APIA implications of the Virginia Tech shootings

[aelward]

It seems that Asian-American sites have been abuzz since the knews of the VT Massacre broke. People are speculating on what it means for Asian-Americans, and specifically Korean Americans. The chatrooms have been packed, message boards have been busy, and related blogs have proliferated faster than WMDs. I wonder, if in an ironic way, this sort of event will bring APIAs together like Vincent Chin did.

I am happy to see that many Asian-American organizations have made statements of condolences to the families and support for Korean-Americans. It is a far cry from the "I am not Japanese" mentality during WWII. Hopefully it means that we now understand that what happens to one Asian ethnic group affects all Asian-Americans, if only because the mainstream cannot tell us appart.

Up to now, I really haven't heard of any serious hate-crimes toward Korean-Americans or other Asian-Americans. I do know that individuals have been teased and mocked. I was getting my hair cut at a Vietnamese hair dresser, when a 30-something came in with her two teenage kids. Apparently, they had been taunted on the bus. I told them to say "If I were to go on a shooting rampage, I would only seek out the intelligent or attractive. So you're safe on both counts." I wonder if they tried it....

[topdawg]

Without a doubt, shits are gona hit the fan soon.

[atlasien]

I have heard that people (specifically men, boys) are experiencing more dirty looks and inappropriate jokes than anything else.

I believe there is not going to be a huge backlash, because this doesn't fit any firmly established negative stereotype of behavior for East Asians. There would have been a severe backlash, on the other hand, if Cho had been Arabic or Muslim or South Asian.

Let's face it, East Asians right now are pretty lucky in terms of not getting blamed for stupid stuff, as opposed to the 1980s. The Eye of Sauron is not upon us :) it is upon the "Meskins" and Muslims and so forth. However, things could change easily, so it's important not to get complacent, and to stand up for any minority singling out or collective blame routine.

I see a lot of weird blame-storming going on... people are blaming South Koreans for blaming themselves. I don't think it is necessary to apologize for the actions of someone like Cho. Some people obviously feel that need top apologize though and I am not going to blame them for it.

What bothers me is the potential formation of a new negative stereotype of Korean-Americans. One comment I've seen is "Koreans are blaming themselves and expecting a nonexistent backlash because they themselves are so racist and xenophobic. If an American did this in Korea, they would kill all Americans."

The way I feel about it... yes, Korea has problems with racism and xenophobia. So does Japan, and I wouldn't live there because I'm not prepared to handle the problems I'd have there as a nikkei hapa. I'm not blind to the racial problems in traditionally homogenous Asian countries and my personal preference is to live in the more multiracial America. But commenters who are saying "oh those Koreans are racist and xenophobic" are just so goddamn smug about it. By setting Americans up as so enlightened in comparison to those racist Asians they're doing harm to Asian-Americans and making life harder for us. And problems of racism and xenophobia in Korea have nothing to do with the murderer. It's like they want to exploit the murder to support their own agenda about Korea.

[topdawg]

atlasien, I have been glued to the TV screen lately, constantly on alert for the drop of racial sentiments ready to explode in a case like this. So far I have not heard any outright racial talk on the major channels (ABC, CNN, etc) yet. But I think your take on those comments about Korean racism does seem like there will be some collective play on xenophobia on American's part soon.

[atlasien]

In her zeal to discover some kind of Muslim tie, psychotic pundit Debbie Schlussel harasses innocent Indonesian students through Flickr.

http://www.theagitator.com/archives/027718.php#027718