This is a delicate topic, and not politically correct. In this moving article, Chinese immigrant Ying Ma recounts how she and other Asians suffered from racial harassment at the hands of African Americans while she was growing up in Oakland, California. She claims that
– Is her description accurate?
– Is anti-Asian racism common in the inner city?
– What should be done about it?
– What is being done about it?
– Does the article exaggerate the problem?
– Does this problem deserve more pubicity?
december, I read the essay to which you linked in it’s entirety.
Is her description accurate?
I don’t know. I’ve never lived in a poor, inner-city neighborhood. I grew up in an upper-middle class neighborhood in downtown Baltimore. Although it was predominantly white, other nationalities were represented. The elementary school I attened was predominantly white and in a working-class neighborhood. The white students there who engaged in racist behavior directed it anyone who wasn’t white, including Asian people.
Is anti-Asian racism common in the inner city?
I couldn’t find any information but I only performed a cursory search.
What should be done about it?
Awareness is key. If this problem is as widespread as the author of the essay claims, it needs to be brought to light.
Does the article exaggerate the problem?
More information is needed before a determination can be made.
Does this problem deserve more publicity?
Anytime a group of people is being treated as described in the essay at the hands of another group of people, yes, the problem deserves more publicity.
I was struck by how few sources I could find supporting Ying Ma’s thesis. Either the problem is less widespread than she claims, or it truly “dare not speak its name.”
Humans are tribal and hierarchical. Any group of humans will attempt to subjugate (in some fashion) others not in their group. Minorities in a population (whatever the characteristic being noted to determine the distinction) in many cases are the victims of this as they are more likely to be less powerful as a group.
It’s ironic that our discrimination of others shows how similar we all are.
december:
see the movie “do the right thing”
i usually trust spike lee to depict, in a reasonably responsible way, a slice of african american life with an afrocentric voice.
there is a scene in the movie where 3 african american men discuss this very topic. (now that i remember it, there is more interaction there too-anyway, it’s a good movie)
keep in mind, Just because someone is a minority and has been subject to discrimination doesn’t mean they are less prone to racism
in fact, they are probably more likely to be racist and act out of bigotry
nietzche stated “that which does not kill us makes us stronger”
that’s a load of crap (like most things he said)
that which does not kill us, hurts, and when we are hurt, we are at our worst in terms of social skills.
I am personally of the opinion that any group is usually intolerant of those different to themselves. I extend this past race, into religion, gender, size, interests etc. There are many different reasons for this - some stem from feelings of superiority, some from inferiority (as a way of fighting back) to name just a couple.
Although I can’t cite any examples (other than personal experience - as a white guy I have suffered racsim from blacks which is another subject often not talked about) I am quite prepared to believe that African Americans could be racist towards Asians, but also that it could well flow the other way.
I’m not of asian descent, but friends of mine who are have told me that they face quite a lot of discrimination at the hands of people from all sorts of ethinicities. Short of evidence that some sort “black racism” epidemic exists, intolerance is intolerance and ought to be treated as such.
Whatever points are valid or exaggerated in the essay, this statement is simply wrong. Aside from the followers of Louis Farrakhan and a few others, I know of no sizable group that believes that blacks are not capable of racism. People are people and most of us recognize (as Sgt. J, greck, and Izzardesque have noted) that no group of people is somehow free from the temptation to behave in xenophobic fashion.
(There was a thread in the last couple of months in which a poster stated the thesis that the oppressed could never be guilty of racism and I remember that her arguments were flayed pretty thoroughly by people across the political spectrum.)
In Asia, there are definately attitudes towards African-Americans considered quite normal and sensible that hark back to what we might expect in the South 70 years ago. It’s a little scary. But then, there’s racism in Asia among various groups (Japanese vs Koreans, Chinese vs everyone else, Japanese vs tiny minority totally indistiguishable from other Japanese by outsiders)
In the U.S., I think everyone knows that there are tensions between African American and Asian communities in SOME places. But I don’t think it’s as much as a generalized thing.
The song is in response to what Ice Cube (and others) percieved as Korean racism. Specifically the charge was that young black males were routinely treated poorly in Korean-owned stores in the inner city (e.g. that they were followed to make sure they weren’t stealing anything). As for how true either side is, I couldn’t say.
Actually, Tom, because they redefine racism as "having the power to discriminate, a large segment of the African American population believes that blacks cannot be racist. I agree it’s nonsense; racism is hating people because of the color of their skin and everybody gets to play that, but the idea is still there.
It doesn’t really matter what race someone is - every single person on Earth is capable of being a racist. I’ve seen, first hand, many racist people from dozens of ‘races’. I confronted a couple of these racists that I knew, and they basically tried to turn it around on my by claiming I was racist for even contemplating that they were racist. :rolleyes: