she of another ethnicity, such as African American, would the slurs have been made. Even more infuriating is how H&M has dealt with the situation so far:

- Two managers said they simply can’t do anything about it
- Another employee noted that it’s not affecting business at all

Well, I say do the investigation, and if the person is guilty FIRE THE PERSON.

Related Stories:
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_279214603.html

http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2007/10/08/City/Demonstrators.Protest.Alleged.Slur.At.Hm-3018066.shtml

On July 31, an Asian-American (specifically Vietnamese immigrant) plunged to his death in Lake Michigan. Although the Chicago Police Department initially thought this was a hate crime, it was later shifted their assessment to classify it as a random, heinous murder. The reason for this is that no epithets were used during the attack.

The murder occurred when after an all-night drinking binge, a bunch of hooligans invaded the popular fishing location at Montrose Habor. One of the people was John Haley, 31, who announced that some of the fishermen looked hot and need to cool off before shoving Du Doan into the water. Whether it was racially motivate or not, this guy was obviously an idiot and his actions were infuriating.

Fortunately, the attorney was swift to charge Haley. Yesteryear, this might not have been the case, but it seems that minority rights are making progress in the US.

Most of this was extracted from an article from the Chicago Sun Times written by Laura Washington in which the article itself exposes some ignorance. She learned about the event when her Caucasian friend asked if she heard about the “Chinese man” who drowned. Sheesh! Just cause the guy is Asian doesn’t automatically make him Chinese.

She does expose the fact that a reporter does use the term “Oriental” which is considered a slur to Asians (although this may have been ignorance more than anything else).

Anyhow, the last part that really made me want to write about this was the last line of her article: “Look out for the Chinese fortune cookie that says: ‘Beware: Big success can cause jealous reaction’” in response to the fact that many Asians fear a backlash due to the economic growth in Asia, especially China.

??? Did you not just write an article about racism??? To refer to a fortune cookie to make her point is just completely idiotic especially given the context of the article. And it’s not just a fortune cookie, but a Chinese fortune cookie. Intentionally savage? Probably not, but it shows that more education is needed.

Laura is in fact a minority herself, as she is an African American so she is probably sensitive to race issues.

Original article: http://www.suntimes.com/news/washington/549479,CST-EDT-laura10.article

Her email is on the left column if you click on the link above if you want to provide some feedback, but PLEASE make any comments respectful.

In a previous posting, I wrote about a case where Vincent Chin was murdered on the night of his bachelor party and the perpetrators never spent any time in jail back in 1982. Has anything changed since then? Have we made progress to ensure that victims today are brought to justice. Here are quotes from a recent article:

“A hate crime last November against Hai Vo eerily resonates Chin’s case. Vo was beaten into a coma outside a bar in Grand Rapids, Mich. According to news reports, a group of men made racial remarks against Vo’s friends and family, who were celebrating a birthday that evening. Although Vo survived, he suffered many medical complications. None of the men accused of the crime was charged.

In June of 2003, another crime that hit close to home for many San Franciscans involved five Asian American boys who were beaten by a group of students who attended Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory High School in San Francisco. Though there were as many as 20 boys accused of the attack, only one was brought to trial and sentenced to community service.”

There is no true justice here and definitely no equality. If you think about the reality of the situation, if a bunch of Asians beat up a group of white kids, think about the uproar. Or even if a bunch of African Americans were beat up by white kids, there would be uproar as well.

Unless we stir up attention to the media and cause uproar, we won’t get the justice that is deserved. Don’t be deceived. In real life, justice is earned.

Read more here: http://www.nichibeitimes.com/articles/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1185476856&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1

Recently there has been a bit of press about products such as food or medicines or toothpaste or whatever coming out of China that are anywhere from unsafe to lethal. An article on ABC News’ web site (Click here to read) writes how some fear that it could affect the restaurant business or the perceptions of Asian Americans. It is the latter I feel is more realistic.

The article touches upon the fact that there is a view that a lot Chinese restaurants or food are considered dirty, but I don’t think we’ll see any massive boycotts of Chinese food especially since many don’t rely on food imported from China. Besides, love of Chinese food is quite pervasive across many cultures. As for Chinese restaurants being dirty, some of them are and some of them are not similar to any other cuisine.

As for a negative perception of Asian Americans building up, this is something that I would hate to see, and it really makes no sense. Virtually none of us have anything to do with importing food from China. A few greedy (seems like a universal trait no matter the race) people have tainted perceptions. But experience will tell you that discrimination usually has no rationale or intelligence driving it. It seems America loves having enemies. It’s quite focused on Middle East, but with the growing power in China, I feel like it could shift easily.

This is not the first time food has been recalled, and the blame goes across many different nationalities and countries including the US as the article points out in the end.

An article in HealthDay News talks about research that routine and even subtle discrimination can place mental stress that leads to chronic illness. The research was based on studying Asian-Americans of Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese descent.

They were asked to recall the frequency of “unfair treatment” they had been subjected to, including disrespect, discourteousness, insulting behavior, harassment, poor service, fearful reactions and/or assumptions of dishonesty or stupidity. They were also asked to recount their medical histories, including heart and respiratory illness, chronic pain, allergies, arthritis and asthma. Physician records were not reviewed.

The article is here: http://health.theledger.com/article/20070723/HEALTHNEWS/4558/-1/RSS2&source=RSS

If you were to ask me to recall my “unfair treatments”, yeah, I can definitely give you ones that range from a very early age to even recently. Did they make me mad? Yeah. Is it giving me health problems? I’m not sure. Regardless of the impact, we have to do with blatant or even subtle discrimination.