Wednesday, September 22, 2004
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Various Asians
M
y comments area for yesterday's post became a mini-forum concerning an Asian woman who obviously leans to the right. Michelle Malkin opposes affirmative action and has recently published a book that supports the policy of racial profiling against Arab/Muslim Americans using, and defends the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Well, I cannot agree with her, of course. I am for affirmative action for minorities, including Asians, as I do not think that mere numbers--especially those that simply reflect the demographics of a population--should be a criteria in determining eligibility for affirmative action. Affirmative action, as I understand it, aims to provide an avenue for those who have been disadvantaged into areas where they have been previously denied entrance. The most accessible example is education. I touched on this subject earlier concerning basketball. Some have suggested that whites on basketball teams are the minority and therefore deserve more credit, respect, whatever. I say, hogwash. I can't buy it. That would be tantamount to suggesting that whites are athletically inferior.
Is that true? How do we know this? Is there a physiological difference between races? Do blacks have better jumping muscles? If that's true, then the next step is to say that blacks have attributes that are superior, like dancing or rhythm. The only proof people have suggested are the numbers. Just look, they might suggest, there are simpy more and better black athletes.
Does that mean, then, that if there are more whites in another arena of society, say politics, for instance, does that mean that whites are politically more savvy? That they have more intelligence?
Numbers do not prove shit. There are disproportionately more Asians in college than any single ethnic group, but what the heck does that prove? That they are smarter? Hardly. It may reflect more determination, more drive. It may also suggest more opportunity. But it does NOT prove that we have reached some kind of equality in society where everyone is color blind and we all play on a level playing field.
We Asians have faced various forms of discrimination. Some overt, some covert. But experience it, we have. And so we continue to need the opportunities like affirmative action. It has nothing to do with getting a hand out. It is about being fair. About getting the opportunities to exapand and participate and contribute in society as equals. That day has not yet come.
But I swear, I pray that I will see that day come before I die.
Postscript: Don't get me wrong. I know that there are many righteous people of all colors out there. Since I am in education, I am surrounded by those who are truly color blind. But these enlightened people are too few in number.
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Comments (27)
eh color will always be an issue, unless you're an animal...then you're colorblind
I guess it's not the colour but the culture that comes along with the culture. It will always be an issue, even if the character in a book happens to be doing "good" you are still differentiating I guess.
I think affirmative action works in some ways and doesn't in others - much like everything else.
Whatever success Asian Americans may have achieved in academics or work, does not reflect the treatment that we get in society. We still have a ways to go and affirmative action is one of the tools that we can use to combat discrimination. Besides, dogs are superior to everyone anyway.
.... exhale....
I find it so funny that most of the people I hang out with are so left wing and I am such a right winger. Not as though I hang out with you or anything, but my point is that my friends I have now would probably agree with you, even though I don't. The good thing is that we all understand that just because we do not agree on some issues it does not mean that we cannot discuss them in a friendly manner. Affirmitive action. To me, it's admitting that we are weak and unable to succeed on our own. I don't want a job handed to me because of my race. I want it based on merit alone. Affirmitive action also means that we believe that people are inherently racist and unable to make an appropriate ethical decision without outside interference. This, to me, would be an insult.
Malkin supports the Japanese internment camps? No, not me. I'm not that off center. Innocent until proven guilty.
Argh! Michelle Malkin is a crazy woman.
Malkin, like many of the more extreme columnists I read, has me nodding in agreement sometimes, respectfully disagreeing in others, and just flat out disturbed on several occasions.
I'm mixed on affirmative action 'cause I'm sympathetic to both sides of the argument. As for interring the Japanese-Americans during World War II, I think that was a very bad thing.
I don't know who this Malkin person is.
but i know all of us have opinions and we are free to voice them. be it as a journalist or on xanga.
race is such a touchy issue that I don't really want to get into it here and offend anyone-of any race.
i just want to say I agree with you, that education is the best way to overcome ignorance.
peace out xox
I come to this site and I read about a professor of Japanese, and that's how I see you. I don't see you as a Japanese Professor. Even though you are, a persons ethnicity does not affect me in the slightest when meeting people, and never usually becomes an issue except for interesting conversation.
Does that make me colour blind?
Malkin is popularized because the ultra-conservative segment of society sees a lot of benefit in someone non-white saying the same things they do (pro-racial profiling, anti-affirmative action, hell even supporting Japanese internment). It allows obviously racist ideas to be cloaked in a non-racist shroud because someone who isn't white is saying it all.
It's bullshit, though. Racial profiling is racist for obvious reasons, it equates your race with your level of threat. Affirmative action is a more debatable subject, so I'll skip that. Japanese internment, as everyone should know, was obviously a racist policy--the very fact that Germans were not interned (despite there being more in the US, and just as much a threat from German spies) proves this.
But when an Asian comes along and says all this, he/she is bound to get popularized by the same ultra-conservatives who constantly try to (in vain) dissociate themselves from racism. Doesn't work because, as I said, a number of their ideas are founded on racist premises.
Extreme liberals have similar problems, but not to the same extent because plenty of the ideas which characterize them as 'extreme' just sound laughable to begin with. KF
Affirmative action is a step, but not a solution. Far from it. Affirmative action only addresses the problem from the surface, the same way the "integration movement" in the 60s only solved the problem on the surface. Look at the schools in the South. It's more segregated than ever. But I digress.
The main beef I have with AA is that it assumes that all minorities are being shafted on none of the whites are. Sure, the lower class minorities gain more opportunity, but the victims as a result are the lower class whites, not the middle class. Affirmative action aims to give more opportunities to minorities to level the playing field, but it strips away opportunities from those in the lower social ladder. This creates the same dilemma as in high schools where there is a complete separation of classes according to merit. So, those who are poor have less opportunity, therefore tend to stay poor. While the rich, stay rich.
Okay, I ranted too much. What I wanted to say was that affirmative action fails to address problems from a economic social status standpoint. It "gives equality" to the minorities, but takes away opportunities from the poor whites. That just doesn't sound like equality to me.
I usually don't make a second response, but Loogirl's reminded me of something...
Racism is definitely not confined to whites. I might've implied that in my post, but I definitely didn't mean it (now O-man, I know for a fact you're keenly aware of this). Loogirl's reply reminded me of how difficult a time I had finding a job in Japan--in fact, I never did get one in time before I had to leave the country.
I'd chalk it up to just bad luck, but the facts indicate otherwise. At Kokusai Center in Nagoya, I placed up two ads: the first had my picture. I got zero responses. The second did not have my picture. I got 5-6 reponses (unfortunately half of them declined when they found out I wasn't female). Never mind the fact that I can actually explain what the hell an auxiliary verb is and spell better than MS Word, folks see my face and assume a few things about my English ability.
Fortunately, in Japan, like in here, most folks are quite all right. Just the few that aren't irritate the hell out of me. KF