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More stuff from the floppy disks. From a much longer essay I wrote a long time ago. I noted with some interest that I use the terms “non-white” and “minority” here–which I rarely use now.
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… Although Nancy and I … are both as culturally American as Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup and Wonder Bread, and share a common upbringing and lifestyle that is the foundation of our friendship, one crucial difference separates us: Every day of her life, she walks around as a white person. Every day of my life, I am reminded I am not white, and sometimes I am treated differently for one reason alone.
That day, as we talked, it suddenly occurred to me that Nancy saw racist incidents like these as isolated acts committed by a few bad individuals. Racism did not touch her life. She was occasionally forced to look at it, but she would never feel it. I saw racism as ingrained within our society; I see and feel its evidence every day of my life. Read the rest of this entry »
… that the officiant at Jenna Bush’s wedding was Kirbyjon Caldwell?
Maybe the world catches up to what you’ve been saying. Maybe not.
And I come by here to say that America too is going to Hell, if we don’t use her wealth. If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty, to make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to Hell. Read the rest of this entry »
Okay, I realize you want to be an ally to people of color. Really, I try very hard to extend some empathy to some of you. And I know I talk a lot about race and racism, and I might quite possibly be the only person of color you know.
But I can’t do your work any more. I used to. You would call and ask long questions and I would help you. I would give you references, I would loan you books, I would spend lots of time writing e-mail with helpful suggestions. And then what?
YOU NEVER FUCKING BOTHERED TO TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED OR WHETHER YOU EVEN IMPLEMENTED ANY OF MY SUGGESTIONS!
Yah, I’m done.
Filed under: Famous Last Words
This story is by a white man whose white wife was brutally raped by an African American man. He wrote about his struggle not to racialize this single act:
There are large violent acts, I have written elsewhere, but no large healing acts. The work of healing is a matter of small acts of attention and care sustained over time. Is this perhaps among the things Dr. King tried to teach us by his insistence on nonviolence in theory and practice? A commitment to nonviolence constantly forces you back to the bedrock realization that structures of inequality and exclusion are enforced by particular blows to particular bodies inflicted by particular hands. And it challenges you to seize the occasions for resisting violence that are all around you. In mysterious ways, more by grace than design, it too has the power to rearrange your molecules—to make you more whole, less afraid, more alive to human possibilities.
How do we work on acts of healing? Because even for those of us who have not experienced such large violent acts, healing the damage racism has caused is hard work.
Subtitled: Are our allies blind? Or are they really allies?
First, a white “feminist” writer writes something that sure seems like appropriation. But she writes in a vacuum, because she doesn’t mention any women of color that went before her! No, seriously!
This was the preliminary book cover by this “feminist” writer. After expressions of concern from some folks about racist imagery, the cover was changed. But of course it didn’t go down easy.
Good to know what the joy-killing narrative is going to be. My money was on “pornographic”. Shows my guessing skills.
(Anti-racists! Joy-Killers!) and Read the rest of this entry »
I noticed early this morning that there was a section titled “Possibly related posts” with links to other blogs at the bottom of all our posts. Apparently this is a new wordpress feature. I disabled it since some of the links that came up were from people sucking on the haterade. (If you have a wordpress blog and want to turn it off, go into Design>Extras.)
In the ten-year period from 1996-2006, 21 Cornell students committed suicide. Thirteen of them (approximately 62 percent) were of Asian descent. Additionally, there have been suicides at Cornell by non-students.
In at least four cases, people killed themselves by throwing themselves into the gorges.
Good fodder for comedy? Here’s one Cornell blogger’s (D. Evan Mulvihill) take:
President David Skorton announced the plans for the construction of an Asian Community Center at a midday press conference today. The building is to be located directly adjacent to Uris Library on the Clocktower Side, and will be designed by the famous architect I. M. Pei.
“I believe that this building will dramatically reduce the amount of Asian suicides at Cornell,” Skorton announced. “We also plan to fill in the gorges with those chewy bubble tea orbs so that distraught students will have to rely on other methods.”
And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.
Forty years later.
to Spike Lee and More Cowbell.
I have a problem with the sound on my computer. If I use RealPlayer, everything is fine. But anything played through the internet (YouTube, etc.) or through Windows Media Player cuts in and out. It is an intermittent problem and sometimes I will have long stretches where the sound is fine.
Much gratitude for anyone who can solve this mystery.
Just passing this along.
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$500 SCHOLARSHIPS OFFERED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF MULTIETHNIC AMERICANS (AMEA) AND THE BIRACIAL FAMILY NETWORK (BFN)
Los Angeles, CA, March 19, 2008 - The Biracial Family Network (BFN) in
collaboration with the Association of MultiEthnic Americans will provide two
five hundred dollar scholarships with 1-year AMEA student memberships for
the 2008-2009 academic school year. Students of all undergraduate levels in
4-year colleges and universities, including entering freshman will be
eligible to apply. Scholarships are open to multiracial students or
transracially adopted students from all backgrounds. These scholarships may
be used towards tuition, room and board, and any other school-related costs. Read the rest of this entry »
The new blog, Misplaced Baggage.
(… maybe he’d be making 30 percent more and have a higher net worth.)
The recent foot-in-mouth comments from Geraldine Ferraro have led to a number of people speculating about how things would be different if Obama were white. And it struck me that these types of questions reveal how many people (especially white people) think about race.
Because you can’t make Obama white without changing who he is as a person.
The 38-year-old Chinese woman flew into O’Hare (Chicago) airport on Feb. 26. Video footage shows her checking through customs. But she never showed up in the terminal where her husband was waiting.
Here’s the part that makes me go hmmmm … Read the rest of this entry »
This story is about a college graduate who decided to “start from scratch” to test the American dream. Fed up with his peer group’s “bad attitudes,” he decides that he can prove that desire and motivation can overcome poverty:
Here’s my premise:
I am going to start almost literally from scratch with one 8’ x
10’ tarp, a sleeping bag, an empty gym bag, $25, and the clothes on
my back. Via train, I will be dropped at a random place somewhere
in the southeastern United States that is not in my home state of
North Carolina. I have 365 days to become free of the realities of
homelessness and become a “regular” member of society. After one
year, for my project to be considered successful, I have to possess an
operable automobile, live in a furnished apartment (alone or with a
roommate), have $2,500 in cash, and, most importantly, I have to be
in a position in which I can continue to improve my circumstances
by either going to school or starting my own business.
Sounds good, right? Up from homelessness in a year or less. Read the rest of this entry »
That little gem comes from a psychologist, but you can find it all over the web. Just google it. It’s not that I disagree; I was once a child and remember it well. It’s just I don’t like what’s implicit in that statement.
You see, the reason that people often cite this truism is to explain schoolyard “teasing”. And based on this incontrovertible fact of life, this is what we tell children to do when “teased”:
Ignore it.
Read the rest of this entry »
While researching an article on Eric Clapton, I came across a name that has stuck in my memory for the last 30 years. Partly this is because I loved the song, but mostly it is the face of this woman that has stayed in my mind — a face that looked like mine.
I have never harboured any desires to be a singer, but this woman showed me that people who looked like me could be real people doing normal things (as far as singing on the telly can be considered “normal”).
Ladies and Gentlemen: Yvonne Elliman!
Recently I was thinking about when I began to generalize certain behaviors to white people. This came up because I once again saw that white woman who is a community leader struggling to open a door. And my first thought was “Good luck with that [slur omitted].”
Needless to say, I didn’t open the door for her this time. But I wondered if my inaction was more dehumanizing to me or to her. Read the rest of this entry »
I have become an anti-racist because
a) a loved one may or does suffer from racism
b) it is the right thing to do
c) like Miss Clavel in “Madeline”, you woke up one night, turned on the light and said, “something is not right!”
I know I am an anti-racist because
a) I believe that racists are ignorant
b) I believe that racists are ignorant and I tell everyone so
c) I support racism-awareness campaigning through donations and/or volunteer work
d) I have educated myself on the full meaning of racism
e) I speak up when people make racist remarks
f) I write to the media when I come across examples of institutional racism
g) I educate others about the insidiousness of systemic racism
Got your answers?
Last seen on January 13, Benjamin Wu was staying in Long Bay, Tortola.
Edited to add: For those of you in the various POC online activism groups, this is not the Ben who used to post on the APIA blog.
