ASIAN ATTITUDE WANTED
We can be better Americans by being better Asians.
by H Y Nahm

"Freedom from the fear of being different is what makes an American."

ure, it's great that we can cruise a mall food court and choose our lunch from among pasta, Chinese, tacos, hamburgers, sushi and, lately, boolgogi and kalbi (usually listed as teriyaki or beef stick by owners a little unsure about middle America's readiness for Corean food). It's stuff like that for which we give silent thanks each Fourth of July. But don't confuse what makes America a good lunch with what makes it a great nation.
     Imagine the miserable food courts we'd have if every immigrant restaurateur decided to open a hamburger joint to prove how American she is. Imagine the lame action flicks Hollywood would turn out if fight coordinators clung to the old schoolyard dictum that only sissies kick. Imagine how primitive our offices would be if Asian engineers shunned computers for fear of looking like nerds.
     They say America is the envy of the world because of how well so many people assimilate. I disagree. It's great because of how well so many stand out together. A nation full of preppies would be no more glorious than a company full of marketing executives or a baseball team full of first basemen.
     The Constitution bristles with clauses guaranteeing our right to be different. That's given us. We give back by taking full advantage of it. The unique attitudes and perspectives different group bring are what makes America so liberating and dynamic, what makes it rock and roll.
     How can Asian Americans be more central in American society? The answer is simple--Be more Asian. America doesn't need more White-wannabes any more than it needs more second-rate burger joints. What it needs more of--lots more, if the seller's market for engineers is any indication--are first-rate Asians who glory in what we are.
     Freedom from the fear of being different is what makes an American. Giving others the room to be different makes us good Americans. Those who get off by putting down someone for being different? A good definition of a bad American.
     It's become an Asian American commonplace to throw martial arts into the litany of stereotypical associations we hate, as in "we aren't chopsocky martial artists". Hollywood does resort to a lot of cheap caricature of Asians doing martial arts imitations to serve as straw villains for some straw hero. That's annoying, but the slam should be phrased against the hacks who write Hollywood action scripts--"chopsocky hacks", maybe--rather than an attack on martial arts.
     Asian martial artists have contributed more than most professions to America's fiber. By unabashedly sharing Asian martial arts traditions, philosophies and cultures, taekwondo, kungfu and karate masters have enriched and strengthened American culture while helping hundreds of thousands of Americans understand and respect Asians and Asian culture. We would all be better Americans by following their examples.


In Dragon Jason Scott Lee portrays Bruce Lee, Mr Asian Attitude himself.

     The other Asian group so frequently and glibly dismissed are computer engineers. Many young Asian Americans simply don't know enough about the American economy to appreciate their contribution to keeping the U.S. in the forefront of the global hi-tech market. When Asian computer "nerds"--a term I take to mean people who worry more about their work than their lunch dates--stop finding the U.S. an attractive place to work, we'll see what Ross Perot means by that "great big sucking sound".
     I used to be a stickler for insisting on being called an Asian American. Nowadays I hardly think about how strangers label me because my status isn't up for question, to be casually conferred or denied by their prejudices. I'm not hurt when people think I'm a foreigner nor am I flattered when they go out of their way to let me know they consider me an American. When people think they're doing you a favor by calling you an American, it makes you wonder how many Asians are trying too hard to compensate for not being comfortable in their skins. I'm not anxious to lump myself with people whose self-worth depends on the accident of their birth.
     Sure, achieving acceptance as Americans has been a long, painful struggle for Asians. I know that Japanese Americans in particular have paid a high price for America's skepticism about our Americaness. But the time has come to stop asking our fellow Americans for permission to be American. Why be a second class hot dog when you can be a first-class sushi or beef stick or whatever. You get the flavor.