How has your minority status effected your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

[Filiprish]

How has your minority status effected your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

[Banana]

I'm forced to watch Asian people in the media constantly act like fools and ridicule the culture of one half of the Earth's hemisphere.

Not sure what that counts as.

[afterglo]

It's made me settle for good enough. I'm suppose to be happy and contented if one day people remember me as a good Asian writer, a good Asian teacher, a good Asian whatever. It seems no matter what I'll do, they'll never, ever remember as a good man. Is that selling out? Sometimes I want to live above my hyphenated existence.

[hooligan]

I'm not sure, I'll come back to this thread when I have a real career.

I think, I might also have to add that it's hard to evaluate being a minority. You have to take yourself out of your life and then kind of sit back and impartially compare yourself. I don't think many people are capable to doing something like that.

[Chu Chi]

The poll question needs better language in order for the answers to make sense because it is only asking for degree of effect, not whether the effect is constructive or destructive.

But as a side bar, most non white people, suspect they would be making more money if they were White. This includes athletes, entertainers...

CC

[Filiprish]

The question is just asking how/the degree, not positive or negative.

The poll was meant to be neutral.

[Hiroshi2]

It means being restricted in where you live, for sure. When blacks move into a white neighborhood, whites move out or at least do things like harrass you by throwing trash in your yard, say things like "nigger go home" (this happpened to us when we moved to a white neighborhood in 1996), etc. Then when the white people move out (usually right around the same time), there are a lot of vacancies. And guess what? Most white people are not going to move into a neighborhood, no matter how nice, where a bunch of white people just moved out of, and a black people just moved into. So real estate agents, property owners/landowners, etc. are all forced to sell homes to potential buyers with lower incomes, and sometimes it even gets so bad you end up having to rent out homes that just a few years ago people were putting 30-year-mortgages on. So because you have people with lower-income moving in, a lot of times there from rougher neighborhoods, and their alley ways certainly do not stop once they move into a nice community. So the neighborhood ends up going downhill, and it even gets so bad the "good" black people who can afford to do so move out. So it's like it goes from being a nice white neighborhood, to a nice integrated neighborhood (with racial tensions, however), to being a nice black neighborhood, to being a ghetto black neighborhood. Now from the outside looking in, it ends up looking like, "damn those black people fucked up the neighborhood." No..............................really and truly, 1) it's an economic/social class thing, not a racial thing, and 2) white people caused it in the first place by being so blackaphobic. And then what's really messed up is so many people really do think that black people mess up a neighborhood just by moving into it.


It's not just houses and stuff though.....................they just built some new apartments way out in the suburbs, in a part of town that's seriously like 95% white. Like there aren't even any Mexicans living there, just white people, maybe a couple of asians (though I don't even think they live out there in that community), and two black people. My 18-year-old friends who decided to move out there from the hood. When I go over there, I have to be SUPER nice to those white people. I have to be sure I speak proper English (no slang whatsoever), pull my pants up to my waist, be careful not to blast any rap music, make loud noises, etc. cause I'll get my homeboys thrown the fuck out of the suburbs, probably for life, the way those white people out there act.



Yeah, it sucks being a minority. Sorry I can't really talk about it from an asian perspective or whatever, but hey....................maybe some asians have a similar story.

[returntosender]

I think it affected me a lot. People just assume that because you're Asian, then you have to behave a certain way and usually people think I'm just straight edged or dead serious all the time. It's very restrictive.

[urbia]

For me, it's the assumptions people make.

I think I get judged a lot for hanging out with a lot of white boys. I was caught in the whole IR mess without even knowing it. I didn't date much, and I only learned about it through the Internet when I reached university. New APA friends started telling me about AA. The forums were an eye-opener.

I hung out with white boys for mutual interests. Video games, sports, camping. And there was the fact that white boys were simply everywhere and they talked to me. Later I dated a few Asian guys and they started spreading rumours that I was using them. They'd take me out to dinner, insist on paying, then get somewhat disappointed I didn't want sex. And suddenly I was a gold-digger. They struck me as sort of the jaded type, quick to categorize based on past experiences.

I have to worry about the glass ceiling all the time. That's nothing new.

