From: sedayao@sousa.intel.com (Jeff Sedayao)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Asian American communities (was Law of diminishing returns)
Date: 7 Apr 92 17:12:36 GMT
Reply-To: sedayao@chopin.intel.com
Organization: Intel - Information Technologies


Not sure if my original followup went out, so I am reposting a modified
version.

Andrew Chin writes:

> I'd like to get some views on the following propositions from around
> the country.

OK. 

> Proposition 1.  When there are too few AA's in a community, they have
> to face racial ignorance.  When there are too many AA's in a community,
> they are perceived as "taking over" and face racial intolerance.
> Therefore, there is an optimal percentage of the population at which
> AA's enjoy the best prospects of living without racism.

The first part about too few seems valid.  I never felt like I was 
treated like a foreigner until I went to school on the East Coast.
Driving through the Midwest was an experience, too.

There are some other reasons why a small number of AA's is
uncomfortable.  A small Asian American community will often be very
tight.  Everyone knows everyone else's business.  This can be very
annoying.  I remember when the community I came from went through that
phase.

The second part about too many is not necessarily true.  I grew up in
the Bay Area in an area that has an increasing percentage of Asian
Americans.  Asian Americans had also been around for a long time.  I
never had the feeling I was really different, and while there are
racial incidents, people were generally pretty tolerant.  The city I
lived in, Fremont, was about 19% AA in the 1990 census.  Some of the
wealthiest areas of the city are 30-50% AA.  Kristi Yamaguchi is from
Fremont.  When she returned after the Olypmics, she was welcomed as a
hometown girl made good, not as a hyphenated person.

The second part also seems to assume a certain model for Asian Americans
in a community.  The Chinatown type model often doesn't apply.  If you
drive through a city like Union City (here in the Bay Area) that is 
30-40% Asian, it is hard to notice that there are that many Asian
Americans living there.  Filipino Americans, who are the largest Asian
ethnic group in California, usually speak English when they arrive in
the US and tend not to set up small businesses.  They instead prefer
to work for others (the English skills help).  So an area with lots of
Filipinos will not have a lot of signs with Filipino on them, and you
might not notice that they are there.  "Natives" often find areas
with lots of non-English signs intimidating, a sign of an "invasion."
Also, many densely AA areas are suburban.

There are negatives for "too many."  Too much of anything becomes
annoying.  I would want to live in an area that was fairly diverse.
If the local restaurants were limited to a few types, I would not like
it.  

I would tend to agree that there is an optimal range, but it is much
wider than I think you had in mind.

> Proposition 2.  With the advent of Japan-bashing, this percentage
> has dropped sharply (to perhaps 2-3 percent).

Way too low.  At that range, you lose almost all of the benefits of
having a substantial AA community around.

> Given these propositions, is the Bay Area really such a great place
> for AA's?  College Station, Texas is not so good because of the first
> problem, but if I moved, I'd hate to be seen as part of an "Asian
> invasion."  Where are the best places for AA's to live now?

The biggest problems in the Bay Area, IMHO, are the high cost of living
and degradation of the environment from too much growth.  Racism
generated by "too many Asian Americans" is not the biggest problem.
While there are racial incidents, I say that the Bay Area is generally a
tolerant place (but very expensive).

I now live in part of the Bay Area (San Jose) that is about 35% Asian 
American).  It is very comfortable here.  Lots of good Asian restaurants
and only 10 minutes away from running trails.  We don't have skinheads
coming through protesting any kind of "invasion."  I only wish that I
could afford to buy a house here (now that's a big Bay Area problem!).

> -- 
> Andrew Chin    Dept. of Math.    Texas A&M U.    College Station, TX 77843
> achin@math.tamu.edu   Probably not TAMU's exact opinions.   (409) 845-1924
>                 * Fighting racism is not a special interest *



-- 
Jeff Sedayao
Intel Corporation
sedayao@chopin.intel.com
..!uunet!intelhf!chopin!sedayao
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american