Union Board Lectures presents Lt. Dan Choi

Union Board Lectures presents Lt. Dan Choi
Date: Monday, November 2, 2009
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Location: Whittenberger Auditorium, IMU

I’m really enthused about this: Lt. Dan Choi will be here at IU Bloomington to speak about gay rights, particularly through his fight against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the US Armed Forces. DADT was implemented during the Bush era whereby soldiers were told that if they were gay, they could serve provided they don’t admit to their sexuality. During an appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show, however, Choi announced that he was gay and was subsequently discharged from the military. Since then, he has vociferously voiced out against this rule.

Choi graduated from Westpoint Military Academy with degrees in the Arabic Language and Environmental Engineering. He served in the Iraq War and speaks Arabic fluently. The event is FREE and open to the public and is sponsored by Union Board, Asian Cultural Center, GLBT Office, and Young Democrats of Monroe County.

Chinese cool

America’s fear of a rising Chinese world presence is really slapped all over mainstream media. But I would argue however that the world run by China would be no different from America. In fact, being Chinese was once cool in America.

First, to answer the question why a world with China as the overlord would be no different from US, we need only to have a closer look at both cultures historically.

China and the US are actually really similar in so many ways:

1. Both are meritocracies. Historically China has always put talent ahead of class, heritage, ethnicity, and even gender, though much rarely. China is probably the first civilization to endorse one man’s ability over anything else.

2. Socially northern Chinese share many characteristics to Americans in terms of being more expressive and vocal, and perhaps even physical attributes – they’re alot bigger.

3. Both Chinese and Americans are very entrepreneurial. If there is one thing common about overseas Chinese communities, it is that they always control their country’s finances: Indonesia, Malaysia, Hawaii. Singapore is a Chinese majority country and it is the richest in South East Asia. The Chinese have historically been very adept at business.

4. While America might claim itself to have a moral high ground with it’s roots deep in Christian beliefs, the Chinese too are all to keenly aware of a strong moral code, thanks to a Confucian culture.

As far as I’m concern, the only difference with China as an overlord would be that I would have to brush up my mandarin. As for Chinese being cool… When China became a republic and allies with America against Japan, that was the time when anything Chinese was embraced.

That was a time when Chop Suey was high culture dining; when the Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck portrayed the Chinese as a virtuous everyman; when Hollywood used Chinese culture to exoticized and promote their films. It’s hard to imagine those kind of times when what we’re seeing is the term Chinese now as a highly politicized term representing Chinese nationals from the People’s Republic of China.

TRANSCENDING: THE WAT MISAKA STORY

Found this film about the first non-white, Japanese American basketball player in the NBA:

TRANSCENDING: THE WAT MISAKA STORY is a documentary film about Wat Misaka, the first Asian American pro basketball player. A Nissei who was born, raised and is still living in Utah, he was the very first draft pick of the New York Knicks, in 1947. Overcoming the national political climate during World War II, Wat was a star player for the University of Utah 1944 and 1947 championship teams, taking 2 years off in between to serve in the U.S. Army. His perseverance and loyalty to his teammates, other Nissei friends (including those interned at Topaz) and his family are a testament to the unflappable Japanese American spirit. This film includes in depth interviews with Wat and his family, teammates from his championship teams (including All-American star Arnie Ferrin of the Minneapolis Lakers) sports authorities (including Knicks Historian Dennis DAgostino and ubiquitous New York sportscaster Spencer Ross), and many who continue to look up to him as both a role model and personal hero. The film also has video clips from his 1944 and 1947 college games, rare footage from a visit to the Topaz Internment Camp, and countless photos of his triumphant career. Directed by award winning filmmakers Christine Toy Johnson and Bruce Johnson, this project was awarded two consecutive grants from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program. Plans are in motion to have screenings and accompanying panel discussions on exclusion at universities across the country. www.watmisaka.com

What Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize mean to Asian Americans

This was the question I asked myself as I contemplated a topic for my blog post today.

