The careful rules that dictate male-female interaction and courtship quite simply can’t be applied in the US as they are in predominately Muslim countries. . . . The result: US Muslims are pioneering ways to read Muslim rules in ways that make sense in an American context. . . .

Though it may seem old-fashioned in a US context, finding a partner without your family’s help bucks most Muslim traditions. . . . the concept of dating for fun simply does not exist in Islam. Any potential match is judged, pursued, or abandoned based on marriage potential.

In the US, however, many Muslims – especially Arabs – have re-interpreted parts of the courtship process to allow for something closer to the American way.

The article goes on to describe various ways that old traditions and contemporary circumstances clash when it comes to finding a spouse among Muslim Americans. Even though such cultural changes inevitably cause some degree of unease on both sides, these examples illustrate how Asian Americans -- that includes Muslim Americans -- are slowly forging their own identity that combines elements from both cultures.

As I’ve written about before, these new forms of assimilation are great examples of how increasing American and international diversity, globalization, and transnationalism are changing the landscape of how racial/ethnic minorities identify themselves in 21st century American society.

That is, we used to be limited to the rigid dichotomy of “American” versus “non-American.” But with the world changing all around us, I would argue that we now have more opportunities and more power to assert an identity that, if we want, combines both the the traditional and the contemporary.

This new identity can also include the idea that our “foreignness” may actually be an asset, rather than a liability, since it directly reflects the demographic, political, and economic changes taking place all around us. As we assert these new forms of being an American, we will undoubtedly encounter resistance from more “traditional” Americans.

Nonetheless, these institutional changes taking place all around us are real and they are only accelerating. In that context, as Asian Americans, I think we should take the initiative to lead American society forward into the 21st century.

In other words, the question before us is, just how much as American (specifically, White) society changed? Or to put it bluntly, have Whites become less racist? Well, as CBS News reports, several incidents involving his campaign volunteers have called into question whether or not many White voters are in fact, more racially tolerant these days compared to say, 50 years ago:

For all the hope and excitement Obama’s candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces.

They’ve been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they’ve endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can’t fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president. . . .

“The first person I encountered was like, ‘I’ll never vote for a black person,’ ” recalled [one Obama volunteer canvassing in Indiana]. “People just weren’t receptive.” . . . One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn’t possibly vote for Obama and concluded: “Hang that darky from a tree!” . . .

On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans. . . .

Obama has won five of 12 primaries in which black voters made up less than 10 percent of the electorate, and caucuses in states such as Idaho and Wyoming that are overwhelmingly white. But exit polls show he has struggled to attract white voters who didn’t attend college and earn less than $50,000 a year.

I see this as a classic case of whether the glass is half-full or half-empty.

That is, should we focus on the fact that Barack Obama has waged the most successful presidential campaign of any person of color in American history and is on the verge of being the Democratic nominee for President, or do we focus on the fact that a significant percentage of Whites, particularly working class and non-urban Whites, flatly refuse to even consider voting for him simply because he’s Black?

This is not just an academic question that only intellectuals care about -- this question goes to the heart of the current state of American society and the level of racial prejudice that still exists in this country. I’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourself how you want to interpret these sentiments against Barack Obama.

What I will point out is that this question about where do we stand as a nation on the question of race, is not going away any time soon because it is a question that symbolizes a much larger epoch in American history and is a question that will become more politically and socially salient as American society becomes increasingly diverse and globalized.

We are reaching a crossroad in American history. The path that we choose to go down will ultimately determine the fundamental nature of the American identity and our unity as a nation.

Well, a new and different controversy has emerged -- as MSNBC reports, the federal commission that has final approval over the statue now wants the form of the statue changed, saying that the current pose appears too “confrontational” and “totalitarian”:

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thinks “the colossal scale and Social Realist style of the proposed statue recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down in other countries,” commission secretary Thomas Luebke said in a letter in April. . . .

