From: ajh@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Alan Hu)
Subject: Re: What does Arthur Hu mean to *me*
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 03:19:47 GMT

In article <1993Jan12.024819.9854@cbnewse.cb.att.com> ronaldd@cbnewse.cb.att.com (ronald.h.davis) writes:
>In article <1993Jan9.011721.28966@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> ajh@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Alan Hu) writes:
>>In article <1993Jan8.205613.568@cbnewse.cb.att.com> ronaldd@cbnewse.cb.att.com (ronald.h.davis) writes:
>>>In article <1993Jan8.140439.12779@nynexst.com> clare@nynexst.com (Clare Chu) writes:
>>	
>>	A second factor is post-1965 racial attitudes in this country.
>>	Whereas African Americans continued to be subjected to white
>>	racist hate, continually being portrayed as lazy, shiftless,
>>	stupid, violent, and criminal, Asian Americans were subjected
>>	to white racist love, elevated to Model Minority status as
>>	the "good" minority -- hard-working, quiet, obedient, politically
>>	apathetic, happy to be second-class citizens, and "as long as
>>	all you gooks and chinks keep quiet and work hard, we won't
>>	treat you as bad as we treat the niggers".  This playing off
>>	of Asian Americans against African Americans continues to this
>>	day:  Look at the media coverage of the Rodney King verdict
>>	and the ensuing LA Rebellion.  What started as rage over
>>	institutionalized police brutality, in the form of white
>>	police officers beating a black motorist and being acquitted by
>>	an almost all-white jury, got converted by the media into
>>	a race war between Korean Americans (media stereotype: hard-working,
>>	quiet, racist foreigners) and African Americans (media stereotype:
>>	lazy, violent, criminals).
>>
>i agree with what you're saying but then i wonder how many asian/asian-americans
>see it the same way that you have explained above?  i think if i gave the gab
>you did to a group of asians, they might smile and nod but i doubt it would
>changes any minds.  then i look at the initiative in los angeles to form
>a coalition between asian-americans/african-americans and [last i heard]
>it failed.  i wish things weren't the way they are, but it's hard to know
>what to do about it.
>
>>
>
>-- 
>  __  ______  __  / __/ |       at&t bell laboratories, naperville il, usa
>_/ (_(_) / (_(_/_/_(_/  .       ronald@iexist.att.com / att!iexist!ronald
>"if you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes" -- edmund wilson

Yes, it's definitely easier for me to sit here and whine and pontificate
than it is for all of us to make any positive changes happen.

On the other hand, I think there's cause for hope.  I lot of Asian Americans,
especially the more politically-active, would, I think, agree with the
analysis above.  I've got some xeroxes here from some magazine called
"Pacific Ties", discussing the aftermath in LA.  The articles are all written
by people with Asian surnames, and all are calling for unity and improved
relations.  One article quotes visiting UCLA anthro prof Kye-Young Park:
"who is foremost in her extensive research on Black-Korean relations, and
she can tell you that the root cause for the rebellion lies in poverty
and unemployment."  The article goes on to discuss problems like underfunded
schools, discrimination faced by African Americans in getting business loans,
and so forth.

I'm certainly not denying that there's a lot of misunderstanding and
animosity between the Asian-American and African-American communities.
(I also have a xerox from the LA Times, in which Assistant Editor Elaine
Woo's response to the violence is essentially oh-my-god-I'm-so-scared-and-
I-hope-no-one-mistakes-me-for-Korean.  Grrr....)  I just think we've
got to be out there building bridges, rather than burning them.
					--Alan "I'm not Arthur" Hu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american