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On Asian Racism

Bill Tope

    With the brutal shooting deaths of six women of oriental extraction, the sometimes violent abuse of such persons has been brought to the forefront. Probably to most Americans, racial bias is something that happens to Black people; it is in all instances reprehensible.
    But racism exists for virtually everyone in this country, depending on their racial identity and where they live, work, and play. It exists more so, of course, for people of color. It goes without saying that, despite prodigious gains over the last several decades, women of all races feel the brunt of discrimination.
    The number of Asian Americans, compared to that of Hispanic and Black Americans and of course whites, may be relatively small, but it is not—they are not—insignificant. There is an unfortunate history in this country of systematic racism against Asians. For example, the Chinese Exclusion Act; the internment of Japanese Americans—taxpaying U.S. citizens—in the shadow of Pearl Harbor; and racist behavior of the railroad robber barons during and following the Civil War, when they used Chinese workers to do the most hazardous tasks in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. They often assigned to these employees the task of laying explosive charges on a short fuse, whereupon they were required to run for their lives. Those unfortunate enough not to safely flee the explosions were then consigned to mass “yellow graves.”
    The only Asian Americans known to most people—myself included—are names gleaned from entertainment and sports, such luminaries as Midori Ito, Lucy Liu, Connie Chung, and others. There’s really no excuse for our continued ignorance. Black Studies has progressed a great deal over the past forty years; perhaps something along those lines, for Asian Americans, would be apropos. Universities, like everything else, are all political. If there is a hue and cry over Asiatic Studies, curricula will be so reconstituted. Or maybe just checking out a book at the local public library would be in order.
    Again, going back forty or fifty years, Black leaders eschewed other non-white races: Hispanics weren’t discriminated against, they said, at least not to the degree that Blacks were. And Jews, whether you consider them a race, a faith, or both, were resented for shouting racism. They were moguls and pols and they controlled entertlainment and the media; they hadn’t been discriminated against for hundreds of years. Try thousands of years. And there was that little incident known as the holocaust.
    But today there is an expanding umbrella, encompassing many such groups. Perhaps that is a good thing. Maybe it’s true that there is strength in numbers.
    What can we do the stop racism against Asians? One little thing we can all do: the next time you hear a reference to the China Flu or the Kung-Flu or any other remark which denigrates Asians—don’t laugh. And don’t sit quiet—voice your disapproval. And don’t elect the pols who use such language. Some feel Asians are not victims of racism because many are well-educated, affluent and successful. Well, so are many Jews. How has that worked out?

Story previous publication attribution is to The Telegraph newspaper in Alton, Illinois

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