The centerpiece is to be a 2 1/2 -story sculpture of the civil rights leader carved in a giant chunk of granite. Called the Stone of Hope, it would depict King, standing with his arms folded, looming from the stone. At 28 feet tall, it would be eight feet taller than the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. . . .

Its general design was approved by the seven-member federal commission that year, based on drawings of the Stone of Hope that showed a more subtle image of King, from the waist up, as if he were emerging organically out of the rock, the commission said. . . .

The team wants to hold on “to the power and inspirational image” of the current version, [the memorial’s executive architect] said. The sense of confrontation in the sculpture is not a coincidence. “We see him . . . as a warrior,” Chaffers said yesterday.

“We see him as a warrior for peace . . . not as some pacifist, placid, kind of vanilla, but really a man of great conviction and strength.”

It should come as no surprise that such national memorials are inherently prone to historical, cultural, and political disagreements and controversy. We only have to remember the initial storm of criticism surrounding Maya Lin’s design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a classic example of that.

Nonetheless, in my opinion, this latest controversy over the actual look and pose of the statue represents another form of being “colorblind” in 21st century American society. As I recently wrote about, the dominant norm and discourse in American race relations these days seem to be implicitly based on being “colorblind.”

In theory, it’s great to not treat people differently based on their racial/ethnic identity. But in practice, ignoring people’s racial identity means ignoring their different histories, characteristics, and community needs and instead, relying on the simplistic idea that we now live in a true meritocracy where racism no longer exists and everyone is on a completely level playing field.

In that context, I am not surprised that the federal commission (undoubtedly composed predominantly of Whites) found the current pose too “confrontational.” Apparently, they do not want the statue to remind people that the Civil Rights Movement was a struggle and that many people actually died in the process of “confronting” racism.

They would rather pretend that everything is perfectly fine now and that as a “colorblind” society, we don’t need to dwell on the past and be reminded that a little over 40 years ago, it was perfectly legal and normal to treat people of color as inferior, subordinate, second-class citizens.

In other words, in wanting the look of Dr. King’s statue to look less “confrontational,” what the federal commission wants to do is to avoid confronting the racism that Dr. King fought against and that still subtly pervades the mindset of American society today.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what it means to be colorblind these days.

These days,we see plenty of examples of superhuman feats that are described as “heroic.” Whether it’s the latest comic book action character getting translated into a movie or the TV show “Hero” about people with strange, magical powers, the term “hero” gets thrown around a lot these days.

But what does it mean to be a “hero” in ordinary, everyday life? Well, here’s the one of the best (and most tragic) examples I’ve seen -- Dad Died Saving His Little Girl:

With an out-of-control car bearing down, Joseph Richardson grabbed his 4-year-old daughter and held her up out of harm’s way. It was his last act -- and one that apparently saved his daughter’s life. . . .

Richardson was walking his daughter to a McDonald’s for burgers at 6:40 p.m. Monday when a 1990 Chevy Cavalier jumped a curb and careened towards them, police said, citing witness accounts. He grabbed his daughter just before the car slammed the two into the fence, police said.

Mr. Richardson, even before you gave up your life to save your daughter’s, it sounds like you made quite a difference in the lives of people around you. For all that you’ve done for your community, your family, and especially your daughter, you are truly one my heroes.

First, the Asia Society recently produced the following YouTube video that illustrates the different ways that various notable Asian Americans around the country identify as Asian American and what it means to them to claim that identity (they also have extended clips at their YouTube channel).

Second, a reader sent to me the following message about a Vietnamese American officer who served in Iraq:

To highlight the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month of May, I have just completed an article about Vietnamese-American James Van Thach. He volunteered to serve in Baghdad, Iraq since April 2006 as a Military Advisor.

He has finally after 2 years reached back to the United States on April 9, 2008. On April 1, 2008, the Republic of Iraq bestowed him the Honorary rank of Staff Brigadier General in the Iraqi Army.

