Concert of my Life
Many posts are big blog post style, so a "Read More" link is used to shorten posts for feeds.
Some of my posts will be emotional or controversial. Always refer to the "Read More" sentence. Thanks.
I write a lot about social/political/world issues and you may or may not agree with my opinions. I am not and do not claim to be an expert on any of the topics, and am only presenting my thoughts formed from knowledge gained through research or school. Feel free to let me know what you think, I am always open to new ideas and perspectives.
What I've been defined by in the past few years: Marching Band, SPOP, Whispering Wood, UCI
Any Questions, Comments, or Concerns? Praises or Objections? Put it in the Ask!
New Page to collect all Posts related to Society/World Issues: Thoughts on Society
This comic appeared on my Facebook newsfeed.
I had heard last week the news that for the *first* time, non-white babies born outnumbered white babies born in America. And though I thought about the implications of the news, I didn’t even consider just what a ridiculous place I was coming from when I approached the issue. I didn’t even consider just how wrong such a statement is. That, no. How dare we frame this as the “first” time non-white babies are going to outnumber white babies. Non-white babies outnumbered white babies in America for a really really long time. This is not a first. This is a second.
I reblogged a response to a comment that was highly problematic. In summary, the comment claimed that Asian Americans did not support the struggles of other people of color in the past, and because of this, Asian Americans can’t complain about issues of racism and marginalization that affect their communities. The comment even said that Asian Americans are not POC. The response was an overview of various significant (but largely mainstream unknown) facts about how the APIA experience is actually one of immense struggle and cross-racial solidarity and that Asian Americans are POC.
This is a very sensitive and important issue in regards to progressive action against structural racism and how people form coalitions/solidarity movements. The myth of the apathetic and model minority Asian American who throws other POC under the bus is a visible stereotype is fairly widespread, to my understanding (I could be wrong).
Hit Read More at your discretion. Some heated words.
Green Onion <too_tardy@gmail.com> (unregistered) wrote:
Where were Asians when California Indians had bounties placed on them (scalp collecting) and were being slaughtered to collect said bounties that were tabulated based on age and sex? Where were the majority of Asians when the Civil Rights era was in full swing with the majority of POC (Asians are not POC) participating? Why do a lot of Asians tout their own superiority in this racial hierarchy to degrade other non-Caucasian groups and revel in it as well as basking in the idea of the model minority, going so far as to present IQ scores as their model of achieving what other groups couldn’t (due to having a different history in the States)? Face it, Asians brought it on themselves and expect others to sympathize? ROFL
IP address: 98.159.94.162
This uneducated racist douchebag just thought it was a smart idea to post this as a comment. Seeing as I am a contributor for an upcoming anthology and am unbelievably busy working on my entries, I don’t have time to write a comprehensive history of Asian cross-racial alliances within the United States.
Though here’s a few points to consider.
I could keep going but I don’t have time or the patience right now. Next time you want to be a racist douchebag, you might want to think twice about using your home computer, seeing as that sure is your IP address posted right there, along with your email address, for everyone to see. I might add that my blog is searchable by Google and anyone who does a search of your email will find this incredibly anti-Asian, racist comment you so thoughtfully decided to post on a blog with literally hundreds of followers.
- Asians did not really begin arriving in the United States until 1850. The group, predominately Chinese, largely could not speak English, and did not understand the political climate of the United States and immediately were targets from the beginning to hate crimes and legally institutionalized forms of segregation, exclusion, discrimination, etc.
- Starting in 1854, a series of laws were passed that determined that Chinese were aliens in the country; could not become citizens due to being too “different”; had no rights to own land; could not testify in court; were taxed more than any other miners, black or white; could not marry outside of their race (an issue considering the fact that the Page Act of 1875 banned all Chinese women entrance into the country to prevent Chinese from procreation, which has been argued by many scholars as a form of genocide, creating the first bachelor society in the United States); were taxed based on the amount of air they were allowed to breathe in San Francisco; were driven out and forcibly deported; could not apply for business licenses; were taxed based on pole lengths (Chinese carried buckets and heavy packages on poles they held on their shoulders); were not allowed to vote; were segregated and forced into ghettos; were lynched and massacred by white folks on a regular basis; could not enter white-only establishments — so on and so forth. This culminated with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, where NO Chinese were allowed entry into the United States. In 1917, the act expanded to include ALL of the “Asiatic races.” It was not until 1942 that this was overturned, and only then it was with a very small quota of approximately 100 immigrants per year, compared with the thousands of immigrants from Europe and other parts of the world. This changed in the 1960s when the quotas were lifted.
- During the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case, which, if you do not know, means you know nothing at all about racial history and politics in the United States, Justice John Marshall Harlan argued against racial segregation only by invoking the “Oriental.” This is what he said: “There is a race so different from our own, that we do not permit those persons belonging to it to become citizens of the United States. Persons belonging to it are, with few exceptions, absolutely excluded from our country. I allude to the Chinese race.” And you were saying about Asians not being POC?
- Japanese Internment. Concentration camps in the United States of all Japanese on the West Coast and in Hawaii. ‘nuff said.
