that to many Euro-Americans, any person of Asian descent who is born in the U.S. is perceived at an instinctive level as WHITE.
Er... Asian? Really?
I suspect that some people do, but for many others (and now, I veer off into the land of anecdote, apologies), I was the token Asian. And when people looked at the Asians all sitting together in the cafeteria, it was very clear that they were looking at them as Asians and asking why all the Asians had to sit together. Whereas, as Yoon said somewhere else, no one ever, ever asked why all the white kids (to use white to group all people who look like it, no matter what they self-identify as) sat together.
And thank you for talking about the subconscious misapprehension. I am by no means saying that people who look like the majority culture of a place don't have their own experiences of oppression and discrimination, because they do. But I think that entire visual cue can make a big difference, because even if it's a language thing or a behavior thing, it takes a little more time for that to come out, while looks are instantaneous. Again, not saying that one is worse than the other, but that they are different, though they are all forms of discrimination.
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Thu, Jun. 1st, 2006 10:33 pm (UTC)that to many Euro-Americans, any person of Asian descent who is born in the U.S. is perceived at an instinctive level as WHITE.
Er... Asian? Really?
I suspect that some people do, but for many others (and now, I veer off into the land of anecdote, apologies), I was the token Asian. And when people looked at the Asians all sitting together in the cafeteria, it was very clear that they were looking at them as Asians and asking why all the Asians had to sit together. Whereas, as Yoon said somewhere else, no one ever, ever asked why all the white kids (to use white to group all people who look like it, no matter what they self-identify as) sat together.
And thank you for talking about the subconscious misapprehension. I am by no means saying that people who look like the majority culture of a place don't have their own experiences of oppression and discrimination, because they do. But I think that entire visual cue can make a big difference, because even if it's a language thing or a behavior thing, it takes a little more time for that to come out, while looks are instantaneous. Again, not saying that one is worse than the other, but that they are different, though they are all forms of discrimination.