Black bean salad, peanut sauce for the satay, char siu bao, char siu, California roll, chicken satay.
Wishing the resist racism community love, health and happiness in 2008.
Saw this over at Vox ex Machina. Pretty Bird Woman House is a women’s shelter in South Dakota. If you’ve got a few extra bucks, won’t you consider sending them out that way?
Ah, the good old days! Back before the civil rights movement, when people of color knew their place and where whites ruled. Kind of like now.
Two councilors from the British National Party “have been cleared of wrongdoing after singing a ‘racist’ song outside the office of a Muslim MP,” the BBC reports. Note the use of scare quotes around “racist,” which are commonly used in news reporting. Because you know it’s not really racist, it’s just the interpretation of those brown folks. Who look for racism under every rock and are always looking to be offended.
Do you find Colin Auty’s song offensive? You be the judge. Decide if it’s a “racist” song or a racist song. Auty’s reportedly angry that his song was labeled racist. “I didn’t say anything derogatory in that song,” he says. Read the rest of this entry »
Story here.
I don’t know why I’m reading the NY Times blog on adoption, because it’s mostly just pissing me off. Tama Janowitz’s entry is no exception: Read the rest of this entry »
A quote of hers being used in an article in Countercurrents.
After 62-year-old Du Doan’s murder (he was shoved into the water by a self-professed skinhead), reports began to surface in Canada of a sport known as “n*ppertipping.” It apparently involves shoving people of Asian descent into the water.
Now the Ontario Human Rights Commission has launched an inquiry into numerous reports of assaults on people of Asian descent while fishing. Story here.
Didja read it? Bold.
Didja start but not finish? Italic.
Didja hate it? Strikethrough.
I have a confession to make. For years I always finished a book, even if I hated it. Now I don’t bother. Here’s my list. Where’s yours?
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights Read the rest of this entry »
</sarcasm>
Roy Pearson, the $54 million pants guy, is apparently going to lose his job.
The Chungs had to close their business.
Pearson first went to the Chungs because he wanted some pants altered for his new job. In his lawsuit, he sued for the cost of renting a car because the Chungs’ cleaners was the only one in walking distance. Wonder where he’s going to go now.
From left to right: Mary-Louise Parker, her adopted baby from somewhere in Africa and the child’s nanny.
Not pictured: the baby’s mother in Africa.
James Nichols was found guilty of second-degree intentional homicide. He claimed self-defense, but he apparently initially lied about what happened and concealed the body.
I found this description of the defense interesting:
Subhead: In which the editorial staff at the Chicago Tribune demonstrates its inability to grasp simple concepts about race and racism
Exhibit One: Steve Chapman speaking about hate crime legislation: Read the rest of this entry »
Body confirmed as missing Chicago woman.
Update: Now some news sources are reporting the identification has not been confirmed.
Reed “I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen” Walters wields his pen in the New York Times.
Alison Chang’s picture ended up on an ad for V1rgin Mobile Phones.
Reportedly her car was found Friday in Hammond, Indiana. The Tribune reported that her personal and work laptops are both missing but another news source reported that police had taken two computers (unknown if they’re the same two) to see if they could use information to determine her whereabouts.
The Chicago pharmaceutic rep for Eli Lilly has been missing since Tuesday.
Some poor McDonald’s employee was jailed overnight because she accidentally oversalted a police officer’s hamburger. I was going to make a joke about “a salt,” but the woman is on leave without pay and says the charges are causing her a financial hardship.
But then I read this: Read the rest of this entry »
A vigil was held at Montrose Harbor Saturday.
We remember, we grieve, we hope.
Driving into a restricted area dressed as Osama bin Laden while President Bush is visiting.
