Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is almost upon us! Nominate or second topics you want to see posts on.
My own suggestions:
- Chinese Exclusion Act
- Islamophobia
- Asiaphilia
- Kingdom of Hawaii
- Black-Asian racial relations
- US v Wong Kim Ark (1898)
- Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
- Asian brain drain
- University quotas against Asian Americans
- Amy Chua (“Tiger Mom”)
- Chinese Americanisms in English
- yellowface
- ching chong
- bamboo ceiling
- Seattle Riot of 1886
- Manilla galleons (guest post by Jefe that I have been sitting on)
- Richard Aoki
- Yuri Kochiyama
- Yoshihiro Hattori
- Danny Chen
- Rock Springs Massacre
- Lau v Nichols (1974)
- The Yellow Peril
- Stereotypes about Asian men
- Asian women, White men
- Asian men, Black women
- Asian voters in 2012
- Guam
- American Samoa
- Iris Chang
- Filipino Americans
- Hawaiian Americans
- Hmong Americans
- Chinese Americans
- Japanese Americans
- Korean Americans
- Vietnamese Americans
- Indian Americans
- Arab Americans
If you like (or hate!) any of these, please let me know. And if there is something not on the list that you would like to see, let me know that too. Asian American history is one of the holes in my education, so there are probably plenty of great topics not on the list.
Not every post in May will be on an Asian American or Pacific Islander topic, but hopefully more than in most months.
See also:
- Asian Americans – go there for a long, but outdated, list of Asian American topics that I have done.
Hi, I think they are all good. Maybe consider a couple others, eg,
The Los Angeles Massacre of 1871
The Watsonville riots
Anna May Wong
Sessue Hayakawa
I Wor Kuen
Chinese-American Ghost Towns
Maybe one for just interest – the Siamese Twins – one of the early pre-Gold rush Thai Chinese immigrants.
I have a couple of others (on other topics not listed above) drafted and will send to you as I mentioned to you back in Feb. Sorry about the delay – been traveling a lot lately. Just got back home.
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Mohamad Salman Hamdani, a 9/11 heroe of Pakistani origin, the media at first suspected he was involved in the attacks because of his background, and the New York Post claimed he was actually ‘hiding’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Salman_Hamdani
“It was believed that on the morning of September 11, 2001, while on the way to work at Rockefeller University, Hamdani witnessed the smoke coming from the Twin Towers and hurried to the scene to aid victims, using his police and EMT identification to get a ride through the restricted traffic.[Note 2] He died in the World Trade Center and his remains were found in the rubble of the North Tower.[1]
At first Hamdani was listed as missing and there were media reports that he was under investigation as being possibly involved in the attack.[4][6][7][8][9] In October 2001 an unidentified body along with Hamdani’s medical bag and identification were found at Ground Zero, the site of the destroyed World Trade Center. His body was not yet positively identified by DNA profiling.[5]”
His name was left off the NYPDs 9/11 memorial, despite his heroics(and despite being an NYPD cadet), his mother claims it’s because his name was ‘Mohammad'( although his name is mentioned on the national 9/11 memorial)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/salman-hamdani-memorial-nypd-911_n_3896528.html
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Forgot “Angel Island” in San Francisco.
Maybe Chinese-American foods like Chop Suey and fortune cookies.
Maybe some Asian-American literature, writers, artists, etc.
White stereotyped works, like “Miss Saigon”.
Market domination by Asian-Americans of African American hair care products.
Of the list above, :Chinese Exclusion Act and Wong Kim Ark is a must. They should be covered in all US history textbooks.
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I nominate Frank Chin
I nominate Vincent Chin
I also would be interested in a post about Africa–China relations, ancient to modern.
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@King,
Abagond already has a post about Vincent Chin
While that would be very interesting, is this directly related to Asian American history? Maybe we should learn some more about the history and current situation of relations between black Americans and Asian Americans, and how white people have manipulated it to their advantage (modern example – Model Minority).
I sent one post on that to Abagond in the past, but I am drafting 2 more (eg, re: southern plantation owners tried to recruit Chinese Labourers to replace freed black slaves during Reconstruction – blacks were citizens and could vote. Chinese could not.)
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@Kiwi
I was thinking we might need something on the Transpacific Slave (aka “Coolie”) Trade. Most Americans think the Slave trade in the Americas was only Trans-Atlantic.
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ditto from jefe. also, i’d like to see something on black-asian racial relations, american samoa & the kingdom of hawaii.
other ones not listed here are: the original black asians, the maldives, pacific islanders, asian religions (shinto, buddhism, jainism, sikhism, hinduism, etc) and their impact on the world, the impact of the hindu caste system on the world. i’ll add more when i think of them,
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My suggestion would be exploring the cultural animosity between the different Asian peoples and how they relate to each other( or not) after immigration to the US
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@ Jeffe
ah, I think you’re probably right on both counts. I somehow missed Abagond’s Vincent Chin post.
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Lemme see. I choose:
Kingdom of Hawaii
Amy Chua (“Tiger Mom”)
Seattle Riot of 1886
ching chong
Stereotypes about Asian men
yellowface
ching chong
Black-Asian racial relations
Seattle Riot of 1886
Rock Springs Massacre
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I’d say the image and stereotypes of Asian-Americans in media (both men and women and how they differ) would be very relevant.
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Clarification: Does ” racism” exist between Asian communities? The Asian take on white supremacy…THAT would be interesting too
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Did we miss the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882?
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Ababond, merely by creating that list you have more knowledge about Asian-American issues than the vast majority of white Americans.
I hope that in the “yellowface” discussion you mention the 1970′ television series “Kung Fu”, which was so insulting to all Americans on so many levels.
A very small point, but one that I think illustrates the subtlety of some racial issues, filmmaker Mira Nair acheived some level of fame with “Mississippi Masala”, a Romeo & Juliet story about a relationship between an African-American man (Denzell Washington) and a young woman whose parents were from India (Sarita Choudhury). It was noteworthy that Mira Nair, an Indian woman, acheived any degree of success in this industry.
