The views and opinions expressed on this site and blog posts (excluding comments on blog posts left by others) are entirely my own and do not represent those of any employer or organization with whom I am currently or previously have been associated.
Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.
Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.
It’s clear that Muslim Americans face particularly difficult challenges in American society these days in terms of maintaining their cultural and religious identity in the face of pervasive stereotypes about them as potential terrorists. We might even say that such difficulties are even more intense among young Muslim Americans who also are trying to figure out where they fit within the frequently volatile social environment of school and their peers.
In that context, as the Christian Science Monitor reports, a new book entitled The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook, written by a Muslim American family, seeks to provide a little help in negotiating this challenging cultural terrain:
Sprinkled with humor, the lively paperback describes the essential beliefs and practices of Islam and includes questions and comments from Muslim teens across the United States. “In addition to doing research of our own, we sent out a survey to 44 Islamic schools,” explains Dilara, who teaches at a weekend Islamic school in the Phoenix area.
They received approximately 150 responses to their questionnaire, which revealed that even teens attending Islamic schools vary greatly in attitudes and faith practices, from why they are Muslim to how often they pray to whether or not they wear the hijab, the head scarf worn by many devout Muslim women. . . .
So far, the response to the handbook has been largely positive, and even comes from beyond the US and the Muslim community. . . . The handbook exudes an AmÂÂerÂican perspective, upbeat and nonjudgmental. It encourages teens to discuss their questions and issues with parents, friends, and others, but ultimately to make their own responsible choices about their faith practice.
“The handbook is meant to provoke discussion, not be the definitive guide to Islam,” Yasmine explains. “It’s something you work out with God. No one on the outside has a right to judge that.”
From what it sounds like, the book looks to be an informative and useful exploration of these challenges faced by young Muslim Americans and I’m also glad to hear that others outside the Muslim community have also found it enlightening.
Most of all, I commend the efforts of the Hafiz family to take the initiative to speak on their own behalf and to express their own ideas and perspective about Islam, instead of sitting by and having others portray them however they want.
For those who may not be familiar with China’s Three Gorges Dam project, it is basically an effort to dam up the Yangtze River to provide hydro-electrical power and expanded shipping routes to meet China’s growing industrial needs. It is also one of the largest engineering projects in the history of human civilization. The Associated Press has an article that nicely summarizes its initial goals and its subsequent environmental impacts, both good and bad:
The $22 billion dam, the world’s biggest hydroelectric project, was supposed to end flooding along the Yangtze and provide a clean energy alternative to coal. Approved in 1992 and due to be completed in 2009, it will generate 84.7 billion kilowatts of electricity each year — the equivalent of what it takes to light the counties of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, according to figures from 2005.
Yet along the way, more than 1.4 million people had to be moved. Though critics and experts warned the environment and people would pay too high a price, their criticisms were ignored and suppressed by a government in thrall to large engineering projects.
Even a few officials are breaking ranks to predict catastrophe. Toxic algae is blooming, feeding off industrial waste and sewage and tainting water supplies.
Experts have warned that the waters in the enormous reservoir are undermining hillsides. Water seeps into loosely packed soil and rocks, making them heavier and wetter, and can trigger landslides on steep slopes like those rising from the Yangtze. Additionally, the huge weight of the water on the rock bed exerts a pressure that can lead to earthquakes. . . .
As criticism has mounted in recent weeks along with the problems . . . the government has launched a renewed public relations campaign stressing the project’s benefits. . . . Beijing also says it will shore up the area’s environment with new measures to control pollution, close industrial and mining enterprises and monitor geological hazards.
As China prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, its environmental record is only one of several important issues that is receiving scrutiny from the international community, and rightfully so.
I am interested to see how China responds when the spotlight of the world is shining on it. How will China respond when it faces repeated and intense criticisms about not only its environmental record but also on its human rights abuses, media censorship, lack of democracy, religious crackdowns, consumer safety, etc.?
If China wants to be considered an international superpower, it needs to have answers for these questions.
I hope many of you have already heard of Eric Byler — he was the director of Charlotte Sometimes and Americanese (an adaptation of Prof. Shawn Wong’s novel American Knees), both being critically-acclaimed independent movies.
Eric’s latest project, in collaboration with fellow independent filmmakers Annabel Park, Jeff Man, and Zhibo Lai, is entitled Project 9500 and is a multimedia documentary of the issues of illegal immigration in northern Virginia.
While much of the focus of this project is on Latino immigrants, Eric notes that Asian immigrants have been brought into the issue because many illegal immigrant critics argue that Asian immigrants are the “good” immigrants because they learn English quicker and are perceived to be more willing to assimilate into American society, as opposed to the “bad” Latino immigrants.
