The Washington Post reported last Thursday that a Survey Finds Friction Among Minority Groups. The basic premise of the survey was that each of the major minority groups polled (African Americans, Asian Americans, and the questionable label "Hispanic") kind of really are racist to one another. Or view one another very unkindly. While this is probably really not surprising to most of us peoples of color (colorblind people in the back say "Wha?? You folks don't like each other?") I thought I'd take a minute and take some highlights out of this article
1) The survey found that an overwhelming majority of each group views racial tension as a "very important problem". So...we don't want to hate each other...but we kind of do. Read below.
2) 40% of Hispanics and Asians (Not saying you, in particular, but 40% of your community) say they are "generally afraid of African Americans and associated them with crime". Yeah, ok, this is kind of saying you. Maybe you when you make a really bad black joke that has something to do with crime and being a thug. Or maybe your friends. Or maybe your family. Or maybe it's not you. But recognize it's prevalent in your community.
3) 1/3rd of Hispanics and African Americans said most Asian business owners "do not treat us with respect". Think...LA riots. Or if you don't think about it, wiki LA Riots. Focus on the Underlying Causes paragraph, it's short, but it doesn't mention Asian-Black violence. And consider, for us APIpeoples out there in the crowd, that maybe this isn't so straightup racist of Blacks and Latinos when apparently 40% of us associate African Americans with crime in a kind of really racist way. Which means that maybe some Asian business owners don't treat other minorities with respect. Which means maybe some minorities will rob Asian business owners because they don't respect them either. Which means it's kind of everyone's fault (everyone who is racist). I think, anyways.
4) 1/3rd of Asians and 1/2 of African Americans said Latin Americans are taking away jobs and benefits from other Americans. WOW. Ok, I didn't actually see that statistic coming. But consider, for a moment, how fucked up that is for Asian Americans to say, when the same exact thing was being said to us around the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Immigration Acts before 1965. Fucked up.
5) African Americans are noticeably less optimistic than other minority groups about the American Dream. While not being African American myself, I'm going to venture out for a minute and say, yeah, a couple hundred years of outright slavery in America, and many more years (and continuing) of straightup oppression can do that to your community. And sometimes I think Asian Americans and Latinos are beginning to catch on to that too.
6) There's one quote I really wanna stress (this has been a kind of long blog anyways):
Sergio Bendixen, who presented the poll results at the National Press Club,
said that the fact that all three groups live in relative isolation has
contributed to the tensions and stereotypes and that more interaction
would do much to reduce the problem."If you share an afternoon of baseball and a barbecue, you are less
likely to be afraid of people or think they came to steal your job,"
Bendixen said.
I just wanna mention that an "afternoon of baseball and a barbecue" are seriously one of the most traditionally "American" things I have ever heard of. Just from the standpoint of a former AZN, maturing API, and a kid whose lived for a while in a dominant Asian American community, an afternoon of baseball and a barbecue is definitely not something I always see in my community. But I mean, I'd be willing to try it. I'd still probably bring fried rice. And my dormmate's kimchee. I love stealing my dormmate's kimchee.
Of course, propz to AngryAsianMan for putting this on his blog so that I could jack it for my blog to talk about.
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1) The survey found that an overwhelming majority of each group views racial tension as a "very important problem". So...we don't want to hate each other...but we kind of do. Read below.
2) 40% of Hispanics and Asians (Not saying you, in particular, but 40% of your community) say they are "generally afraid of African Americans and associated them with crime". Yeah, ok, this is kind of saying you. Maybe you when you make a really bad black joke that has something to do with crime and being a thug. Or maybe your friends. Or maybe your family. Or maybe it's not you. But recognize it's prevalent in your community.
3) 1/3rd of Hispanics and African Americans said most Asian business owners "do not treat us with respect". Think...LA riots. Or if you don't think about it, wiki LA Riots. Focus on the Underlying Causes paragraph, it's short, but it doesn't mention Asian-Black violence. And consider, for us APIpeoples out there in the crowd, that maybe this isn't so straightup racist of Blacks and Latinos when apparently 40% of us associate African Americans with crime in a kind of really racist way. Which means that maybe some Asian business owners don't treat other minorities with respect. Which means maybe some minorities will rob Asian business owners because they don't respect them either. Which means it's kind of everyone's fault (everyone who is racist). I think, anyways.
4) 1/3rd of Asians and 1/2 of African Americans said Latin Americans are taking away jobs and benefits from other Americans. WOW. Ok, I didn't actually see that statistic coming. But consider, for a moment, how fucked up that is for Asian Americans to say, when the same exact thing was being said to us around the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Immigration Acts before 1965. Fucked up.
5) African Americans are noticeably less optimistic than other minority groups about the American Dream. While not being African American myself, I'm going to venture out for a minute and say, yeah, a couple hundred years of outright slavery in America, and many more years (and continuing) of straightup oppression can do that to your community. And sometimes I think Asian Americans and Latinos are beginning to catch on to that too.
6) There's one quote I really wanna stress (this has been a kind of long blog anyways):
Sergio Bendixen, who presented the poll results at the National Press Club,
said that the fact that all three groups live in relative isolation has
contributed to the tensions and stereotypes and that more interaction
would do much to reduce the problem."If you share an afternoon of baseball and a barbecue, you are less
likely to be afraid of people or think they came to steal your job,"
Bendixen said.
I just wanna mention that an "afternoon of baseball and a barbecue" are seriously one of the most traditionally "American" things I have ever heard of. Just from the standpoint of a former AZN, maturing API, and a kid whose lived for a while in a dominant Asian American community, an afternoon of baseball and a barbecue is definitely not something I always see in my community. But I mean, I'd be willing to try it. I'd still probably bring fried rice. And my dormmate's kimchee. I love stealing my dormmate's kimchee.
Of course, propz to AngryAsianMan for putting this on his blog so that I could jack it for my blog to talk about.
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