From: mps1@cec1.wustl.edu (Mihir Pramod Shah)
Subject: Re: Chinese racism towards Blacks
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 07:54:49 GMT

Bo,

	You don't know how pleased I am that you brought up this important
issue.  I have discussed this topic with MANY people, and I think it should be
brought into the open.
	I am a child of Indian immigrants, so we have some common thread,
namely that we are of Asian descent.  You seem to understand some of the
problems associated with Asian-Americans and Asians in America as it pertains
to racism, etc.
	You have put your finger right on the button.  Not ALL Asians are
racist, just as not all whites, blacks, hispanics, etc. are racists. Your tone
is very civilized and concilliatory.  You understand what needs to be done.
	Let me explore the background of so-called Asian racism.  While it is
not widespread since Asians are a very small minority, it is important because
of the tremendous rate of growth among Asians, especially from immigration.
	Most Asians come from homogenous backgroungs.  Their native nations had
little if any ethnic diversity.  Consequently, as you pointed out, 
Asians coming to America have some tendency to hook onto racial stereotypes and
misconceptions.  The example of India is a little more interesting, but some of
the results are the same.  In India, the races are more or less similar, but
there is a huge habit of labelling and stereotyping people of other religions,
castes, regions, languages, etc.  It is part of the ancient Indian culture, and
of course the caste system only exaserbated this problem.  Nonetheless, the
common denominator I see in Asian racism is lack of exposure to people of
different racial and cultural background.  This results in stereotyping of not
only blacks, but whites, hispanics, even other asians, etc.   
	The thing to keep in mind is that while Asian racism should be
corrected, its roots are understandable.  We must all work together to help
remedy this problem.  The children of Asian immigrants will probably learn to
be more open and tolerant.  This is promising, but we must be more active in
trying to combat racism.
	I will give you some examples of racism in my own experiences.  My
parents basically came here alone.  They were forced to interact with different
people and races.  Thus, my parents have a fairly open and tolerant view on
race.  My father's longest-serving employee happens to be black.  He is a very
loyal and respectful person.  On the other hand, some of my relatives who have
come here later have not had as open views.  They were more likely to be
shielded from reality, in part because now my father could help them and employ
them.  They did not have to see the "real" world.  There is nothing wrong with
this; in fact this is the secret to so many successful Asian families.  One
side effect, however, is the lack of exposure to other people. Consequently,
some of my relatives have made some rather racist comments in private.  They
are not racist people, but they have some very condescending views.
	
	I like to use the example of the LA Riots.  This is an excellent case
study in racial misunderstanding and distrust.  The problem we have here is
that certain, if not many, Korean shopkeepers had extremely different and
suspicious attitudes towards blacks.  Not all, but many.  We have discussed the
reasons behind this enough, so I won't say it again.  On the other side, there
are blacks who are do not fully understand the Koreans' situation.  Some of
them have theories that the government gave secret loans to them without
interest.  This is a common conspiracy theory that Asians are successful
because they are give secret preferential treatment.  We all know the real
reason is good old fashioned work ethics, moral/family values, and hard
efforts.  I won't go into the political debate over family values, for I do not
agree with the far-right-wing radical's definition of family values.
Nonetheless, here we had two groups who did not know enough about each other
enough, and the dynamite was just waiting to explode.
 
	I am sorry to say that although we must all do our best to help,
frankly there are some Asians who must clean up their act.

	Before I go further, I would like to point out that I am not bashing
Asians or Asian culture.  It is part of my heritage, and I would not want to
beat my cultural background to death over one issue.  As a U.S. born citizen, I
am very proud to be an American, but I also acknowledge my Asian roots.
Nonetheless, no culture is perfect.  We must work together to iron out those
problems and negative aspects.  We should emphasize good sides of our culture,
such as hard work, moral values, sacrifice, etc., but we most also fight
negative elements within our culture such as racism, sexism, suppressionmE
negative elements such as racism, sexism, suppression of individualism,
parental pressure, etc.

Peace...Mihir
         

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