From: maridai@ecs.comm.mot.com (Marida Ignacio)
Subject: Re: Asian <> Asian-American
Organization: Motorola Land Mobile Products Sector
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 15:47:31 GMT

|From Article 9292 in scaa ajh@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Alan Hu) writes:
|
|Another confusion is the definition of Asian vs. Asian-American.  For
|most people in this group, Marida is Asian-American, since she(? I'm guessing
|from the name) is an American (citizen or PR, right?) of Asian ancestry.
 
My name is my real Filipino birth name.  "Mari"-from Maria; "da"-from David,
which are my mother and fathers name, respectively.  Nothing more, nothing less. 
I have permanent residency here for 3 yrs. now and I am not planning to change
my name whatsoever until the time of marriage where I would get my
husband's last name for my last name.

|Denying the existence of racism doesn't make it go away.  Indeed, this
|kind of attitude permitted 120,000 Americans to lose their homes, businesses
|and jobs as they got locked up in desert prison camps for the crime of
|haveing Japanese ancestry.  You may decide that ignoring racism is the
|best coping strategy for yourself, and I repect that decision, but please
|don't fight against your brothers and sisters who have decided that fighting
|racism is a better strategy.
|

The whole point is not denial.  I know evil exists in the whole world.
I do not try to fight it directly by putting it to trial (it wants this even
more for me to waste time with it.  Remember the trial of Jesus by the evil?).  
It might well be ignoring it and doing my best to work on the *bright* side.  
This means *accentuating* the positives even if there are negatives roaming 
around.  Pretty soon, the positive just simply overruns the negative.  I'd 
rather not use the term *fight*.   I just use *determined* and I tell you I can 
be very stubborn when I am *determined*.  I find determination is more *stronger* 
and *effective* than the violent term which, for me, is *fighting*.

What I am saying is be smart and leeway around direct fighting.  Instead,
of putting my fist in front and ask for a *challenge* or an uproar, I extended 
my right hand and say, "Let's deal", shaking hands with a so-called opponent 
if there ever is.

|In every sense of the
|word, we are red-blooded, full-bodied, real, live, honest-to-God
|AMERICANS, with ALL the rights and responsibilities thereunto appertaining.
|Yet, from the moment of our birth, we are told, thanks to our genes,
|that we are second-rate foreigners who don't belong here, that we're
|worthless, that we're not REAL Americans.  We bust our buns trying to
|carve out a piece of existence in the only country we know, trying to
|fit in, trying to establish our lives here, only to be constantly reminded 
|that with a quick change in political wind, we can get our jobs taken away,
|our homes burned, and ourselves beaten to death, just because of our genes.
|And then we turn around and a bunch of Asians kick us in the face for
|being banana-Twinkie-hollow-bamboo-worthless-sellout-scum-traitors-who-
|can't-even-speak-Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese/Tagalog/etc.
|
|It hurts.
                                                                      
Doesn't every Asian at some point experience this or ANY *human being*,
for that matter, experience this?  You know there are nerdy, geeky,
white Americans too, right?  They too get their share of *kicking*.
Don't some older brothers to younger brothers do this?  Don't some older
sisters to younger sisters do this?  Doesn't brutality exist in some
homes, whether or not it were Western or Asians?

What do you want from me?  To *fight* for all of these?
Isn't it that there is this primitive instinct in human nature to be
violent at times?  Some keep it hidden and perhaps, reserved while
others keep waving it around to everybody.  
Ok, some may come up with certain statistics again conveying, there are
more of this in the West than in the East, etc...So?  There it is again.
*Emphasing the negativeness of the West.*
Do want me to not trust anybody and be defensive at all times?  Do you want 
me to learn self-defense because out in the world there is violence?
Do you want me to buy a gun so I can be ready for any attacker?  Do you
want *innocent* kids to always think somebody can *kick* them at school
and so they have to carry guns?  Do you want me to always be afraid of 
life?

I'd rather be more *innocent*, open-minded and relaxed and smart and share 
more positiveness instead of negativeness though I know very well that it
exists.  (Note: I would not even get into any where near violence if I 
knew where it is.  If I encountered it in my family, I'll stop it right 
on its tracks and make sure it does not pass my way again.)

If you think demanding to be treated as Real Americans(tm) is positive to
you, I respect that.  It's just that it may take you *longer* to accomplish 
this (and with it there will be a lot of hurt and rejection), than if I go my 
way and live my life to the fullest and happiest being positively as I am
(not an American) without too much demanding.  This is what I would emphasize 
to my descendants.

***Demanding you be treated as Real Americans(tm) *emphasizes* that there exists
this "Real Americans" boundary and in turn causes division.  You are actually
SIDING with this "Real Americans" like a sorority or a fraternity and thus
*accentuating* a certain elitist group and thus, contributes to division AGAIN
(and again...and again).  This, to me, is very, very negative... You see, I'd try 
to look at the consequences of my efforts, if I were you.  Unless you haven't 
looked that far yet...(how about emphasizing residents of America? together with
native rats, squirrels, etc. ;^), at least, there could be UNITY.)***







Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american