And I wonder if some employers may be tempted to pay me less, especially if I take on an untechnical leadership role. My performance is automatically limited by how others perceive me based on first impressions. I stand 5 feet tall. I don't look authoritative.

If I become an author, I'll bet critics may nitpick my work as a cultural commentary as a representative of my race. I may want to focus on creating realistic characters or building that perfect plot, but race is what they'll ultimately critique.

Nobody replies when I apply to teach English overseas. They seem to want a token white person to do it. There goes one option for travel and adventure while still making money.

On the bright side, when I won medals in track and field, people were amazed. I was remembered through my city as the Asian girl who beat the black girls in the 100 m, and who won the long jump with a knee brace on after surgery.

[ahsingjai]

I grew up going to majority Chinese public schools. My elementary was 70-80% asian, middle was around 25%, high school was 50%. The stats are still simliar. just look up Oakland Unified School District.

I grew up going to majority Chinese public schools. My elementary was 70-80% asian, middle was around 25%, high school was 50%. The stats are still simliar. just look up Oakland Unified School District.

Lincoln Elem
Edna Brewer Middle
Oakland High

[Chu Chi]

But ahsingjai, HOW did it affect you?

Or are you saying that because you were not a minority in school, it had no effect on you?

If so, how bout now?

CC

[Grasshopper]

How has your minority status effected your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

What about political minority or preferences minority? I mean what if you are a conservative non-White American or a younger person who doesn't like the pop culture of your generation or what if it seems like most people you are around seem to have different preferences than you.

What if your views and values are in conflict with most of your own family?

There is more to being a "minority" than being an ethno-racial minority.


But as a side bar, most non white people, suspect they would be making more money if they were White. This includes athletes, entertainers...

CC

How do you know this? I don't know how it is possible to be more highly paid than most black athletes. Don't know enough about salaries of Asian athletes.

And last time I looked Oprah Winfrey was making $100 million a year doing a poor imitation of Phil Donahue, and he can't even get a job. :eek:

It's not just houses and stuff though..................... My 18-year-old friends who decided to move out there from the hood. When I go over there, I have to be SUPER nice to those white people. I have to be sure I speak proper English (no slang whatsoever), pull my pants up to my waist, be careful not to blast any rap music, make loud noises, etc. cause I'll get my homeboys thrown the fuck out of the suburbs, probably for life, the way those white people out there act.



Wow, it's good to see you and your boys try to act civilized around White folks but I got news for you. There's plenty of people of all races, including black folk, who would appreciate the same courtesy. :rolleyes:

[ahsingjai]

But ahsingjai, HOW did it affect you?

Or are you saying that because you were not a minority in school, it had no effect on you?

If so, how bout now?

CC

Well, I didn't become White wash, 95% of my friends are chinese. We get to learn Cantonese as a foreign language in high school, and it makes me feel wierd around white people.

[Grasshopper]

Well, I didn't become White wash, 95% of my friends are chinese. We get to learn Cantonese as a foreign language in high school, and it makes me feel wierd around white people.

Since you are from Oakland how do you feel around American blacks and Mexicans or other non-Cantonese speaking Asians?

[Fireblade]

eldery white folks in S.F. then to bitch at asians a lot. I saw this old white man push an older eldery asian lady on the bus, and mutter under his breath "damn you people..". This has happened to me quite a number of times too, on the bus. Also, fucking punk kids from out of the city, whenever they come here for concerts or some shit, always have a knack of screaming at you, or jumping in front of you like it's hella funny or something. Except.... YOU ONLY SEE THEM DO IT TO ASIANS. No one else. Last time some bitch kid did that to me, and I told them to get the fuck out of my face. Then they started to follow me, until I got on the bus, and flipped the bird when him and his buddies left. Seriously, that shit bugs me.

Here's my reasoning onto WHY this stuff happens. Because mostly the media protrays asians getting stepped on... (chinese take-out, korean supermarkets, etc.) they proceed to believe that we won't do anything. I really don't see this happening to anyone else but asians in general. I graceously let things slide, because sometimes I don't want to bother with idiots, but sometimes you wonder why this isn't happening to other folks.

[Chu Chi]

QUOTE:
Originally Posted by Chu Chi
But as a side bar, most non white people, suspect they would be making more money if they were White. This includes athletes, entertainers...