- There is a long and VERY RICH history of Afro-Asian solidarity that has been going on since the Bandung Conference of 1955. To the degree that figures such as Richard Wright, Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Huey Newton amongst others, have all spoken rather emphatically about the importance of Afro-Asian alliances that not only are generated domestically but also transnationally, as demonstrated by the way many black figures during this period romanticized Mao and China in general as a potential post-racial fantasy. (Du Bois, Newton, and Wright all spent time in China.) In response, Mao Tze-Tung even issued two major proclamations supporting the Civil Rights Movement. Domestically, there has also been a very rich history that I am not going to bother to cover here in depth, seeing as you most likely don’t really care to learn anyway. Though if there’s a slight chance you might actually care to be blown away by history: Afro-Asia ed. Fred Ho and Bill Mullen; Afro Orientalism by Bill Mullen; Blacks and Asians ed. Hazel M. McFerson; Orientals by Robert Lee; Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting by Vijay Prashad; AfroAsian Encounters Ed. Heike Raphael-Hernandez and Shannon Steen
- Richard Aoki, one of the FOUNDING FIGURES OF, oh that’s right, just a small, completely unimportant organization known as the Black Panther Party. In fact, Bobby Seale credits Aoki for providing him with much of the philosophy that served as the foundation to the Party and for introducing him to Mao’s work. Oh gee, this just so happened to occur during the Civil Rights Movement.
- Yuki Kochiyama, one of Malcolm X’s most trusted disciples to the degree that he literally died with his head in her lap. She also, during the Civil Rights Movement, worked feverishly to get prisoners released and was instrumental in the movement.
- Grace Lee Boggs, another major Civil Rights Activist who worked with Malcolm X and had even wanted him to run for president.
Props to Colorblinding for taking the time to pwn that asshole. It saddens me to hear non-Asian POC attack Asians under the guise of attacking power when those attacks are actually the result of xenophobia and a bullshit belief in American exceptionalism.
(via armaniwithoutthei)
Since coming into this really progressive space, it’s been interesting looking at everything through the lens of identity and privilege. I’ve said it many times before that I know I’ve not been always successful with checking my dominant group privileges and it’s something I need to work on. That said.
Hit Read More
Feminist Frequency - Tropes vs. Women: #1 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Feminist Frequency on my dashboard??? There is hope for the world!
(via noley)
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS. HEY EVERYONE. THIS IS AN API ISSUE TOO. SO DON’T PRETEND IT’S NOT.
(via antology)
Hit Read More for some thoughts on the sexualization and objectification of women in the media. Hint: They’re not necessarily the same thing. This is also more speculation and less thought out, so take it with a grain of salt.
If I may…
Conservatives (tm) and White people (tm) don’t want to talk about Racism? That’s new.
Article from Sociological Images. Nothing that no one doesn’t already know, except for Hollywood companies. Unfortunately, the execs are probably going to say that The Hunger Games is a “unique” case, and that strong female non-overly-sexualized protagonists won’t work twice. Unfortunate.
I came across this article and I think it raises an interesting point/dilemma in various causes for equality of identities/representation.
On one hand, I desire greater equality for historically excluded groups such as People of Color, Women, and LGBTQ people from traditionally White Heterosexual Male spaces such as the military. On the other hand, the military is pretty flippin’ problematic quite often. The only benefit may be long term, because it sets the standard for equality in other parts of society.
I was also thinking about the Rihanna/Chris Brown thing, about another similar dilemma. On one hand, firstly as male/man identified as well as an observer, I have to give Rihanna the respect and control over her life she deserves. It’s not my place or anyone else’s place to tell her what she should be doing, and that’s a core aspect of Feminism as I understand it. On the other hand, respecting her agency also means accepting her decision to put behind her an incident that by most measures was really really messed up and in most cases would have been pretty unforgivable. It *could* set a standard for forgiving and forgetting people who commit horrible personal crimes and *possibly* going back to an abusive person, which I think could do more harm than good to other people.
So. Complicated, yeah?
But I have to remember to check my Male Privilege, that I can’t speak accurately to these situations. So this is all very nebulous conjecture.
I was thinking about the post I reblogged about the movie industry and how rare it is to have female leads in certain genres. It reminded me about what I wanted to post about gendered marketing, especially towards children. How, marketing teams go out and do these studies and come back and say things like “Girls like buying dolls. We should market our doll toys to girls.” True, statistics don’t lie. I wouldn’t be surprised that girls on average buy more dolls than boys do. But why? Could it not possibly be because dolls are marketed to girls in the first place? And in a way that tells boys that dolls are off-limits? (Apologies for the gender binary here). The same with movies. Research and numbers will tell you that men and women consume action/sci fi movies with male leads. Maybe that’s because there are rarely any action/sci fi movies with female leads? Just maybe? Or that women are not proficient with computers, so we shouldn’t encourage women to enter technical fields? Maybe that’s because they never received the encouragement from their families and peers and society that they can and will succeed in these fields? People don’t develop in bubbles. Individuality is real, and so is Socialization. Unequal outcomes only seem natural because we already believed them to be so. It doesn’t have to be that way.
I’ve posted this before but evidently Racism just needs to be a relevant current issue (as if it ever wasn’t).
Moving Walkway Analogy - Think of the ones in airports or in Vegas. Or think of a flat escalator.
>Active Racists walk fast, reach the “goal” sooner
>Passive Racists stand still, reach the “goal” eventually
>Anti-Racists walk in the opposite direction, struggle against the flow, may not even succeed in the active resistance to get away from the “goal”
CLEARLY WE NEED TO HAVE THIS DISCUSSION. This information is from a powerpoint presentation a group I was in gave on Racism.
Colorblind Racism
Yes, fighting Racism with Racism is wrong and benefits nobody.
The problem is, when people say these things, when they quote MLK Jr., they’re often not saying it so they can advise each other on the proper ways to fight Racism. They’re saying it to feel better and to shield themselves from feeling attacked. Which is false because they’ve never been attacked. It’s their White Privileges that are being attacked.
Lines like “Don’t Fight Racism With Racism” and “MLK said to not see others by the color of their skin” is to really absurdly ignore the serious present day effects of Racism. These lines and others have been historically (and by historically I mean in the present) used to prevent us* from having real dialogue about Race and Racism.
*By “prevent us” I mean: Shut down People of Color who try to get people to understand that Race is still an issue and that we are not “Post-Racial”.