The actor cast for the female lead in “Mississippi Masala”, Sarita Choudhury, is not of Indian descent. Instead, she is 1/2 Bengali (her father) and 1/2 English (her mother). As discussed on this blog, Hollywood has a history of casting white or mostly white actors as “ethnic” characters: Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl, or Nia Peeples (who is something like 1/6th Filipino) as a native Hawaiian woman in “North Shore”. Etc.
Later, Mira Nair went on to make “The Perez Family”, and drew a great deal of criticism about racial insensitivity for her decision to cast Maria Tomei as the female lead, Dorita Evita Perez, as opposed to any of the then actively working Latina actors such as Rosie Perez (even has the same last name!) or Jennifer Lopez.
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@ George
With the possible remote exception of #5, how is any of this related to Asian American history?
I think lists like these “kinda” supports the perpetual foreigner stereotype that many Americans hold. It would be like putting the Rwanda genocide or the splitting off of South Sudan in Black American history month.
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Doh! sorry, the Chinese. Exclusion Act is at the top of the list! sorry.
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Do one about Bruce Lee (3/4 Chinese 1/4 German)
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Okay, this is a fairly different reply, I know. But…
You should make one of your Asian-American posts about Jim Lee. He’s without a doubt the most successful Asian-American in the comic book industry. Consider how powerful that industry is, when you think about it: Without it, no Marvel movies (Avengers, Spider-Man, Iron Man). Without it, no DC Movies (Superman, Batman). Even disregarding his current position at DC (co-publisher), he was one of the founders of Image Comics, and the main X-Men artist for a couple of years.
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Some folks I like to know more about:
Sandra Oh
Kristina Wong
Hari Kondabolu
Bruno Mars
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Black-Asian relations and Richard Aoki
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Most of these aren’t about Asian Americans and their accomplishments but rather racism inflicted upon them by white people. Not that these topics aren’t interesting or important, but evidently despite the name you have little interest in Asian people and only mention them as an excuse to point out white racism. Maybe you ought to either get rid of the “Asian American History Month” title or have more topics about Asian Americans. For ideas of the latter approach (because inevitably if you answer you will dismiss my claim by asking me to suggest ideas) here are just a few:
Gordon Hirabayashi- resisted Japanese internment during WWII
Chen-Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee- nobel prize winners in physics
Patsy Mink- first non-white congresswoman
Again, not saying that topics about racism aren’t enormously important, but since this is ostensibly Asian American history month let’s hear about some Asian Americans.
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Toa Zaz
Asian-American History month can also be used to talk about Asian-American Issues, not only about notable Asian-American people (there are quite a few mentioned on the lists)
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How about Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina
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or Bobby Jindal, governor of LA
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Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, January 30th the first Asian to have a day named after him. In 1942 Korematsu vs. United States in 1942. I want to read more about this gentleman. A great injustice was done to him. I scanned this and will read more. It seems he was racially profiled.
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Grace Lee Boggs, Chinese-American civil rights activist from Detroit who married an Black American and together she and her husband were active in the civil rights movement, her husband has passed on, but i believe she is in her late 70’s or early 80’s and she is still fighting. This would be a good post.
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That Stephen Colbert incident on Twitter and how we all need to learn what “satire” is. That would be a good post and how that young Asian activist woman got after him #Fire Colbert. That would be a good post.
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Free lance writer Suey Park who started the #Cancel Colbert campaign. She would be a good topic.
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Margaret Cho. The comedianne.
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@Toa Zaz
I disagree that all of those points were *only* about white racism towards Asians. It was rather well rounded.
You are right that Asian American notables are worthy of learning about, but to appreciate their successes, you have to understand their struggles, which include all of those anti-Asian racism elements also. For Gordon Hirabayashi, we also need to learn about the history of Japanese immigration to the mainland USA, the Japanese-American internment, the SCOTUS rulings, his imprisonment, etc. We need to learn about the Korematsu case and what has been overturned, what has not, etc.
For Patsy Mink, we need to learn about the immigration of Japanese to Hawaii, about the Kingdom of Hawaii, about the effect of the war with Japan for those Japanese living in Hawaii, and her history on civil rights.
If we pick a statesman / politician, the best choice is Daniel Inouye . As the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, he was the highest ranking US politician of Asian descent ever, and would have been in 3rd in line for president if something happened. (I remember watching a movie about this, I think back in the 70s – about a black man becoming president for the first time that way – have to find the title.). I got to meet him personally as my university schoolmate and housemate was his Senate intern. I remember he was missing his right arm (Which he lost in WWII at age 20), so had to shake his left hand.
So, we also need to learn about the all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team – and how the US military segregated Asian American soldiers from both white and blacks and kept them away from the Asia-Pacific theatre. We also should look at how that changed for the Korea and Vietnam wars. These things go hand in hand with learning about these people’s successes.
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@ Jefe
You are thinking of “The Man” (1972) starring James Earl Jones:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068912/
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WOW, that was a first reply. I couldn’t remember the name of the movie.
But I do remember that we had to read something about it when I was in Junior High School. It was soon after my school got desegregated and the idea of a Black man as president came up. It was inconceivable at that time that he could have been elected.
Even then, the James Earl Jones’s character was accused of being a “House N1gg3r” not unlike Booker T before him (or even Obama afterwards).
But, I had a moment of deja vu when Obama was president and Daniel Inouye became the first non-white President Pro-tempore of the Senate. It was like we rolled forward 40 years, and a black man could be elected President, but an Asian-American could become US president only by the events similar to “The Man”.
EXCEPT, I never heard anything about that discussion. No one discussed openly the prospect of an Asian-American US president, elected, in succession, or otherwise. THAT would be an excellent topic of discussion for a blog topic.
I wonder what the discussion will be in 2053.
Your quick and targeted response tells me that you do read all the commentary very closely. 😛
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*WOW, that was a FAST reply ….
