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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is Boston the AA Intellectual Mecca?
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:09:56 PM)
he significance of the greater Boston area's AA community derives not from its position as the nation's 13th largest (250,000, accounting for 6% of the area's 4.1 million) but from its unparalleled concentration of elite academics and scholars. The gravitational pull of institutions like MIT, Harvard, Brandeis, Northeastern, Tufts and Wellesley acts more compellingly on Asians than on other segments of the American population. They account for a stunning 20% of the 250,000 students attending the area's 60 colleges and universities.
AA Intellectual Mecca?
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A local Asian icon is the late An Wang, a Harvard alumnus whose 1951 invention of magnetic core memory enabled the computer revolution. Wang Laboratories has now faded into a cautionary tale of the perils of arrogance and ill-conceived family succession, but downtown Boston's gleaming Wang Center for the Performing Arts remains a magnificent memorial to the possibilities of Asian academic elitism. Rival MIT has the highest concentration of Asians (30%) outside of California and Hawaii -- as well as academia's highest suicide rate (10 since 1990).
This intellectual pressure cooker has spawned a culture of technological innovation and risktaking that has produced many of the seeds for the global tech sectors, including the vast corridor along Boston's own Route 128 comprising 5,000 tech companies employing over 200,000.
The Boston area's love-hate relationship with Asians began in 1875 when a small number of Chinese began pitching tents on land created several decades earlier by a land fill of the old South Cove mud flats. By the turn of the century several hundred Chinese had established a budding Chinatown of over two dozen businesses. In 1902, after the Chinese Exclusion Act was extended, police and immigration agents arrested 250 Chinese for not carrying alien registration papers. Despite sporadic hostility, Boston's Chinatown received steady patronage from locals. By 1931 it had grown to nearly a hundred establishments supporting 1,200.
Today Chinatown occupies 32 acres along Harrison Avenue between South Station and the Boston Commons. It has become one of Boston's most vibrant areas, with over 200 businesses that spill out into the theater district. Its several dozen restaurants are operated not only by Chinese from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but also Vietnamese, Coreans, Thais, Filipinos and other Asian nationalities. Thanks to social and cultural activism emanating from the local universities, Chinatown enjoys support from many energetic organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for its mostly recent-immigrant residents. It has become a centerpiece of Boston's efforts at cultural preservation and urban renewal but for most of the area's AA residents, Chinatown is a hot meal and an occasional touchstone to a heritage that is invisible in their suburban neighborhoods.
The young Asians drawn to Boston by the reputations of its elite colleges have mixed feelings about the area's post-graduation hospitality. Some suspect the area's businesses of discriminating against Asians. Others are less than comfortable with the perceived attitudes of locals. Few Asians who attend college in Boston settle there.
Is greater Boston the Asian American intellectual mecca? Or is it just third-base for ambitious heavyhitters?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
Boston and the New England are different from the rest of the country. Generally well educated population unlike the rest of the country.
Hoosier trasplant
Thursday, January 02, 2003 at 11:28:57 (PST)
[138.220.110.174]
Indian in Indiana,
Hoosiers are fat, uneducated, poor, and ignorant because they are lazy and unmotivated. They are not willing to do things to change their lives and conditions. Instead, they blame everyone else and the environment for their own failures. It has much less to do with the diet, location, or system. After all, people make things happen.
Bostonian
Wednesday, January 01, 2003 at 02:07:17 (PST)
[151.203.226.155]
Asian in Denver:
I did some survey work for the University during the past year. 60% of Lonetree and Parker come out of Texas and California. The ones from CA were mostly running away from Asians...from the Bay Area. Many complained that the Asian food smells of some form of curry, the place was looking too "foreign" and that it did not look like "California" anymore. I found the same attitude in Littleton, CO..Chatfield, Columbine, etc, but with a slight twist. The white teenage girls talked about "their boys" being attracted to Asian girls back in CA, and the fact that the Asians, particularly Asian and Asian American women knocking every other women out in engineering..so much so, it was impossible to get into the E schools in CA. Little wonder then, that the most anti-Asian congressman Tom Tancredo represents them. He has frequently implied that Asians are not really Americans. Also, the most anti-Asian Immigrant advocate who bankrolls Tancredo lives in Evergreen. She got away from OC...too many Asians there.
I bet anything, that neither Boston nor Indiana can beat this kind of anti-Asian racism!
