ku10

You know, Alf, I’m not totally down with your last entry, “Empowerment.” It’s a good read, but I don’t agree with the last half. To begin with the end:

“In the 1960s, college students formed a core of activism, as they do today. But since the time when Berkeley students declared that they weren’t going to settle for being the ‘raw materials’ of the machine, the hippies have been mostly replaced by Asians. Though there is a sizable Asian political movement, it’s still dismal in comparison to most every other political movement. [&hellip] San Francisco is a third Asian, but even a lot of people in the Bay Area don’t know that. Where is the unity? Where is the leadership, where are the iconic figures? Are we all just going to be the Man’s token lackeys?”

Thing is, Asians aren’t black. You’re forcing a crude comparison. We weren’t abducted from our home continent, largely erased of our cultures, sentenced to a subhuman tier of society, and then united in an upward fight. Asians largely arrived of our own will, with differing skills, from different social classes, at many different times, and&mash;as the Chinatowns, Koreatowns, Little Tokyos, Little Saigons, etc., demonstrate—with our own distinct cultures. Largely speaking, “black” refers to one people, one culture, a distinct race formed over hundreds of years on a new and isolated continent. On the other hand, the term “Asian” is a total misnomer, a blunt tool used to handle hundreds of millions of people with dramatically different cultures, classes, and situations. Asian American culture, as it’s practiced, is a strange mixture of white culture and Asian stereotypes embraced by Asians.

Thus, what would “unite” us? Why should we unite, when we’re all so different—when we’re widely (if not necessarily overwhelmingly) represented at all social levels, all income levels, all levels of culture, and all levels of education? Is it because we all happen to originate on the world’s largest continent? A dearth of Asians in public society isn’t a conspiracy, nor is it oppression; it’s simply a product a combination of demographics and a lack of reason for cohesion. Just as there aren’t really issues that unite all “white” people, there aren’t really any issues that unite all “Asians.” (Perhaps except immigration.) I don’t think Asian Americans vote by National Census Category any more than whites do; they vote according to what candidates best represent their [broad] interests.

It’s not that “the hippies have been replaced by Asians,” it’s that “the 1960s have been replaced by the 2000s.” Unity in activism and revolution come together under very distinct circumstances, and in America those circumstances don’t quite exist. One circumstance is fear: the 60s saw the draft, and thus the widespread fear of seeing oneself or one’s loved ones sent to die, by the country itself. Another circumstance is severe dissatisfaction: the 60s also saw unified disgust against discrimination and crumbling faith in state and national government. So, basically, enough people have to be scared shitless, or enough people have to be fucked over, otherwise the economic/personal incentive to unite and fight just isn’t there. (See France, the Ukraine, and the Seattle WTO protests.) As you paraphrased your professor, youth [lack] the will to fight because “conditions [are] better.”

*As a sidenote, regarding the lack of Asians in entertainment… I think, give it time. Blacks and Europeans have been here for hundreds of years. By contrast, most American Asian families are barely a generation in, if that. Fresh-off-the-boat, upwardly mobile Asian parents are understandably eager for family security, thus the love affair with Law, Medicine, and Engineering. They’re not exactly eager to see lil’ Alex or Grace take the family’s future and blow it all in Hollywood.

After a few generations, when Asian families are more established and their children are more financially expendable, I think ours numbers in entertainment will rise. And hey, on the bright side, there’s already a lot of entertainin’ Asians… in Asia. The Asian film industry is nearing the prestige of the European film industry (No One Knows, Crouching Tiger, 2046, Beijing Bicycle, etc.), and the home country’s legitimacy will help with legitimacy in America.