This will be a post on several things, including our readings for this week, Virginia Tech, and portrayals of Asian-Americans in the media.

First off, our readings. We haven't yet discussed the Justin Chin pieces yet, but I have some initial reactions I'd like to talk about. First, the "Slammed" piece by Justin Chin. When it comes to the conversation involving the "used and reused" aspect of such slams (and here, I am referring to the reverend who said that any member of a minority can play the race/gender/sexuality card and win a competition), I think that this is related to the conversation we were having a couple weeks ago when we were discussing "The Upside-Downness of the World" and how it could be received as just another unoriginal multi-culti text in the ethnic studies canon. I didn't really think this was true when I read it, but when we started talking about it in class, then I started thinking about it and realizing that this did seem to be the case. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even though the text may seem unoriginal or redundant, the fact that I can read it and still get so much out of personally makes it a worthwhile read. So with regard to the "playing the Race Card" issue that Justin Chin was talking about, I think that if you voice that criticizing opinion, then you are probably in a position of privilege and power, and for you to trivialize another's experience as "just another poem about racism" suggests to me that that person treats racism as something of the past, which it is not. So, after thinking about this for a long time, I've decided (for now, at least) that such texts and poetry is entirely necessary because it is a reminder to the larger community that people still hurt from being discriminated, marginalized, etc. But perhaps, these national poetry slam competitions need to be seriously restructured if we are to avoid the commodification of pain.

Now, onto the second point: Virginia Tech. After reading the news this morning about who the killer was, I was immediately afraid and scared for my safety, my Asian-American friends' safety, and the safety of the entire Asian-American community in the United States. I started thinking about the possible backlash that the API community would experience as a result of this. I imagined little Asian-Americans kids on school playgrounds being bullied and alienated for the actions of one man, even though children are not guilty or responsible at all. I started thinking about America's treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII and towards Muslims and South Asians after 9/11. I remembered the stripping of civil liberties of these groups, the contradictions that this government perpetuated through their treatment of these people. And not only was it the government's policies which reinforced the "alien" status of these groups, but average Americans also unleashed their anger in numerous hate crimes across the country. I started thinking about all this when I read that it was an Asian-American man who'd killed all those people. And I was hoping the media wouldn't be as horrible as it usually is, but sadly, the media lived up to all my predictions. I read story after story about this man, who "was a legal permanent resident, not a citizen." Every article that I read alluded to his alien status and the fact that he was not an American citizen. I even read one article in a mainstream US newspaper that had an entire paragraph explaining how a lot of South Korean college students come to the United States to get their graduate degrees. And I thought, "How is this relevant AT ALL?" That is just entirely irrelevant to this situation and unnecessary information for this case.

According to the reports, the gunman immigrated to the United States in 1992, and since he's 23 now, he was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade at the time. He's practically lived his entire life in the United States, which means his English is perfect, and he's probably been through most of the social ups and downs like most other American students in the public education system. I have many 1.5 generation Asian-American friends (1.5=they were born in another country, but immigrated to the US at an early age), and they've been socialized exactly like myself, going through the American education system, hanging out with friends, etc. I was born in the U.S., but had my parents decided to immigrate here 3 years later than they did, then I would also be a 1.5 generation API kid. So, if I'd committed some horrible crime and I had been an "alien" instead of a U.S. citizen, would the media also focus so much on my foreign status even though I've spent almost my entire life here? Are school kids going to start hating on the quiet Asian kid because of this? It struck me as entirely irresponsibly, uninformed, racist for every single media outlet to allude to the gunmans' foreign-ness, to constantly refer back to his citizenship status, or lack thereof, as if him being of South Korean descent instead of an American citizen was entirely relevant to what happened. This also says a lot about how the general population sees immigrants. Are they suggesting that this tragedy was another horrible thing committed by a bad immigrant? That, he's not one of "us"? It's interesting the way that even these articles which aren't blatantly anti-immigrant still suggest an underlying prejudice towards anyone who isn't white or a citizen. Is citizenship supposed to be a litmus test for morality?

In many ethnic studies classes, we're always talking about media depictions of Asian-Americans, about stereotypes and how they affect our thinking and actions, etc. Here, I found a glaring, concrete example of just how a media depiction of an Asian-American as the perpetual foreigner (even though he's been here almost his whole life) can affect how we're all seen to other Americans. I was talking to several Asian-American friends of mine today about this, and they ALL said that this is exactly what they thought too. The fact that we've all become frightened for the API community's safety again reminds me how much work we have to do before race relations in this country can get better. It's a problem that one of the first things that came to our minds was the further discrimination that members of the community would face as a result of the way the media portrays us. And I'm still really angry about the way this whole issue is playing out in the media right now, but it's been good to talk about it and to realize that others feel the same.