They are putting together a feature-length documentary film, but the project also involves short video essay clips that capture different aspects of the issue. Their YouTube site contains several dozen such video essay clips but two “introductory” clips that were recently featured in the Washington Post are below:
As I told Eric, these clips do an excellent job in capturing the individual-level emotions and institutional-level influences that are involved with such a complex and controversial issue. All signs are that their project is coming together quite nicely.
I encourage you to view some of their other video essay clips on their YouTube site and to keep an eye out for their upcoming documentary — it would be very, very interesting.
In their end-of-year issue, Newsweek magazine profiles several dynamic, “up and coming” personalities that are likely to make news in the upcoming year. Among those profiled is the only Asian American on the list — Michelle Rhee, the newly appointed chancellor of the Washington DC public school system. As the article describes, her style is getting people’s attention:
One day [in 1993] a bumblebee got into the classroom and the students were more out of control than ever. . . . When the bee landed on Rhee’s desk, she swatted it, popped it in her mouth and gulped it down. For the first time, it seemed, her students were quiet. After that day they paid more attention, even if they were just waiting to see what she’d do next. . . .
She has already piqued unions and parents by announcing plans to fire more than 100 administrative workers and close down 23 schools. “If the rules don’t make sense for kids, I’m not going to follow them. I don’t care how much trouble we get in,” she warned [Washington DC mayor Adrian] Fenty [who appointed her to the position].
No one is more aware than Rhee that she is an unconventional fit for D.C. She has never run a school district. Then there is the issue of a Korean-American running predominantly African-American schools. Rhee has tried to defuse racial tension with her blunt talk. “I bet you are wondering what this Korean lady is doing here,” she told one all-black audience. . . .
She has met with every school principal, telling those at failing schools they could lose their jobs if they don’t raise test scores. Her imperial style has irked some. “Good. I don’t want them to be comfortable,” Rhee says.
I had never heard of Michelle Rhee until I read this article, so I really don’t know anything more about her other than what the article describes. Nonetheless, I admire and support her desire to challenge the status quo and to take some risks in trying to change things around and make a real difference in her students’ lives.
If the status quo means chronic underperformance and routinely failing to live up to its mission of providing their students with a high quality education, then the status quo — and those who support it — need to be changed.
Normally I am a staunch supporter of unions (being a member of the Massachusetts Teachers Association myself), but in many cases that I’ve seen/read about, sometimes the biggest impediments to improvement are teachers’ unions, as much as a liberal like me hates to admit it.
It is indeed unfortunate when people in any organization are more concerned with maintaining the status quo for their own comfort rather than actually trying everything they can to help their students get a good education.
Of course, not all teachers are as complacent and in fact, most teachers are caring, dedicated, and passionate about making a difference in their students’ lives. Nonetheless, there seem to be too many out there who abuse the privileges and protections of their position and care more about their job security rather than their actual performance.
Therefore, I think Michelle Rhee’s strategy of shaking things up is exactly what underperforming school districts like Washington DC needs. I wish her the best success in her efforts to improve the lives of her students.
On the eve of the Iowa caucus, officially kicking off the 2008 Presidential race, here’s a post for the politically-minded.
As reflected in my article on the 2004 Elections, national-level aggregate data tends to show that in terms of political affiliation among those stating a preference, about two-thirds of all Asian Americans lean Democratic and the other third identify with the Republicans.
But as reported by Politico.com, new data from a Harvard research team shows that among young Asian Americans, the percentage who lean Democratic is much higher:
The Institute of Politics at Harvard University recently released data from an online survey of 2,525 18- to 24-year-olds. Among the survey’s more notable statistics are those concerning party affiliation among Asian-Americans: 47 percent identify themselves as Democratic, 15 percent Republican and 39 percent independent — making them more Democratic than any other ethnic group except African-Americans in the survey. . . .
Young Asian-Americans are significantly more Democratic than young whites, who are roughly evenly split between the two major parties. And Asian-Americans of all ages have been trending Democratic for years. But they were once a dependable Republican constituency. According to data from the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, former President George H.W. Bush got 24 percent more of the Asian-American vote than did Bill Clinton in 1992.
The article goes on to note that some factors that have likely contributed to this Democratic trend among young Asian Americans are the Republicans’ general negativity toward immigration (even when it’s legal) and high-profile racial incidents like Sen. George Allen’s “macaca” slur, all of which have apparently struck a nerve with young Asian Americans.
As I wrote about in my other blog on similar political trends among Latino Americans, the Republican party seems to be digging itself a pretty big hole here with these two racial/ethnic groups. Their harsh and partisan positions against immigration (yes, including legal) has clearly alienated many young Asian and Latino Americans.
What should be even more disturbing for Republicans is that Asian and Latino Americans also happen to be the two fastest-growing racial/ethnic groups in the country.