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Ha-ha, found you discussed it here.:P
Another thing I was thinking was that in the 1970s, people did discuss race issues openly, and the media also addressed it. Now the media is much whiter, and they do not discuss it anymore, even as the USA has become less white.
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By the 1990s. it was already disappearing – after Reagan and the elder Bush, it pretty much disappeared. I think that heyday of portrayal of race issues by the media began in the late1950s, escalated in the mid 60s, peaked in the 70s, waned in the 80s and was almost gone by the 90s. Now, it is basically back to being white again like “Father Knows Best”.
You should compare “Roots” with “12 Years as a Slave” to try to see the difference. “12 Years as a Slave” is still a White Savior movie. That is basically what we have been seeing for the past 15-20 years.
That explains why the colour blind racists think bringing up the topic of race is so racist. So much so, they have to remove it from the media and the history books like it never even happened in the first place.
But, any casual observer of American politics, culture and history can see that it is largely built around race relations.
I’ve got to write my book about a biracial Chinese / black woman who is the protagonist who teaches a thing or two to privileged white males. That idea has been running in my head for years now.
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My votes go to:
Asiaphilia
US v Wong Kim Ark (1898)
Seattle Riot of 1886
Richard Aoki
Rock Springs Massacre
Chinese Americanisms in English
Asian women, White men
Asian men, Black women
Chinese Exclusion Act
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You know , the whole “Mao” “Asian atrocity” thing has been railroaded on here..it is not about Asian Americans but I will frame that in a moment..
Abagond has made it into the “Asian atrocity” argument, making a thread, , not to go into how really disgustingly horrible it was , but , what white people will use as a deflective argument…as a person who has reffered to that, nothing could be further from the truth of my point than calling it the “Asian atrocity ” argument, since I never meant it as a way to define Asians or asian behavior
My point has, and always will be its the “communist , marxist atrocity”, that was done to Asians…Asians were the victoms of these atrocities…they dont define Asians
So, Abagond, if you finaly are willing to have the real discussion about this, you might think of making a thread:
“Comparison: What communism and Marxism did to Asians in China compared to what capatilism did to Asians in the USA”
It was not the “Asian artrocity”, it was what was done to Asians by communism and marxism…you could also look at what communism did to Asians in Cambodia and how their lives are under communism in North Korea compared to Asians in the USA
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I forgot to mention “Linsanity”.
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The J-word and C-word – history and use and present status
(corollaries to the N-word)
not to be confused with the other C-word that Abagond talked about
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I’m most interested in Asian brain drain and the Kingdom of Hawaii.
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This article piqued my interest of Kristina Wong. http://www.xojane.com/issues/i-cant-believe-i-now-have-to-convince-white-people-that-i-like-white-people – the comment section of the article is pretty typical of white folk mind-set (so hostile 🙂 )
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Consider:
The China Town in San Jose, California that burned down – TWICE! and is no longer there.
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first off ,looking forward to a month of very informative knowledge about Asia,Asians and asian americans.
This blog’s topic’s are not only educational and entertaining but also has external effect ,meaning some topics effect change in how I conduct myself and interpret the world.
On another note I cosign “George Ryder’s list especially in regards to Bruce lee and the marital arts.
Its something im suspicious of in myself that I sometimes identify or agree with “some” of the white men that post here.
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[…] See on abagond.wordpress.com […]
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@Abagond
Whatever posts you decide to do (assuming you are doing more than one) can you make sure you have a mix of positive and negative
topics?
Anyways, Im interested in university quotas, tiger mom, & Hawaiian kingdom
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@lifelearner
That article would be perfect for the topic of “White Privilege” and how fast white people clean out of the room if you mention it. (Or how they retort on this blog with how they feel personally attacked, or it is like Japanese privilege in Japan). I would love to see Biff and Kristina Wong go head to head.
That is not really the topic of this post, but it is a great testimonial. Or maybe we can link it to the current topic by talking about the type of “honorary white” privilege that is sometimes “enjoyed” by Asian-Americans.
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@Kiwi,
That is why I mentioned I Wor Kuen which was formed in tandem with the Black Panther movement and in response to the Vietnam War and is mentioned in the “History is a Weapon” web page. But to cover that topic, we have to go backward and go forward:
* Court Cases (we have Bhagat Singh Thind already and Wong Kim Ark and Lau v. Nichols is proposed, but we need also Yick Wo v. Hopkins, Lum v. Rice, Korematsu, Naim v. Naim, etc.)
* “OLD” organizations formed over 100 years ago (Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Japanese American Citizenship League, some of earliest organizations even predate the NAACP.)
* The development of student groups in the 1970s (eg, ECASU)
* post-Vincent Chin stuff (formation of Pan-Asian alliances – e.g., if it were not for Vincent Chin, I don’t think we would have so many various Asian-American groups join to protest against Miss Saigon)
* The Hapa Activist movement (promotion of equality and recognition of multi-racial people).
* Growth of Asian-American alternate media
If you pick the Asian American Civil Rights history and movement, you have to do at least 15-20 posts or more just to cover it.
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I nominate an article about Huan Chen, recently deceased Chinese American from the bay area.
“African Americans sometimes say, ‘We did all the work in civil rights, and they get all the benefits.’ ”
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php?t=608953
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^ There is always someone scanning the web for individual crime reports. It was only a matter of time…
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I would like to see you do a topic on Black-Asian racial relations and Asian man black woman relationships, please.
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Kiwi, did you write that? Does not sound like you.
R_B brought up black crime again, not about “Asians’ right to immigrate to America” or “racist immigration quotas about Asians”. The Black civil rights movement did not have much to do with the original repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 (that was a gesture to China as China was the ally during WWII) , but it was indirectly related to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 as it was seen as another embarrassing racist institution that surfaced during the civil rights movement. We can certainly attribute some of, but not all of the repeals to the black civil rights movement. Much of it came from Asians and Latinos themselves.
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– Yoshihiro Hattori.
– Manilla galleons
– Stereotypes about Asian men
– Black-Asian racial relations
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Reblogged this on Life in Anglo-America.
