On college campuses across the United States, Asians likely suffer from less racism compared to other minorities. In fact, during my time at the University of Illinois in downstate central Illinois back in the early 90s, I can only think of two incidents that could be considered racist, fueled by looking Asian. 1) A Caucasian woman, loudly protesting our use of a Denny's late at night to study. Maybe applicable to any of the other students that were also doing the same thing, except she colorfully described our mostly Asian group, using as many derogatory Asian terms that she could think up. (The manager threw her out, and apologized to us.) 2) For a retreat for our Filipino-American student association, we went slightly farther south to a smaller town known for their excellent retreat facilities. For dinner, we walked into a local establishment to eat. We were a fairly large group, of mostly Asian kids, and if this were a movie, you might have heard a record needle being dragged across the record to stop the music. Most adults, stopped to look, but quickly recovered. But the kids, they couldn't stop staring. It might have been a very rare occasion to see an Asian, much less to see this many all at once. The first incident was clearly hateful, the second was more about curiosity and a touch of ignorance.What made me think of these incidents all of a sudden? Watch these videos, if you haven't already: Alexandra Wallace: "Asians in the Library"
A Musical Response:
It frightens me a bit to see that despite all the gains we've made, people are still frightened to truly know one another, and instead rely on stereotypes to lash out. It's 2011, isn't it?
A Musical Response:
It frightens me a bit to see that despite all the gains we've made, people are still frightened to truly know one another, and instead rely on stereotypes to lash out. It's 2011, isn't it?