From: jpak@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Jim Pak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Kennedys (was Re: Perceptions, Realities, Perceptions)
Date: 19 Aug 92 23:23:23 GMT
Reply-To: jpak@manute.sps.mot.com
Distribution: na
Organization: Motorola Inc.  Austin, Tx.

In article <78000@ut-emx.uucp> joe@astro.as.utexas.edu (Joe Wang) writes:
>In article <Bt562o.Gp4@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> lchsu@cayley.uwaterloo.ca (Leon Hsu) writes:
>>Nice how those immigrants were able to find their way into
>>the elite and become "the royal family of the USA". Say, you
>>don't think it might have been harder if they were black, or
>>yellow do ya? 
>
>Why should it have been?  

You're kidding, right?

I can't believe somebody even has to explain this.

I don't know a heck of a lot about the Kennedys, so some of my facts below may
be a bit spotty, but consider that:

1. A black man would not have gotten himself enough inside connections to
   make a killing from bootlegging during the Prohibition Era.  Remember,
   whites weren't exactly dying to cut Black people in on business in those
   days, legal or not.
2. His Black sons would not have been admitted into Harvard (then law school)
   growing up in the environment that almost all blacks were forced to grow
   up in those days.  He would have been discouraged at every turn from
   attending college, much less Harvard.  And how many blacks did Harvard
   admit during those days anyway?  No racist admissions policies going on
   then?  Repeat that whole scenario for law school.
3. Who's going to elect a Black Senator?  Certainly not Massachusetts in the
   '40s or '50s.
4. Without the political experience of being elected to Congress and serving,
   the Black JFK doesn't get elected President in 1960.  Hell, even if by
   some miracle he did get elected Senator, ain't no way in hell America is
   going to elect a Black President in 1960.  Hell, ain't no way in hell
   America will elect a Black President now.
5. Since the Black JFK didn't get elected President, that means Bobby doesn't
   become the Attorney General.  Hence, his experience as a Washington insider
   gets cut down, too.  The Black JFK's disastrous results at attempting the
   run for the Presidency in 1960 also means nobody is exactly rallying their
   support when Bobby wants to give it a shot in '68.
6. Therefore, there is no "name magic" associated with the Black Kennedys.
   Ol' Teddy is now no sure bet to win his Senatorial seat when he first runs,
   either.
7. Etc etc etc, no fame, no glory, no screwing Marilyn Monroe, no "royal
   family of the USA," nothing.  No assassinations either; that's one good
   thing out of all this.

You can pretty much repeat the above scenario for an Asian Kennedy family
too.  Ain't no way any Asian American person is going to be elected President
of the United States now, much less 30 years ago.  Ain't no way any Asian
person is going to be allowed to make any kind of significant money boot-
legging during the Prohibition.  Hell, ain't no guarantees any of those Asian
kids growing up in the 40s go to college, much less Harvard.  If the Kennedys
were the Kurosawas, "Papa Joe's kids" would have spent significant time in a
concentration camp, not going to Harvard and building careers for themselves.

And that's not even addressing the point made above, which is that you
expressed skepticism that it would have even been *harder* for a Black or
Asian family to do what the Kennedys did then, much less *impossible*.

If you feel otherwise, please spell out the realistic scenario that makes
it *equally easy* for a Black or Asian family to duplicate what the Kennedys
did, in the time period of American history we're talking about.

Jim