I just completed a follow-up interview with him on April 15, 2008 and would like to release this article to your news agency so that you may share it with your readers.

Thank you very much for your time.

Respectfully,

Tommy Nero Sullivan
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Ventures International Promotions
VIP Promotions/NYC

APIAVote to Host Historic Presidnetial Town Hall: Presidential Candidates Invited to Discuss Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Issues

Over 2,500 AAPIs nationwide will attend the first ever APIAVote Presidential Town Hall on May 17th. APIAVote has invited Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, and Senator John McCain to discuss issues and policies important to AAPI communities.

What: First Asian American Pacific Islander Presidential Town Hall

Hosted by: Asian Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), in conjunction with the 9th Annual Convention of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD).

Why: To provide an unprecedented opportunity for presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain to discuss their views, positions, and proposals on issues affecting AAPIs.

When: Saturday, May 17, 2008, 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Where: Bren Events Center, University of California at Irvine, Mesa Road and West Peltason Drive, Irvine, CA 92617. Simulcast in selected cities and venues. Please see website for updates.

Who: (Invited) Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

You can get more information at the APIA Presidential Town Hall site and at APIAVote. Several colleges around the country will host simulcasts of the event, including UMass Boston’s Institute for Asian American Studies, for those of you in the New England area.

This is truly going to be a historic event and I encourage everyone to participate by attending in person, attending at a simulcast hosted locally, or by watching the live stream on the Internet.

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Dear Asian-Nation Visitors,

My name is Hsu Ling-Hui, a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin, Department of Communication Studies. I would like to invite you to participate in my dissertation project. The study explores the factors that influence impression formation of human beings. Your contribution is very important to the research, and you may win $500 for doing the survey! Thank you very much. Please read on!

Title: Impression Formation (Part I) & Cultural Adaptation of American College Students (Part II)

The purpose of this study (Part I) is to investigate the elements that influence people’s impression formation, both the internal state of a perceiver and the external situational demands.

Although unrelated to this researcher’s study, Part II of the research is to contribute to a large-scale anthropological project on general adaptation of immigrant children at American colleges. The current focus is on cultural adaptation of Asian American students to dynamic campus environment.

To be eligible for the current study, you must meet the following criteria.
a) You are a student and above age 18.
b) You are an Asian American and your country of ethnic origin is China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Vietnam.
c) You were either born in the U.S. or immigrated to the U.S. before age 12.

It takes around 30 to 40 minutes to complete all questionnaires in the study. As a participant, your name will be entered into a raffle to win a $500 award. Two awards will be given away. Winners will be drawn at the end of the data collection and notified (around July 2008).

To ensure accuracy, the study has four links:

Link 1: if the Last Number of your Social Security Number is 0, 1, or 2

Link 2: if the Last Number of your Social Security Number is 3, or 4

Link 3: if the Last Number of your Social Security Number is 5, or 6

If the Last Number of your Social Security Number is 7, 8, or 9, please click any of the above three links (Links 2, 3, or 3) to access the survey because Link 4 has been filled up.

If you may, please extend my survey invite to your friends. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,
Hsu Ling-Hui

At any rate, since it’s here, I once again present some interesting demographic facts and data about the APA population, courtesy of the Census Bureau:

14.9 million
The estimated number of U.S. residents in July 2006 who said they were Asian alone or Asian in combination with one or more other races. This group comprised about 5 percent of the total population.

3.2%
Percentage growth of the Asian population (either alone or in combination with one or more other races) between 2005 and 2006, the highest of any race group during that time period. The increase in the Asian population during the period totaled 460,000.

3.6 million
Number of Asians of Chinese descent in the U.S. Chinese-Americans are the largest Asian group, followed by Filipinos (2.9 million), Asian Indians (2.7 million), Vietnamese (1.6 million), Koreans (1.5 million) and Japanese (1.2 million). These estimates represent the number of people who are either of a particular Asian group only or are of that group in combination with one or more other Asian groups or races.

