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.
The 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics inspired and united the country behind such American athletes as Apolo Ohno and Michelle Kwan, as the U.S. team earned almost three times as many medals as they’ve ever won in a single Winter Olympics. But as usual, the games couldn’t escape controversy. From my perspective, the two incidents that affected Asian Americans the most didn’t even occur in competition. Rather it was the reaction of others to these incidents that raised my ire.
Let’s first talk about the Ohno incident in which he tangled with his archrival Kim Dong-Sung of South Korea in the 1,000 meter final race. After crossing the finish line second to Kim, Ohno was awarded the gold medal after the judges disqualified Kim for illegally blocking Ohno. Predictably, South Koreans were outraged and that was not surprising. The problem was how Jay Leno of the Tonight Show tried to joke about it: “Kim was so angry that he went home, kicked his dog, and then ate him.”
This unfortunate attempt at humor immediately angered many Asian Americans and rightly so. As Karen Narasaki of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition explained it, context is everything. It’s true that some South Koreans eat dog meat just like it’s true that some African Americans eat watermelons and fried chicken.
But Leno wouldn’t dare make a joke about the latter but thinks it’s fine to offend Asian Americans. To Leno’s credit, although he didn’t officially “apologize,” he later expressed regret about his comments. But the question remains, why do public personalities continue think it’s no big deal to insult and offend Asian Americans when, if they said the same thing about Blacks, they would probably lose their jobs in an instant?
The second incident involved Michelle Kwan’s quest for her first hold medal, finally settling for third after Sarah Hughes won the gold. Again, the controversy wasn’t with any of the actual participants but with those reporting it. For the second Olympics in a row, a media outlet printed a headline that read, “American beats out Kwan for the gold,” the implication being that Michelle Kwan was not ‘American.’ In the Nagano games of 1998, MSNBC was the culprit and this time, it was the Seattle Times.
Again to their credit, the Times, like MSNBC before them, apologized for their hasty and unfortunate choice of words. But again, it’s yet another example of how Asian Americans are continually stereotyped as being perpetual foreigners. What more do we have to do to show people that we’re American too?!?
Words cannot adequately describe the suffering and devastation that occurred on September 11, 2001. Hijacked jetliners crash into the two World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. I personally feel very sad about the senseless loss of life and my sincere thoughts, condolences, and metta go out to all those who are affected by this tremendous tragedy.
As the investigation progresses, it looks more likely that extremist terrorist groups, almost certainly linked to Osama bin Laden, are to blame. That may be true and if that is the case, as much as anyone else, I support efforts to bring those who are responsible to justice in a democratic and civilized manner. Nonetheless, in addition to grieving for the victims of this attack, I cannot help but also feel a sinking feeling in my stomach about how some people are already reacting to these events.
Specifically, there is already hostility, vandalism, and acts of physical violence being directed to Arab Americans and anyone else who is perceived as being Arab or Muslim. Unfortunately, Asian Americans are also being targeted in these ignorant and misguided acts of “backlash.” As tragic proof, two Asian American gas station owners have already been shot to death by someone who apparently mistook them for being Arab. There have also been numerous incidents of other Asian Americans being physically attacked as well.
In the strongest terms possible, I urge us as a nation not to repeat the mistakes of the Japanese American “internment” after Pearl Harbor and condemn and scapegoat an entire racial/ethnic/religious group for the alleged acts of a few. In the heat of this moment and our angry feelings for retaliation, let us not resort to fear, ignorance, and prejudice and discriminate against those who are innocent, had absolutely nothing to do with these events, and are grieving for the victims just as we are, merely because they are somehow “associated” with the suspected culprits.
All of us as Americans need to take a stand against this hatred. Prejudice and discrimination continue when ordinary citizens like us silently accept the consequences of racism perpetrated against others. Let us remember that the United States is supposed to be “One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Let us as a nation all rise to the occasion, in every sense of that term.
After an unsuccessful campaign to win the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004, Beijing was awarded the games for 2008. At issue was China’s human rights record. Almost everyone agrees (except for the Chinese themselves, of course) that China does not have the cleanest, most sparkling human rights record in the world.
Groups such as Amnesty International have repeatedly criticized China for restricting freedoms of expression and religion and for unfair trials and overly harsh sentences that overwhelmingly include execution. They argue that giving China the 2008 Olympics only rewards China for these human rights abuses.
On the other hand, many others feel that the only effective way to encourage China to improve on its human rights practices is through increased interaction and exposure to structures and elements of democracy, rather than isolating them. These supporters, including George W. Bush’s administration, feel that engaging China in a friendly and respectful dialogue is the key to improving relations and trying to influence China’s human rights record.
It was rather ironic that a few days after China was awarded the 2008 Olympics, they tried and convicted three Chinese American scholars on charges of spying for Taiwan. Many argue that these charges were entirely fabricated and were used as excuses to silence these scholars, who were also accused of criticizing China’s policies.
