6 women died because of a man who had a stereotype prejudice and a gun yet his views are being marginalized by different officials and press to only a sex fetish while over 500 (reported only) attacks on Asian Americans occurred in the last 2 months. And not to take away from the horrible murders, I am sharing what it means to look like a Asian while living in and being raised in the USA as an example of why the organizations are angry and why they are speaking up.
The attacks of mild to severe are occurring to Asians not just at this level, but at all levels. The stigma placed on all women are bad enough and we see too many stereotypes of various degrees for women from all cultures, with some good all the way to severely dangerous. Hollywood has never helped that. The sexual and subservience stereotype used on Northern Asian and pacific islander women (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Cambodian, Taiwanese, Thai, Filipino and any of the "Chinese appearances mostly) are very huge, and much of the time I have kept my mouth shut, but do not ever assume I have not experienced the stereotypes, aggression, harassment, hatred, and direct attacks, grabbing, or innuendos in my lifetime. I have not dwelt on them and started to speak up on this topic only in recent years with many people, including close friends telling me initially I was wrong and exaggerating what was happening across the country, even suggesting I was being paranoid a few years ago and to seek mental help for my observations of the uptick last year. I am aware enough to know they did not mean it and they do not have the perception as non-Asians, but I am saying still this has been escalating sharply in the last 5 yrs again. The deliberate lack of equality, lack of hires (unless taking underpaid positions), the assumptions of what type of mindset, where we are from (I am Canadian by birth and raised here with no firm Asian cultural ties except for some very bare customs), MUST STOP. I was "accepted" more by the Caucasian cultures in schools and younger years because I allowed them to make racist jokes in front of me (note, I do take blame in not realizing I enabled some or this culture unwittingly) and I partied with them as my Canadian and US upbringing taught me, not like an Asian born of that period. But I was still cattle herded into certain behaviors by prejudiced teachers into specific STEM paths along with tiger parents and I still got beaten up in grade school too often while being called gook and then I was often also the one punished as the only Asian kid in the fight defending myself and told if I didn't fight back it would not have been a fight therefore I was the instigator (note, this would be after kids told them I was hit or pushed onto the floor) unless I learned to cry in front of all of them (later in grade school I did start to cry and act weaker instead of fight back because it was the only way to then not get beaten and punished again at home for getting into trouble.) Yet teachers still placed other prejudiced labels and attempted racial bias "training" on me. The best example, I was told by 3 different English teachers while in middle and early high school ENGLISH classes that I would automatically be awarded a C or maybe B on the course PRIOR TO ANY TESTS AND REGARDLESS OF ASSIGNMENTS ...because "everyone knows Asians cannot grasp English". Never mind I was simultaneously semi fluent in German and some French as well as Korean and English at that time with A's in Latin class. Those specific teachers never bothered to read my assignments or tests and gave me B- IF THEY HAD TOO. IF i corrected or reported their errors, I was deliberately given separate questions and assignments I could not accomplish or had no knowledge of, to ensure I would get a few C-'s of D+'s for the purposes of justifying my lower grade, which then my tiger parents would punish me for. Then never mind the number of traffic stops I witnessed of adult Asians while growing up... because, don't you know all Asians are bad drivers? In fact it was an easy quota meet or frame job in place of a friend who sped by in a speed trap area... because, y'all know Asians are demure and will pay or take the rap to avoid jail.
That was how many Asians grew up in the USA a couple decades ago. These are mild examples of only a few stories from pre-mid 90s and 2000s. It got better for a while after that... not perfect, but better. And yes, I understand most of us had it better than many Hispanics, middle easterners and African Americans I befriended over my life, AND, those of us who learned how to get rid of and speak without accents fared much better than those with. Plus one stereotype was in our favor... we were all supposed to be some kind of math or science genius and in classical music. Not in anything else, just those. So I am not discounting we had some fortunes for some scholarships or grants.
But we were never really part of the "in crowd" in most cases then. I still get looked at strangely and strangers wonder if I will have an accent when I begin speaking. And in the last 5 yrs, I have been seeing faces and looks again I have not seen since the 70a and 80s from people who make sure to over charge me, to make me feel threatened, or to make sure I am aware that I do not look like the others in the room. And it has risen even higher since the comment of "kung flu" or "Chinese flu". And I am not alone but am still luckier the majority of Asian women who are abused at home and in work places that make them feel like Indentured servants every minute of the day and now this...
So again....
6 women died because of a man who had a stereotype prejudice and a gun yet his views are being marginalized by different officials and press to only a sex fetish while over 500 (reported only) attacks on Asian Americans occurred in the last 2 months.
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