49%
The percentage of single-race Asians 25 and older who have a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education. This compares with 27 percent for all Americans 25 and older.

$64,238
Median household income for single-race Asians in 2006, the highest among all race groups. Median household income differed greatly by Asian group. For Asian Indians, for example, the median income in 2006 was $78,315; for Vietnamese-Americans, it was $52,299.

1.1 million
Number of businesses owned by Asian-Americans in 2002, up 24 percent from 1997. The rate of increase in the number of Asian-owned businesses was about twice that of the national average for all businesses.

47%
The proportion of civilian employed single-race Asians 16 and older who work in management, professional and related occupations, such as financial managers, engineers, teachers and registered nurses. Additionally, 23 percent work in sales and office occupations, 16 percent in service occupations and 10 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.

33.4 million
The projected number of U.S. residents in 2050 who will identify themselves as single-race Asians. They would comprise 8 percent of the total population by that year.

213%
The projected percentage increase between 2000 and 2050 in the population of people who identify themselves as single-race Asian. This compares with a 49 percent increase in the population as a whole over the same period of time.

Feel free to read my article on APA Heritage Month to get some ideas about how you can celebrate it in a more meaningful way while still having fun.

Since the riots last month in Tibet, the disrupted Olympic torch relays and calls to boycott the opening ceremony of the Games in Beijing, Chinese students, traditionally silent on political issues, have begun to lash out at what they perceive as a pervasive anti-Chinese bias. . . .

At the University of Washington, students fought to limit the Dalai Lama’s address to nonpolitical topics. At Duke, pro-China students surrounded and drowned out a pro-Tibet vigil; a Chinese freshman who tried to mediate received death threats, and her family was forced into hiding.

And last Saturday, students from as far as Florida and Tennessee traveled to Atlanta to picket CNN after a commentator, Jack Cafferty, referred to the Chinese as “goons and thugs.” (CNN said he was referring to the government, not the people.)

The student anger, stoked through e-mail messages sent to large campus mailing lists, stems not so much from satisfaction with the Chinese government but from shock at the portrayal of its actions, as well as frustration over the West’s long-standing love affair with Tibet — a love these students see as willfully blind. . . .

Rather than blend in to the prevailing campus ethos of free debate, the more strident Chinese students seem to replicate the authoritarian framework of their homeland, photographing demonstration participants and sometimes drowning out dissent.

The NY Times article does a very good job at describing the recent international history that frames much of the current climate of criticism against China but also the students’ role in speaking up loudly and forcefully.

In my previous post that I linked to above, I wrote that, for good and for bad, I’m trying to maintain an objective and moderate stance on these issues. The boisterous backlash of Chinese students does not change my position, which is still that both sides have a democratic right to express themselves and to criticize the other side.

However, those rights also entail knowing the limits of such criticisms and counter-criticisms, namely implicit and explicit threats and displays of intimidation and violence against others.

The NY Times article described how some pro-Chinese protests have crossed that line, and it’s at that point where I agree with the reporter’s statement that “the more strident Chinese students seem to replicate the authoritarian framework of their homeland, photographing demonstration participants and sometimes drowning out dissent.”

In other words, for the Chinese students to make a difference and to change people’s negative impressions of their homeland, engaging in and perpetuating the same kind of repressive techniques aimed at silencing opponents that their government is criticized for is not the way to go.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” With that in mind, if the goal is to change the world’s perception of China from negative to positive, then China’s supporters need to act positively, not negatively.

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Tie a Yellow Ribbon to Air on Public Television During May 2008
First Feature Drama by Joy Dietrich Offers Compelling View into the Lives of Young Asian American Women through the Eyes of a Korean Adoptee

Making her feature debut, writer-director Joy Dietrich, also a Korean adoptee, introduces audiences to the world of Asian American young women and delicately addresses the abnormally high rates of depression and suicide among Asian American girls, creating a work of great compassion and poetic beauty.

