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Leaanna, that pretty much sums up my feelings and experiences as well. Beneath the grudging admiration for Asian-American successes, there resides an undercurrent of envy from different racial and ethnic groups. To support, we've already endured racist insults from a dimwit, African-American commenter on this thread, I won't even name him since I don't deem him intellectually worthy of any mentions let alone intelligent, reciprocal discourse on this issue.
Certain people only seem to view successful Asian-Americans within the realms of achievement, thus bypassing the sacrifice, hard work, and ingenuity leading up to those achievements. I've gone to both suburban schools and inner city schools, let me tell you, I've been verbally taunted with racist epithets by Caucasian, African-American, and Latino students alike. Any pejorative you can think of, I've been insulted with, most of the time the abuse was either condoned or even laughed off by the teachers. Instead of responding in kind, the few of us Asian-American students banded together and remonstrated the only way we knew how, in short we got even by achieving academically and getting into good universities. There were times when the abuse would get so bad that I would become emotionally distraught by Sunday afternoon, knowing that another round of abuse was to begin anew come Monday. Private school wasn't an option, since my single mother was barely making ends meet working two jobs supporting my brother and I. Whenever I would complain to her, she would invariably tell me how lucky I was to be in a country with such ample opportunities for education and resultant success.
The Asian tendency for introspection doesn't lend itself well for self-advocacy. Because Asian-Americans don't publicly vocalize experiences of racism, either individually or via advocacy groups, our American experience have come to be viewed as a cakewalk by many. Whereas African-American and Latino advocacy groups vocalize the loudest, and therefore anoint themselves as the most wronged minority groups, Asian-Americans have always had to resort to quieter ways to prove their worth to society.
Asian-Americans didn't come to this country owning homes either. So that's a moot point IMO. In California as late as the 1940s, there were still anti-Chinese real estate laws. Furthermore, what about the thousands of farms, businesses and homes seized illegally from the Japanese-Americans by the government during WWII? Restitution, a pittance in actuality, didn't come to fruition until the late 1980s. Yet, we don't see a generation of Japanese-Americans or Chinese-Americans succumbing to destitution, illiteracy or criminality on the basis of discriminative real estate/ land laws.
Economic parity does not result from incessant harping on past, historical injustices. Nothing can redress the inexcusable torment directed against African-American slaves; African-American enslavement is an epic of human suffering few can even imagine. But to continue to sow the seeds of self-pity and regurgitant excuses from the past on the backs of those enslaved people, is to do a disservice to the generations of bright, hard-working African-Americans.
To quote one of my favorite writers, W. Somerset Maugham, "I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present."
As I read this and you bring up an interesting point about introspective. I think the reason Asians have been dubbed "model minority" is because of that introspective. For many reasons, some people use Asians as the example of how minorities should be, in short, never complaining about anything, even when Japanese-Americans were being taken to internment camps. Personally, I hate that term because what it suggests is that a person should just take the crap given to them and not complain. From my own perspective and from reading history books, I think many African-Americans got tired about being introspective and trying to be thankful. It was a matter of a long time of being treated like crap for a long time. Many African-Americans decided they weren't going to sit around and do nothing. I look at it like this: Blacks fought in every major American war for the USA and never got benefits for it. After a while, many African-Americans got tired of serving a nation that wouldn't love them back. That is why African-Americans began to shout the loudest. Time and running out of patience. From my own family history, it was a matter of "there is only so much I am willing to take and then I have had enough, I have to speak up". Hard work and valuing education, I am all for that. That needs to be done. This is just my perspective. A person should speak up if that person feels his/her rights are being violated. A person should protest. After the protest, take advantage and use that opportunity to better one's self and others around them.