ROBERT SALVATORE MERCER 1972-2007 Our dearly beloved Robert passed away on Monday, August 27, 2007 at the age of thirty-five. Robert, with his great passion for life, accomplished many dreams. With a Bachelor in Architecture degree from Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Architecture degree in Urban Design from Harvard University, he led a successful career including work with world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. He was a remarkable man who battled Ewings Sarcoma Cancer for over five years with strength, spirit, and determination. After being diagnosed, Robert and his wife founded Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure, which to date has raised more than $200,000 for cancer research. Robert was blessed with wonderful parents, Anna Valente and Edward Mercer, a loving wife and soulmate Grace Lin, his sister Alison (husband Garry Butler), his brothers Tam and Greg, and an adoring grandmother Angela Rossi Valente. Robert will be lovingly remembered by his aunt Vicky and uncle Tony Valente, his cousins Michael (wife Lori Martins) and Lisa, the Lin family, as well as his many relatives and friends. We wish to celebrate Robert’s life; we welcome all those friends and loved ones who want to celebrate with us. Visitation at: Centre funeraire Cote-des-Neiges, 4525 Cote-des-Neiges road, Montreal (514) 342-8000 on Thursday, September 6, 2007 from 4 to 9 p.m. and on Friday, September 7, 2007 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. followed by a religious ceremony in the chapel of the funeral home at 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, we would ask that you make a donation, in Robert’s name, towards Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund Attn: Lauren Nash 10 Brookline Place West, 6th Floor, Brookline, MA 02445-7226. Please make checks out to “Robert’s Snow.”
Grace and Robert were married just six years.
The drowning of a Vietnamese man who was shoved into the water at Montrose Harbor on Saturday morning was the third incident since late July in which fishermen who appeared to be Asian were targeted in the area, Chicago police said Monday.
Doan, 62, was fishing alone off the harbor’s sidewalk at 5:30 a.m. Saturday when what police described as an intentional attack occurred.
“Five individuals dressed in black gothic clothing walked past him, and one of the individuals breaks away from this group . . . and gives him a shove in the back and knocks him into the water,” said Belmont Area Lt. Anthony Riccio.
Story here.
Just curious … do you ever ask other people if you can cut in line? If so, why?
The people who have been asking me lately need more compelling reasons. I waited in a really long line last week only to have the guy behind me ask to go first when it was my turn. His reason? “I really need to just get out of here.” Once a woman cut in front of me, saying “I’m really tired of waiting.”
Confess! Confess! Have you asked others to cut in line? What was your reason?
What would be an excuse you would accept?
Forwarded to me from an adoption listserve:
Then, I heard that most Chinese babies have Noassatall disease - GET IT?!
I think the problem here is one of perspective. Read the rest of this entry »
Reason 9. Anti-immigrant sentiment hurts your internationally-adopted children. Especially when it comes out of your mouth. Do you think that they know that they’re the “right” kind of immigrant when you talk? Do you think that being an adopted American will protect them from hostility towards people who look like them?
Reason 7. Lack of education about adoption. If you’re going to transracially adopt, you have a lot of work to do. Additionally, parenting an adopted child is not the same as parenting a child who was born to you. Note this qualification: Read the rest of this entry »
Esquire had this odd cover quote “Can a white man still be elected president? If so, John Edwards will have to battle image, cancer & the forces of history.”
Also in the odd quote department is this snippet from Elizabeth Edwards:
“We can’t make John black, we can’t make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars.”
It does seem a little bit like the mainstream media is playing this like a two-person race, with Clinton and Obama being featured on a regular basis. But Edwards’ and Esquire’s quotes seem a little bit like saying that a rich white guy, well, he just doesn’t have the advantages that blacks and women do. Something like reverse racism.
Reason 3. Spice in the pot. Exoticization. Cultural commodification. Cultural co-optation. I don’t want to hear adoptive parents tell me about how much their adoptive children have made their lives so much more interesting. And I’m not talking about the way that parenting in general makes life more interesting. Read the rest of this entry »
This article from the Globe and Mail quotes Dr. Richard Lee. Another interesting thing I noted is that the U.S. is apparently the third-largest sending country for international adoptions in Canada (102 adoptions in 2005), after China (973) and Haiti (115).
Manish Vij of Ultrabrown is quoted in the New York Times article about Kwik-E-Mart:
“He is a very crude ethnic character, and while there are many other crude ethnic characters on the show,” said Mr. Vij, a Manhattan software entrepreneur, Apu is the only one with a stereotypical singsong accent, “like the accent that Chinese-Americans find so insulting.”
Of course, the writer also had to include a lot of stuff about the one guy who isn’t offended. Par for the course, I imagine. And what’s up with this line?
But, Mr. Chaudhari said, without a trace of Apu, “What are you going to do?”
