|
|
|
|
|
GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is Seattle a Haven for Asian Americans?
he Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area is only 11th largest in the size of its Asian American population (285,000, or about 11.4% of the area's 2.5 million), but it claims one of the oldest and richest slices of Asian American history. Its Chinatown was home to America's first Asian-owned manufacturing business, the Wa Chong Co. The company produced, among other things, a very fine grade of opium, some of which was probably exported to China with the U.S. government's blessings.
Best city for AA?
|
Since its birth in 1910 Seattle's atmospheric International District was settled by generations of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Vietnamese immigrants. In the late 70s the aging District began enjoying a rebirth into its modern incarnation thanks to Asian American activism in seeking to preserve it as a historical and cultural site. More recently an influx of trendy young AA professionals, entrepreneurs and artists has helped transform it into a vibrant part of downtown Seattle's cultural and night life. The District hosts the Northwest Asian American Theater Company and the Wing Luke Asian American Museum, named after a Chinese American elected to the Seattle City Council in 1965.
On the far end of the Seattle area's cultural spectrum is lush, ultra-modern Bellevue, one of the nation's most affluent communities. Asians make up 20.3% of the students of the Bellevue School District, thrice the 7.3% concentration in the general population of Washington state. This points up the fact that Seattle hosts one of the nation's best established Asian populations. Unlike some urban areas dominated by one or two Asian nationalities, Seattle's AA population is highly diversified, comprising the nations 7th largest Japanese (31,000), the 8th largest Vietnamese (44,000), 9th largest Corean (38,000), and the 11th largest Chinese (58,000) and Filipino (53,000) communities.
The area's Asian Americans take pride in their high degree of acceptance and integration. The fact that the state's governor is a Chinese American named Gary Locke doesn't hurt, of course. Or that the city's major league baseball team is owned by Nintendo chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi and sparked by Ichiro. Even on the grassroots level, one sees signs of acceptance. The ratio of AM/WF couples is noticeably higher than in most other metro areas. A cop who was rude in issuing a jaywalking ticket to a group of Asian Americans last year was reprimanded by the police department. And the ticket was dismissed by the judge.
Is the Seattle area really a haven for Asian Americans? What are the best and worst aspects of AA life there?
This interactive article is closed to new input.
Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
CONTACT US
|
ADVERTISING INFO
© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:56:44 PM)
I grew up in & around Seattle, then moved to California soon after college, but I visit yearly. It's still, in comparison, a very "white" place with a sometimes annoyingly quaint/cutesy approach to cultural diversity. Can we say, Liberal White Guilt? But I do understand that there are earnest citizens who are trying to promote Asian cultures, with okay success. I agree with TSJ, though, that Vancouver, B.C. is close to Seattle yet caters more openly to Asian-Americans.
Seattle's a pleasant-looking area, but property values are increasing, and traffic is distressingly bad. I remember I-5, the one interstate freeway with the most lanes, jammed to a crawl from 2:30 PM to 6:30 PM, M-F, especially during the rainy winters. As-Am Male brought up something else that's not cool: What's up with signature corporations leaving the state? The dot-com bomb was bad enough.
BTW, a lot of people who don't live in Cal have this "flaky or superficial" image of the Cal. But after briefly living in the Midwest as well, and traveling all over the East Coast, those words can apply to any city depending on where you are in life, and who you happen to keep running into. Flakes and airheads are everywhere - including Seattle. Just gotta know where they lurk, then run like hell!
For those visiting, wander through the Pike Place Market. I know it's a cliche, touristy thing, but Pike Place has interesting history and sites within. It's right downtown anyway, so you all have no excuse not to go :D.
~nikel (former long-time resident)
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 00:02:47 (PST)
C. Li,
"If there is a haven for AA, it would be Shanghai or Beijing :)"
Those are havens for Chinese. I know a few overseas chinese who face reverse discrimination when they go back to the motherland.
AC Dropout
Monday, March 18, 2002 at 15:14:20 (PST)
I've been to both Seattle and Portland.
Seattle certainly has a heck of alot more Asian folk than Portland.
I definitely wouldn't consider Portland a haven for Asian Americans or EurAsian Americans.
Not much hapa booty to chase after = unhappy Jay
Jay... the hapa
Monday, March 18, 2002 at 11:31:07 (PST)
"Yeah, those lower taxes and less government regulation sure go a long way in driving businesses away."
Pray tell me why Boeing moved its HQ to Chicago? However, businesses want their cake and eat it too...love their lower taxes and less regulations, but they also want good schools and infrastructure, particularly road and light rail...there is a certain amount of hypocrisy here...and the GOP exploits this sentiment, just like they exploit the racist sentiments of people here in Virginia through racial packing of districts.
Asian American Male
Monday, March 18, 2002 at 11:00:04 (PST)
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|