Posts Tagged ‘Anti-Asian’

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The Greatest Gift…

Friday, December 25th, 2009

My indescribably beautiful daughter, who is going to be turning 7 in ten days, wanted to know if I thought she was funny-looking.

When I asked her what she meant, she told me that we should look at her class picture hanging on the wall.  (Of the 21 kids in her class, 2 are Asian American, 4 are Latino, and 15 are European American.)

She told me that she was funny-looking because of her eyes — her sparkling, intelligent eyes, filled with endless wonder.

I wanted to argue with her.  I wanted to prove to her with indisputable logic how exactly the opposite of funny-looking she truly is.

But then I remembered how little it helped all those years ago when my parents tried, in their own way, to do the same thing when I came home in tears.

So instead of talking, I listened.

Lord knows I’ve got a long way to go in becoming the father my daughter deserves.

But something deep inside of me tells me that the greatest gift a parent can give a child, or for that matter any human being can give to another human being, is to shut up and listen, really listen, to what they have to say.

Happy holidays…

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Is Sarah Palin Anti-Asian?

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Former pageant contestant, sportscaster, governor, and GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin may (or may not) have a problem with Asians.

Sarah Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, is quoted as saying that, while Ms. Palin was a college student in Hawaii, “the presence of so many Asians and Pacific Islanders made her uncomfortable.”

Link to Article.

At first, I must confess, I was a little frosted.

But to be honest, if I were a college student surrounded by Sarah Palins, that would probably make me pretty darned uncomfortable, too. Enough to think about transferring.

Except I wouldn’t have to transfer — all I’d have to do is wait a year or so and they’d all quit.

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Did you hear the one about…?

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

…that Chinese woman freaking out when Cathay Pacific wouldn’t let her on her flight to San Francisco?

It’s gotten hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube.  Apparently, an awful lot of people think it’s hilarious.

I’m not providing a link because I don’t think it’s funny.  In fact, it’s hard for me not to get depressed thinking of those hundreds of thousands of people who can’t wait to send the link to their friends so they can all yuck it up.

The video shows a Chinese woman, clutching a shopping bag, racing to an airport gate.  When it turns out that she has arrived too late to get onto the plane, she yells (in Cantonese), screams, wails, bangs her fist on the counter, and collpases onto the floor.

I’ve gotta ask myself — why do people think it’s okay to laugh at this woman’s obvious misery?  Here are some answers (condensed from various posted comments):

It’s okay to laugh, because:

  1. She’s funny-looking.
  2. She sounds funny.
  3. Her behavior is wildly disproportionate to the situation.
  4. She’s an identifiable “type.”
  5. She’s not really suffering — and even if she were, she’s forfeited any right to be taken seriously because of Items 1-4.

The thing is, I know what it feels like not to be taken seriously because of the way I look, sound, and act.  Because of my “type.”

And it’s not funny.

Seriously.

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Trying Hard Not To Blame McCain-Palin…

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

It’s just a coincidence.  That’s what I keep telling myself.

Sarah Palin never implied that Barack Obama hates America — just ask her!  It’s that gosh-darned elite, liberal media distortin’ her words.

And nothing that John McCain has said in the final, increasingly ugly days of his campaign could possibly embolden white supremacists.  How unpatriotic of you to even suggest such a thing!

Yep.  It’s just a coincidence that yesterday in Boulder, Colorado, a 22-year-old Asian American man was attacked by four men, one of whom repeatedly punched him in the face, called him a “Chinaman,” and ordered him to say that he loved America.

Link to Article

Let freedom ring!

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Asian American Underachievers — Be Warned!

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Acing the SATs or ACTs may not be enough to convince the college of your choice to roll the dice on you:

A commission convened by some of the country’s most influential college admissions officials is recommending that colleges and universities move away from their reliance on SAT and ACT scores and shift toward admissions exams more closely tied to the high school curriculum and achievement.

Link 

If I were just a teeny bit more paranoid, I might suspect anti-Asian bias at the National Association for College Admission Counselling (NACAC)…

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Suck It, LPGA!

Monday, September 8th, 2008

Proving that they are not entirely clueless, the Ladies Professional Golf Association has backed away from their previously announced new rule requiring that their golfers learn how to speak English or face suspension.

And yet, even now, the LPGA has its defenders:

English First Executive Director Jim Boulet, Jr., was saddened to learn today that the LPGA felt compelled to cave in on its proposed English requirement for all tour players.

“Once again, the notion of a private organization imposing any standards, even on immigrant workers, has been crushed by professional ethnic activists and grandstanding reporters,” said Boulet.