Without a trace of Apu? Manish, get back to work. ;-)
From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:
“Anti-Asians Anonymous” surfaced on the social networking site Facebook several months ago and included the names of 16 Fox Chapel Area students who had joined. Asian-American Fallout Central, which operates a Web site designed to “mobilize Asian-Americans against the racism and prejudices facing us in the United States and beyond,” posted pages from the Facebook group in June and urged critics to complain to school officials.
The internet is a powerful thing. I love that it’s being used for activism.
One of this year’s inductees to the Asian Hall of Fame is Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc. In November, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, will honor Josie Natori with the CFDA’s Humanitarian Award. OK, that’s not a business award, per se, but Natori was once named Business Woman of the Year by the New York City Partnership.
Here’s the list. From the names, I’d guess that the recipients are of Chinese, Indian, Korean and Japanese descent. I know that at least one person on the list is Filipina since I got a press release from a Filipino American organization. :) From first glance, it looks like Chinese and Indians dominate. Any speculations why?
I was a little surprised to read this story
“We don’t want any incidents of this nature in Hartlepool and will deal with it as we won’t tolerate any form of racist abuse, whether verbal or physical. We will take the strongest steps possible to deal with those who carry out this sort of behaviour.”
According to the article, a local man was arrested in connection with the incident. Anybody know if it’s common for people to be arrested for verbal assaults in the UK?
That’s Al Gore’s daughter, Sarah, with her husband Bill Lee. Bill Lee is Chinese American. I know this because the news reports I read mentioned it. What do you think Sarah is?
I think she should hyphenate, by the way.
“Judge continues to press pants suit.” I guess that headline would be funny if it were not for the real people who are suffering as a result of Roy Pearson’s idiocy:
A customer who sued a dry cleaner for $54 million over a missing pair of pants has asked the judge who threw out the widely mocked case to reconsider, saying she committed a “fundamental legal error.”
The Chungs’ legal fees have been estimated at $83,000.
On another note, is the Chungs’ ethnicity really relevant to this story? Most of the articles refer to them as “Korean immigrants” or their store as a “Korean dry cleaners.”
I always suspected they didn’t, but since Roy Pearson put a $54 million price tag on his, maybe they undergo pants checks on a regular basis.
Judge Judith Bartnoff rejected Pearson’s claims and additionally awarded the Chungs their court costs. A copy of the judgment can be found here. Bartnoff has not yet ruled whether Pearson will be forced to pay the Chungs’ legal fees as well, but we can only hope.
Young Hwan Kim, who only spoke Korean, called 911 when his car plowed off a boat ramp into water; but the Dallas operator who answered the call had a difficult time communicating with him during the short conversation. ”What language are you speaking?” the operator asked Kim. “Are you speaking Chinese or something?”
Story here.
The UCSB student detained after ICE agents arrived at her apartment to question her roommate has returned to campus.
In the article posted by resistance on the Purple Heart Division, it stated that “President Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to 19 overlooked members of the Purple Heart Battalion who distinguished themselves in battle above and beyond the call of duty. “
Another belated awardee on that occasion was Filipino/Hispanic American Rudy Davila. In this story, Davila’s commanding officer tells him the reason he was passed over for the Medal of Honor in 1944: “too many minorities were winning the Medal of Honor.”
If you’re being used as cannon fodder, you’re less deserving?
I typically don’t like stories written from the viewpoint of see what this disabled person can do, but I was impressed by Kellie Lim, a triple amputee who is graduating from medical school soon. Congratulations, Dr. Lim.
This story is about a California woman who pretended to be a Stanford student for eight months. She lived in the dorm and attended classes. Too bizarre.
Olympic bronze medallist and honorary Korean Toby Dawson married his wife Leah Helmi in Korean traditional style at Lotte Hotel in Busan, Thursday.
Story here.
(Honorary Korean?!)
Remembering Malcolm X.
“Tax reminder: Don’t forget to pay your taxes …… 21 million illegal aliens are depending on you! ¡Muchos gracias!
That was the text of an e-mail sent by Platte County sheriff Jon Zavadil. It was accompanied by a photograph of four men who appear to be Latino. Zavadil’s response? Read the rest of this entry »
Administrative law judge Roy Pearson, who has achieved notoriety by suing a dry cleaner for $65 million dollars for losing his pants, is up for reappointment.
