We’re reading American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang in my college classroom and we’re discussing stereotypes and racism to go along with the reading. We’ve read Brent Staples essay, “Black Men and Public Spaces,” and excerpts from Margaret Cho’s book, I have Chosen to Stay and Fight.
Their response?
My students (a very diverse group: my class is 60% Asian Pacific American, about 15% Latino/a, and 15% African American) tell me that racism is no longer a problem. They say no one makes fun of them for their race, and that they do not feel discrimination based on race.
They read the Brent Staples essay with a nostalgic bent. They read Margaret Cho’s work, and when I said it had been written in the past few years, they were surprised, and responded, “Why is she so angry? She seems really pissed off.” As if there was nothing to be angry about.
When I discussed the character of “Chin-Kee” in ABC, they didn’t realize the name was based on the word “chinky,” a derogatory word for Chinese. I asked them what they thought of the word, and I got blank stares. What did they think? A student’s hand wavered as it was raised. “I call myself chinky (she’s Asian American). It’s not offensive.”
It’s not offensive?
“No, we call ourselves chinky. It’s no big deal.”
Has the word “chinky” been reclaimed in the mien of “queer?”
“Ms. —-?” asked a student, “When was the last time you experienced racism?” As if it was some old artifact.
My eyes opened wide. I get ching-chang-chonged in London. In France. And just the other day (and this is not racism but ignorance but it is a precursor to racism), I discovered a new coworker was confusing me with the ONE OTHER ASIAN AMERICAN WOMAN in the office. (He kept sending me emails that seemed out of context with my work–after awhile, aha, I figured out, he meant to send it to the other Asian American in the office).
Whoa! they exclaimed, collectively. As if I had come from another planet explaining the ceremonies of life elsewhere.
“If you say racism is gone and it’s no longer a problem, then I am certainly hopeful for our future as a society. I sure hope that’s the case,” I said.
Is it true? Is racism gone, like my students say?
Or is it because my students probably never leave Oakland or the Bay Area, an area relatively open minded and diverse in comparison to the rest of the world?
7 Comments
November 6, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I think “chinky” is a little bit like queer- almost a term of affection I’ve heard between people. But if a non-Asian person uses it “against” an Asian person it’s def. racism. I think living in the Bay Area has a LOT to do with it. But I also think there is still tons of racism here. I mean I KNOW there is.
November 6, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I don’t think racism is gone, but as you say, you live in a particularly open-minded part of the world. I think there’s a fair comparison to feminism: the world is now defined equal for men and women, but there are subtle privileges at work that one has to learn to see and fight against. White privilege is still huge, just as male privilege is still huge (and let’s not even talk about white male privilege).
You’re opening their eyes, Jade!
November 7, 2009 at 8:49 am
Not sure of the age of your class, but if they’re young (18-21), a couple of things come into play. No doubt, region has some effect; what’s tolerated in the Bay Area will cause fist fights in rural Georgia…trust me, I know.
One could make an argument that, because of their presumed youth, their experiences are limited. Whether due to overprotective parents or dumb luck, they haven’t experienced racism, whether latent or explicit. And this comes with time and wisdom, forging relationships with other cultures. I’ve never been called a nigger to my face, but my girlfriend has…by the cops, no less. Conversations like this help separate racism on a personal level from racism in a larger, dare I say, systemic sense of the word. In other words, “its real even though it never happened to me.”
I would hope, in time, they learn there’s a difference between thinking racism is dead…and not wanting to feed racist ideologies and systems, while simultaneously acknowledging its existence. They might be served reading or listening to Obama’s racism speech. If nothing else, it captured the current state of affairs in its accurate, nuanced form.
November 7, 2009 at 6:17 pm
No one will EVER be “chinky” in my house!
~7 years back a customer referred to one of my coworkers as a “chink” (don’t worry, I promptly bawled the customer out–very, very publicly). Publicly slurring someone like that is extremely rare in my experience (which has largely occurred well outside of the East Bay’s harmony-womb). That being said, I don’t think I will ever forget it.
It makes sense that your students don’t “feel discrimination”, but if they are in a class of 90% minority students then racism IS happening to them. I think that is what makes today’s brand of discrimination so insidious, it can be easy to internalize the structural disadvantages in our society when the onus for success is on the individual. (And as I write this the individual is rapidly becoming everything!) Sure everyone is equal, but for the instant of the specific transaction only. Can historical or structural inequities matter to a generation where community is fleeting at best?
Oh, and your doppelganger –jk
– Margret Cho should be pissed at those f’n Disney pukes forever!
November 8, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Well. I had my students do a free write asking them to write a personal response to our readings (ABC by Gene Luen Yang, an essay by Margaret Cho on stereotypes, the essay Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples–all dealing with stereotypes/racism)…and I was blown away by many of the free writes. Racism/stereotypes are, tragically, alive and well in the U.S.
November 10, 2009 at 6:17 am
Of course racism is alive and well. All sorts of -isms are inevitable among human beings. I think racism is more subtle in general, although in some places it still seems pretty blatant. We encounter it regularly in our family, but it’s not in the way racism manifested in the 1960s, for example.
But it’s still racism.
November 11, 2009 at 8:55 pm
It’s nice to hear them say they don’t experience racism, even if it is still alive and well in the U.S. And I’m curious to know what blew yo away about their free writes. (Something different than what you blogged about?)