In TIE A YELLOW RIBBON, Jenny Mason (Kim Jiang), a Korean adoptee and aspiring photographer, walks the streets of New York in a state of resigned indifference. Her days are spent with white friends and colleagues, her nights with white men. She has no contact with her Midwestern family due to a childhood indiscretion with her white brother, Joe (Patrick Heusinger). She rejects any attachment, dumping men as fast as she can pick them up. Yet she longs for a connection that would make her feel at home-a home that she has lost and is forever seeking.

One day, her roommate asks her to move out, fanning her fears of abandonment. She moves in with the beautiful but troubled Beatrice Shimizu (Jane Kim) and meets super-cool Simon Chang (Ian Wen), whose socially awkward sister, Sandy (Theresa Ngo), lives next door. Raised in the predominately white Midwest, she is both fascinated and repulsed by the other Asian Americans whom she meets.

Her indifference toward life starts melting away however, as she embraces Bea, who battles her own self-esteem issues with family and a philandering boyfriend, Phillip (Gregory Waller), and tries to help Sandy overcome her shyness. Jenny’s biggest obstacle is opening herself up to the possibility of a relationship with Simon. Meanwhile, Bea and Simon encourage and help jumpstart Jenny’s career in photography.

Suddenly, Joe appears at her door, shattering her current life. As Jenny searches for a voice and photographic style that she can call her own, she finds that she must face her unresolved feelings toward her brother and family, and ultimately reconcile her identity as an Asian American.

“I wanted to make a film that gave nuanced portraits of young Asian American women whose stories are seldom told in mainstream media. The dirty little secret is that Asian American women have one of the highest rates of depression in the United States,” said writer/director Joy Dietrich.

“While this film doesn’t attempt to explain the reasons why, it does expose the isolating, alienating factors that make the young women feel the way they do-the greatest among them the lack of acceptance and belonging. TIE A YELLOW RIBBON is ultimately about three young women’s search for love and belonging.”

——————————————--

TIE A YELLOW RIBBON will air on public television stations around the United States during the month of May 2008. More information about airdates can be found online at http://www.itvs.org/shows/ataglance.php?showID=7597. Please also check your local listings.

On the other hand, in fighting against the stereotype that all Asians/Asian Americans are the same, we also want to point out the various ways in which our community has unique histories, characteristics, issues, and needs -- ethnically, social class, politically, etc.

This tension between being united one day and being unique the next day can be very frustrating, especially for bloggers like myself who try to strike that balance and reconcile some of the contradictions that arise form this dichotomy as best as possible.

As one example of these tensions and contradictions, my blogging colleague Jenn Fang at Reappropriate.com recently wrote about her struggles in discussing issues of Asian American feminism and gender equality on her blog and how her posts on such issues frequently leads to more division than unity and the personal toll it takes on her:

I’ve found myself extremely angry and frustrated by the level of the debate. I’m weary of the arguing, frustrated by the tone, and disillusioned by the blog’s mission. My open comment policy has been misused over the past month, and I’ve had to ban several readers — undermining my disagreement in idea censorship and my belief in the power of democratic idea-building. . . .

I’m tired of discussions of sexism being misconstrued as male-bashing, I’m tired of people who don’t know feminism thinking they can define it, and above all, I am tired of the suspicion of my racial solidarity and my pride in the Asian American community because of my identification as a feminist and the choices in my personal life. . . .

I feel like I’ve been banging my head against a brick wall, and all I have to show for it is ostracization, derision, and occasionally ridicule from some Asian American men. I feel like the adage “working twice as hard to get half as far” is poignantly relevant to how hard I’ve struggled for the same acceptance in the APIA online community that some of my male colleagues enjoy almost innately. . . .

I need to remember that advances in APIA feminism is measured in inches, not miles, and that there is a silent majority of Asian American readers who also believe in that dream of a united, politicized Asian American community.