“Everyone agrees that to file a lawsuit asking for $65 million for a pair of pants is absolutely outrageous,” the D.C. official said. “But we are trying to keep that out of the discussion about reappointment. I don’t think it’s appropriate not to reappoint someone just because they file a lawsuit. You can’t retaliate against someone for exercising their constitutional, First Amendment right to file a lawsuit to vindicate their rights.”
First Amendment rights are often used to defend asinine behavior. But let’s get it straight–we’re not talking about punishing Pearson for unpopular speech. Read the rest of this entry »
Via RaceWire, here’s something to read to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown. Snippets from the article:
The foreigners built their Jamestown right in the heart of a 6,350-square-mile country called Tsencomoco, where a powerful elder chief governed at least 14,000 individuals distributed among about 25 subordinate tribes. This phenomenal leader, known as Powhatan, was not unaware of Europeans, since Spaniards had been making forays into the area and kidnapping his tribesmen since the early 1500s….
The technological ability and the cultural will of the early English to use their military might to conquer the land for their sole benefit was unprecedented from an Indian point of view… Until their encounters with the English, the Chesapeake native societies had never known that indiscriminately killing all of another town’s women and children was an acceptable method of conquest.
President Bush’s proclamation makes no mention of any of this. He encourages “all Americans to commemorate this milestone by honoring the courage of those who came before us, participating in appropriate programs and celebrations, and visiting this historic site with family and friends.” Uh, how about those who were already in America before them? How about a white-tie dinner for Powhatan’s descendants?
Here’s the text of Allen Lee’s “disturbing” free-writing assignment. Read the rest of this entry »
So-called biracial (aka interracial or multiracial) parents are more likely than their “monoracial” counterparts to provide their children with a home computer, private schooling and educational books and CDs and to make sure they participate in reading activities, dance, music or art lessons outside of school and get trips to the zoo, library and other cultural venues.
Story here.
I think sometimes it is more helpful to read the actual statements rather than a sanitized description such as “ethnic and sexual slurs.” So here are a few quotes made by the radio DJs referenced in the previous post:
I would like some Asian food, son of a bitch.
Chinese man, tell me about your tiny egg roll.
(To a female employee) Should I come to your restaurant so I can see you naked? That way, I can see your hot Asian spicy ass.
Tell that hot Asian girl answering the telephone I’d like to tap her ass.
The caller also dropped remarks about wanting “slimp flied lice” instead of “some old dung,” and talked about knowing Kung Fu.
Edited to add: It’s on youtube. Isn’t everything? Whoever transcribed it didn’t use “kung fu,” either.
June E. Johnson, 59, who as a teenager in 1963 was beaten and jailed in Mississippi in one of the most savage incidents in the civil rights movement, died of kidney failure April 13 at Providence Hospital. She had lived in Washington since 1982.
Here’s the story.
Initial news reports stated that the gunman was a Chinese national from Shanghai on a student visa. Now he is being identified by name as a 23-year-old South Korean national.
Edited to add: The student apparently has been in the United States since he was 8 years old.
When my parents moved the family to the United States, they decided they wanted to be called by new, Americanized names. Same with my teenage brother. Even their friends from the old country would call them by their new names. I suppose it’s like playing dress-up; it’s fun to try out new identities. Fine if you already know who you are. I resisted, the rebel as usual, and kept my name. And corrected people on the proper pronounciation. Perhaps my father thought he knew better than to have a foreign-sounding name, having lived in the South and having served in the U.S. Army before re-settling in the old country and starting a family there.
When my husband and I became parents to an internationally-adopted child, we wanted to add a Western name to her orphanage name. We realized, however, after the first day, that we couldn’t call her anything other than the name she came with. So her Western name was relegated to those outside of the family and our circle of friends. Fortunately, we know other families who use this dual naming system. Then there are famous people to point out, like Bruce Jun Fan Lee or Jackie Kong Sang Chan. Our daughter, who prefers the name she came with, won’t feel too different in this regard. Also we live in a multilingual environment and kids are accustomed to having multiple labels for objects or concepts (more on this later) . My child’s friends don’t bat an eyelash when I call her another name, particularly as I speak a different language. But if I could do it over today, I wouldn’t bother about Western or Anglo names. Barack and Condoleeza are doing just fine with theirs.
