Category Archives: race

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I’m no “Lin-fidel,” just a realist on Jeremy Lin. Still, he’s just what we need as more people keep blurring the difference between Asian and Asian American

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I’ve got good reason to love Jeremy Lin. I’m an Asian American who went to Harvard. I didn’t play basketball, but I did play white guys in black theatre productions. (You take your extra-curriculars where you can). So my love for Lin is real. I’m just realistic. I root for the Golden State Warriors and we had a mild case of Lin-phomania last year. 

Lin-sanity is a New York phenomenon.   I’m not sure it can be sustained.

I wish Jeremy nothing but the best. No Schadenfreude from me.  He’s a Norcal homey. He worked hard and when he had his chance this time around he delivered. But I’m not sure if last week was one of those special weeks you remember forever because you just don’t replicate it that easily.  I ran for 187 yards on 7 carries as a Pop Warner half-back. I still talk about that. OK, yeah, Jeremy’s doing it in the NBA. Big diff.   I hope he has a long run and can play at the level he’s shown, but I remember last year in Oakland when he couldn’t get off the bench. 

Still, we can thank Jeremy for reinforcing the point to all of America–there’s a difference between Asian and Asian Americans.

It’s more than a technicality. It’s a point worth stating over and over.

We forgot the distinction in WWII and opened up internment camps—for Americans.

As China shows its economic might, some in this country are trying to blur distinctions again.

Maybe Jeremy Lin will help remind people during this critical time in world history, there are Asians, and then there are Asian Americans.

For more,check out my post on the Asian American Legal Defense Fund blog:

 http://aaldef.org/blog/linsanity-call-it-linphomania.html.

blog, news, politics, race

Michigan’s Hoekstra’s race huckstering: Will it get him votes?

Come on folks, let’s play “Are you offended?”

Michigan Republican Peter Hoekstra wants to engage the Asian American community!

http://www.debbiespenditnow.com/

Good thing Peter Hoekstra puts his claim on this, and has approved this message.

Usually people are too ashamed to own up to such blatant racist actions. That’s why God created hoods.

But Hoekstra says he’s using “satire.”

If it’s satire, I’m not laughing. Are you?

I’m a big fan of satire, and admit to using a little of it myself.

Satire uses humor, or exaggeration, against big targets to make a point.

If Hoekstra is making China a target here, that’s fine. Political leaders are fair game. China is a strange hybrid now of capitalism and communism. Debbie isn’t the right target in a policy debate. Blame Debbie only if your real intent is to create anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S., whipping up the kind of xenophobic reactions that lead to real misunderstanding and spills over into acts of Anti-Asian American violence.

Sounds like a good divisive strategy in Hoekstra’s Michigan, where many are still trying to recover from a slow economy.

Hoekstra’s simplistic “satire” is the kind of sentiment manipulation that leads to a real misunderstanding of the imbalance of trade between China and the U.S.

It doesn’t lead to people writing Congress and demanding action. It doesn’t even lead to something that might make a difference–like not shopping at Wal-Mart.

But is sure fuels emotions that lead to street level tensions and scapegoating.

Don’t forget, when the U.S. auto industry was besieged by the Japanese more than a generation ago, an autoworker took a baseball bat to the head of Vincent Chin.

Thank you Peter Hoekstra for your part in opening up another chapter of “Yellow Peril” in America.

The truth is Americans shouldn’t fear China as much as race hucksters like Hoekstra.

Hoekstra needs votes and is willing to do anything to get attention. Just as Romney doesn’t care about the poor, Hoekstra doesn’t seem to  care about the racial sensitivities of Michigan voters.

If it’s a satire, the last laugh is on Hoekstra, who approved that message.

blog, news, politics, race

New York’s football Giants super, but the city’s police force? Not so much

You won’t hear civil rights activists cheering the NYPD when the Giants come marching in on Tuesday.

The news about NYPD’s surviellance tactics  and racial profiling was pretty much forgotten by all the Super Bowl activity.

It shouldn’t be.

http://aaldef.org/blog/giants-may-be-hot-but-the-nypd-not.html.

blog, news, politics, race

What happened in Florida won’t stay in Florida for the GOP

Don’t think for a second we’ve seen the last of the mud. Did I say mud? That didn’t look like mud in Florida.

http://aaldef.org/blog/winning-dirty-in-florida-and-the-fight-goes-on.html

Now to bring it all home, I wished Romney knew Don Cornelius had died. Then he could have made us all feel good by saying, “You can bet your last money, it’s all going to be a stone gas, honey!”

That might have reassured me.