well congrats to whitey then. I don't think your data makes any difference between poor Asians immigrants and native-born or US-educated Asians. Just like the vast numbers of poor Latino-immigrants skew the data for Latinos, they also skew the data for Asians. That's what I was saying in the previous post. So what are Asians then? Suppressed minority folk? Or - are we soul-less assimilators ("second-class Jews" as Al sharpton likes call us) who deserve to get screwed by affirmative action. Do white people hate us less than blacks and latinos? Is that why we are allowed to make a little more money?
Um yes. I sort of do lump all white people together. They're all white. Just like reports on Housing Discrimination lump all blacks in one catgory, all non-Latino whites in another category, and Latinos in another category. Lumping people by race is something people tend to do. I do sort regard white people with a small sense of suspicion when I first meet them. It's the politically correct thing to do.
OK, I disagree with you, but whatever you feel you feel. It should be noted that reporting on discrimination is not the same thing as saying that you simply don't like a certain group of people. Certainly we have a tendency to 'lump' a group of people together and generalize/stereotype, although I believe it's false and counter-productive. I just think it's wrong, that's all.
I don't believe in race, judging someone by their race is like determining what something tastes like based on its color. However, does that prevent people from believing in race? no, so people will continually judge people by their race, and those judgments will lead to unfair treatment, thus creating differences in class.
Well - I'm certainly un-American. Don't tell me to go back to my own country. I've never been to China and have only been in Asia a few months of my life. This is the only land I really know. I used to feel different - until I was older and realized that a lot of white folk consider me un-American because of my skin color. The white British person is generally considered more "American" by most Americans. I realized that just because one may be a born here, and even a registered Republican - does not make them American. My descendants 300 years from now will still have to fill in "Asian" under this "ethnicity" box (aka skin color) when they apply for college - don't matter if they are 100th generation US-born, don't speak a lick of Chinese, or have never been there.
hmm... Still trying to sort this thread out. Many Asians are affluent backgrounds but there are many Asians who are not and who have come here as refugees. The Hmong who came here in the mid 1970's as refugees from the Vietnam War are still generally poor and suffer from a lot of the same problems besetting other poor groups, like high rates of violence, teen pregnancy and drug use. Even though they've been here for almost 30 years now many of them are still don't know english and are illiterate. Also for many Asians like Chinese they weren't allowed to bring in women into the US for most of their history and immigration was even outrightly banned for most of the 20th C. Prior to the 1960's most Asians including Chinese and Japanese were poor and lived in segregated ghettos of Chinatowns or farming communities and couldn't expect the same level of justice as whites. So its a mistake to believe that somehow Asians haven't been discriminated and segregated historically or that Asians now are completely assimilated into affluent white society. As opposed to assimilating with majority white society present days Asians, especially the affluent ones, are also self-segregating themselves. If you go to cities like Monterey Park and Cupertino in CA. they are almost exclusively Chinese with Mandarin heard as often as English. I think the nature of race relations is much more complicated than what you say but there is some truth to it. The "model minority" stereotype of Asians IMO has become as much of a complement as it is a burden for Asians. I don't think there's any doubt that there have been people, including many Asians themselves, who've used the model minority stereotype to shame other minorities by arguing that if Asians can do it then there must be something wrong with other minorities. Many minorities have also resented what they see as the seeming rapid success of Asians leading to conspiracies that Whites have deliberately set up Asians to succeed at the detriment of other groups. The problem with all of this is that it ignores that most successful Asians are a self-selected group of people who are the most motivated and educated immigrants who came here after the civil rights struggles. Considering the amount of poverty and illiteracy in most of Asia I don't think there is any evidence that just being Asian somehow means someone is more intelligent or capable than someone who is Black, Latino or White. It just happens that most of the Asian immigrants like the Chinese, Indians or Koreans are educated motivated people who came here without having to deal with the discrimination and segregation that others had to deal with.
Uhhh, I didn't tell you to go back to your country. Not sure where that little tantrum came from. You throw a great self pity party. Your answer to your frustration is to be racist yourself. Wow, that's incredibly immature.
I love Asian people. Especially Zhang Ziyi and this chick: http://www.missuniverse.com/delegates/2005/country/KR.html
No I don't, but your point is silly until I hear concrete evidence of how people don't think that langal is an American. I'd love to hear examples of how "a lot of white folk" don't consider langal to be American. He hasn't offered those up here, and I have a hard time believing a self-admitted racist when it comes to issues such as this. It sounds like he's just feeling sorry for himself if you ask me. Just because a couple of people might have said something to him does not give him carte blanche to be a racist.
Its silly to you because by your own admission you haven't experienced it. I can't speak for Langal but I understand where he's coming from. Its not rare for me to encounter people who don't believe I'm an American. I've had people ask me what nationality I am and I tell them "American" only to say, "No, really what country are you from." One of the first things I hear quite often when meeting non-Asians is, "You speak english very well." Even when I tell people I was born and raised here I still have people tell me that. I'll ask you this that might help you understand. Do you speak with a Texas accent? Does it bother you that some people think anyone with a Texas accent is an idiot? If it does then you understand why its annoying for Asian-Americans to have to have our nationality, patriotism and language skills often questioned based on our appearance.
Sishir, don't bother trying to explain to a white person that isn't interested in "hearing" what you have to say. It is an excercise in futility. Whites that have lived in the power weilding majority their whole lives have a hard time identifying with others.
It certainly doesn't entitle you to make judgements about people's experiences that you know nothing about.
Langal is a card carrying racist but this is ok because he is a minority? This is the problem. "Whatever you feel" is unacceptable.
