In my previous post, “Sticking out but was my thumb sore?” I spoke a little bit about my experiences as an African American and wanted to know if the Asian American community had similar experiences. To answer this, I did some research and conducted interviews with two of my friends. I posed the same questions that I had asked at the end of my post. Are you worried about how stereotypes make the people around you think about you or how they treat you? Do you feel less accepted when around different minority groups or individuals? Do you feel like people treat you differently specifically because of your ethnicity?
However, before we get into the interviews, I would like to go over some of the research that I conducted. I read many articles but the one that stood out to me the most was the New York Times article, “How it Feels to be Asian in Today’s America”. As I was reading, I could see how frustrated people have become over the years due to the rise in racist attacks against Asians. However, the most frustrating thing for me was how some people’s response made it seem like racism was a new thing. For obvious reasons I have always been aware of the racism in America and that includes racism towards other minorities. I never had the expectation that Asian people did not experience racism because of what I have seen play throughout history. I know if people from the African Americancommunity would read this article, they would be offended at the lack of empathy that their responses demonstrated. To say that you were unaware about racism in America until you experienced it personally is a clear demonstration of the lack of empathy for other groups who have endured racism for centuries. It is understandable because how can you live in a country that hates everything that makes you “culturally” you while feeling that you have to side with them to be as American as possible. To be quite honest racism is as American as apple pie.
This is not to say that African Americans can’t have prejudices and hatred towards other groups, but we are definitely aware that it exists and often advocate for, and serve as allies for different minority groups when they experience racist attacks in America. Unfortunately, we don’t always experience that same support and advocacy from them. So, by having conversations like this we can discuss our mutual experiences and better work together to change society and treatment we experienced at the hands of others and with each other.
With that said I personally started this conversation with two of my friends. Both are male and identify as Taiwanese American. They have never met; one friend is from university while the other is my language partner. I conducted separate remote interviews. I was not really sure what to expect in terms of their responses, but we have had conversations about this subject before. Especially my friend from university. He and I would often have conversations about both of our communities and how they are so similar and yet there is friction. With this interview we delved even deeper into this topic. We discussed his identity and how he conducts himself and for him, he is unapologetically Taiwanese American. He has worked with different Taiwanese organizations at school and within his area to help further promote Taiwanese culture. His main goal is to bring more awareness and appreciation of Taiwanese culture. Especially with the younger generation within his community. He has dealt with the negative effects of stereotyping, in particular the bamboo ceiling. “…but there's definitely been sometimes where I've been raising my hand in class, for example anywhere from elementary school to I guess, high school where I raised my hand and be like, I want to say something or I want to do something, it's been overlooked. I think right now the most harmful one would be the bamboo ceiling.” However, he does not let that bother him personally, but he does worry how it affects the people around him. “For example, the whole speaking English thing with Asian people. Where sometimes I do catch myself, I do this, my mom does this. If we're just walking in the neighborhood and we're having conversation in Chinese, and we pass one of our neighbors we will switch to saying some phrases in English. I think that is one of the things that affects me the most right now.” When it came to discussing how he interacted with other minorities the conversation unfolded even more. For him there was no problem with interacting with different communities such as the Latino/Hispanic community, however he mentioned that he had the least interaction with the African American community. Aside from myself, a coworker and a friend from the film department, there was not a lot of interaction between him and the community. He is very mindful of what he does and says when he is around African Americans because he does not want to seem like he is trying to step out of his own skin when he is interacting with them. This made me feel sad because I would often feel the same way when it came to the Asian American community. I would worry that people would think I was trying to be Asian when in fact it was just me loving and appreciating a culture. It’s even harder as a African American to hear how someone who wants to interact with your community but is scared because they are afraid they are going to be accused of trying to be black. There is a distinct difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. He is clearly appreciating a culture! This is even harder to do in this day and age because of cancel culture and how social media will take one moment of appreciation and tarnish it with false notions of appropriation and accusations of being a culture vulture. A lot of times this is because of the behaviors that people may exhibit the way they talk, the way they walk, and the way they dress. Which are stereotypes, fetishes, and fantasy concerning the African Americancommunity. He goes on and explains that “I'm not one of those people that like, think stereotypes are, just made up. I think there's a lot that does come from some truth. I think if I had to point to one, I guess, piece that really makes you think about the validity behind stereotypes, it is going to be like Joyner Lucas track I’m not racist. It's literally both sides airing out their misconceptions about each other.” (Note: if you choose to watch this video just know that it is a difficult watch) I think it is important to have these types of conversations to really get an understanding of where both sides are coming from. Not all of our experiences are the same and it’s important that we learn about each other’s experiences to gain a better understanding of one another.
With that said in my second interview my language partner had a different experience. He and I had a brief discussion of this topic before. In particular, he helped me prepare a presentation for an undergraduate conference on Chinese studies focused on racial stereotypes. I thought he would be a great candidate to help further this discussion. For him sometimes he thinks about his ethnicity when it comes to going about his day, but he does not let that bother him when it comes to interacting with people. He does not care about the stereotypes that people may hold against him nor does he hold stereotypes against other communities. To him, “Culture is kind of like art, I would say and getting to experience that is not something you can’t get anywhere else other than the United States. I really appreciate the differences. However, I am more focused on the individual level, I don't see them as their culture. I see them as unique people that are interesting on their own.” In terms of his own experiences, he has not had a moment where he felt that he was treated differently because of his ethnicity. “Genuinely no, very rarely do I feel like that's the case. I mean, I think it was more prominent whenever my cousin would come here. I've asked him a couple of times about this. When he went to middle school somewhere in inner city, Maryland, he had to fight people every day. And I'm just like, huh. Times have changed.”
The one thing I have gotten from the research and the two interviews I conducted is that we should never view people as monolithic. What I mean by that is all African Americanpeople are not the same just as all Asians are not the same. Yes, you see on social media discussions of experiences that we may all have had. For instance, the discussion of growing up with a black mom or an Asian mom and how similar the experiences are from person to person. Yet everyone is not the same, does not believe the same, does not think the same. So, for us to move forward we must realize that it's wrong, ineffective, and counterproductive to view everyone through the same lenses with the same expectation, fears, and hatred dictating one's actions. Towards the end of his interview my friend said something important, “Stereotypes inherently are very stupid. If you have to look at them, look at them like boxes. It's just putting people in those boxes. If a box is important enough to pay attention to, look at how much of your group is inside each box and what can you do to bring people out of the box until there's almost just as much inside that is outside. That's how we have to deal with them.”
References:
Cowan, J. (2021, September 25). How It Feels To Be Asian In Today's America . New York Times . Retrieved July 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/25/us/asian-americans.html.
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