From: jimmy@clipper.ingr.com (Jimmy Blair)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Keeping in mind that this is AmeriKKKa
Date: 29 Jul 92 01:19:58 GMT
Organization: Intergraph Advanced Processor Division - Palo Alto, CA

In article <14fq65INNj0p@agate.berkeley.edu>, judyy@ocf.berkeley.edu (Judy Y. Tseng) writes:
> Gary Tse writes under Asian-Am/African Am relationships:
> >There are
> >few decisions so personally important and so revealing of one's values
> >and judgement as that involving the choice of a mate.  Compared to
> >this, the daily social and professional decisions a person makes are
> >trifles.  So it seems rather perverse to me that people would rail
> >against racial preference in the relatively trivial realms of work and
> >play, and then claim with forthrightness that it is acceptable to be 
> >racially discriminating in the much more important arena of love and 
> >marriage.  I would think that a person who claims to be fair in his
> >social and professional dealings but is racially discriminating in 
> >matters much closer to his heart smacks of the worst sort of hyprocrisy.
> >
> >-- 
> >Gary Tse 	     tse@Apple.COM || tse@soda.Berkeley.EDU 	 (408) 862-5452
> >"What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven?"
> 
> Gary, I'd like to reiterate my reasoning in claiming that marriages between
> two people of ethnic minority groups are better politically than marriages
> between a non-white and a white person.
> 
> 1. Asian Americans are not White.
> 
> 2. The mainstream political, legal, and academic systems, as well as the
>     media, in the USA is heavily controlled by Whites.
> 
> 3. Most of the dominant society are oblivious to issues that concern 
>    non-Whites.
>    Even if they ARE aware of the racism that goes on, the majority of them
>    hold no personal ties to the struggle for racial equality.
> 
> 4. There exists prejudice in the mainstream political, legal, academic systems
>     and the media, a prejudice often only White people can escape.
> 
> 5. There is power in numbers. With sheer numbers, we can turn the tide. For
>     example, the presidential candidates are much more sensitive to African
>     Americans because they, as a united group, can sway the election. In our
>     corner, Asian Americans make up 10% of California's population, but only
>     2% of the state's registered voters.
> 
> 6. Asian Americans, as well as non-Whites in general, do not have the
>     influence that comes with size and unity.
> 
> 7. Chances are that the children of Asian-White couples do not wholly identify
>      as being Asian American. Many can easily melt into the pot of White
>      America. Is this good? Yes, say the out-marrying Asian Americans. But it
>      means another step backwards for non-Whites, specifically Asian
>      Americans.
> 
> 8. Spouse aside, you don't have kids with your friends and co-workers.
> 
> 9. Therefore, outmarrying spells political doom for non-White Americans, as if 
>     we aren't powerless enough already. 
>    
>       I'm all for having friends and co-workers of different backgrounds/
> ethnicities/genders/etc. But until this society becomes truly equal, I think
> it is better to stay away from the rice-meets-bread fever. By doing these
> things, we are gradually gaining our rights as a group. 
> 
>       Judy Y. Tseng
>       judyy@ocf.berkeley.edu
> 
> 
>  


	Many of your enumerated points are valid, perhaps most, but I
	wonder why you feel the need to "gain rights as a group".  
	The social evils that African-Americans feel oppressed by
	don't apply to Asian-Americans. For example, unequal access
	to education -- step onto any UC campus; unequal access to significant
	employment -- look into any computer company in Silicon Valley;
	unequal housing -- I bought a house in Daly City BECAUSE the
	community is predominantly Asian-American. 
	   Do you really feel so powerless that even your decision
	decision about who to marry must be political?  The result 
	after several generations would be the creation of a
	subculture that is about as Asian as blacks are African.
	Subcultural isolation does have some benefits, however, for example
	BET (that's Black Entertainment Television) which is the source of
	all the cool moves in Cardio-Funk Aerobics 8-).
	
	
	-- Jimmy Blair ( Scotch-Irish-Dutch-French-Italian-ge )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american