Two of the scholars were sentenced to be deported while the third was sentenced to ten years in prison. Fortunately, diplomatic efforts succeeded in the release of this third scholar so she could be deported back to the U.S. rather than being imprisoned in China.
The way I see it, I definitely agree that China needs to seriously improve its human rights record. But perhaps surprisingly, I also generally agree that the best way to influence them is not by isolating them, but by engaging them in a respectful and professional way. In this respect, China is not different from other “controversial” nations such as Viet Nam, Cuba, or North Korea.
For that matter, these nations are also like regular human beings. That is, people generally want to be shown respect and be treated in a professional manner. Even if they are accused of perpetrating injustices, hostile reactions will only make that person (or country) even more defensive and likely make the situation even worse.
Of course, there needs to be some accountability. The trick is knowing when to increase the pressure after other less hostile efforts don’t produce any results. I don’t pretend to know the answers. I just hope that awarding China the 2008 Olympics is a step in the right direction.
The movie Pearl Harbor gets a warm reception from the public but a cool one from critics. When the movie first came out and before I actually saw it, I initially reiterated the criticisms that many Asian American organizations had about it. These included that there were virtually no Japanese American or Asian American characters in the movie, despite the fact that at the time, one-third of Hawai’i’s population was Asian American, including many who helped to fight the attackers and who helped care for injured. Most important, I was wary that it might lead to even more hostility and hatred toward the Japanese American community and by default (again based on the stereotype that all Asians are the same), all Asian Americans.
Now, after finally seeing the movie and after the events of 9/11, I see the movie in a slightly different light. I still stand by those initial criticisms. However, I do not think that the portrayals of Japanese characters was as bad or harmful as I had feared. They could have been portrayed with a little more depth but overall, it could have been a lot worse.
But the more important interpretation of Pearl Harbor may be its portrayal of how Americans came together and fought together against a common enemy. Of course that kind of sentiment can go too far, such as arbitrarily imprisoning thousands of Japanese Americans. But when done right, national unity can be a very moving and powerful force.
I just hope that we have learned the lessons of those events 60 years ago so that while we work together to fight a common enemy, we prevent the same kinds of excesses and injustices against innocent Americans of all backgrounds today.
A national opinion survey among 1,216 respondents, commissioned by the Chinese American organization Committee of 100 in conjunction with the Anti-Defamation League, finds that:
46% of all respondents feel that Chinese Americans passing information on to the Chinese government is a problem.
33% feel that Chinese Americans are more loyal to China than to the U.S.
25% would disapprove of marriage to a Chinese American.
23% of Americans said they are uncomfortable with the idea of voting for an Asian American candidate for president, compared to 15% for an African American, 14% for a woman and 11% for a Jew.
Although the survey also finds that there are still positive perceptions of Chinese Americans, 68% of all respondents had at least somewhat negative views of Chinese Americans as a whole. Those holding the most negative views tended to be less educated, more poor than average, and living in the South. “It makes you wonder how not only Chinese Americans, but Asian Americans, can shake this legacy of somehow being less than 100% Americans,” said UCLA political scientist Don T. Nakanishi, director of the Asian American Studies Center.
Perhaps the most surprising thing is that this survey was conducted before the spy plane incident with China. Undoubtedly, these negative perceptions are even higher now. Like Prof. Nakanishi noted, it is sad that so many Americans still hold on to these two stereotypes of Asian Americans — that we’re all foreigner (implying that we are not loyal Americans) and that we’re all the same (so that hostility and antagonism directed at one or a few people gets generalized onto our entire community).
Former Senator Bob Kerrey admits that he participated in the massacre of innocent civilians in the Viet Nam War. After more than 30 years of silence, former Senator Bob Kerrey now admits that he participated in the massacre of more than 13 women and children in an attempted raid in the village of Thanh Phong near the Mekong River delta during the Viet Nam War. Kerrey claims that most of the killings occurred only after his Navy SEALs team returned fire after being fired upon.
However, one member of his team who also participated in the event said that after the team failed to find the suspected communist leaders they were searching for, dozens of villagers were rounded up and summarily executed. This version is supported by at least one woman who survived the killings by hiding, but who did not actually witness the atrocity.
Does Kerrey deserve some credit for coming forth and admitting his guilt in the murder of innocent civilians? Maybe, although 30 years of silence is a long time of personal and public denial. Let us remember that the real reason why Kerrey came forth now was to answer the charges made by his former team member, not out of his own conscience. A lot of people say this sort of thing is bound to happen when you prepare young men to fight in a war they don’t understand. I guess they missed the long-established and universal law of combat and of human rights that you do not kill innocent unarmed women and children — ever.
An equally tragic part of this story was that the U.S. military did absolutely nothing to investigate this incident even after the South Vietnamese reported this and other similar atrocities. What was the U.S.’s official response to this massacre? Amazingly, Kerrey was given the Bronze Star for this incident. Many suggest that at this point, all we can do is to feel Bob Kerrey’s pain. What about the pain suffered by the murdered villagers? Who will feel for them?
