Confronting Asian American Stereotypes, again

September 15, 2006

It happened for Melissa at the airport, but it could be anywhere, any time. The circumstances may not be the same, but the reasons behind it are if you’ve experienced it.

As Melissa was going through security, one of the TSA agents processing her said to another, “You have to say xie xie (thank you in Mandarin) to her.”

Oh, no you don’t was Melissa’s reaction to the agents, who then started getting on Mel’s case for being sassy. She didn’t want to make a scene in the airport and just wanted to get on her flight, so she let it go. But Melissa was pissed.

Why would someone just assume that she was Chinese or that she spoke Mandarin Chinese? Why would you make that leap just because of someone’s perceived race? She had a California driver’s license, not a Chinese passport? What gives?

She just got stereotyp’d.

Last night’s panel, Confronting Asian American Stereotypes, was at times an interesting discussion on a subject, that, if we weren’t still discussing it and the world was perfect, Hyphen and this Web site wouldn’t exist.

Part of the reason I chose journalism as a career and perhaps, for better or worse, part of what drives my personality is how I’ve been stereotyped by others and how I internalized those beliefs.

There were the many times that “ching chong” was thrown my way. There was the time the emergency room doctor treating my badly sprained thumb said, “Does it hurt? Oh, even if it did, you wouldn’t say anything, you’re Asian.” There was also the childhood spent in the rural California, where there were hardly any Asian Americans, always feeling different and unsure of myself.

This blog entry is starting to sound like therapy, as were some of the comments and questions audience members threw at Melissa and her fellow panelists, Nguyen Qui Duc of KQED radio, Asian American studies Professor Elaine Kim of UC Berkeley, Pueng Vongs of New America Media and Phil “Angry Asian Man” Yu.

One woman, who only came to the panel because her friend brought, complained that it seemed because she was Chinese and Asian, it was expected that she should behave a certain way, such as always using chopsticks when for her, sometimes it was just easier to put a fork into it.

One guy lamented the fact that news coverage of drug addiction seemed to gloss over the fact that substance abuse is a problem among Asian Americans.

“While I’m not advocating taking drugs to battle the model minority stereotype,” Pueng said, in perhaps the best line of the night, better coverage “does provide a fuller picture.”

A psychotherapist in the audience said that in her practice she’s found that identity issues are common among Asian Americans.

It’s a sentiment backed by Professor Kim, who said she’s met Koreans in Argentina, Japan and Kazakhstan who don’t seem to have the issues with identity that Koreans in the United States have. There’s something about the history of U.S. colonialism, racism and its wars in Asia that fuel this, I think.

We here in the San Francisco Bay Area like to revel in how diverse the population is, but Duc pointed out, and I believe it’s true, we segregate ourselves. Even at the panel, “there are no black members in the audience and maybe three who can pass for Latino,” Duc said. “We’re talking to ourselves.”

The media has a role in how stereotypes are formed. It doesn’t take a scientific study to see that there aren’t many realistic portrayals of Asian Americans in the entertainment or news media, which can feed stereotypes.

Phil started his blog and named it so it would be “an assault on the senses,” he said. What’s more in your face and breaks the “Asian American” mold, RegularAsianMan.com or ANGRYASIANMAN.COM?

I said earlier that the panel “was at times interesting” because I’ve been discussing and writing about this and similar subjects since I minored in Asian American Studies 15 years ago. That’s a long time, and quite frankly, there hasn’t been much positive movement. It’s the same conversation and story, over and over again. Asian Americans are still marginalized in ways big and small.

There’s no magic pill that makes stereotyping go away. When it comes down to it, Duc put it pretty well:

“We have to look at ourselves. When we see something we don’t like, we have to write that letter to the editor . . . We have to raise our voices.”

He was talking about poor news coverage, but I think the principle applies elsewhere. Asian Americans can’t let stereotyping bring them down, but it can’t be ignored either.

