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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
The White Stuff: Whiting Wongs & Wonging Whites
hey're our neighbors, buddies, allies, enemies, clients, bosses, employees, lovers and spouses. Many of us have more daily contact with Whites than with other Asians. Consequently, we often feel we know them better than they can ever know us. Maybe that's at the heart of our frustration as Asian Americans. They are as ubiquitous and pervasive as the air we breath while to them it seems we are eternal curiosities, outsiders, exotics.
Bridging the gap?
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And so we sometimes find ourselves lashing out with nasty generalizations about the people we blame for all that seems wrong with American society and, more specifically, our place in it. They are ignorant, shallow, boorish, smelly, sneaky, treacherous, malicious, dumb, weird -- in short, all the labels we feel have been so unfairly slapped on us.
But even as we hurl such epithets we cannot forget the countless acts of kindness, warmth, generosity, friendship, passion and love that we have enjoyed from these very same people. As our anger and frustration subside, we recognize that our fates are inextricably intertwined, not merely in sharing a world, a nation, a society, an economy, a culture -- but often in sharing even our most intimate lives. One in five of today's Asian American marriages are to Whites. And contrary to the imbalance of the past, the ratio of new AM/WF marriages to new AF/WM marriages is steadily approaching unity.
So we naturally have a strong interest in decoding the other side of the equation. Understanding is a two-way street. Fortunately, there are Whites who have enough interest in us as individuals to share their perspectives on us and on their interactions with us. This page is for those who -- as corny as it may sound -- have chosen to serve as bridges.
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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 06:38:55 AM)
question (aka Lisa),
Sorry about the old lady incident. Sometimes I get annoyed by the older generation for uttering offensive statements myself, for example when my parents' friend told me I got fatter lately :(.
Actually my bf and I have been talking about raising children. It's his opinion that we should influence our future children with both Western and Eastern values, and I agree. Right now we live in a city with large AA communities. If we are still here when we have kids, it will be relatively easy to influence them with multiple cultures. I have seen a lot of interracial parents do that. My mother teaches a bilingual pre-school, where kids have English lessons in the morning and Chinese lessons in the afternoon. These kids are either Asian-American or interracial. They seem to be learning both languages very well (they are so adorable. My mom just loves teaching them).
But if we move to a less diverse environment, we still want to carry out our plan but we just need to try harder. My bf suggests that I can speak Chinese to the kids and he speaks English to them. That way they will learn naturally. The other day I was watching Oprah, where Celine Dion and her husband brought in her little son. They were speaking French to him, and they explained to Oprah that they try to speak both French and English to him. I thought it was so great for them to do that.
My bf's mom also supports this idea. She says sometimes she regrets that her mother never taught her any Italian (her mother was 1st generation Italian).
I definitely think there are a lot of good aspects of Western cultures, too. So I will want to bring up my kids with both sides instead of just one.
Red Red Seashell
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 19:34:11 (PDT)
Krasavitsa:
"It must have taken a great deal of courage to go through what you described, and to go back there again after fleeing."
I saw the following incident with my own eyes. A young Afrikaaner girl (about twenty years old) basically fired with a machine gun. Her last name is Uys...the sight of her used to freeze the blood of non-whites...men, women and children alike...real sharp Aryan features, sharp pointed nose, round blue eyes (filled with hate and contempt for non-whites), pale white skin and flaming red hair. Three days after the massacre, I saw her marching in an Afrikaaner Day celebration in Pretoria, and a couple of days after that I saw her wandering freely in the Holiday Inn near the Johannesburg Airport. She did not serve any time for her deeds and I have heard her deeds were many since she was ten years old. She got off after the testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Here is the story of one of her misdeeds.
"IGHTWINGERS HELD RESPONSIBLE OF THE KILLING OF BLACKS
JOHANNESBURG Dec 13, 1993 Sapa
Police suspect white rightwingers were responsible for the attack
early on Monday morning on black occupants of two cars travelling
on the Randfontein/Ventersdorp road.
Three people were killed in the attack, including an 11-year-old
boy.
Police said arrests were imminent.