CC



How do you know this? I don't know how it is possible to be more highly paid than most black athletes. --Grasshopper



Thats the point Grasshopper, even a great Black sports star who makes a lot of money suspects he would be making MORE if he were White.

I discovered this phenomenon by accident during a big arguement with a bunch of people over whether a particular incident was racist. Rather than continue the discussion into the wee hours, I "capped it" by asking that question.

CC

[bunnycutie]

I recently moved from culturally diverse California to a more culturally limited Ohio. And I just simply cannot tolerate it when people take on this condescending tone and speak to me all s-l-o-w-l-y because they ASSUME I don't comprehend English! Or when people ask me, "What nationality are you?" Or, "But, where are you originally from?" My nationality is AMERICAN. And I'm ORIGINALLY from California. Sacramento, to be specific. Some people assume that, because my last name is Chinese, I'm from China. Yes. Ethnically, I'm Chinese. But, I don't take one look at a last name ending in "stein" and assume they only speak German! I could go on, but I think I'll spare myself the typing and step off the soap box.

[ahsingjai]

Since you are from Oakland how do you feel around American blacks and Mexicans or other non-Cantonese speaking Asians?

I grew up with every minority. So I don't mind them. I don't mind bosian (SP?) as well, even tho they are white, they are still fobby like and not americanized.

[Chu Chi]

Bunnycutie, I feel ya.

I had heard about the phenomenon but was not sure if it was still occuring. Back in the mid 80s, a friend of mine went to Cali for the first time and one of the things that stuck out FOR HIM, was all the Asians he interacted with who spoke perfect English; especially the Asian Highway patrol officer who issued him a speeding ticket.

I think it disturbed him that a cop could also be a surfer and an Asian AND, give him a ticket, ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Many people back east don't realize the long history of Asians in this country.

The schools should make this information part of their testing program.

In other words, if you don't know this history, you don't graduate.

CC

[loserbutt]

You know, people don't like admitting to being victims of racism.

[bunnycutie]

Bunnycutie, I feel ya.

I had heard about the phenomenon but was not sure if it was still occuring.

To think that was nearly twenty years ago makes me wonder if ethnic studies classes are putting enough emphasis on the history of Asians in America.

Have you ever wondered why Black History Month (Feb) receives quite a bit of attention, whereas Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May) is quite unknown to many non-asian americans?

It sometimes makes me wonder if we asian americans are doing enough to promote our own culture and background in this society. What positive things can we do, as a group, to make Asians more than just the quite-and-sometimes-overlooked, model minority?

[SunWuKong]

What positive things can we do, as a group, to make Asians more than just the quite-and-sometimes-overlooked, model minority?

"First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women."

- Tony Montoya (Al Pacino), Scar Face

[nola]

Where does that put the women? I guess we don't count just like we haven't for millenia.

[Chu Chi]

What positive things can we do, as a group, to make Asians more than just the quite-and-sometimes-overlooked, model minority?

Always do what that Asian cop did; smile and say "have a nice day".

CC

[rotrab]

Where does that put the women? I guess we don't count just like we haven't for millenia.

What do you want? Sympathy? Fucking speak up! When women stay silent, they get no sympathy from me. They run every damned relationship they get into but they can't speak up for themselves as women. Fucking retarded. Before women complain about not being heard, get a fucking clue.

[nola]

Like I haven't spoken up here (and everywhere)? :rolleyes: You haven't been here very long!!!!!

[rotrab]

Never mind me. I'm just trying to steer the conversation in another direction.

[kimpossible]

What do you want? Sympathy? Fucking speak up! When women stay silent, they get no sympathy from me. They run every damned relationship they get into but they can't speak up for themselves as women. Fucking retarded. Before women complain about not being heard, get a fucking clue.

Can you fucking make a fucking post without possibly fucking assuming that every fucking person is fucking retarded? Fucking try because we're really fucking tired of it.

Have a terrific fucking day.

[rotrab]

Can you fucking make a fucking post without possibly fucking assuming that every fucking person is fucking retarded?

Fuck no. Where's the fun in that?

Fucking try because we're really fucking tired of it.

Oh, no! Don't lock the fucking thread again! That would be so unforeseen.

Have a terrific fucking day.

Same to you.