As I read this and you bring up an interesting point about introspective. I think the reason Asians have been dubbed "model minority" is because of that introspective. For many reasons, some people use Asians as the example of how minorities should be, in short, never complaining about anything, even when Japanese-Americans were being taken to internment camps. Personally, I hate that term because what it suggests is that a person should just take the crap given to them and not complain. From my own perspective and from reading history books, I think many African-Americans got tired about being introspective and trying to be thankful. It was a matter of a long time of being treated like crap for a long time. Many African-Americans decided they weren't going to sit around and do nothing. I look at it like this: Blacks fought in every major American war for the USA and never got benefits for it. After a while, many African-Americans got tired of serving a nation that wouldn't love them back. That is why African-Americans began to shout the loudest. Time and running out of patience. From my own family history, it was a matter of "there is only so much I am willing to take and then I have had enough, I have to speak up". Hard work and valuing education, I am all for that. That needs to be done. This is just my perspective. A person should speak up if that person feels his/her rights are being violated. A person should protest. After the protest, take advantage and use that opportunity to better one's self and others around them.
and to balance this out, let me give an example of what an asian might experience.
this actually happened to me. i was racially insulted with terms like "monkey", "*****", plus derogatory terms like "sl*t" etc. all those things added together to be derogatory including racist and sexist terms by an african-american. this person was loud about it too. when i complained in front of our superiors, we got into a heated spat again as he kept saying things about my parents and such, how i'm a monkey from asia etc. i even hardly knew this person but what was even more heinous is how the "white" superior handled it and that is basically when i made a insult back, he only considered me at fault. so did the person making the insults.
This goes back to the absurdity and brainwashing and unconscientious oblivion of society, also accepted hypocrisy. that is somehow an unspoken rule that it's okay to insult asians, since others are more american and deserve more rights.
i was literally stunned myself since it was so blatantly hypocritical but also so obviously stupid.
so you see it's not just whites being racist towards us, it's also nonwhites who feel they are priviledged to insult or demean asians through a combination of resentment, racism, and adopting of american arrogance.
and to balance this out, let me give an example of what an asian might experience.
this actually happened to me. i was racially insulted with terms like "monkey", "*****", plus derogatory terms like "sl*t" etc. all those things added together to be derogatory including racist and sexist terms by an african-american. this person was loud about it too. when i complained in front of our superiors, we got into a heated spat again as he kept saying things about my parents and such, how i'm a monkey from asia etc. i even hardly knew this person but what was even more heinous is how the "white" superior handled it and that is basically when i made a insult back, he only considered me at fault. so did the person making the insults.
This goes back to the absurdity and brainwashing and unconscientious oblivion of society, also accepted hypocrisy. that is somehow an unspoken rule that it's okay to insult asians, since others are more american and deserve more rights.
i was literally stunned myself since it was so blatantly hypocritical but also so obviously stupid.
so you see it's not just whites being racist towards us, it's also nonwhites who feel they are priviledged to insult or demean asians through a combination of resentment, racism, and adopting of american arrogance.
That person was wrong for what he/or she said and the faculty should have done more. You took a stand and decided you wouldn't take crap. Sometimes the intended result doesn't always come out, which is why a person needs to keep trying and trying again and again. I don't think it is okay to do such things to anyone. The internment of Japanese-Americans wasn't okay back then and it isn't okay now. I believe someone should have stood up and fought it.
It isn't just non-whites being racists to asians. I goes both ways. I watched National Geographic about the Rodney King beating. A 15 year-old African-American girl got into a fisticuffs with a shop clerk, who was Korean. The teenage girl was accused of shoplifting and didn't like it. She and the clerk got into a fisticuffs. The teenager walked away after than. What I saw on camera made me angry. The clerk picked up a gun and shot the girl, killing her. The shop clerk got a certain amount of hours of community service. I do understand stores get robbed and a person might need a gun, but shooting someone if the person isn't pointing a gun at you, well, that is just stupid. Yes, the two women got in a fight, but the girl walked away after than. Shooting her was not necessary. I wouldn't have not it, period.
Your experience sounds similar to mine. When I was in the 10th grade. I was at a vending machine. I kept backing up and accidentally bumped into a girl. Her dollar dropped and she was not happy about it. She got upset, I got upset, and then she called me a "loud mouth "n" word". The only other person to witness it tried to say she didn't say anything. I told the principal what happened immediately. The principal didn't believe it because the girl made a sob story. It didn't help that the only witness lied about the whole incident. I found this out because the principal called my father about it. That wasn't the only time. Some kid on the bus called me the "n" word for no reason. I told the principal and because there were no witnesses, nothing was done.