“To read their outraged columns, one would think that the LPGA was expecting English oratory worthy of Shakespeare, instead of the modest English fluency demonstrated by Bull Durham’s Nuke ‘I’m just happy to be here’ LaLoosh during post-game interviews,” Boulet said.

“The LPGA’s English policy was intended to benefit both the Tour and all its players. Imagine Tiger Woods unable to speak English. Would he still enjoy the same corporate endorsements? Of course not,” Boulet said.

Link to Article

Yes, and just think of all that job security that the slaves gave up after that nasty Civil War!

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No English, No Golfee…

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Starting immediately, being (1) one of the top golfers in the world; (2) a great sportsman; and (3) female are no longer enough to earn you a spot in the US Ladies Professional Golf Association.

Link to Article

In a first for any pro sports association anywhere in the world, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (the only game in town for pro women golfers in the US) has imposed a language requirement on its membership.  All new LPGA golfers and golfers who have been on the tour for more than two years must demonstrate their proficiency in English.  Golfers requiring time to hone their language skills have until the end of 2009.  The penalty for failure to comply?  Suspension from the tour.

The LPGA insists that the language requirement is not targeting any specific group of players — although, just as luck would have it, the top tier of US women’s golf is being rapidly taking over by (surprise!) Asian women.  Oh, those wacky Koreans — always causing trouble!

Libby Galloway, the LPGA Tour’s deputy commissioner, who I venture to guess will explain to anyone who cares to ask that she’s not a racist and that some of her best friends are hard-working Orientals, offers this unspeakably lame justification for the policy:

“For an athlete to be successful today in the sports entertainment world we live in, they need to be great performers on and off the course, and being able to communicate effectively with sponsors and fans is a big part of this.”

Gosh, someone better get an interpreter to explain that to Yao Ming — I guess that’s what’s been holding him back.

But wait — there’s more!  Guess who gets to decide whether a player’s English is good enough?  Yep.  The LPGA.  All foreign players are now at the mercy of an army of self-important tour officials, any one of whom may have a problem with foreigners (other than Annika Sorenstam — they all love Annika Sorenstam).  

By the way, the LPGA tour includes a number of events in foreign countries (including Korea).  Funny — the LPGA isn’t requiring any of its English-speaking members to learn any of those languages.  You’d almost think the LPGA was governed by a bunch of hypocritical, racist jerks, who are appalled that the lily-white game of golf is being taken over by Asians.

But I’m not anti-LPGA.  Heck, some of my best friends are LPGA…

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Posted in In the News | 1 Comment »

Is it ever okay to use the C word (rhymes with “think”)?

Monday, August 25th, 2008

No argument from me — the C word has a race-neutral meaning: narrow opening, fissure, crack, chip, dent.  According to the internet, the etymology of the word is onomatopoetic.  In other words, the word is an approximation of some sound (like a piece of fine porcelain getting chipped).

But don’t use it.

Real-life example: I once was at some lecture, and the speaker used the hackneyed expression “c—- in the armor.”  Now I don’t think for a second he meant anything racist, nor do I think anyone in the audience thought he meant anything racist.  Nevertheless, people reacted to hearing the C word, regardless of how it was intended.  Some people shifted uncomfortably in their chairs.  Some people exchanged rolled eyes.  And some people, none too subtly, looked at me and the other Asian faces in the audience to gauge our reaction.

What a waste of mental energy.

If you honestly believe that you can’t make your point without using the C word (with its neutral meaning), then go ahead — use it.  But just keep in mind that when I roll my eyes, it’s not because I think you’re a racist.  It’s because I think you’re a fool.

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Getting Ching-Chonged

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

I’m in a restaurant with my family.

A group of 4 loud, young, white women at the next table pay their check and get up to leave.

As they walk past, the last woman in the procession glances at our table and does the faintest of ching-chong gibberish.

It’s so soft that I’m not 100% sure that she’s ching-chonging us.  No one else seems to notice.

And then they’re gone.

To you, white woman, I say:

If you were ching-chonging me in an effort to inflict a little pain on another human being, then mission accomplished.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel the tiniest beginning of a familar twinge.  But that twinge is nothing compared to whatever must be going on in your life for you to get your jollies by taking a cheap shot at a complete stranger.

And if you weren’t ching-chonging me, you might want to see someone about that overbite.

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Is this commercial racist?

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Maybe it says something about the TV shows that I watch, but for some reason I keep seeing commercials for Six Flags featuring this shouty Asian guy in one incarnation or another:

My own litmus test is whether I believe that a commercial will provide additional fodder to mean white kids on the playground.  (You know, the ones who pull at the corners of their eyes, buck their teeth, speak broken, heavily accented English using a sing-songy voice, and then years later have way more sex than you do.)

My rating of this ad: No flags!

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