April 4, 1968.
Anybody read it? Do I need it?
(I’m behind on everything and should be working on taxes instead of catching up with all the blogs.)
Thank you to harlow’s monkey for the thinking blogger award! Hopefully you’ll tell us also when you don’t like our posts.
This article about writer Amy Tan is titled I’m Not a Spokesperson for Chinese.
I attracted a new Asiaphile who wants to be my friend recently. But I think it was a big disappointment when I responded that I do not like Amy Tan.
What happened to thisshouldgosomewhere? I went there this morning and it has some kind of anti-bot protection up. But the header on the page has some weird porn references. So I didn’t go in.
I noticed that when a friend stopped writing her blog, her url directed to an advertising page. Is this some of the same?
From New America Media, translated from the World Journal:
Less than two weeks into her army training, 22-year-old May Yuen apparently hung herself in the bathroom of her barracks and died. Her family says that they feel that the circumstances surrounding their daughter’s apparent suicide are suspicious and want a full investigation.
Asian American women have some of the highest rates of suicide, especially in the 15-24 and 65+ age brackets.
March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004
Your voice is missed.
Thank you to ReadingWritingLiving for bestowing the honor of the Thinking Blogger Award to us! We are wildly flattered, especially since several of us have been reading her blog for some time. Thank you!
I don’t know if we will be able to pass on our own nominations, especially since we rarely agree on anything. ;-)
When doing some further reading about the yeux bridés issue, I read the following:
One anti-racism advertisement under the Parti Quebecois government a few years back reminded Quebecers, “Les yeux brides, le coeur Quebecois.” In other words, “Slanting eyes, Quebecer heart.”
It reminded me of a work stoppage by primarily African American laborers where a White woman encouraged their support by announcing at a rally, “These people are people too!”
A search through a discussion group for parents of children adopted from Asian countries reveals the following:
Posts mentioning ladybugs - 1.5 percent (the number is higher if you include “lady bug”)
Posts mentioning diapers - 1.8 percent
Posts mentioning racism - .58 percent
Posts mentioning Asian - more than 5000
Posts mentioning Caucasian - .75 percent
Posts mentioning whiteness - .01 percent
Posts mentioning white privilege - .05 percent
Posts mentioning shopping - 1.77 percent
Posts mentioning blogs - 1.08 percent
A thematic analysis would be more helpful but obviously would be extremely time-consuming. For example, I’d note that many of the posts that mention racism are ones in which adoptive parents talked about racism directed towards themselves.
Behold the movies from the 25th Annual SF International Asian Film Festival!
I never go to see Hollywood movies any more, especially since one of my close friends always says “I told you so” afterwards. But one of these days I really want to see the Grace Lee Project and a couple of others from this list.
Somebody asked me recently for this blog’s ranking. And I responded, “Huh?” So I got a lesson in blog rankings and learned about technorati. Then I went to the site and found out that this blog’s ranking is something like 2,793,385. We’re in the top three million! Woo hoo! Read the rest of this entry »
Harrison Leonardo is a two-year old boy who is fighting Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) and needs a bone marrow transplant to survive.
You can read Harrison’s story or find out about the Asian American Donor Program or the National Marrow Donor Program. Find a local donor center here.
People of color are sorely needed on the registry. Because of the high need, registration fees are typically waived. If you are white and want to have your tissue typed to see if you are a potential match, you can either find a sponsored drive or you can pay the fee. It was $52 the last time I checked.
Thanks.
Buddy Guy is one of my favorite musicians. So I was pleased to read this recent article about him. However, one quote gave me pause:
He sits in awe of what fellow musicians like Clapton, Vaughn and even newcomer Jonny Lang (who had a guest appearance on Guy’s latest, “Heavy Love”) have meant to the resurgence of the blues.
“Thanks to them selling so many albums, record company executives really have to stand up and take notice,” he says. “They see these white musicians coming in and playing the blues and their CDs selling, and they have to snap to attention for old black guys like me.”
Guy’s accomplishments are impressive and he’s undeniably a blues legend. What would he have achieved had racism not been a factor?