Yang calls himself an “average Joe” from a humble farming family from a village near Seogwipo. He says he once aspired to be a bodybuilder and dreamed of owning his own gym.
But a knee injury forced him to reconsider his bodybuilding career, and at age 19, he took a job collecting golf balls at one of Jeju’s posh golf resorts.
Most South Korean golfers go through a rigorous “elite” course for aspiring pros. But Yang was already far older than the students training to becoming pro golfers, and he didn’t have the money for lessons or green fees.
He agreed to pick up balls as a trainee in exchange for off-hours access to the driving range and a small monthly wage, officials said.
Yang is legendary for having arrived as early as 5 a.m. to practice before the range opened and returning to hit more balls after closing time, even stringing up his own lights after dark.
Kim Young-chan, executive director of the driving range, said Yang stood out back then — but he certainly never expected him to beat Tiger Woods. He said the PGA win left him speechless.
Yang had played only about 100 rounds of golf by the time he left the country club for compulsory military services. When he was finished, he went to New Zealand to concentrate on golf for three months. In 1996, he turned pro — against his father’s wishes.
Yang Han-joon, who grows root vegetables, pressured his son to join him in the fields. “Golf is for rich people,” he recalled saying. “Why are you trying to become a golfer? Please don’t do it.”
average joe (for his generation). most people would assume he's from some rich or priviledged background.
and to balance this out, let me give an example of what an asian might experience.
this actually happened to me. i was racially insulted with terms like "monkey", "*****", plus derogatory terms like "sl*t" etc. all those things added together to be derogatory including racist and sexist terms by an african-american. this person was loud about it too. when i complained in front of our superiors, we got into a heated spat again as he kept saying things about my parents and such, how i'm a monkey from asia etc. i even hardly knew this person but what was even more heinous is how the "white" superior handled it and that is basically when i made a insult back, he only considered me at fault. so did the person making the insults.
This goes back to the absurdity and brainwashing and unconscientious oblivion of society, also accepted hypocrisy. that is somehow an unspoken rule that it's okay to insult asians, since others are more american and deserve more rights.
i was literally stunned myself since it was so blatantly hypocritical but also so obviously stupid.
so you see it's not just whites being racist towards us, it's also nonwhites who feel they are priviledged to insult or demean asians through a combination of resentment, racism, and adopting of american arrogance.
Thats just crazy, calling an asian person a slt or monkey is not racist. Maybe slt is sexist but monkey and asian is not racist. calling an asian you know the real racist one is racsit.
Thats just crazy, calling an asian person a slt or monkey is not racist. Maybe slt is sexist but monkey and asian is not racist. calling an asian you know the real racist one is racsit.
it was in "conjunction" with racist slurs. that part was * out.
besides it was all intended to be racist. that's a very obtuse observation of you.
are you trying to say someone is not racist if i call them the "n" word because i also called them a monkey? and you can't be sure someone is not using that as a racist gesture as it is a derogatory 'racist' term to refer to nonwhites implying they are less evolved. it's a term most often used by racist whites to refer to nonwhites as simians. the thing is, there are subgroups of african-americans especially those of mulatto background or those who feel they are most 'americanized' to view asians as 'outsiders' or 'monkey's' as in they are from a country that is not as 'first-world' (again, defined by whites) as they live in. meaning since they were born in america, they feel that they are superior and take all the credit for it's achievements. it's unbelievable and almost retarded to think that is not even remotely racist.
Thats just crazy, calling an asian person a slt or monkey is not racist. Maybe slt is sexist but monkey and asian is not racist. calling an asian you know the real racist one is racsit.
Calling an Asian person a monkey is racist. Calling someone the "s" word is also racist. Get with reality. You just want to downplay racism.
There have been some poster referring to Books on the subject of black achievment or non-achievment. I have one that I haven't seen posted, (after reading 60 pages of post). If it has been suggested already, I apologize.
