Annoyances of Asian American Life | Asian American Poll

ANNOYANCES OF
ASIAN AMERICAN LIFE
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:25:46 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Which of the following is the most annoying occurrence to which Asian Americans are routinely subjected?
Being told you speak English well | 21%
Being asked where you're from, originally | 28%
Having (non-Asian) strangers address you with phrases in Asian languages | 23%
Being subjected to offensive media portrayals of Asians | 28%

Which of the following is the most common way in which racial hostility has been expressed toward you?
Hostile words spoken to your face | 9%
Hostile remarks to others within earshot | 41%
Slurs or taunts shouted from a distance | 17%
Spreading of malicious gossip about you | 6%
Pointedly excluding you from a conversation or event | 27%

In your experience what types of persons are most likely to show hostility toward Asians?
People with low educational levels | 24%
People from social backwaters | 17%
People insecure about their own places in society | 28%
People envious of Asian success | 11%
People with little contact with other ethnicities | 19%

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WHAT YOU SAY

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Krasavitsa,
I never proclaimed to understand what it is like to be an Asian and experience hate and prejudice from Caucasians. I only spoke my opinion on a posting, just as you have done on mine. And I have a right to post here as much as you do. Goldsea never posted a policy that Caucasians were not welcome here to post and learn about race relations and voice their opinons too. I think that if Goldsea wanted it that way, perhaps they could make it a private subscription service for Asians only.
The same applies to the fact that since my husband is Asian and our son is also part Asian, I think it is a positive thing ,like AD said in another posting, about keeping the conversation going between the races.
So Asian identity issues and race relations will ALWAYS be part of my life, including the ones between Caucasians and Asians.
And prejudice affects people that are married to Asians also. In MANY ways.
You may not personally care the reasons why "we" are here, nor even like Caucasian people. That is your personal choice.
Perhaps a suggestion might be that Goldsea keeps their forums racially pure and only allow Asians to post on cetain topics, and Caucasians on others? We could resort back to segregation, since only one race has validity in their thoughts and feelings and opinions according to your opinion.

Perhaps a good forum topic would be for Caucasians involved in personal relationships with Asians and how prejudice has also affected their lives?

Although I may personally have found AD's tone bitter on this posting, and I am not saying that she has no right to be bitter, I have agreed and found insight from many of her postings, and I have expressed this to her, and I believe she knows this.
I also learned from her response, which was concise and made me understand her views more and yet she did not personally attack me as you did with yours. If AD has been wronged, all I wanted to say to her is to not let what some do make you hate everyone of that race or automatically think everyone thinks of you this way.
I never deny that racism exists.
Hannybunbun Monday, June 17, 2002 at 06:04:54 (PDT)

rare stuff,

Interesting school stories! I have heard that some white teachers do tend to discriminate against minorities. There was a recent article in Time magazine entitled "Learning while black." A black boy punched a white boy, who then retaliated. The white boy got 3 days, the black boy 1 MONTH. Where's the justice in this??

I've got a few things to say about injustice in academia, but I'll save them for later this week.

Krasavitsa,

Yes, I know what you're talking about. I've not actually encountered this myself but rather the case where the woman is all happy and smiling with all of the (white) customers--until she gets to me.

Is this just a woman-woman thing? I have seen gruff white guys, but they tend to be gruff with everyone, not just me. But it could be that maybe people tend to be ruder to people of their own sex.

Black Crimson Tide,

Those southern white women sound like ill-educated hoes: a bunch of pansy-ass-Daddy's-little-blond-girl-princess. I don't know; maybe it's just how they're raised in that overprivileged, uppermiddle class white way. In their midns, they're still "southern belles" and private Scarlett O'Haras and you're just their "colored help." Have you considered a Dixie flag doormat with a huge sign above it saying, "Please wipe your feet here"?

I only hope they will get their reckoning one day, like the folks at Enron who disriminated against minorities. Bet the ones who applied there are now thinking "THANK THE LORD!"

But it is sad when double standards are still being enacted and whites not only refuse to own up to it but attempt to silence us. That's why there are law professors who will defend the KKK and Neo-Nazis right to free speech but will get very upset about minority students complaining about racist professors. (Mari Matsuda discusses this in "Where's your body?") And these people are educate enough to know better, not just some dumb fluff-brained sorority girls. No wonder this nation is so messed up.

We minorities may no longer have the shackles upon us, but they are still there figuratively speaking. "America is a great country, don't you dare complain. You're better off here than in Asia or Africa" is how it goes. Frank Wu was discussing on C-span how his posts got deleted on a website devoted to motorcycling: supposedly, someone made a remark about a "Jap bike" and he wrote back, saying that he was offended. A huge row erupted, but get this: the moderator deleted HIS posts--not those posted by people who were being truly offensive and using racial slurs!

Yeah....freedom of speech. Freedom and justice for all. Ain't it a great thing?
Asian Dominatrix Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 17:34:27 (PDT)

Asian Dominatrix:

Krasavitsa says this in the whiting wongs and wonging whites board:

"I WISH I had the same complaints as, say, Asian Dominatrix. Perhaps familiarity breeds contempt, but the racism Asian Americans complain about doesn't seem as insidious as racism here. The racism you guys complain about is MILD!"

Do you believe that this is because there are more non-whites in the US than in Australia and that the power comes in numbers?

Sociologist Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 14:48:25 (PDT)

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