Asian in Boulder
Tuesday, December 31, 2002 at 09:16:47 (PST)
[138.220.110.174]
[Let's get back to discussing Boston, not racism in other cities. --Ed]
Asian in Boulder:
Funny you mentioned that.
Near the Lakewood/Evergreen area there were White Teens in a Honda car giving us the Chinese Eyes to us while driving.
I remember Colorado not even being as bad as it is now. But with the assholes from California and rednecks from Texas and billy bobs and racist skinhead infiltrating this state it is little wonder why the morality and consciousness of this state has gone downhill.
Added to the other fact of a Fat Mayor or alias "BEEF Wellington Webb" who wants Colorado to be another California and is succeeding. Look at Westminster, Alameda, California and compare it to the same names in Colorado and you see the same disintergration in this state as well.
With no jobs, other that low paying retail jobs, I wonder how all these migrants are surviving or are they just here to destroy the area with their attitudes and then move on to another state. California is already screwed up, why are they messing up every state they go to?
Asian in Denver
Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 12:08:56 (PST)
[209.245.13.79]
Hurricane Steve,
I am glad for you that you have not run into major problems. However, you are still in school, and you probably have not encountered many situations where there were serious conflicts of interests. Once you leave school, you need to be prepare for the larger world where you will come into conflicts with others more often and significant interests may be at stake. As the old saying goes: competition brings out the worst in people. It is human nature that people associate with and trust those like themselves in order to monoplolize resources and to protect their interests. Be prepared and be careful. Try to go to parts of the country where you have a fair chance of doing well and stay away from places with bad reputation. You simply have better use for your time.
Bostonian
Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 09:58:41 (PST)
[151.203.228.15]
I'm not from any of the cities mentioned, but rather I am from the midwest, more specifically Omaha, Nebraska, and I'd like to add my two cents. I am of Korean descent and was born and raised here(Go Big Red!). Omaha isn't exactly a bustling metropolis, but it has well over 500,000 residents, 700,000 if you include the suburbs, and over a million if you include the Lincoln area which is less then 45 minutes away. Not a bad size, mostly white(at least 85-90%), but people of all cultures here get along pretty well.
Oh, things could have been better early on like in grade school and some spots during high school, but for the most part I was left alone once people started to grow up I and had a good group of close friends which is what's really important, right? Also, I've been at quite a few restaraunts as a waiter (all American style restaraunts such as Applebee's, Chili's, Old Chicago, etc) and I found that my tips were just as good, if not better then my co-workers, most of which were white. I auditioned for a non-Asian-demeaning role in a movie filmed here and I got it. And I'm getting a chance to walk onto my university's football team in a few weeks, and there are no Asians on the squad. Maybe it's just the friendly Nebraska atmosphere, I don't know, but what I'm trying to get at is that people will always respect someone who works hard and treats others right. I'm not good looking, I'm not that tall, I don't have any money--there's nothing special about me, but you just have to give people a chance and bust your butt. Crap happens, that's a given. But that can happen to anybody, regardless of race. I went off a bit there, my apologies, but I hope that everyone can see the good in things and work towards a better future. There's a saying that 10% of life is what happens to you, 90% is how you react to it. Take it easy everyone!
HurricaneSteve
Tuesday, December 24, 2002 at 02:08:20 (PST)
[68.13.112.13]
"If you go to Indianapolis and the smaller towns, some of what you'd see would shock you. It is what some people call a Third-world country in a First-world nation."
Yes. Compared to Boston. Actually, I have lived in Boston as well and would like to work there someday. However, I did not get any employment there and I am moving to East Asia.
But, have you ever lived in Mississippi, Alabama or Louisiana? I spent just a few days down there, but after that Indiana did not seem that bad after all. Trent Lott country is more Third World in academic achievement and health status than even the Third World. Then again, compared to Singapore and Hong Kong, all of the US has a Third World color and ethnic conscious mentality, and this includes Boston, Hawaii and California.
"The low standard of the school system is simply freightening."
Very low. But, not as bad as Monroe, Louisiana and Philadelphia, MS where only 38% of adults over 20 have graduated from High School. I would bet anything that the worst achievers in Singapore can beat the best in MS, but perhaps not Indiana or Boston.
"Most of the residents are obese in a society where obesity is strongly correlated with low socio-economic status and lack of education."
People in the midwest are fat on average. It is the diet.
