After watching a number of reports on TV and reading a few articles online today that expressed the concerns of the AA community, I have to say I am proud of the American news media today for exhibiting a significant change in sensitivity with regards to race.
See, I'm not all Angry Little Asian Girl.
A few articles:
SF Gate
The Mercury News
One thing I'd like to note is a sentiment expressed by a Vietnamese woman in The Mercury News article (see link above). She said that she felt relieved to hear that the Asian student was identified as South Korean because she felt that the Vietnamese American community could not withstand any more bad stereotypes. I find this to be very indicative of why the Asian American community has a weak political presence overall. We see ourselves as ethnically divided communities and behave as such, but the reality is, the majority of the American public has a very difficult time seeing the difference between someone who is Chinese or Korean or Thai or Vietnamese.
When people are mindful enough to give me a few options before assuming, I run the whole gamut of "are you's." Growing up, it never occurred to me what it meant, but now I realize it means, though in my mind I am 100% American (born and raised in Houston, TX), in the eyes of the American public at large I might as well be homeless. Because, I certainly do not belong in Asia, if I don't belong here either, I don't know where I belong.
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