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As i stated up thread Suey Park would be a good post.
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..Having lived (previously) in the Bay, I have a lot of Samoan folks that I’ve grown up with, but it still would be nice to hear about American Samoa as a lot of people may not be too familiar with this culture. Also, the Seattle Riots would be an interesting one to me, in addition with a post about Richard Aoki. All of the topics are worth taking note of, though!
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Kiwi, why don’t you look that up for us! Maybe do a draft post yourself!
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Japanese Internment Camps in the United States.
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After viewing films like Joy Luck Club, Grand Torino, Snow on Cedars. How Asians are viewed in films. That might be a good post.
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The tradition of the “Geisha” in Japanese culture, figure skater Michelle Kwan, The 1960’s film “The World of Suzie Wong” starring Nancy Kwan and William Holden. I think Hollywood had a feitishized her. Nancy Kwan was somewhat of a sex symbol then. A post on author Amy Tan would be good in my opinion.
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It was my intention to say Hollywood feitishized Nancy Kwan in the 60’s. A post on her would be excellent.
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“Kiwi,
I am especially interested in reading about how whites politically have a vested interest in dividing minorities away from each other to maintain their racial hegemony, like in playing up stereotypes of black criminality against Asians.”
Linda says,
Kiwi, this story might be of interest to you but it’s not about Americans. It’s about Japan and Ethiopia in the 1930’s, and how Europe interceded.
Ethiopia and Japan’s Aborted Marriage Alliance
http://bawza.com/2014/01/20/ethiopia-and-japan%E2%80%99s-aborted-marriage-alliance/
While the rest of the world was being dominated by European interests, it was Ethiopia and Japan whose resistance stood out as African and Asian stalwarts. The 126th ruler of the Solomonic Dynasy Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, and the 124th monarch of the Jimu Dynasty Emperor Hirohito of Japan, represented longstanding cultures led by royal nobility.
So when it was heavily reported that Lij Araya Abebe, a nephew of the Emperor, was looking for marriage from a young noble lady from Japan, it caused great trepidation among the European powers.
Many Japanese nationalists thought it was necessary to unite the colored races against the white. The first choice fell to Ms. Kuroda Masako who was the daughter of Viscount Kuroda Hiroyuki, a descendant from the former Lord of Kazusa.
Unfortunately for the couple, as word spread of the impending marriage, alarm bells were going off all over Europe.
— Italy was jealous of Japan’s potential alliance with Ethiopia.
–Russia tried to convince other European countries of the threat of an African-Asiatic force. Italy implicated Japan in sending weapons and military training to Ethiopia.
— England and France became concerned that their stakes in the region would be threatened.
As business negotiations began to increase, both the Japanese and Ethiopian governments became concerned about the negative publicity. Already, rumors circulated at the League of Nations about opium farming in Ethiopia.
Due to Japan’s increased trade with African countries, European media reported Japan as the “Yellow Peril” and a threat to their economic interests.
wow, all that over an impending marriage– rumors of military and economic takeover of the world (and of course, the black country is linked to drugs)– funny how the script hasn’t changed since then, when the “powers-that-be” want to demonize someone.
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Linda, thank you for providing this information. It’s appreciated.
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@Kiwi
This is really important. Whites have been actively playing blacks against Asians ever since the mid-19th century. In fact, Chinese (and later Japanese and Filipinos) were imported as cheap or involuntary labour as an alternative to black slavery in the Western states, and as a replacement to freed black slaves in the South. The fugitive black slave codes were modified to apply to Chinese on the West Coast in the mid 19th century. Transpacific slave ships transported coolies into the USA long after the African slave importation was banned. Chinese were recruited to work on cotton plantations in the South to replace the black slaves, and were classified as colored later during Jim Crow. Well before the Model minority stereotype was founded to pit Blacks and Asians against each other, whites were already doing that.
If only blacks and Asians would recognize how intertwined their history is in the USA. The thing is — they are still not treated the same way and non-black non-white peoples, as a 3rd race, have always been used as a trump card by whites.
This is a long topic – can never be covered in a single post.
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Should be a fun month. Of interest to me from the list above:
Brain Drain
University Quotas
Islamophobia
Also interested in what recently went down in CA with attempts to reinstate affirmative action being eventually shot down when Asian American representatives realized their AA constituency absolutely didn’t want AA that would benefit hispanics and blacks at their expense.
Kiwi, you said:
“notice that white men fall heads over heels for Asian women who stroke their egos, like Michelle Malkin, but they get mad and hurl racist and sexist insults at Asian women who stand up to them, like Suey Park. Basically, white men gush over Asian women who spread their legs for them but feel threatened by Asian women who dare to criticize them.”
You have a point, in that I can’t think of many white dudes who would even want to be in the same room with someone like Suey Park, but does any man really prefer someone who criticizes him repeatedly and loudly and is a self-styled “activist”? Do men prefer women who act domineering and masculine? Maybe some do. Most don’t. The happiest, longest lasting marriages I have seen are where both couples are respectful to one another and traditional gender roles are basically respected. Most of my feminist friends/acquaintances seem pretty miserable…
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Ha-ha, yes.
Whites tried to push Asians in the 1990s to fight against Affirmative Action because that is racist and Asians do not need it.
Now it is whites trying to push for Affirmative action to impose quotas on Asian Americans and to “let in” more blacks and Latinos, which whites presume would make it more easier for them.
This is a classic example of whites pitting POC against each other for their own benefits. It is all about maintaining white privilege.
Instead, we should take a hard and fast look at what Affirmative Action can and cannot do and also promote some alternative methods.
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eh, Ms. Suey Park, radical feminist activist and Korean American, would not be a welcome daughter-in-law in any respectable family in Korea. You can go ahead and blame that on white racism too.
Anyway, the event I referenced was big news in CA. I’m not making this stuff.
up. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/23/california-affirmative-action_n_5197690.html
I personally think whites and Asians have more in common in terms of specific political interests than with NAMs… That will become more clear over time, especially in places like CA, where hispanics are set to become an absolute majority of the population in the very near future.
