|
|
|
|
|
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, 05:56:43 PM)
Here's a interesting comparison of the cities:
New York City: Asians have little political power (even though they finally got one in the city council) and are the weakest minority group. In addition, NYC has no prominent Asians in the city.
SF: Asians have little political power, even though they're 1/3 of the population. Really sad! And the only prominent Asian personality in SF is Shinjo, the SF Giants baseball player. And that's not saying much.
Chicago: Worse than NYC. Weakest minority group. Asians will always play third fiddle behind blacks and Hispanics in this city.
LA: Nomo, Ishii, Paul Kariya, and Michelle Kwan are the only sports stars in LA. Weakest minority group. No political power whatsoever. And the struggling Asian actors and actresses are a joke!
Dallas: Weakest minority group. Are Wang Zhizhi, Chan Ho Park, and Dat Nguyen the only Asians in the Dallas/Fort Worth area? Negative zero political power.
Miami: Weakest minority group. No man's land for Asians in every possible way!
Detroit: Remember Vincent Chin?
Atlanta: Slowly growing Asian community. Other than that, just like Miami. Weakest minority group.
Boston: The only reason Asians should live here is to go to Harvard and those other overpriced schools! Weakest minority group.
Philadelphia: Weakest minority group. Another joke of a city for Asians! Why did I bother mentioning this place?
Baltimore: Weakest minority group. Didn't blacks recently murder an Asian in that stupid city?
Seattle: Just like all the other cities, with a few exceptions. Asians are the strongest minority group and have lots of cultural, political, and economic influence. Gary Locke is the most powerful Asian politician in the country. Ichiro Suzuki is the most prominent sports star in the world. And Apolo Ohno, who is second to Ichiro in the sports star hierarchy, is desired by every young women between the ages of 13-24. Other than that, Seattle is a dump like the rest of the cities. But at least an Asian can tolerate some of the BS in a city like this.
This is an interesting subject
Friday, March 22, 2002 at 15:53:45 (PST)
I've lived in Chicago, New York, LA, New England, Atlanta, and now Seattle. Least racist towards Asians: Seattle (despite Seattle Times recent shocking caption - American beats Kwan).
What's annoying about Seattle though is the passive aggressiveness of the people. They are so superficially nice and are rarely direct...you never know what they're really thinking. Or maybe I was in New York for too long.
And yes, lota liberal white guilt out here.
da
Wednesday, March 20, 2002 at 07:45:16 (PST)
"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."
If you think that is bad, come to Leesburg, Virginia. They hate Asians there. When we first came to Northern Virginia two and a half decades ago, this place was 90% white..dead rats were left in front of our apartment, my sister was beaten up by white girls in school, and my mother had a coke can thrown on her. My cousin lives in Seattle, he does not have any problems there.
"Seattle's a pleasant-looking area, but property values are increasing, and traffic is distressingly bad."
Boeing would say blame the anti-tax crusader, Tim Eyman and his friends.
"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."
Boeing has moved its HQ to Chicago.
Asian American Male
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 08:17:17 (PST)
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|