According to a blog post on the Asian Pacific American’s for Progress (APAP) Web site, Obama’s win is a victory for America and Asian America. The article called for Asian Americans to step out of the bitter bipartisan wrangling about who should have won and rally behind the President’s vision for a more peaceful global future.

The writer further explained that historically the health of Asian America has always been particularly sensitive to global situations. During WW2, Japanese Americans were singled out and interned. When Japan challenged America again in the 80s, this time for economic power, a Chinese American was targeted by laid off auto industry workers in Detroit who assumed he was Japanese and killed him.

In recent years, because of America’s precarious situation with economic powerhouse, China, what we’re seeing is anti-Chinese sentiment on the rise. As such, the APAP article highlights cases where prominent Chinese Americans had their loyalties questioned and were accused of conspiring with the Chinese government.

Last but not least, the article talked about Americans who were of Middle Eastern and Indian ancestry who faced a bitter discrimination after 9/11 when they were associated with terrorists.

Indeed, Asian Americans have yet to escape from the perpetual foreign stereotype even if they some have been here for generations. What happens abroad in relation to America matters deeply for Asians Americans. Hence, the writer calls for Asian Americans to unite behind Obama’s vision for a peaceful world, for this goal is for the betterment of America and more notably Asians in America.

On a personal note, I share NYT’s Nicholas Kristof’s views on Obama’s win – I do not feel he deserves it. But whether he deserved was not the question the Norwegian Nobel committee had in mind. What they wanted was to promote a greater goal of global peace, and our President (I voted for Obama too) was their tool.

Have they succeeded in bringing the issue of world peace into the forefront? I think so given all the media buzz surrounding Obama’s win. With that I think their selection as justified as of now. Whether their grand plan for peace comes to fruition now really rests on America.

Where are the Asian American media personalities?

Beginning of the semester, I’ve been volunteering as a co-moderator for the Asian Culture Center’s Friday luncheon talk series titled, “Who Are Asian Pacific Americans?” So far, it has been sheer pleasure taking on this role.

The past 2 sessions discussed Asian/Asian Americans and our representation in the media. It’s a hot topic, this one, because everyone is exposed to mainstream media and would only be too familiar seeing at least some negative representations of people of Asian descent on TV. The talk centered on this question raised in a NYT article: Where are the famous Asian American pop stars?

Initially, the session was something of a name dropping session. Have you heard of so-and-so? He/she starred in this show, sang that song, appeared in that advertorial etc. It was a vain exercise where people just shared about random Asian/Asian American performers starring in certain roles, or anchoring certain news shows and so on. No one name that really stuck out.

Thus, the conclusion drawn was that Asian Americans remain pretty much invisible still, and much work is needed for Asian Americans to break through the glass ceiling in American pop culture. The following reasons were raised for the current state of Asian Americans in the media:

1. The overwhelming majority of Asian Americans are 1st and 2nd generation, and many in this category still emphasize a desire for their offspring to pursue careers that are considered practical like engineering, science, business and math

2. Similarly, being mostly 1st and 2nd generation, the cultural divide within Asian America (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Indonesian, Filipino, Malay, Singaporean) is still too wide. There is no established Asian American identity yet.

3. Discrimination within the industry – Hollywood. So many Asian characters in films were replaced by white actors because TV/film executives wanted to cater to predominantly white audiences: 21, Dragonball, Speedracer, Avator, Tekken, Forbidden Kingdom.

4. Asians don’t seem to conform to white beauty standards, particularly for men

5. Asian Americans are not supportive of Asian American cultural products

6. White audiences are more receptive to seeing Asian characters cast in certain moulds – stereotypes

Ultimately, the consensus was that for any Asian American pop culture trend to take place, it would take us many, many more years. Unlike African Americans who have been here for about 300 years now – many of whom are at least 4th generation Americans – the bulk of Asian immigration began really only from the 1960s.

Even then, according to documentary film, ‘Color Adjustment,’ more positive representation of blacks in in Ameican media started started in the 80s only after World War Two when African American men re-integrated into society. How does 40 years of integration compare to 300 plus collective effort in a war?