[kimpossible]

Oh, no! Don't lock the fucking thread again! That would be so unforeseen.


You should just include that in your sig so you don't have to type it so often.

[Hiroshi2]

You know, people don't like admitting to being victims of racism.




Yes they do. I got a lazy ass black cousin who will blame the white man if nothing else for their problems, and although it is most certainly true whites are still holding back blacks, other minorities, women, Jews, etc. his problems are for the most part, his own, not white people's. He doesn't even know any white people. In the neighborhood he lives in, I'm sure he could get up, walk around, go to the mall, go get something to eat, and come back home and never see a single white person the whole time, I'm sure of it.

I think it affected me a lot. People just assume that because you're Asian, then you have to behave a certain way and usually people think I'm just straight edged or dead serious all the time. It's very restrictive.




That is SO true.



Today I skipped the last period of the day with my homegirl and we were standing on the street corner, smoking cigarettes.................anyway, there was this little innocent looking little black girl, like maybe 14 or 15 years old, cute little girl hairstyle, glasses, birkenstocks, etc. standing at a bus stop (don't ask me why such an innocent looking girl was standing there by herself, she just was) and anyway.......................this asian man in a shirt and tie walks by and she waits till he walks by and says, "there goes Mr. Ching Chong, hi Mr. Ching Chong!" I was like, "WTF???" You would not have expected this little girl to crack racial jokes, but she did. I almost thought "Mr. Ching Chong" heard her.........................but it's true people really do think it's cool to say dumb shit about asian people, if I could tell y'all all the dumb stuff I hear blacks say about asians during the day.......................if I had a penny for each stupid comment, I could pay my way through college.



Among the more recent ones I can remember...........................asian people don't get gray hair, asian people don't get cross-eyed, asian people don't believe in God, etc.

[Chu Chi]

Maybe Black people are lazy because their work does not have the same effect as White peoples.

Was Jackie Robinson "lazy" before he joined the Major leagues?

Was Thurgood Marshall "lazy" before he joined the supreme court?

CC

[Tao]

eldery white folks in S.F. then to bitch at asians a lot. I saw this old white man push an older eldery asian lady on the bus, and mutter under his breath "damn you people..". This has happened to me quite a number of times too, on the bus. Also, fucking punk kids from out of the city, whenever they come here for concerts or some shit, always have a knack of screaming at you, or jumping in front of you like it's hella funny or something. Except.... YOU ONLY SEE THEM DO IT TO ASIANS. No one else. Last time some bitch kid did that to me, and I told them to get the fuck out of my face. Then they started to follow me, until I got on the bus, and flipped the bird when him and his buddies left. Seriously, that shit bugs me.

Here's my reasoning onto WHY this stuff happens. Because mostly the media protrays asians getting stepped on... (chinese take-out, korean supermarkets, etc.) they proceed to believe that we won't do anything. I really don't see this happening to anyone else but asians in general. I graceously let things slide, because sometimes I don't want to bother with idiots, but sometimes you wonder why this isn't happening to other folks.

wow, good thing i live in nyc. and here i thought frisco was at least used to asian faces so that it won't really be an issue after all these centuries.

[SunWuKong]

i think the most major thing is that sometimes i wonder if i had been automatically passed up for a job without even having spoken to a potential employer because it's obvious from my resume that i'm Chinese, and that i even have work experience in HK, so they assume that i don't have US citizenship. i even specifically put that i have US citizenship on my resume, and i still get asked about citizenship status on interviews.

other than that, i haven't personally experienced anything racial that i think kept me back from my "pursuit of happiness". of course, there are negative racial experience, but they're not anything that keeps a person from doing what he does. all it really does is piss you off.

[deez nuts]

wow, good thing i live in nyc. and here i thought frisco was at least used to asian faces so that it won't really be an issue after all these centuries.

we don't need to worry about any old white man pushing and shoving, it's the old fobs that do most of the pushing and shoving on the subways.

[Grasshopper]

Maybe Black people are lazy because their work does not have the same effect as White peoples.

Was Jackie Robinson "lazy" before he joined the Major leagues?

CC

Why were the White baseball leagues called the "major leagues" and the black leagues called the "Negro Leagues".