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Biff, Thank you for your comments. Just 2 things I would like to point out.
1. You have again applied the perpetual foreigner stereotype
You still confuse Americans with foreigners.
Imagine we chose one of the following:
Ms. [insert name of white American female], radical feminist activist and white European-descendant American, would not be a welcome daughter-in-law in any respectable family in [insert name of current European country].
OR
Ms. [insert name of black American female], radical feminist activist and African-American, would not be a welcome daughter-in-law in any respectable family in [insert name of current ethnic group in West African country].
It would not make sense to do it to white and black women. Why do you impose that line of reasoning to Asian-American women unless you are applying the perpetual foreigner stereotype? You don’t realize how creepy that is.
2, First of all I want to laud you on bringing up a topic that is polarizing politics in California and other states.
There is a problem that needs to be fixed and it is proposed that it can be fixed by readdressing affirmative action.
Asian-Americans are a mixed bag. There are children of brain drain immigrants who did benefit from the revision in post-1965 immigration policies. There are also Asian-Americans who are descended from or related to the pre-1965 group (whether or not their immediate family actual entered before or after 1965). They are not “brain drain” Asian Americans, but ones related to family unification with ones who can trace their origins to the earlier immigrants. And we have ones (e.g., Hmong and Cambodian) who will be hurt whether we have Affirmative action for Blacks and Latinos or not.
The children of brain drain immigrants enjoy some benefits that the others (other Asians, as well as some of the blacks and Latinos) did not. Their parents can afford to have them take music lessons and go to exam preparation classes. They did not enter US society at the bottom, but they don’t want to excluded if they are indeed outperforming.
IF Affirmative action might help some black and Latino students get into universities, it might not help them graduate without programs in place.
What I would like to see them do, is have them transfer some of their benefits to other communities – esp. black, Latino, poor white and non-brain drain Asians. If they know how to read music, write computer programs and essays and get high scores on their exams, they should donate some of those skills to the greater American society, and teach and help those people how to be successful in educational achievement – getting into universities and completing their degrees.
I do not descend from any brain drain immigrant, but I did get a bachelor’s with honors near Boston and a master’s degree with honors in Washington, DC. When I was living in those places (as a student or afterwards), (now that I am older and know better) I certainly feel it is reasonable to transfer some of that experience to communities like Roxbury and Anacostia or Columbia Heights.
Affirmative Action is a thorny issue, but it needs to be on the debating table.
You might find this woman’s blog entry interesting from a woman who is the child of Taiwanese brain drain immigrants and married to a 4th generation Japanese / German-American Hapa. She is actually agreeing that perhaps some affirmative action is needed to make sure others get a chance to go to university.
https://mandarinmama.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/the-myth-of-meritocracy/
(Her kids are a good example of what I mean about multi-racial multi-ethnic 5th generation Asian Americans – they do not really have some ancestral country or ethnic group to point their heritage to, but they can’t pass as white either.)
And we probably need a system to make sure more Asian-Americans get into the NBA. A lot of things need to be fixed.
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@Kiwi, The response is labelled as being to Biff, but actually, I meant it to be directed to the others just to show how convoluted his logic is and how he just put a racist foot into his mouth.
I don’t have to reply to him though. Everyone else knows what he is up to.
Makes me think of this creep that was sitting behind me on my last trip returning from Cebu. Indeed, he was an American originally from Tennessee (I recognized the town name, but I can’t remember it now. It wasn’t Murfreesboro, but one of those I recognized – maybe Cleveland, TN) teaching English in Shenzhen and married to a Filipina from Mindanao. He was so fat that I could not recline my seat back at all, but he was sitting next to a couple from Guangzhou who could speak some English, with whom he was pontificating about US culture and history (“US Americans”) and Chinese culture and telling the couple to go and settle in the Philippines. He also talked incessantly about this primary school students in China. He talked about his first visit to San Francisco and how he first tried Chinese food in SF Chinatown. The Guangzhou couple were just humoring him with smiles.
I just wanted to take a nap. I couldn’t even recline my seat, but just wished he would shut up.
BUT THEN, he went on to say, “You know, it was YOUR people that built the West. Your people laid our railroads, opened our mines, built the infrastructure for our economy. It was the Chinese who built up our Western states- California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming – they built our country. If it wasn’t for your people’s help, we would not have been able to develop OUR West.” The couple just smiled and nodded back to him.
I just wanted to ram my seat back into his stomach and make him puke the way he made me feel like puking.
Next time, I will address my reply to the intended audience. Sorry for the distraction.
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Journalist and former news anchor Connie Chung wife of Maury Povich. and Julie Chen wife of Les Moonves at CBS.
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jefe:
Um, thanks for your rant re: a stupid, fat white English teacher married to a Filipina. Even though it would be inappropriate for me to talk about bad behavior of one particular POC I met and then imply that it was somehow relevant to anyone on this blog, I have seen this tactic used against me repeatedly. No, I’m not from Tennessee, and I actually also attended a certain school near Boston (if I understand your faux humility correctly–if you’re just from some random boston area college, then, apologies).
Re: referring to things Korean when we are discussing Korean Americans, it’s all about understanding the prevailing culture in the community. First, it’s very possible that she’s dual citizenship like my kids and is actually “Korean”, in addition to being “American”. Probably 90%+ of Koreans in the U.S. are 1, 1.5 or 2nd generation. That means they are likely dealing with parents who are or were actually Korean and have certain related values. Even if she’s in the small group that has been here for longer (largely from Korean Americans in Hawaii), she would still have to deal with the same Korean American culture that is so heavily Korean influenced. It just wouldn’t make sense to do this for a white or black American of unspecified origins, because it’s unlikely (numbers wise) that they are 2nd generation immigrants. For someone who was clearly identified as 2nd generation Polish/Greek/Italian, etc. and active in the Polish/Greek/Italian, etc. community, it would absolutely be appropriate to discuss Polish/Greek/Italian, etc. culture re: weddings, etc., and no one would accuse someone of “perpetual foreigner stereotype”.
