Also, there is a difference in the experience of racism between the US and Australia (it exists in both, unfortunately). I don’t have the mental energy to launch a thread on it now, as it would likely get pretty hot, but it’s an interesting topic (and no, one country or other isn’t right. Racism here is probably slightly less obvious, but that’s through good luck rather than good management, and when it’s there it stings just as bad).
All the racists are rednecks. Did you not get the memo?
You’re not holding your breath waiting for **Dio **to come in and admit he made an assumption about race based on the description of someone’s behavior, are you? 'Cause you know what that would make him.
Fair enough. One last point though, that I have to mention. One of the largest impasses I’ve encountered talking about racism with White people - hell, I’ll include some Latino, Asian, and Black people in this number as well - is the lack of understanding that racism actually physically, mentally, is painful. For some folks, it’s purely an algorithmic function of the human condition. But living a racialized experience, where you can recount from as early as you can remember being excluded or ostracized because of your skin color - from people who were your friends, your teachers, etc., it hurts, and I think we could really do with much more empathy than nitpicking.
Case in point - when screening The Color of Fear for students at MIT in the late 90s, we often went off in crazy tangents about the Black guy’s rant. Why couldn’t he have voiced his issues in a calmer way, didn’t he realize that people were turned off by his rant and more defiant because of his anger, wasn’t he threatening the White guy and maybe someone should have called for security, etc. What was interesting is that very rarely a White kid would say, “That dude was pretty hot, but the White guy was being kind of a dick.” I would look at the students of color in the room during these discussions and their faces would brighten. Somebody understood that the Black guy was hurt and empathize with him.
Interestingly, the other men in the film - Asian, Latino, White, and I think another Black guy - did nothing to stop the Black guy from going off. I think it’s because they got it, and they knew he wasn’t going to beat up the White guy.
I do think that r4nd0mNumb3rs larger point has been largely unaddressed. It is somewhat socially acceptable to make jokes and stereotype Asians. Hey, Asians eat funny foods! Hey, Asians are all super-nerdy and good at math! Hey, Asian families are super intense and have a culture that emphasizes success!
The model minority myth has been more or less exploded by sociologists. You will find plenty of struggling Asian groups when you disaggregate by socioeconomic status, parental education, and how they came to the U.S. The Immigration Act of 1965 means that virtually anyone who has emigrated to the States from Asia, Europe, or Africa is very well educated and likely well-to-do. (The quotas for Central and South America are higher and well, it’s a lot easier to get here if you can drive or take a train.) But unfortunately, it still exists in people’s minds, and a lot of struggling Asian kids don’t get the help they need in school, for example. Take a look at Hmong and lowland Lao immigrants who left Southeast Asia on boats. Those groups are having an exceedingly difficult time in academic settings.
I do not intend offense, but you have just demonstrated that racial discrimination against white males is, at least in your situation, very minor in comparison.
Some African-American women have said that they have faced more discrimination against their gender than against their race. I wonder what it must be like for an *old Southern * African-American woman. Yet some manage it with such grace.
r4nd0mNumb3rs, Asian cultures and design are quite popular in the United States at present. I’m very sorry that you have been so disrespected. As the world gets smaller, I’m hoping that people will become more insightful and unified while continuing to celebrate diversity.
Salut
Yeah, I can second that. To the OP, I don’t mind throwing up an ‘Hallelujah’ to your righteous anger, but I guess I can’t get too worked up about stuff like this anymore. If you don’t want to experience blatant in-your-face racism, do not try to teach English in China, Korea, or Japan. I have, as a native English speaker with a TEFL and couple years experience, lost English-teaching jobs to random white Europeans who say stuff like “Who don’t like the football, eh?” in the style of a famous French skunk.
The most blatant racism I’ve experienced in America is someone saying “What’s the Chinaman doing here?” I was upset at the time, but now, after having to defend my American-ness and general ability to speak English countless times, it almost seems quaint.
Since when do two wrongs make a right? I will freely admit that Korea is extremely racist. Or perhaps a better term would be extremely nationalist - they just don’t like anyone who isn’t Korean. Yet I fail to see how this connects to the racism Asian Americans experience in the US. Asian Americans are just as American as the next white person - they were born and brought up in this country, and for many of us it’s the only home we’ve known. We have very little to do with the countries from which our parents and/or grandparents came from. Therefore, the irony of racist Asians complaining about racism is lost on us. So you can take your precious irony and shove it.