"Few knowledge-based companies are located in Indiana due to the lack of human talent and poor work ethics."
However, immigrants and international students at Purdue and IU are more than supplementing the local lack of talent. That is the main reason, Subaru located in Lafayette, and other Japanese corporations have operations in the state. Without immigrants the state is finished.
"It is widely known in Indianapolis that Eli Lilly has long had significant difficulties in retaining qualified employees due to its location, and the company is in a vey weak position to compete against companies on the coasts."
Could it also be because morons such as our White House Budget Director, Mitch Daniels ran the show. Judging by his performance at OMB, it is not at all surprising.
"Indiana may not be the worst place on the face of earth. It is certainly a place where educated people with some standards would not want to be a part of."
True, if you are a born American. If you are coming abroad, even MS or LA would be fine as long as you get that Green Card (unless of course you have a job offer in Hong Kong or Singapore which definitely are way ahead in racial thought, levels of intelligence, and educational achievements compared to most of the US).
Indian in Indiana
Monday, December 23, 2002 at 10:26:55 (PST)
[138.220.110.174]
Indian from indiana,
You were fortunate to live in West Lafayette near Purdue where the population is made up mostly of students and academics.
If you go to Indianapolis and the smaller towns, some of what you'd see would shock you. It is what some people call a Third-world country in a First-world nation. There is no denying that Indiana has the second lowest SAT score only next to Mississippi. The low standard of the school system is simply freightening. Most of the residents are obese in a society where obesity is strongly correlated with low socio-economic status and lack of education. Few knowledge-based companies are located in Indiana due to the lack of human talent and poor work ethics. It is widely known in Indianapolis that Eli Lilly has long had significant difficulties in retaining qualified employees due to its location, and the company is in a vey weak position to compete against companies on the coasts.
Indiana may not be the worst place on the face of earth. It is certainly a place where educated people with some standards would not want to be a part of.
Bostonian
Sunday, December 22, 2002 at 16:43:55 (PST)
[18.170.3.155]
Coming from a local, I haven't experienced much racism living here. It exists but isn't a major problem.
HeyLover
Friday, December 20, 2002 at 17:10:38 (PST)
[63.214.104.234]
"I lived in Indiana for a few years."
So did I during the 1980s, in West Lafayette.
"It has to be one of the most racist states in this country."
Parts of it, yes. Particularly, Elwood, Tipton and Martinsville.
"It is also the former home to the Ku Klux Klan headquarters and the current home to many racist and militia groups."
Moved to Idaho.
"A large portion of the population is uneducated, poor, and embarassingly ignorant."
If you think Hoosiers are uneducated, welcome to Mississippi.
"Many Hoosiers, as Indiana residents call themselves, have never traveled outside of Indiana and yet think they know more than anyone else."
Most Americans belong in this category. Only 10% of Americans have ever owned passports and 80% of this group are Asian and Hispanic Americans.
"There is a "brain drain" of college graduates from Indiana as young people seek better lives and opportunities elsewhere."
Better opportunities than many states in Indiana. However, not enough.
"Several local institutions such as Eli Lilly and Indiana University have been known for blatant racist acts and policies for decades."
Many US universities belong to this category. You may have heard of the Trent Lott saga. His university Ole Miss was perhaps the most racist.
"In the early 1990, Eli Lilly was threatened to be shut down by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after repeatedly failing the EEOC audit."
Texaco and many other US corporations also fell under this category.
"Only a few years ago, a Korea student at Indiana University was shot to death by a white supremacist while walking to church with his friends."
Benjamin Smith was from Illinois. He also wanted to kill a few members of a championship basketball team because it had a black coach.
"Many of the locally trained professional such as physicians and lawyers are grossly incompetent and dishonest, exacerbated by the facts that their clients are incapable of judjing the quality of service they are paying for."
Any evidence?
"My recommendation is to stay as away from Indiana as you possibly can."
I am visiting Purdue in January.
"Absolutely do not go to school, take jobs, or buy service from there."
Then we should also boycot most of America.
Indian from Indiana
Friday, December 20, 2002 at 11:56:44 (PST)
[138.220.110.174]
Anti Asian? Not Boston..for that you need to go to Littleton or Evergreen, CO. They really hate Asians out here.
Asian in Boulder
Friday, December 20, 2002 at 11:47:45 (PST)
[138.220.110.174]
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