Re: Asians donating their skills and time to help blacks and hispanics, sure, charitable causes are great, and it would be great if Asians could get more involved (by race, white Americans are far more active in charitable endeavors than other races, but it would be great if that could change, and it’s great that you’re making personal efforts in this regard.).
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@Kiwi
You’re absolutely right. I won’t do it again.
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Jefe, Kıwı
<blockquoteAsian labor
Coolies
I was thinking we might need something on the Transpacific Slave (aka “Coolie”) Trade. Most Americans think the Slave trade in the Americas was only Trans-Atlantic.
Might need? What an understatement ;-D
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Wendy Wu. And I’m not trying to be funny. But here is a young Asian American female who was chosen to be a key character in a kids TV show and she’s not a laundry lady or a maid. Her old man owns the hotel. She gets to be treated special because she’s the daughter of the boss. She’s cute! She’s funny. I don’t think she demeans Asian people by the role she plays any more than a black comedian would African-Americans if they had that part. When I was growing up, the only smart Asian person I saw in a regular role who wasn’t a servant was Charlie Chan, and I don’t think the guy who played him was even Asian.
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I think it would be interesting to do a post on the fictional characters Mr. Moto who was in the old black and movies, actor Peter Lorre portrayed this character. And The Charlie Chan character.
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Anime and Manga if you have not done a post on this already.
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MB,
There is a whole genre of whites portraying stereotyped Asian Characters in Yellowface.
If you think about it, black Americans saw themselves as stereotyped “coons” and mammies for decades, but Asian-Americans saw “themselves” portrayed by people who were not even Asian.
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@Bulanik
Sorry, should have put in caps and bold. 😛
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@jefe: That’s true, i realized this while watching these films that’s why i thought a post should be done about stereotypes.
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Can I suggest a post on the Phillipines and a post on Black men with different types of asian women, i.e. Flipinas, Thais, japanese, Chinese, Koreans, etc…
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Rıco Thomas. I thought Abagond wrote about that at least once, although I’d lıke to read more about that subject.
Hmm.. and ıt kınd of makes me even more ınterested ın seeıng a post on black women wıth men from dıfferent Asıan ethnıcıtıes.
Even less seems to saıd about them, from what I gather.
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Just thinking that since Abagond likes to have a weekly music video post, one on Asian-Americans might be good, e.g.,
Pop music:
Yvonne Elliman
Far East Movement
Bruno Mars
apl.de.ap (Black-eyed peas) – like his song “Bebot”
Leehom Wang (born and raised in USA, but popular in Asia)
Don Ho
Norah Jones
Jazz:
Hiroshima – Asian-American Jazz band
Classical:
Yo-yo Ma
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@ Jefe — Yay!
Similar thoughts on this vein have occurred to me again and again 😀
I had to laugh when Da Jokah mentioned something like Freddie Mercury being Persian/Indian and probably white Rock’s greatest exponent! Haha.
What about the Indian-pop that turned up in Missy Elliot’s work?
Or the Turkish / Balkan influence in Justin Timberlake’s work with Timbaland?
Or the reggae-qawwali fusion of Bally Sagoo?
Or Monsoon’s old song “Ever so lonely”?
Of course, there are many more names and influences.
What I’ve always wanted, since childhood, were Asian-American pop singers, males ones, to enjoy, drool over, or whatever. These days there is the man from Black-eyed peas.. Of course, Nicole Scherzinger is a popstar.
I don’t mean to say there aren’t any mixed-race Asians in the US music scene.
It just seems that whenever I’ve watched talent shows, especially ones from the US, if there is an Asian man that sings (well), I always get the sense that the producers of the show don’t want him to succeed.
And it doesn’t seem to matter how talented or handsome the guy is.
Like they are embarrassed to find an audience for him.
Classical music is okay, because that has nerd-appeal…
But R&B? Not cool enough, methinks.
It’s simple racism, stereotypes. Because this is cannot be due to a lack of talent. Is it because there isn’t a distinct “Asian-pop” sound like there is a “Latin” sound that is identifiable as a poupular form?
I simply can’t think of any American Asian male artist who has any strong and cool showing in mainstream US popular music.
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Nicole Scherzinger’s appeal or brand, naturally sells strongly on her sex appeal and exotic-ness. She gets to be Indian, or mistaken for Indian, even though she has no Indian heritage at all.
It’s almost like her ambiguous Asian-ness covers all those Asian bases.
I don’t know US culture intimately, but I can think of no male equivalent media persona.
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It would like to see a post on Michael Chin, a Chinese-Jamaican who moved to Canada and became a billionaire.
http://sharenews.com/chinese-community-to-honour-michael-lee-chin/
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Yep, that is why if one is really talented, he/she may have to go to Asia to get recognized (There are many examples.). US Producers have no idea how to market him / her.
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@ Jefe and Bulanik
Thanks for the music recommendations.
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What I really like about the Black-eyed Peas “Bebot” videos is that there are 2 versions:
– 2006 version which tries to depict modern Filipino-American life in California (Generation 2)
– 1936 flashback version (Generation 1) which tries to depict Filipino-American life at that time in Stockton, California, when male Filipino Agricultural workers went to dance halls and sometimes danced with white women. It harks the memories of the Watsonville riots when Filipino men were attacked and killed for doing this. The video ends with an old man walking by, perhaps recalling the dance halls of his youth.
What I particularly like is how apl.de.ap, who was born in the Philippines to a Filipino mother and African-American father, was not descendant of those Filipino-American men in the 1930s, but has dedicated a song to their memory.
I can get the lyrics (in Tagalog) and translation into English if anyone is interested.
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Clearly the savage-sexuality of the Asian man was still in use at the time.
I’d never head of Watsonville or the murderous riots that took place there — fascinating subject.
Thanks, Jefe.
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And, yes, I am certainly interested in the lyrics of this song.
