From: jj@alice.att.com (jj, clueless old white boy)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Perceptions, Realities, Perceptions
Date: 16 Aug 92 05:34:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: alice.23461
Reply-To: jj@alice.UUCP (jj, clueless old white boy)
Organization: NJ State Home for Bewildered Terminals

In article <1992Aug14.123933.26538@nynexst.com> clare@nynexst.com (Clare Chu) writes:
>In article <23448@alice.att.com> jj@alice.UUCP (jj, clueless old white boy) writes:
>>In article <SHAW.92Aug13001642@whopper.lcs.mit.edu> shaw@whopper.lcs.mit.edu (Andy Shaw) writes:
>>not ever.  In a very real sense, I'm no more white than you are.

>  But JJ, you have a greater chance of marrying into it, than any
You have GOT to be kidding.  Clare, I'm sorry, but you know a great
deal about being Clare, but very little about being white.  You
stand a better chance of marrying into the white elite than I
do.  (As does any female.)  Yes, really.   I wouldn't get
past the "what is your family", "how much is in your trust fund",
and "which are you, a doctor or a lawyer" stage before I'd
be flying bodily out of the facilities.  In case its not
clear, I still occasionaly deal with this feces.

>  You can still dress up in a Brooks Brother tweed
>  suit, impersonate a London accent and get accepted to the smoking
>  clubs there, if you want. 
In your dreams.  In fact, I could fake up a London accent, but
they'd be very careful to find out who "daddy" was, why
I was where I was, where I was born, how much money was in
my trust fund, etc, etc.  You can guess how long I'd be permitted
to stick around.

In your dreams.

>  As for us, they'd spot us a mile
>  away and ask us for our passports or green cards.
Now, that's just as true, yes.  No arguments there.

>  But I heard that Marcus Allen (running back for the L.A.
>  Raiders) gets stopped by cops in his fancy sports car because
>  they think he's a drug dealer.  No matter how rich, famous,
You mean like the house dick used to follow me around
in Strauss-Hirshberg's in Ohio, stopping to tell me
that I was in the wrong store, I should go down the
hall to Sears, and that I really didn't belong there,
I didn't have enough money to shop there, did my daddy
know I was in Strauss's, I upset THEIR kind of person and
all that rot?   Well, yeah, drugs weren't in when I was a
teen aged kid, but nowdays that IS what they ask the likes of 
teen aged me in the store that took the place over.  Yeah, now, they
don't ask me.  Why? Because I have a wife and kid along,
and that makes me slightly better.  But, y'know, the
house dick still checks me out, dressed like what I
might wear to the zoo, when I go back there and I'm
alone.    Nowdays, he gets bored and leaves, and
he'd probably stick to Marcus Allen (whoever that is,
I hate football) like glue.  In other words, you
have a point, but you greatly overstate its magnitude.
>  So admit
>  it JJ, it is slightly easier for you to get into the elite
>  because you can "pass". 
Yeah, perhaps slightly, but the difference between
1e-6 and 1.00001e-6 is sorta meaningless. I can't pass
the "so, JJ, where were YOUR parents invested during the 
'39 crash" <say what?  in Republic Steel, getting
occupational diseases? Nah, that won't work> quiz.
You (yes, I'm sure of this) can pass much easier
because you're "not American" to them, and they don't
                 ^    ^^^^  Quotes of contempt.  I'm no more American to them,
                            just ask George Bush
EXPECT you to have a history of investment and (?in?)breeding
back to 1800.  Yes, really.  As a female, you have an enormous
advantage.  Now, as a male, you wouldn't.  (Then again,
I think you'd wrap a baby stroller around most such
available males within 5 minutes, but that's another
of their attitude problems I'm referring to now.)

>  It's harder for us to "pass".
True, for the first 2 minutes.  But only for the first
two minutes, unless you're proposing I should lie about it.

>  When Aussie and Irish holders of student visas can cross
>  the Canadian-U.S. border easier than native-born Asian
>  Americans (who must carry passport or birth certificate,
>  whereas the Aussie carries a Cornell I.D. because she
>  "forgot" her passport, but hey, no problem, we love your
>  accent anyway), then JJ, it is still easier for you to "pass".
Now, let's talk about the INS.  Please.  Just don't blame
ME for the INS.  When I'm travelling alone, I fit one of
their profiles, until I show my business card, too, so
tell me about it.  Yeah, I believe most anything you say about
the INS/Customs (unless it's good), but bear in mind that they're
not the average american citizen. 

Of course, you have the good ol' 'Merkin elite like Teddy
Chappaquiddick Kennedy to blame for some of that, what with
his skewing all the immigration bills (with the help of his
"good friend" Jeshee Helmsh, no I'm not making this up) toward
those poor Irish blokes so oppresed by the UK.  Now, 
I suspect that Helms' only interest is that they're white,
indeed.  Myself, I wonder about Kennedy's motivation very
much, too. And from a fellow Mick.  Humph.  At least I 
suppose it's comforting to know that it's not only
asians they discriminate against. <hey, do I really
need the sarcasm indicator there?>

So, you have a point.  A very, very minor point of
nearly diminishing practical effect, I think, but
a true point.

I repeat, *in*practice*, I'm no more "white" than
Andy, Clare, Jim, Gary, or probably Ed Hall, for
that matter. Ed- You  old money, Guy? :-)
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