From: wdw@math2.sma.usna.navy.MIL (Wm. Douglas Withers -- math  FACULTY <wdw@sma.usna.navy.mil>)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Experiencing racism...
Date: 26 Jan 93 15:39:32 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: U.S. Naval Academy

In article <1jso5r$i9a@agate.berkeley.edu> ollie@ocf.berkeley.edu (Oliver Wang) writes:
>When it comes to discussing personal experiences of racism (or any other kind
>of discrimination for that matter) and relating that to a bigger societal
>discussion, keep in mind that just b/c you don't personally experience some-
>thing doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
>
>I've heard too many people claim that "This place isn't racist...why, I'm a 
>person of color and I've never been a victim of racism."  Good for them.  How-
>ever, just because YOU don't THINK you've been affected doesn't mean that 
>it doesn't exist.

I agree with these statements as far as they go.  However, it's interesting
that different people living in the same place can have such radically
different experiences with racism.  I have in mind a particular friend of
mine who is Chinese-American and grew up in Baltimore.  Her views on politics
and such were significantly different from mine and we used to have interesting
intellectual arguments.  Her husband is European-American; several times she
has made remarks indicating that she views interracial marriage as sort of
a heroic struggle in the racist environment.  Several times she told me
what a burden it was having an interracial marriage; each time I reminded
her that I have an interracial marriage, too.

This is for me a fascinating contrast:  I have been married for twelve years
and I cannot remember in that time being a target of a racist remark or
action even once.  (*Technical exceptions noted below.)  Not even of the
people-look-at-us-funny-when-we-hold-hands variety.  And we've spent much
of our married life in the Deep South.

How can such a contrast exist.  I don't know, but I do know that I never
considered the possibility of being a victim of racism uring courtship
or thereafter.  It never occurred to me that anyone might show resentment
at my choice of spouse and, oddly, enough, no one ever has.

It is tempting to generalize from my own experience and believe that racism in
the USA is a thing of the past; I resist.  However, my own experience does
make me dubious of claims that racism is omnipresent and unavoidable.

>But when a person says,
>"I was discriminated against" or "I was raped" or something of the like...it
>seems that the initial reaction is to automatically become defensive and claim
>"Well, actually, according to Webster's you weren't...whatever."  Is it so
>hard for us to believe things that go against the status quo?

I agree absolutely.  It's ridiculous how defensive some people become.  I
haven't noticed that this is limited to one particular ethnic group, though.

>Those of you who are college age or older probably
>received around 12 years of American acculturation where you learned that this
>is the greatest country in the known universe and that there's nothing really
>all that wrong with it.

I have a different explanation for the reason behind this defensiveness.  One
factor to consider is (as in my own case) the individual may have little
direct experience of racism.  Another, more sinister, factor at work is that
people take it personally when a member of their own ethnic group is
accused of wrongdoing.  This shows an unhealthy tendency to overemphasize
ethnicity in one's view of onesself (Someone said recently in this group
that a strong ethnic identity is good.  I disagree.)

>But try to expand your mind a bit.  Open it up.  There is a wholel of sh*t
>that goes down everyday, everywhere.  And things like Rodney King and the
>like are not anomalies...they are not aberrations...they are not outliers.
>Discrimination of all forms are the rule not the exception.

Specifics please.  I've seen many people claim to be victims of racism.
With some of them, it turns out they mean they were beaten by the police.
With others, it turns out they mean they can't get a date.  It is difficult
to respond constructively to a general comment like "This place is so racist."
I find accounts of specific incidents such as provided by Clare Chu and
Judy Tseng to be much more meaningful.  

>Think about it...and I mean THINK, don't just react to what you've been condit-
>ioned with.  Are you person or a parrot?

Actually...I think there are parrots to be found on both sides of the
ideological fence.

(*Okay...the exceptions.  Two things come to mind.  One phenomenon I have
noticed is considered by some to be a form of oppression but does not
bother me.  I refer to the how-come-I-never-see-people-like-me-on-TV-or-in-
the-movies phenomenon.  The mass media depict interracial relationships
infrequently, and when they do they are almost always presented as heroic
or extraordinary in character.  The other exception is the racist invective
that zips around on the net [and to which no group of people seems to be
immune].  But I come to the net by choice.)



-- 
Els Withers                   email: wdw@math2.sma.usna.navy.mil
Department of Mathematics     phone: (410)267-3192 / fax: (410)267-4883
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD  21402-5002     Senri no tabi mo ippo yori...
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american