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From: http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/timeline/depression-era-1930s/watsonville-riots/info
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@Bulanik,
“Bebot” is a slang Filipino term for “sexy woman”, “Chick”
apl.de.ap chants “Ikaw ang aking . . . Bebot” meaning “You, my sexy chick” or something like that. I have a couple of other postings to finish, so I doubt I can do the Bebot song unless Abagond or the other posters request it and do not do it themselves.
Wow, you are looking up stuff on your own on Filipino-Americans. I think I was more affected by the last paragraph:
Other Asian groups were banned from immigrating to the USA by the early 20s. Filipinos, as US Nationals, were not subject to the same restriction. There was talk of Philippine statehood, but the US had no intention on creating tens of millions of new “brown” Americans. I guess Hawaii was all they had stomach for.
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George Ryder said: Bruce Lee. one of the coolest people to ever walk the earth, no contest.
This one is such a tired cliche it is in the Museum of Antiquated Cliches. Wow. A white man who lauds Bruce Lee for being “cool”. If I had a dime for instances of such shallow and fashionable frat-boy quality praise…
The whole “Bruce Lee is [insert superlative]” thing is akin to the other ragged and embarrassing cliche, “Some of my best friends are [insert group to be patronized and used for expediency]”.
George Aoki, whom I’ve never heard of until now, now that would be a useful post. I’ll bet average white men won’t be singing his praises anytime soon or ever, even though he looks “cool”.
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@ George Ryder
Oh dear, thinking about the source of the cliche this time around your name was on my mind not anyone else; So no, my comma went were intended. YesRichard it is, I stand corrected. Thank you.
I neither stated nor implied eagerness about an Aoki post. I said, rather dryly, that such a post would be useful. You seem to be the one gushing George. But who can blame you, after all, Bruce Lee is so awesome, right?
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@ George Ryder
Amazingly, there was no Bruce Lee entry, however there was this:
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It is funny how some white Americans forge their connection to non-Anglo culture and history by putting up a few posters of iconic figures on their wall. I guess that explains why we see Che Guevara all over the place.
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Never said “whole connection”. From whence was that extrapolated?
But why select only iconic figures? They are more like pop culture images, esp. if you focus on their image. It is like Marilyn Monroe or James Dean. Or do you see them as a poster boy for a political or social movement?
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I consider all of your examples to be part of American culture. You don’t have to be “white” to connect with them.
But the way you do it – through association with iconic images and other superficial ways. Nothing wrong with that. Just that I wouldn’t call it forging connections with non-white cultures. It is more like a connection with an image and a symbol and an icon.
If I put a picture of Mandela on my wall, it doesn’t really prove that I forged a connection with the Apartheid struggle.
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@ George Ryder
I read your list above but someone was missing:
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Linda wrote:
“It would like to see a post on Michael Chin, a Chinese-Jamaican who moved to Canada and became a billionaire.”
http://sharenews.com/chinese-community-to-honour-michael-lee-chin/
_ _ _
Yes. I’m adding my vote for a post on Michael Lee Chin as well.
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Other Asian musicians, R&B/popstars that come to mind:
Foxy Brown —
Nicki Minaj —
Rozonda Thomas — aka Chilli from TLC
Foxy Brown and Nicki Minaj are from Trinidadian families. Foxy is part African-descended and part Indian/Chinese Trinidadian, I’d think.
Nicki is of part Indian and part African descent.
But I feel both come out of the Indo-Caribbean talk-sing tradition.
I am not sure what it is, I can’t pinpoint it — I simply know too little about this.
What they both seem to have a highly distinct and “salty” type of spoken delivery, which might well have roots in Indian-Caribbean & Guyanese Chutney music. Typical is the sharp, frontal and sexy style of the genre’s women singers.
I don’t know much about Rozonda or her music — but every time I’ve seen her, it always strikes me that some of her family are very likely South Asian/Persian (to my eyes at least).
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I suggest Asian American historians, and their work study and research, and their attempt rewrite a narrative that has largely been written by whites. I first saw Him Mark Lai’s work in the Chinese American history museum in SF, but I will see what else I can find.
Also would like to find African American historians who have explored and researched the relationship between African-American and Asian-American history (as well as with Native Americans).
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Another one – the family of Maya Soetoro-Ng.
We have read a lot about Obama and his family, but not much about his sister’s family.
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If I put a picture of Mandela on my wall, it doesn’t really prove that I forged a connection with the Apartheid struggle.
Quite right, it does not prove the existence of still waters running deep but one must start somewhere*. Different people start at different places. Also, high school and early college age are times where iconography are favored forms of expression. (Pictures are good for the mind at any age though but I shan’t digress into that here.)
As always, it is up to that individual whether they stay at a skin deep level or go more substantive with some issue, struggle or person.
—————————-
* I was not as interested in knocking George as I was in pointing out the general cliche, though, I admit, only I would have known that as I typed.
———————————
@ George Ryder
i can appreciate and admire who i want
Yes, of course you can. You need no one’s permission. Thanks for the list and the explanations.
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@ George Ryder
My pointing out of the cliche is not without merit, I think any person of colour knows this. An exhibit is not really needed, but here is one anyway:
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@ abagond
If you ever consider broadening your Asian American history month to the rest of the diaspora then may I suggest:
– the Lambing Flat riots
– the White Australia policy
– Anh Do (Australian comedian and writer, former Vietnamese refugee).
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^ Those would be good, and we should know about those (maybe you can draft a post?) and other race relations history in Australia, but there is so much that people don’t know about Asian American history, that there is no way we can even skim the surface in a month. There are commenters on this blog that had no idea that the USA did not allow non-whites to immigrate or become citizens,and it was only really overturned in 1965, only a few years before the White Australia policy was dismantled.
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@ jefe
Sure, but it would be nice to hear the stories of people in places other than America for a change. At the same time, I realise that the vast majority of people commenting here are from the US.
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But i had Ali and Jordan up too.
(Sorry Aba, last off topic from me here.)
