International "Hug-An-Asian" Day

So a friend forwarded this event to me...which has since been deleted by Facebook Administration, but here is the group:

http://uci.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18862289328

And a branch-off event:

http://uci.facebook.com/event.php?eid=7582259534

The event is called "International 'Hug-An-Asian' Day", it's going to be held on March 5th, 2008. It calls for people, any people not just Asian, to..."Hug An Asian". It's a pretty simple concept.

But before the event was deleted, it had already reached 200,000 people on facebook, 84,000 people which had confirmed fo'sho. The information for the event said that it was started by this 14 year old girl who had developed it's reputation by posting it on Asian Facebook group sites. And then it grew. There have been accusations that the group is racist, even though the girl claims firmly that it is a joke and is meant to be light hearted with "AZN Pride".

But damn. 84,000 people? That's like...three times the size of UCI. A 14 year old girl hit UCI three times over?? Shit!

To be real, I think it's kind of problematic. There are a couple reasons. Like the fact that many of it's members were actually on the continent of Asia. Imagine if the continent of Asia had "International 'Hug An Asian' Day". Think about the chaos that would invoke. Whole economies would be stopped. Cities would implode. Countries would be overrun. All while the 4 billion Asian people on the continent of Asia rushed to try and hug each other. It would be like a nuclear bomb, in the form of a hug orgy.

Another issue is why Asians, in particular, need hugs in the first place. Is there a particular reason we're being singled out? I mean, the event is meant for all people, not just Asian people, to hug Asian people. I have slight issues with a mob of white people trying to hug me because I'm Asian, and a facebook event told them so. No. I have pretty major issues with it.

Imagine a "Hug A Black Person" Day. Or "Hug A Latino" Day. Or "Hug An American Indian" Day.

Ok, the last one would probably be the most problematic. So many of them have been so systematically wiped out by the American government (and Americans), that it would probably be pretty difficult to find a population that only covers .1% of the national population. In UCI alone, out of the 25,000 people that attend this school, only 104 people are Native American/American Indian. Something to think about when talking about genocide and the United States.

But think about "Hug A Black Person" Day, or "Hug A Latino" Day. How many people you think would consider that offensive? To be real, how many white people would you really think participate? But because we're Asian, we're the model minority, and because we're as cute and fuzzy as the icon on the "Hug An Asian" day group suggests we are, it's ok?

There's an argument (a pretty valid argument) that this is a celebration of our heritage. Ok, I might buy that. This is AZN pride, a way to reclaim our identity as Asians. But if I still see a group of white people coming up to hug me for "AZN Pride", that is not OK. I will attempt to make shit go down.

The most valid argument I can think for this group is that is has attracted 84,000 people, and was growing. That suggests that theres something about the idea of "Hug An Asian" Day that resonates with the AsianAm community. Is a concept really that wrong when so much of a community agrees with it? But consider other examples of self-identity among other people of color communities, such as the "N-word" among the black community. The label may be fine within the community, but what will happen when non-Asians take up the banner of "Hug An Asian" day? What will you say to a group of non-Asians who will single you out because of your race? What does our acceptance of that self-identity say for our community?

Then there's the fact that the creator of the group is only a 14 year old girl, who probably just didn't think about the implications of the group or how wildly popular it would become. While that is true, this isn't about her. It's about the idea itself, why it's so popular, and it's implications when it resonates with such a large population of our community. The group makes me kinda nostalgic because it reminds me of the days of reppin' AZN4LYF back in the days of my middle school. There's a certain ethnic pride I gained through those days, that I really value, you know, cuz it felt good to rep Asian American. But I also remember that pride in high school lead to a lot of turf battles, a lot of tagging (not only of "AZN" pride but of "KraKer" hate), and a lot of actions that looking back, I'm not really proud of. Not to say that "International 'Hug An Asian' Day" should be seen to that extreme, but to understand that the concept, at the very least, is problematic.

......

But you should totally feel free to hug me any day you'd like =D