January 20, 2008

• To Peter's response

  Thank you for the comment Peter.  It allowed me to do some reflection.

  Whatever he did was fine, his successors have made what he did an an
  excuse to scream "racism" and "oppression"  when there is none. 
  They've made his legacy into a monster.

  Have you faced racism from "African-Americans" or
  "Hispanic-Americans?"  I have.  Especially in the field of public
  education.  The people I have had the pleasure of encountering use what
  MLK has done as an excuse blame the White Man and don't think that we
  as Asians are exempt from that blame either.   Here are a couple of instances:

  I had been told, by my master teacher, when I was student teaching,
  God bless her African-American heritage, that "All 'em y'all Asians,
  think you're white!  You're The Man's bitch!"  I asked both my master
  teachers, whom were black if that's generally what black people think. 
  They answered yes.  I trust their answer since they're so active in
  their "awareness" groups.

  Another stinging encounter, years later, with a parent, of the same
  heritage, who adamantly demanded that his child's "rights" had been
  trampled by all his teachers--not admitting the fact his child could
  not read beyond a 1st grade level.  He turned to me during one of the umpteen
  conferences and said, "my son, is African-American, he doesn't have all
  the support that you had growing up and it's not fair.  You have to
  pass him."  How can he assume that I had the support?  Did he know I spent my
  elementary years as a penniless child in East LA?  No.  Did he know that my mom worked the graveyard shift in the hospital to support me and my dad as he went to Computer Learning Center for years?  No.  Did he know that I didn't know how to read until the 3rd grade because I went to school in East L.A. and they only did the "bilingual" thing and that wasn't in my lingo? No.  He assumed, in
  his own racist ignorance, that, because I'm Asian, I'm in on it with
  The Man.

  I have no problem with what MLK did.  I believe in it.  What he did was
  good, what his successors did with it is perversion.  His goal was for
  ALL minorities to be on par, not give them a golf club to beat each
  other and the White Man with.

  So far all I've seen is a lot of beating.  A lot of fear, not respect. 
  Just fear of "minority" people and what they'll do to you if they think
  you're "oppressing" them.  And if you think for a jot that you and me,
  Peter, are part of it the "minority", we're not.  To many of the people I've
  worked with (coworkers, students & parents), us Asians are just as good as The Man.

  From my perspective it has everything to do with the "Model Minority." 
  Our African-American and Hispanic-American brothers, in many, many,
  instances don't see us as the "model"  but as  some sort of twisted
  reflection of The Man that oppresses them.  And that that is what we strive to be.  I think many don't think of
  us as oppressed as they.  That we don't understand or cannot understand
  or even empathize.  I don't think they like us very much because of
  it.    And so they treat us accordingly.

  It hurts me to think that MLK has become the symbol or even the launching pad for them to feel
  so.  Well, that's how my discussion is related to MLK.  I hope you
  understand where I'm coming from.

  • 10:57 pm
  • 1 Comment