Yeah. This is one reason why I am very skeptical about such things as Affirmative Action and the like. Even the notion of state apologies for past wrongs has me wondering (but not questioning the wrong of the original events). I’m kinda fond of the idea of simply moving forward.
My heart goes out to you. Seriously. I am descended from people who are descended from people you are descended from. 
We are the red-headed step-children of race. It’s almost like we don’t count. We’ve been through waves of genocide. We’ve been slaves. We’ve been infected with diseases from gifts of charity. We’ve been corralled in reservations strewn across worthless desert land and swamps for more than a century. We’ve been made into cartoons and used as mascots. We live in a land named after one of our most vicious conquerors. A portrait of our people’s Hitler is on the twenty-dollar bill. And we have less political clout than PETA. I’m not saying you should count your blessings, but at least you’re not both discriminated against and invisible.
This is fascinating - at risk of hijack can you say more
- or start an Ask a USA South Korean about the North/South differences
Ditto.
Living in Korea I experienced things like the OP writes about pretty much all the time. I got a little annoyed at the “why do all foreigners smell bad” question, but only really pissed when I was refused service for being non-Korean.
Man, that’s messed up. You should have thrown one of your ninja stars at him.
How well do you know the guy ?
Is he a habitual dickhead ?
Was it really personal - by that I mean did he want to offend you ?
I’m not sure that your reply was that good, and suspect that you feel the same.
- probably a good thing as you could have given him a verbally crucifying reply
That Cho thing was just one maniac, the shocking thing is not that he did what he did, but that it was so untypical - call it ‘positive racism’
There is a parallel, IIRC a guy went nuts in the woods in Minnesota, he was IIRC Hong - a tribe/group/culture that lived on the Vietnamese borders who decided that the USA and S Vietnam were OK and had to scarper into IIRC Thailand - but eventually were (correctly) settled in the USA.
The astonishing thing was that a member of a highly regarded group could do something so atypical.
I would be interested in your answer to my three questions.
Oh because every Asian knows Karate?!
What is that supposed to be some kind of racist pun!!?
It’s not really our fault that you people are all so inscrutable, with your chopsticks and your “ching chong, ching chong” and your loving us long time, and whatnot. Try to have a little compassion!
Oh, don’t get me started on how Koreans treat Korean Americans in Korea, especially in the ESL sector. I’ve been paid shit and treated like shit while my fellow white co-workers get the royal treatment just because they’re white, which supposedly means their English is automatically better than mine and that they must be handled with kid gloves.
FRDE, what exactly would you like to know about N. Korea? I’m no expert - I just know about as much as the average South Korean would know.
Yeah. That’s just Wong, man.
Are you referring to Chai Vang , the Hmong fellow who killed the hunters? He was a Minnesota resident, but it happened in Wisconsin. Actually, it was a few miles down the highway from my family’s restaurant and we were all there when the ambulances went by. It’s left a pretty big mark on the community, too. Sadly, it’s made the racial tensions between the whites and the Hmong immigrants a lot worse.
Now the VT shooting has just reignited the racism of a lot of the locals. You wouldn’t believe some of the idiocy I’ve heard from some people. One real gem was a fellow showing off how “enlightened” he was by saying he’d “rather give a black guy a gun than an Asian.” :smack: Yeah, buddy. Thanks.
Crap comments like that don’t come as a surprise to me. Not when in this day and age we still have crap like the Hot 97 Tsunami song.
Complete stranger. He wasn’t joking, if that’s what you’re asking. So I guess the answer to the third question is ‘yes’. But even if he was joking, it doesn’t make it that much better.
Heh, I can see now why you married a 15 year old. You two must get along famously. 
Aw… Aren’t you darling? You must really popular at your grade school. Who’s a clever little boy? You are Turnip. You. Have a cookie. 
And those of you talking about your woes in S. Korea, how many of you speak Korean (fluently)? How many of you have plans to settle in Korea indefinitely? Oh wait, don’t answer that, I don’t give a shit. It has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Go start your own Pit thread.
I think you are being facetious, but just in case…