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

Bringing anthropology into this arguement too...leonard...where do you think israel is? I bet you would be astounded to realize (gasp) its in western asia!!!The orientalism complex as defined by eminent scholar, Edward Said, was developed in western europe in response to Ottoman encroachment, fear, and xenophobia. It was later applied to the rest of the asian continent as colonies became more and more profitable. So before you say the jews are to blame, remember to a large extent they are the other to the west, still, and the otherness that is applied to all of asia was initially a form of antisemitism (doesnt just mean anti-jewish either, all near-easterners are semites).Don't beleive me? Then read his book, titled Orientalism, you can get it at any reputable bookstore.
I don't think you should take alllooksame seriously. I found an interesting web site detailing the differences among east asian.http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=324&start=0This could be a direct rebuttle to the ALL LOOK SAME idea.
Haha. Asian Americans are not ASIANS. I HATE THEM. I'm an asian from ASIA so I am a pure ASIAN. How much do they fucking know about ASIA since they are BROUGHT Up in ASIA and ACT LIKE WHITE PEOPLE. THEY DON"T EVEN have their own CULTURE. What a piece of bullshit when they say, hey i'm asian, u're asian too, let's hug. Fuck you. I don't see you as an asian but a WHITE-washed piece of TRASH. NOt to mention about they always whine about other races criticize them and talk shit about them. HEY LOOK. You guys are the most RACIST. YOU GUYS ASIAN AMERICANS EVEN CRITICIZE their own kind - ASIANS from ASIA. So Where's the sense in it?
BabyK your post is very troubling, Cultures do change and meld into different forms whenever immigration is involved and even 2nd 3rd 4th etc. generation Asian Americans still have cultural markings of the old country together with appropriated cultural behaviors epistemologies... etc. from America.But the reason that banding together and starting a dialog (like Hyphen does) is important, even if the diaspora effects different people and groups on an individual basis, is that in everyday American culture all asians are (incorrectly) grouped together and stereotyped. To combat this and (hopefully) work towards a society with true equality is of tantamount importance. Hence, please lay off the judgement until you truelly understand the unique context of the diaspora and the exclusionist nature of American society.
Thanks, Craig, for setting BabyK straight!
Melissa Hung, and the writer of this article, get over yourself already... Jesus Christ! You've watched joy-luck club one too many times (you're the spoiled chick who takes the GOOD crab). So a TSA nigger makes joke at a chink. As if the spics, kykes, and gunnies would have given a rats ass? You write “How dare someone make assumptions about who I am”. Maybe the TSA agent got a really high score on alllooksame.com. But seriously, who the fuck are you to turn around and make that same presumption back at them? Who are you to decide what judgement other people 'should' and 'should not' be making? Who died and made you Queen of Judgment, Hector-Projector? You want to sit there and cower in your asian community and your asian magazine and your asian films and your asian website, and then turn your nose up at anyone who should make a judgment on your ethnicity. You are what the world of self-aware people call a first class ‘hypocrite’.Racial slurs are WORDS people. All you brainwashed idiots need to get off your high horse and take the ass beating you never got. It's that bullshit, anti-free speech sensitivity training classes all your racist schools and corporate employers are making you take that’s turning you into such nagging sourpusses.It might do you some good to actually STUDY or even EXPERIENCE your asian culture if you want to play the shakespearian VICTIM (even Othello wasn't a whiney bitch). A Zen master would have said 'thank you', smiled, and gotten on the plane, going about his buddha business, appreciating the short and only life he will ever have.To top it off, TSA folks are the bottom of the barrel on the social hierarchy. Are you beneath them? If not, then why do you even care? Who else on earth are you going to hire to sit around eating Fritos while monitoring a human factory production line (folks going through the conveyer belt like canned goods...). This ain't the movies people - there's no excitement at airports. If you are offended by what dem TSA folks has gots ta say, you have serious self-worth issues. Do you think the Lords and Barons of old gave a flying fuck about what the peasants were saying?As for an Asian identity crisis: that sound’s like a personal problem. If the fact that all the orients actually ‘get along’ in Amerika, while their parents still all hate each other, is your identity crisis, I would actually say that’s a very good thing you dumb-ass. Or are you talking about the new wave of Thai Sushi restaurants?And now you’re complaining about Asian portrayals in the news?? Jesus, it’s false NEWS reports that propelled the United States of Amerikafka back into the friggin’ Cold War (the ‘War on Terror’, I think they’re calling it now… a silly but effective name). And you’re sittin’ here bitchin’ ‘bout how the media portrays, of all people, Asians??? Holy Christ! You really are on a roll with the most comparatively trivial of problems. Next you’ll be crying because an ant crossed your path.On top of that, while I am sure the TSA folk was just trying to make ‘lite’, you took it WAY overboard, outside of any racial intention. You’re probably an all-out hypocrite as well, making asian fun with other Asians, and then getting all upset when a non-asian does the same thing (I bet you laugh at Margaret Cho). Do the world a favor and don’t confuse your own issues with Asian American issues. You're just another American Feminist Borderline-Disorder Bitch. You're not Asian. You’re just another cunt who needs to stop paying so much (or having your employer pay so much) money for worthless psycho-therapy sessions. Get over yourself, please.Look, I don’t mean to be a complete dick, but everytime you look at yourself in the mirror, think about this and don’t ever forget it: When that TSA agent said "che che", you had two options:1) Get upset.2) Say “Boh-kuh-chee”
