From: shaw@whopper.lcs.mit.edu (Andy Shaw)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Perceptions, Realities, Perceptions
Date: 23 Aug 92 07:07:03 GMT
	<my4mh-h.kemnitz@netcom.com> <SHAW.92Aug13001642@whopper.lcs.mit.edu>
	<1992Aug23.033859.23482@midway.uchicago.edu>
Organization: MIT Lab for Computer Science, Cambridge, Mass.

In article <1992Aug23.033859.23482@midway.uchicago.edu> sieh@quads.uchicago.edu (Xue) writes:
   >I think that to an extent, Asian-Americans have the same problem as Blacks
   >and Hispanics: we do not have the option of joining the majority as a full
   >member, simply because we will be discernable visually.  

   I think I detect an inconsistency. I understand your position that Asian 
   Americans should forge a strong separate identity in which the solidarity of
   Asian Americans can be more effective in combatting the repression of "Whites",
   the Majority [tm].  In the above it seems that if Asian Americans were not
   so visually discernable, it would be okay to "join" the majority because it
   would happen naturally?

Lui, you've written a well thought-out reply to my article, and I will
write an appropriate response to yours when I have more time.  At the
moment, I am desperately trying to collect the last of my data before I
leave Japan (where I am now, and have been for the last year) to return to
Boston to continue my graduate work.  For now, I'll just answer this one
point.

Frankly, if Asian Americans were not so visually discernable, it really
wouldn't matter if it would be "OK" to join the majority.  The simple fact
of the matter is that Asian Americans _would_ join the majority -- just as
the Irish, Italians, and Eastern and Southern Europeans have.  Debating
whether it would be "OK" or not would be pretty much academic.  No one
would listen anyway.

Would it be a betrayal of "people of color"?  Well, I suppose it would be a
betrayal to the extent that a second-generation Eastern or Southern
European kid is betraying the "people of color" by taking advantage of his
ability to look, sound, and act enough like the guys in power to get jobs,
promotions, and elected where a "person of color" would not be able to.
It's not exactly betrayal, just taking advantage of "special rights",
"special privileges", and "unfair advantages" that come with looking one
way instead of looking another way.

What I'm concerned about is getting my grubby little fingers on those
rights, privileges and advantages that any second-generation kid whose
parents immigrated from Lithuania has.  I've spent the majority of my life
trying to gain those rights, privileges and advantages by trying to "act
white" and "blend in", and I'm pretty cynical about the effectiveness of
that strategy -- it'll definitely get you _somewhere_, but it won't get you
all the way, and to an extent, like the "portray yourself as a victim"
strategy, it's kind of a demoralizing way to live your life -- i.e. by
living off the scraps of approval tossed to you as a "good white-acting
Asian", rather than living on your own terms, and having people seek _your_
approval.

Then again, it's a fine line between "living on scraps of approval" and
"gaining the rights, privileges, and advantages" -- for now, let's just say
I know the difference when I see it.

-Andy
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american