The black man as useless except for sports and other physical activity/feats. I resisted participation in sports partly due (or maybe even mainly) to extended culture shock at living in N. America. I grew up thinking of football (soccer) and cricket as normal; after all, only an idiot would try to hit a ball with something as thin as a baseball bat.
A creep white coach in high school actually made a physical threat against me and questioned my manhood because I wouldn’t join the basketball team. This man would have been my coach. He was unfit to be in the school system, if the school system wasn’t a mixture of contradictions some of which include training for obedience and a variety of -isms.
Apologies again Aba.
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Does Australia have an Asian Australian Heritage month or something similar, to recognize the role that Asian Australians have played in Australian history, culture and politics? Maybe you can tell us something about it?
Maybe a comparison of the history of the immigration policies in USA, Australia and Canada to examine each one’s legacy and viewpoint?
Go for it.
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@ jefe
Ok, I will draft something. But I feel it would be a bit presumptuous of me to post on those issues. I wish Eurasian Sensation still commented here because he would be in a much better position to do so.
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yeah, i would probably go to his blog (which I do) when I want to read up on Asian Australian issues.
This one discusses more about race relations in the USA, but also the context in the world and in history.
Some commenters almost tried to run him out of here last year.
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Some commenters almost tried to run him out of here last year.
I think that was a vocal minority that could be counted on one hand with fingers left to spare, if I recall correctly. ES’s comments are quite interesting, clear and logical without being cold and antiseptic or boring.
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Yeah, i liked many of his comments but he never came back. I thought a few ppl did get harsh.
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@ jefe
Yeah, I read his blog too.
@ Legion
I must have missed that exchange! But I think he’s back – there’s a comment from ES on another thread.
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@ abagond/jefe
How about a post on CAPE’s #IAM campaign? It would be great to see a positive post in Asian American history month:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvI7zIggJSM)
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Looks like it includes some of those guys I saw before at the Wong Fu Productions videos.
(BTW, you don’t think the posts so far are positive? :P)
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@ jefe
Sorry, I realise my comment implied that the other posts haven’t been positive. Of course some have – from the top of my head the Manila Galleons post was very positive.
But I personally think that it is very important to counter the racist and false stereotypes about Asian people (men in particular) with positive story telling that celebrates their achievements. That is the main objective of the #IAM campaign, which is being led by fantastic role models such as Steven Yuen, Randall Park, Jessica Gomes, Kevin Cho and Jeremy Lin.
The only way to change the false representations of Asian men in the media and online & on this very blog (by Biff, Randy etc) is by countering them with the truth.
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^ I do think the idea about the history and task of establishing Asian American Role models is an excellent idea, one of the objectives of the CAPE #IAM project.
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Just thought of another very current topic – Asian Americans and Affirmative action – maybe split into 2 part, the history and the current issues.
Or it could be about how some white groups want to bring back Affirmative Action where it has been removed.
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Please, please, please Abagond! PLEASE write a post on Black-Asian racial relations. I’m aware of the strife between the two communities, and I cannot blame some black people for not trusting Asians.
I consider myself so blessed to have black members (through marriages) in my family. I love them so much and I really loathe the brainwashed, unenlightened Asians who think they’re much better than them.
My cry to other Asians: YOU’RE BEING USED! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A PAWN FOR ANTI-BLACKNESS! WAKE THE FCUK UP!
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^ I cry out not to just Asians, but blacks, Latinos, multiracials and even enlightened whites to hereby reject the Model Minority stereotype. It is tearing the country apart.
Maybe we need to start an online campaign to dismantle that stereotype. Is there one?
BTW, the subject of Black-Asian relations in the USA is a very complicated one that would require hundreds of posts all by itself. I did a series of 3 posts that gave a brief historical glimpse of Black-Asian relations in Mississippi 1870-1970. Asians have been a pawn for anti-blackness for 150 years.
Abagond did a post previously on the Model Minority Stereotype. Maybe we need some posts on the history of it as well as the confirmation bias used to maintain it. It did not just appear out of thin air.
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@ Leigh
Black-Asian race relations was also highly requested for May too. Given some of the Black-Asian rancour beginning to appear on this site, it would be a good idea to do it sooner rather than later.
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@abagond:
Yes, please do it soon! I knew from an early age that there was something at play for Asians and Blacks to not get along. There was one Asian forum I used to go to all the time before it went kaput, and you won’t believe the amount of vitriol I received for defending black people especially in the Trayvon Martin case. I received horrible PMs saying I was an n-word lover and that I was an n-word because, apparently, Filipinos are black people with an Asian faces.
But as jefe mentioned earlier, it’s not just Asians who need to be brought into their senses, but other blacks, Latinos, other POCs, etc. We are being purposely pitted towards one another. And for what? So the white people in charge of all this stays on top. They are rubbing their hands with glee and laughing.They don’t call it “divide and conquer” for nothing.
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*oops, I meant, with Asian faces.
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@ Abagond:
I can’t wait for this post!
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@ Abagond:
When will the Black-Asian race relations thread come out? I have so much to say.
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@ Abagond:
Also, please do a post on stereotypes of Asian men. God only knows the times I was chastised for dating Asian men by WM and other AW with their supposedly small you know what’s.
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Oopsie, I just re-read what I wrote earlier and I realized I meant to say I was chastised by WM and other AW for dating Asian men with their supposedly small you know what’s.
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@leigh204
Asian / Black relations in the USA is not a single post topic.
Maybe we should start with the history of it first, so people can get an idea of how we got to where we are today. As I showed, it had already started in the 1860s.
And it might be enlightening to do it from a white perspective, a black perspective and an Asian perspective. We might also need to split into separate generic perspectives from Asians of East Asian, SE Asian and South Asian descent.
We have had large numbers of Asian males in the USA since mid 19th century. It would be interesting to see how we got to today’s stereotypes from then.
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@ jefe:
Fine, whatever works. I just want to see these posts up so I can contribute my two cents worth. 😎
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@ leigh204
Great idea – I’d also like to see a post on AM stereotypes.
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