I think that if they are having issues with marginalization of Asian Americans in San Francisco, they should come down to San Diego to have a look around to put things into perspective. The Bay Area would seem like a paradise for Asian Americans compared to San Diego. I can't help feeling marginalized and unwelcomed (maybe only tolerated) in almost all areas of society here - in the corporate world, in social gatherings (unless the attendees are overwhelmingly older Asians), in the dating scene and night life, even in some so-called Asian organizations. I think we have a long way to go for things to improve in Asian America. Our best bet may be to look to China or other up-and-coming Asian countries for a better way of life in the near future.
Hoo-dafah Kares:Stop whining about free speech.You got your panties in a bunch for some incomprehendable personal reason when Melissa got upset. Your whole post was a big whine telling us to shut up. Deal with our speech.Hypocrite.
Racial slurs are not just words, they are ideas. They are part of the fabrique of society that makes up the horribly flawed and biased world that we live in.So Hoo-dafah Kares, before you go off spouting that hateful verbal diarrhea maybe you should look into the some of the striking problems in your arguement.For instance if you are going to argue from a linguistic perspective maybe you should explore linguistic reductionism and post-modernism to show how linguistics shape our world, or our epistemology, if you will. The later Wittgenstein is good place to start.
The security guard was probably flirting. Asian women have it easy compared to SAMs, believe me. 'Xie xie' is tame compared to the ching chong, small penis jokes we men get. Although, that doesn't make it right, I know.I would argue that most AA blogs/websites are NOT interactive enough to make a super difference. Writing articles is great, but it doesn't provide a place for AAs to share their experiences, and have commentary by others. That provides therapy and support which AAs DESPERATELY need. That's why we're different at www.singleasianmale.com (Shameless self-plug). I don't think AAs can contribute to America and be relevant until we figure out our own issues at home, and our unique AA hangups. We try to provide a place for that, and we have a great active community so far. All therapy starts from conditions at home.I think the problem with the AA movement is that we yell bloody murder when we are stereotyped, but we don't fight back like other ethnic groups. We aren't unified. Further, culturally AAs are too nice, polite, and too politically correct. If you read all the literature on the web, it's SO formal and academic. You need to talk a language that younger AAs can relate to. A language that doesn't hold back, that is open and honest and real. I've heard a lot of arguments that we shouldn't act white, and shouldn't be so aggressive, and that we should humbly go about our cause. I don't know if that works in this white male dominated society. AAs like to avoid a fight, but I think it's almost necessary to improve our situation.
did the topic of how AAs discriminate against other non-whites come up?why do you think there were no blacks in the audience?i think one of those identity problems is the belief that some asians have that they are "white once removed" or white-lyte.
What I don't understand is, how can you have a panel that claims to address "racially motivated harassment, discrimination, and violence" against APAs and not have a single South Asian on the panel? What's that about?
Sheila, I don't think that is an issue, personally. Sure, you want a rep from your region or country, but you have to think broader than that. Asians are Asians, regardless if you're Korean or Vietnamese or Sri Lankan.I think a lot of the clues of AA issues will come with more psychoanalysis of AAs and the influences of culture and traditional upbringing. I do believe that white society is keeping us down to a certain extent, but I also believe that a lot of our hangups are due to our own upbringing. For example, one reason why there are fewer Asians in management or the arts is because many of us were taught to be quiet and keep our heads down and work hard. Most parents want their kids to succeed in high paying jobs, and don't want their kids doing risky acting or music, and that's why were not represented in the media. Trends like these need to be analyzed and written about so AAs can check themselves, and see if they are being NEGATIVELY influenced by their parents and culture. People say they are proud of their parents and Asian culture, but we need to realize that nothing is perfect, and we should filter out the aspects which do not work over here in the US or Canada. That's what were trying to do on our site.www.singleasianmale.com
