Asian Americans Face Bias at Elite Colleges

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


February 13th, 2012 admin Posted in Discrimination, Justice, Stereotypes | Comments Off

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Apologies? To Chinese-Americans? Progress!

Five members of Congress on May 26, 2011 announced the introduction of a resolution which calls Congress to express regret over the anti-Chinese laws approved at the turn of the 20th century. We applaud the following politicians of taking such an act and trying to bring some equality. Asian Americans is undoubtedly ignored in the past when injustices arise, but I am encouraged by progress we have made:

- Judy Biggert, Illinois
- Judy Chu, California
- Mike Coffman, Colorado
- Diane Feinstein, California
- Scott Brown, Massachusetts

This isn’t highlighted in many history books, but about a century ago when many Chinese came to the US to seek a better life, they faced harsh conditions including ones passed by Congress. Equality was not for everyone apparently. They didn’t have the same basic rights that other immigrants had. These acts fostered an environment of hatred and prejudice towards Chinese resulting in murders, abuse, and harassment.

Chinese Exclusion Laws passed between 1870 and 1904 including the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. These were not overturned until 1943! This was mainly due as a response when China became a US ally in World War II. Apologies are long overdue.

Congress, do the right thing!


May 27th, 2011 admin Posted in Justice, Politics | Comments Off

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The Injustices: Vincent Chin

Although this is from a while back, I wonder if this would play out that much differently today.

Back in June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin was murdered on the night of his bachelor party by Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz. This hate crime not only exposed the hatred towards Asians but the ignorance of the attackers as they were targeting Vincent for taking their auto jobs even though he isn’t even Japanese. They originally got into a scuffle, and Ebens and Nitz later hunted Vincent down and bashed his skull with a baseball bat.

The really infuriating thing though is that the murderers never spent any jail time. They were charged with and plead guilty to manslaughter. This came with a 3 year probation and a fine of $3,000?!?!? You think this is the ruling that two Asians would have received if they killed a Caucasian?

We have definitely made some progress since then, but I wonder how much. And no matter what, it isn’t enough yet.

Here’s a story: http://www.asianweek.com/061397/feature.html

Also, to learn more: Chin was the subject of an 1989 Academy Award-nominated documentary by Renee Tajima and Christine Choy called Who Killed Vincent Chin.

Let’s not forget.


July 15th, 2007 admin Posted in Justice | 1 Comment »

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