Eleven-year-old Patrick Gasanene used his hands to shield his
face in a vain attempt to escape death at the hands of the
killers who forced people from their vehicles before shooting and
mutilating them at a Randfontein roadside.
The 11-year-old died after being shot in his face through his
hands.
One of the survivors of the attack had his ears cut off.
The attack, which police believe was racially motivated, claimed
the lives of Patrick and 21-year-old Teboho Makhuza of
Meadowlands, Soweto, who was a student at the Bellville Technikon
in the Cape. Both died on the scene.
A third man, Theo Solly More, 25, was later identified by his
family at the Paardekraal Hospital, where he died after being
shot in the back of the head."
Red Red Seashell:
"If I had half of the experiences you guys have, I would move to the US, China, Taiwan, or Singapore already. Seriously, have you ever considered moving to a more diversity-tolerant country? US is not always perfect, but it is much, much better and I like it here."
Not too easy these days.
Asian Dominatrix:
"I've had otherwise great professors at Oxford who've told me things like "imperialism has done more good than harm" and that "nations only started to fall apart after Europeans left." (And this was a supposedly liberal woman, too!!)"
How about Singapore, Barbados, Bahamas, Antigua, Mauritius and St. Lucia? They are performing better than most white countries...including the Former Soviet Union. By the way, a formerly racist white woman I knew from here in South Africa now lives in Barbados...they are trying to deport her and she does not want to leave...wants to live under black rule...I mean 100% black rule and has all black bosses...no Asians or whites in the Barbados government. Is n't that interesting? I may consider moving there myself.
South African Asian Female
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 11:47:14 (PDT)
"They will need industrious asian immigrants, if they wish to step toe-to-toe with the the little tiger economies of S. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore."
....and of course, the main player in the Asia/Pacific region, the United States.
"From an economic stand point Japan and China are never mentioned in the same breath as Austraila."
Actually I work on global issues. Very few people mention Australia as an economic power house. Yeah, they are a bit prejudiced in Australia (I was there back in 1994) but violent prejudice as in South Africa, Texas, Louisiana or Alabama...NO! The white Australians do not want Asians for a neighbor...but neither do many white Americans, especially in the South and the Rocky Mountain states.
Economist
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 11:26:57 (PDT)
"Not sure what connection this statement has with the initial observation but there are possibly a significant number of white australians in Singapore - not sure about "so many"...sounds like you're agonising over a sort of white peril.
Why are they there? It could be because there is/was a labour shortage in your small island that needed to be filled. I think most of them would have had jobs back home in various professions and then made the move to be an expat - if you're implying that they are the bottom of the barrel then maybe singapore should try harder to attract a better type of expat."
No. It should be a two way street. I expect Australians to be as welcoming of Asians as Asians are of Australians. Here, I am referring to Singaporeans only.
"i hear this all the time and my parents have said the same....unless the dog is Pekingese of course."
Not very surprising.
"we should naturally execute those with different viewpoints'
At least jail people who incite violence, be it of a football hooligan variety or racial/ethnic variety.
"sure they took part in an economic boom but they should be kicked out at the first sign of a downturn"
No. You keep the best people in a downturn or in a boom.
"oh yeah because only whites are racist"
Any ethnic group in a majority tends to be racist...however only whites in minority have been racist in the past, ie., South Africa and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Read the South African Asian's post.
"right...i actually thought economic growth in Australia for the last two quarters outstripped that of Singapore and the US put together"
Two quarters does not equate long-term growth and prosperity. Actually US grew at 5.3% in the first quarter of 2002...I do not believe that Australia matched the US in the first quarter.
".....yes, believe it or not there are people out there who would rather live in trees"
True.
"You're a great advertisement for the Singaporean educational system and its irreverent brand of learning."
Thank you. They would also have jailed Enron executives and the Texas Attorney General (who looked the other way) in Singapore as well and sued them out of their last penny.
Singaporean in the US
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 11:11:27 (PDT)
AC Dropout,
"From an economic stand point Japan and China are never mentioned in the same breath as Australia."
i had no idea....and i thought we were a world economic super power...doh!
maxdacat
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 10:00:55 (PDT)
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