"Sure, you want a rep from YOUR region or country..."I'm American, thank you very much. Why do you assume that I'm from south asia?"but you have to think broader than that. Asians are Asians.."So if Asia Society had the same panel on the APA experience but only asked Indian and Sri Lankan Americans to speak, and didn't think twice about asking any Chinese or Korean Americans to participate, you're saying you'd be a-okay with that? I don't think so.
i agree with sheila. no one is saying that there aren't cultural similarities between asian-american groups. BUT, major differences DO arise in how these groups get treated, especially when it comes to harassment and discrimination after 9/11. i'm sorry, but a south asian person is much more likely to get stereotyped and treated as a terrorist than a chinese american or even an indonesian muslim. there are statistics to back this up. let's get current with the times and not go along with this typical asian american studies bullshit from the 80s about "me love you long time" and almond eyes - these are important topics, but so are the illegal detainment and deportation of americans of south asian descent.now before you flame me, take note that i am a third-generation japanese-american. i would feel offended too if some API group held a panel on "asians in detainment camps" and didn't invite any japanese americans and south asians (hello, history repeating itself)."reflectiveSAM" brings up the topic of asian men having small penises...this, for example, is a topic where having many chinese-americans and korean-americans on board would make sense. it wouldn't make sense to have major south asian representation on this panel b/c the stereotype just doesn't imply.people, you have to think these things through...otherwise it's the same old shit.and ReflectiveSAM, regarding asians in management and east v. west values - come ON, these topics have been talked about to death. but i understand if you want to stay in this realm; it's relatively safe and uncontroversial. by the way, it's also untrue in many regards: there are tons of asian american designers in the fashion industry - this is an art, no? it's also a very risky business - didn't stop tons of asians from overcoming their "negative" asian american upbringings to pursue it, right?
i think there is a distinct difference in the perception of south asians ('darker' asians) than east asians. i think this difference is more pronounced in the asian community than even in the non-asian community. i also think that while many on this site say all the right things, they know that this distinction; this bias agianst darker hues is real and very robust and needs to be addressed internally. And Candace, what's with this 'small penis issue\must include chinese and koreans, but doesn't apply to south asians' comment? are you trying to share some sort of empirical evidence gathered by 'field investigation'? ;-)Hey SAM, what is the 'acting white' issue that you brought up? is it a positive or a negative? what is 'white' behaviour versus 'not white' behaviour?also, i noticed that you all skipped over the earlier post touching upon AA discrimination against other minorities. Why?
a questioner.Great Points.
i agree with sheila: why wasn't there a south asian on the panel? glaring ommission. we talk about pan aa diversity and being unified, yet other kinds of asians are not included? that's a problem with a lot of so called pan aa orgs.and about aas discriminating againt other minorities, this is so true. so many asians are racist too.
so how do you address both internal\intergroup bias and the disdain too often expressed for other black\brown\beige folks? how do you counteract the "wanna-be white" mentality\perception?
Why is this Melissa Hung so self hating. Why the aversion of being called asian or being talked to in an asian language. I was born and raised in america, but korean by race. I acknowlege i'm korean because i am korean. Asian women are pathetic because they have no independent of thought or morality or character. They are the whore of white men and so willing. But they are not the only ones to blame. Jew/white run media has successfully made all asian women hate asian Jews are evil people. Now you know.www.kornicopia.com
thats a pretty deep comment
Did I say I didn't want to be Asian? Did I say I didn't want to acknowledge my ethnic background? No, I did not. I identify as Asian American. In case you haven’t noticed, I edit an Asian American magazine. I run an Asian American film festival. Check your facts first.The problem I have is with people making assumptions about me based on the way I look. That is a slippery slope. To make assumptions about people based on HOW THEY LOOK. How does someone know what my ethnic background is just by looking at me? They cannot. How can they know how I was raised? What languages I speak? They cannot. And yet people come up to me all the time trying to speak various languages based on the way I look. It’s not only annoying. It’s presumptuous. And rude. How dare someone make assumptions about who I am, what my customs are, how I live, without even asking me about it first.The problem in this country, where Asians are concerned, is that we are perceived as foreigners, perpetually, no longer how long we have been here. No matter how long our families have been here. This put us in a very precarious state.Asian women are pathetic? I think Asian men who write in anonymously with mysoginistic and racist comments are pathetic.
Its getting hot in here
LOL, a click to kornicopia dude's site has 2 ads for online gambling and poker, its a gimmick