As I wrote to Jenn after reading her post, I found her points to be very genuine and moving. I admit that I don’t read her blog as much as I should and we probably don’t agree 100% on every single issue, but through our previous interactions, I have always admired and respected her work and writings.

Further, as Asian Americans, liberals, and academics, I told her that we have many more things in common than differences. I therefore wanted to post about the struggles she’s been going through as a way of showing my solidarity and highlighting the issues that still unfortunately divide our community.

There is no easy answer on how to address this contradiction between unity and uniqueness, between asserting our similarities versus our differences. But what I can say, and that I hope everyone will keep in mind, is that we can disagree with one another without resorting to personal attacks.

Anonymity on the internet and in blog comments does not give anyone the license to put aside basic norms of human civility and respect for others and to pretend that we’re back in kindergarten and that it’s perfectly fine to call each other names.

Ultimately, my hope is that regardless of our ethnic, political, or other differences, we can all agree to discuss and debate these issues in a calm and rational manner. This does not mean that we can’t be subjective or emotionally invested in our beliefs, just that we should express ourselves to each other fairly and respectfully.

I don’t think that’s asking for too much.

Some might be tempted to say that these were isolated incidents but as New America Media summarizes, these kinds of incidents are actually and unfortunately quite commonplace on college campuses around the country:

In recent months, incidents have proven this is not the tolerant and highly-evolved society we thought. Hate crimes against Asian students, racial remarks masked under the term “satire,” and institutional discrimination — are just a few causes triggering racial tension on college campuses. . . .

On Jan. 21, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Kyle Descher, a Korean American, headed out to a bar with his roommate after a Washington State University football victory over Oregon. Minutes after hearing a racial slur from one of three unknown men, Descher is “sucker-punched” in an unprovoked attack. Doctors add three titanium plates to Descher’s broken jaw and it’s wired shut. . . .

In [UPenn’s quarterly student magazine “The Punch Bowl” winter 2008 edition’s] “Where Asians Don’t Belong” section, staffers listed Math 104, in a panties drawer, on the basketball court, at a frat party, and behind the wheel. Imagine why the staff didn’t make jokes with the same glee for all the places African Americans “don’t belong.” In their defense, “Punch Bowl” editors said some of the writers of the “satirical” issue were Asian Americans themselves, even posing in photos poking fun at APIs.

The article goes on to list several other racially-charged incidents around the country involving a broad range of groups of color.

It would be great if I could just focus on discussing the positive aspects of how American society and American institutions such as higher education have made progress in alleviating racial inequality. Alas, these incidents only highlight what many scholars have been saying all along -- as we move forward into the 21st century, racism and racial prejudice are still alive and well in American society.

The only difference between its nature today versus that of say, 100 years ago, is that in many ways, racism is now expressed in “colorblind” terms. That is, racists now apparently think that racial equality has been achieved (they’ll point to Asian American socioeconomic achievements as one example), so it’s perfectly fine to make fun of Asian Americans and other groups because we’re all equal now -- we’re all on a level playing field nowadays, so everybody is fair game.

In other words, this is what it means to live in a colorblind society these days -- historical legacies of systematic racism are completely ignored or “whitewashed” and we all pretend that all racial groups are perfectly equal. Or alternatively, racists act on their resentment that minorities have apparently achieved “equality” and physically attack us.

Unfortunately, I predict that this climate of “colorblind” prejudice will get worse before it gets better, especially as globalization continues to reshape the American society, the American economy, and as a result, the fundamental assumption of American superiority around the world.

As Americans, particularly White Americans, continue to economically struggle as we enter a recession and as they culturally struggle with maintaining their exclusive hold on the “American identity” while demographic shifts take place all around them, their fear, frustrations, and anger will inevitably boil over and verbal and physical attacks on convenient scapegoats such as Asian Americans will continue.

I want to be optimistic and hopefully I’m wrong, but as these recent incidents show, racial tensions seem to be on the rise, not on the decline.