"The Dream and the Nightmare, The Sixties Legacy to the Underclass"
I am white and had the same question as the original poster (sans the Hispanic pop) and found this book to have a great take on the current situation. In a nutshell:
The Sixties propogated an less moral society. The difference between the white children of the sixties and the black children (and underclass white children) of the sixties is that Middle Class White Children had been raised with a basic set of ethics and they reverted to those ethics as soon as they wanted to get serious about their life. The black children of the sixties (author's opinion - not mine) already had a propensity due to slavery to abandon their families and they did not have this basic set of ethics including work ethics in which to revert. So they never moved past the no responsibility and free will that are essential to achievement. He included the poor whites in this scenario because at this point was where people were looked at as "chumps" if they worked at menial jobs.
We went as a society from viewing hardworking poor people that may take menial jobs at McDonalds or work as farmers as "salt of the earth" or "respectable" to viewing them as laughable and calling them White Trash, Chumps, or Uncle Toms.
I beleive that there is merit in this thought process and with the recession in progress we may be able to get out of this attitude of laughing at jobs and work of any type may be seen as respectable again.
There have been some poster referring to Books on the subject of black achievment or non-achievment. I have one that I haven't seen posted, (after reading 60 pages of post). If it has been suggested already, I apologize.
"The Dream and the Nightmare, The Sixties Legacy to the Underclass"
I am white and had the same question as the original poster (sans the Hispanic pop) and found this book to have a great take on the current situation. In a nutshell:
The Sixties propogated an less moral society. The difference between the white children of the sixties and the black children (and underclass white children) of the sixties is that Middle Class White Children had been raised with a basic set of ethics and they reverted to those ethics as soon as they wanted to get serious about their life. The black children of the sixties (author's opinion - not mine) already had a propensity due to slavery to abandon their families and they did not have this basic set of ethics including work ethics in which to revert. So they never moved past the no responsibility and free will that are essential to achievement. He included the poor whites in this scenario because at this point was where people were looked at as "chumps" if they worked at menial jobs.
We went as a society from viewing hardworking poor people that may take menial jobs at McDonalds or work as farmers as "salt of the earth" or "respectable" to viewing them as laughable and calling them White Trash, Chumps, or Uncle Toms.
I beleive that there is merit in this thought process and with the recession in progress we may be able to get out of this attitude of laughing at jobs and work of any type may be seen as respectable again.
Ill just say it before everyone else does:
Quit blaming the past for the problems that blacks face!...jeez!
There have been some poster referring to Books on the subject of black achievment or non-achievment. I have one that I haven't seen posted, (after reading 60 pages of post). If it has been suggested already, I apologize.
"The Dream and the Nightmare, The Sixties Legacy to the Underclass"
I am white and had the same question as the original poster (sans the Hispanic pop) and found this book to have a great take on the current situation. In a nutshell:
The Sixties propogated an less moral society. The difference between the white children of the sixties and the black children (and underclass white children) of the sixties is that Middle Class White Children had been raised with a basic set of ethics and they reverted to those ethics as soon as they wanted to get serious about their life. The black children of the sixties (author's opinion - not mine) already had a propensity due to slavery to abandon their families and they did not have this basic set of ethics including work ethics in which to revert. So they never moved past the no responsibility and free will that are essential to achievement. He included the poor whites in this scenario because at this point was where people were looked at as "chumps" if they worked at menial jobs.
We went as a society from viewing hardworking poor people that may take menial jobs at McDonalds or work as farmers as "salt of the earth" or "respectable" to viewing them as laughable and calling them White Trash, Chumps, or Uncle Toms.
I beleive that there is merit in this thought process and with the recession in progress we may be able to get out of this attitude of laughing at jobs and work of any type may be seen as respectable again.
Many of these people may have been looked upon as "chumps". With that in mind, the people who may have looked at it that way might have had this perspective on work: "Why should we work at those jobs? We wont get anywhere. We're better off not working if that is the future we are bound to". Whenever people lose hope, many people lose all purpose in doing anything. It is sort of like "We won't progress because that is the way society is designed, so why should we even try anymore?" I think the sixties was the explosion of all of those feelings.
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