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The Problem With Asian American Racial Privilege

If you do a google search of “Asian privilege” you’ll see that the subject is generating a lot of chatter, both on the right and the left. But, much of the online discussion concerning Asian privilege ignores a couple of really important things.

First, “race” is a political category, invented to serve the interests of white supremacy. Second,  the Oriental “race” (what we were called before we became Asian) was conceived of in this context. When you consider these facts, it becomes clear that Asian privilege may be more complicated than we imagine.

On the first … Read more “The Problem With Asian American Racial Privilege”

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NY Daily News: “Asian Wave Escorts, busted ahead of Super Bowl”

It’s been a while, I know. As contingent faculty (adjunct) who makes possibly less than your average American Walmart worker, I juggle a few jobs to make ends meet. One of my jobs is bartending at a popular spot in downtown Manhattan that is right off the PATH train from Jersey. Last night–Super Bowl Eve–was maybe one worst nights ever. Picture it: A million drunk frat boys who could barely sign their checks. A Colonel Sanders lookalike whistling at me in a way I imagine one whistles at a horse in a stable (had I ever whistled at a … Read more “NY Daily News: “Asian Wave Escorts, busted ahead of Super Bowl””

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The Rubenfeld-Chua Hoohah

The controversy generated by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld’s new book The Triple Package is one of the more annoying non-news events of the year.  This past weekend alone, the book was covered by the New York Times in their Book Review insert and the widely read Sunday Magazine.

In spite of all of the exploitative but it’s not racist publicity that has landed the book so much free media exposure, The Triple Package isn’t about race. It’s focus instead is on the authors’ claim that what leads to certain measures of success in the U.S. is a … Read more “The Rubenfeld-Chua Hoohah”

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What LGBT America Can Learn From Asian American History

The growing number of states legalizing same-sex marriages has many in the LGBT community convinced that full assimilation is inevitable. But as an Asian American gay man, I’m unconvinced that assimilation for the whole LGBT community is inevitable or even possible, nor that simply being assimilated is even desirable.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand why some in the LGBT community are advocates of assimilation. I was shamed, bullied, and occasionally assaulted through a big chunk of my life, most of which was lived at a time when hatred of LGBT people was a sign of moral turpitude. There … Read more “What LGBT America Can Learn From Asian American History”

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How Justin Bieber Got Deported

Or actually, he didn’t.

Canadian teenage pop sensation, Justin Bieber, appears to be suffering from “affluenza.” But if he isn’t careful, he will be on a one-way ticket to Canada.

Last night, Bieber was charged with resisting arrest and a DUI after illegally participating in street-racing upon leaving a strip club. Police reports also show that he had consumed alcohol and marijuana, and he faces up to 6 months in jail. Earlier, Bieber’s mansion was raided after he allegedly damaged his neighbor’s home, causing $20,000 worth of damage , which constitutes a felony crime in California. He also allegedly assaulted … Read more “How Justin Bieber Got Deported”

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On Asian American Privilege

The explosion of online race talk about Asian Americans lately is enough to make your head spin. Are we progressive or conservative? Are we rich or poor? Are we privileged or oppressed? And the thorniest of all: are we allies or colluders on the question of anti-blackness?

The challenge of discussing race on Twitter is that nuance gets stifled by character limits and thumb fatigue. But the short answer is: Asian Americans are all of these things. This can be seen in research on Asian American political views and poverty, and in our reports on Asian Americans and race. … Read more “On Asian American Privilege”

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My Debt to Dr. King

This week Scot Nakagawa wrote a piece on the debt Asian Americans owe to the civil rights movement. Here is an excerpt from Colorlines:

As an Asian-American, I’m often cast as an ally rather than a stakeholder when I show up at Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations. Occasionally, someone will even come right out and thank me for showing up, like I’m doing folk a favor or something. It’s awkward to be treated like I, as a person of color, have no dog in the fight for racial equity. But I get where the notion that Asians aren’t real … Read more “My Debt to Dr. King”

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Asian American Reflections on Martin Luther King Day

Like many others, my Asian American story begins in war. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, my father was a young man studying in Seoul, and my mother a 13-year-old girl. They both largely insist that they experienced no suffering. Yet a different truth emerges from my mother’s references to using helmets of dead soldiers that littered the ground as cooking vessels, or my father’s stories of being arrested numerous times for his leftist political activity.

It was only in my 30s, when I began interviewing my parents, that I was able to begin piecing together their stories, … Read more “Asian American Reflections on Martin Luther King Day”

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“How I Met Your Mother” is Part of a Bigger Problem

 

Like so many, I was dismayed to learn through this Twitterstorm of outrage about the latest yellow-face antics to show up in U.S. pop culture. It’s a long running, ugly pattern. The underrepresentation of Asian Americans in film and television is bad enough without white performers exploiting warped, racist ideas about Asian cultures. The show’s creators apologized, but it doesn’t erase the cumulative damage of historic anti-Asian racism

And TV and film are only the tip of the iceberg. Coverage of Asian Americans in U.S. political media is dismal too. ChangeLab started tackling this problem by analyzing mainstream … Read more ““How I Met Your Mother” is Part of a Bigger Problem”

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Social Media and Anti-Racism 101 (For White People)

I’ve recently started noticing an unnerving trend on my social media accounts: articles and videos about white people being the victims of racism. It reflects an incorrect understanding of anti-racism that places racial bias outside of the historical forces that shape today’s racial constructs. The people who post these links are not particularly political, but their online actions are. They imply that instances of individual racial hostility are somehow equal to the systematic and institutionalized effects of white supremacy. It is a reminder that addressing racism without confronting white privilege is a perilous path.

The first video I saw go … Read more “Social Media and Anti-Racism 101 (For White People)”