I don't think Jackie Robinson was lazy in the Negro leagues but I do think he helped put them out of business when he was hired to play in the White leagues.

So no he wasn't lazy, just stupid.

But that's another issue.

QUOTE:
Originally Posted by Chu Chi
But as a side bar, most non white people, suspect they would be making more money if they were White. This includes athletes, entertainers...

CC

How do you know this? I don't know how it is possible to be more highly paid than most black athletes. --Grasshopper

Thats the point Grasshopper, even a great Black sports star who makes a lot of money suspects he would be making MORE if he were White.

CC

Suspicion isn't truth.

And you can if all day and night.

Like if his black butt was left back in Africa he'd be getting paid nothing.

If he was born female he'd be a big ugly girl in a low pay job.

If white folks hadn't created this modern sports cult he's be hauling garbage onto the back of a truck.

Anybody paid anything to play pro sports who isn't grateful is a punk. Straight up.

[Chu Chi]

i think the most major thing is that sometimes i wonder if i had been automatically passed up for a job without even having spoken to a potential employer because it's obvious from my resume that i'm Chinese, and that i even have work experience in HK, .

That may be a problem now, but in the near future I think it will be an asset.

Your background and experience will get you in the door.

The big question will be, can you make the key play when you get the ball?

CC

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Like if his black butt was left back in Africa he'd be getting paid nothing.


Unfortunately the vast majority of black people in the US (including most of those who become sports stars) have never seen African soil.

[B]If he was born female he'd be a big ugly girl in a low pay job.

Unfortunately if he was born female, he probably wouldn't look the same as he does now, since he's not a female.

If white folks hadn't created this modern sports cult he's be hauling garbage onto the back of a truck.

No, if not this sports cult there would be other ways of pigeonholing blacks as "being good" at certain things and furthermore to use the success of a few to justify the marginalization of many.

Anybody paid anything to play pro sports who isn't grateful is a punk. Straight up.

While everything else you wrote was pretty much on the wrong track, I'd have to agree with this. Nobody has a right to receive over a million dollars in checks each year and sit around and complain about oppression at the same time, unless of course they try to do something about it.

[Chu Chi]

"While everything else you wrote was pretty much on the wrong track, I'd have to agree with this. Nobody has a right to receive over a million dollars in checks each year and sit around and complain about oppression at the same time, unless of course they try to do something about it."


For every "big Black buck" making millions in sports, they are supporting thousand of White people making good money in jobs directly tied to the sports industry.

Ever heard on "march maddness"?

How much money do those Black guys make for those schools, universities and WHITE PEOPLE!

Who collects the money for all the commercials you watch during it?

How many of the producers, editors and production department at ESPN, ABC, NBC,CBS,FOX...

are Black?

How many vendors at the events are Black?

CC

Just because they're Black doesn't mean they're stupid.

[SunWuKong]

That may be a problem now, but in the near future I think it will be an asset.

Your background and experience will get you in the door.

The big question will be, can you make the key play when you get the ball?

CC

actually i have always felt that it's an asset. that is why i specifically put down that i speak Chinese and have written Chinese language software, and that i have HK permanent residency (don't need a work visa to work in HK).

but arguably, those things don't matter for the jobs around the DC area, because most of them are for the federal government.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Whoa...haven't heard from Chu Chi and his cryptic Matrix-Jeopardy questions in a long time.

[ahsingjai]

And if you never replied to this thread, I would never have remember about this forum.:confused:

[Craig]

And if you never replied to this thread, I would never have remember about this forum.:confused:You've posted over 1800 times on this forum ... How can you forget ?

[LaiSteve66]

Whoa...haven't heard from Chu Chi and his cryptic Matrix-Jeopardy questions in a long time.

Let's try to keep it that way.

[ahsingjai]

You've posted over 1800 times on this forum ... How can you forget ?

Life had been busy.

[tripostrophe]

Theory: If you are a person of color/minority, and a loser during the earlier part of your life, there's still hope. Once you get out of high school or whatever poisonous environment is holding you back, and discover your identity, you have a chance to learn to love yourself. That is, if you get the good with the bad. Optimism is key. Learning from the pain of the past, being able to see the potential that is yet untapped.

[tripostrophe]

I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. Ever. But it sounds good to me, so I write it.