>Asian Americans seen negatively
>Results of landmark survey called startling, disheartening
I sez:
Institutional racism of any kind is obviously abhorrent, but bogus studies and crappy articles such as this simply reflect the aspirations of actual and would-be upwardly-mobile Asian Americans (and their limousene liberal backers in the NYC foundations), who are dismayed that actual and perceived (i.e. stereotypically racist) cultural differences constrain their opportunities for success defined in bourgeois terms. Actual cultural differences get branded as demeaning racist stereotypes when they block upward mobility, and imagined cultural differences are leveraged into positive racialist stereotypes when they promote upward mobility.
(The Frankfurt School warned us about the flattening of critical thought induced by opinion polls -- if I were asked if I would object to having an Asian- American boss I would plainly reply that I object to bosses, period, not just for myself but for anyone).
These folks have little to no critique of U.S. capitalism save the way it blocks them from sending their kids to Harvard or becoming upper-tier corporate managers, including little to no critique of the fundamental dependence of U.S. capitalism upon the super-exploitation of black, brown, and yellow (and female) labor at home and abroad. Ever hear of the petty bourgeois Asian-American employers of Guatemelan immigrant seamstresses in L.A. sweatshops, or offshore Chinese employers of Vietnamese circuit board home assemblers in Santa Clara County ? Also the Asian-American capitalist class and technical-professional "class fraction" is not doing so shabbily by virtue of all their business ties and portfolio holdings in the charnel houses of East Asian capitalism. I imagine that for many of these folks the problem with admittedly putrid nativism that whipped up over the "Hainan incident" was not only the specter of vague threats to life and limb (obviously something to be seriously concerned about given the history of anti-Asian pogroms in the U.S.) but also the ostensible endangerment of trade and investment links with mainland China. (Of course there are also Asian-Americans of Taiwanese descent, who support the paleocon position except to the extent that it stokes harrowing anti-Asian hysteria in the U.S.).
None of this is to deny the empirical accuracy of the findings (at the superficial level that opinion polls offer refracted representations of social reality), the pervasiveness of anti-Asian attitudinal racism across the social class/ethnic spectrum of the U.S., nor the the continuing presence of anti-Asian institutional racism in various arenas of U.S. social life. But neither are studies and articles such as these innocent of a 2nd and 3rd generation Asian-American technical-professional salariat class strategy.
Obviously I am exaggerating for effect here, drawing a too-stark picture to make a point. The Rockefeller and Ford Foundation liberal discourse on racism makes my skin crawl.
John Gulick
>Asian Americans seen negatively
>Results of landmark survey called startling, disheartening
>Matthew Yi and Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writers Friday, April 27, 2001
>One in four Americans has "strong negative attitudes" toward Chinese
Americans, >would feel uncomfortable voting for an Asian American for
president of the >United States, and would disapprove of a family member
marrying someone of >Asian descent, according to a landmark national survey.
>The results of the telephone poll conducted in the first two weeks of March
>were startling, said Henry Tang, chief executive officer of the Committee
of >100, a Chinese American leadership organization that sponsored the
survey -- >the first of its kind.
>"We always knew that there was some negativity out there, but we were
startled >at the magnitude," he said yesterday in a telephone interview.
"These >observations are results of many decades . . . of stereotyping
inside the >American society."
>Tang said it is all the more disheartening that the survey of 1,216
Americans >was conducted before the recent collision between a U.S. spy
plane and a >Chinese fighter jet off Hainan.
>"The numbers are probably higher now than when the survey was done," Tang
said.
>As a result of the standoff over the release of the crew of the U.S. plane,
>which made an emergency landing in China, talk-show hosts began calling for
>internment of Chinese Americans and for boycotts of Chinese restaurants.
>The poll, conducted by Yankelovich Partners in collaboration with the Anti-
>Defamation League and the Marttila Communications Group, chiefly studied
>Americans' attitudes toward Chinese Americans and Asian Americans. The
study >found that respondents felt virtually the same about Chinese
Americans as about >Asian Americans in general.
>NEGATIVE VIEWS
>The survey found 25 percent of respondents harbor very negative attitudes and
>stereotypes toward Chinese Americans ...
>Twenty-three percent of respondents felt uncomfortable supporting an Asian
>American presidential candidate, compared to 15 percent for an African
>American, 14 percent for a woman and 11 percent for a Jew.
>Twenty-four percent disapprove of intermarriage with an Asian American,
second >only to African Americans, while 7 percent wouldn't want to work for
an Asian >American chief executive officer, compared to 4 percent who would
not want to >work for an African American, 3 percent for a woman and 4
percent for a Jew.
>The survey also concluded that 32 percent of Americans feel that Chinese
>Americans likely would be more loyal to China than to the United States,
while >17 percent said they would be upset if a substantial number of Asian
Americans >moved into their neighborhood.
>CONFLICTING MESSAGE
>On the other hand, the vast majority said they believe Chinese Americans
have >strong family values and are as honest as other business people.
>"Ninety percent said they think Chinese Americans have strong family values,
>yet: 'You can't marry my kid.' What is that all about?" said Zenobia Lai,
>executive director of the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. " 'You can be
>creative, hard-working and honest, but you can't be my president.' I can't
find >any explanation, except that it's a kind of prejudice and racism."
>Ted Wang, policy director for Chinese for Affirmative Action in San
Francisco, >said the survey does not surprise him. It follows other studies
conducted by >graduate students in recent years.
>He said the low opinion of Asian Americans as leaders, in both government and
>business, is indicative of feelings about the community as a whole.
>'PERPETUAL FOREIGNER'
>"There is a perception that we are still not American, that we're the
perpetual
>foreigner," said Wang. "That plays into the distrust of Asian Americans in the
>context of government and private corporations."
>Wang, like Lai, said he is puzzled by the paradoxical perception about Asian
>Americans.
>"We're held out as a model minority in the context of the American whole,
but >we're seen as something less than desirable and trustworthy than the
average >American," said Wang.
>Saratoga software contractor Larry Wang, 47, said he was saddened to hear the
>numbers. But he said the survey is a call for Chinese Americans to become
even >more involved in their local communities.
>"I would hope most people would feel we are part of this society. We are not
>foreigners and strangers," said Larry Wang. "I think we need to make more
>contributions to society and the community. That way we can change people's
>attitudes."
>Dr. Albert Wang, 42, of Fremont, said Asians don't deserve the rap they're
>getting.
>"Most Asian Americans are law-abiding, contributing members of the
community," >said Wang. "Maybe we could be more active, but I don't think
we're deserving of >this."
>Both Tang and Lai believe education is key to overcoming negative feelings
>toward Asian Americans.
>Such attitudes don't simply "spring up when people turn 25," Lai said.
>School curricula should be improved to help dispel myths about Asian
Americans, >Tang added.
>"Textbooks don't have enough presentation of Asian and Asian American
history," >he said. "I'm always baffled that in 2001 . . . Asian languages
are not offered >in more secondary schools."
>Lai said perceptions must be changed. "It'll take a lot of work and
commitment >by both Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans," she said.