8/8/08 (woops, I missed it)

I had planned to write some type of post about the significance of yesterday--August 8, 2008, or 8/8/08 (which, for those of you who don't know, the number *8* is a very significant number in Chinese culture--a good luck number if you will. Yesterday there were a record number of weddings happening across the Chinese diaspora (and in China) to take advantage of all this good luck--and it's no coincidence that the Olympics, currently being held in China, began on 8/8/08 at 8:08 pm.


[Here are the Olympic mascots--cute huh?]

Out-of-town houseguests, Southern bbq, and gin and tonics have been keeping me from my laptop the last few days.

And truthfully, I'm uninspired right now. My old house guests have left (close friends from grad school--always fun to re-bond with folks who knew you when--especially when they knew you in your mid-20s) and one of my closest friends from my days as a Gaucho just arrived on a red-eye flight from the West Coast so I'm not sure how much blogging there will be in the next week or so.

Thus, Mixed Race America goes on a bit of a hiatus. Of course, perhaps I will become inspired by a host of things percolating in the world, for instance, perhaps it's time to concentrate on the Chinese diaspora and things that are Chinese, such as:

*The Summer Olympics (after all, they only come around every four years).

*Human rights abuse in China (after all, we should be aware of this in light of the attention that China is getting because of said Olympics)

*The deranged Chinese Canadian man who attacked, killed, and decapitated a fellow passenger aboard a Greyhound bus.

*Is Wayne Wang an indie auteur (Chan Is Missing, Smoke) or a wannabee mainstream Hollywood director (Maid in Manhattan, Last Holiday) or something else entirely?

Asia as Sign and Symbol

I'm in the Pacific Northwest doing research on the Japanese American internment (I'm looking for obscure references to an obscure policy that exempted a scant number of women and children of Japanese ancestry from internment). It's great being back on the West Coast. I'm doing work and staying with friends and yesterday I had two experiences that reminded me that while I may be back on the West Coast, and while there may be more of a critical mass of Asian Americans (than in the South) there are still incidents that remind me that "Asia" and references to "Asia" and "Asians" (whether American or not) are still used as signs and symbols of difference.

Incident #1: I am talking with my friend in a public spot with some acquaintances of hers and we are talking about her Thai friend and another person mentions having met this Thai friend and another man turns to us (we, I should say, are the only Asian American women in this group) and the man says: "I knew a Thai mail order bridesmaid." Believing he had misspoken, that he meant to say "bride" instead of "bridesmaid" I say "Wow, that makes me sad" and the man comes over to sit next to me and explains that it was supposed to be a joke--one that a comedian Steven Wright had made once upon a time. But the timing of it, as well as the creepy factor I got from him made me feel like it wasn't an innoccuous or innocent reference.

Incident #2: In the play, "Distracted," that we went to later that night, a play about a white suburban California family who are coping with figuring out how to handle their son's diagnosis of ADD, there are several references to outsourcing of jobs to India, cheap goods made in China, the perils of not inoculating your child because there are all sorts of children now coming into the country and into our public schools--from Asia, Africa, Korea, China, Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Mexico, and they are bringing their diseases with them, and my favorite, a query about whether a man is black or muslim because his skin is so dark, and whether it would be possible for him to be muslim because he is in a gay relationship.

All of these remarks were peppered throughout the 2 1/2 hour play--and they were minor incidents--said for quick laughs. The main drama was about this white suburban family struggling with the trauma of their son's diagnosis of ADD. And I'm not trying to say that family issues and particularly ADD isn't a real or serious issue, but the entire play smacked too much of white middle class privilege--of the kind of norms that one often takes for granted that the U.S. is made out of. And very subtly, with all these references to "Asia," made for cheap laughs, it also reinforces the continued notion that to be "from Asia" or have ancestry in Asia is to not be fully incorporated within the American social fabric. After all, you may be part of the brown hordes bringing diseases to the uninnocculated white children of America.

Do I Need to Travel to China?

Today at Staples I was waiting to make 5 photocopies at the single copier that was working. An elderly gentleman (probably in his 70s) was photocopying what looked to be (and turned out to be) his legal life documents. He was affable enough--even offered to interrupt his copies to let me jump in, but he said he was almost done and in an effort to fit in more to Southern norms and culture (ie: to be more patient) I said it was OK for me to wait and he really was done within about 7 minutes (a long time for me but in the scheme of things, probably not a big deal).

At any rate, as he finished up, he turned his attention to me and asked: "Are you Hawaiian?"

Let me pause here and note that I was wearing a brown sundress that showed off a lot of my skin, which at this point in the summer is a fairly healthy caramel color. I also had my hair down, and I don't know if these things are stereotypically "Hawaiian" or not but I also have to say that when I have been mistaken for "Hawaiian" it's normally older white American men whose dalliance with the South Pacific has taken the form of a trip to Oahu or Maui where I'm sure they've seen lots of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans who are local and hence "Hawaiian" and perhaps I do look like them. I should also add, though I'm sure you can guess, that this older man is white.

Anyway, I say: "No"

And he insists that I look Hawaiian and I shrug my shoulders and say I'm not, at which point he asks the dreaded question that ALL ASIAN AMERICANS HAVE HAD TO ANSWER AND THAT MOST OF US HATE: "Where ARE you from? Which country?"

Me (sighing inside--I mean, I just want to make 5 lousy photocopies): "I'm from the United States of America."

Him, now a bit flustered: "No, I know that, I mean, where are your parents from...where are your people from?"

Me (not willing to give in): "California"

Him: (now he's bemused and acting like I'm retarded rather than being frustrated by my obvious deference of his questions): "No, I mean what is your ancestry? Where are your ancestors from?"

To which I tell him that if he's asking about my ethnic background, it's China/Chinese.

Him: "Oh! Ni hao?"

Me (now being deliberately obtuse): "Sir, if you are inquiring as to whether I speak Cantonese or Mandarin, I do not."

Him: (now laughing amiably because he thinks we're having a jolly little conversation): "Oh, I've been to China several times and have picked up a few useful phrases. Have you ever visited China?"

Me: (now just annoyed, I mean, he's a nice older fellow, but really, I JUST WANT TO MAKE MY PHOTOCOPIES): "No, I've never been to China."

Him: (he's now VERY SURPRISED and in ADVICE mode): "But you HAVE to go to China. It's where your people are from!"

And I just shrugged and made my photocopies and he left, finally.

And so, here's the question: Do I really NEED to go to China? My Mom grew up in Jamaica (yes, I omitted that from our conversation because I really didn't want to be talking to the man in the first place) and my father fled China in the 1950s. There are no close relatives in China, that I know of. I don't speak Cantonese or Mandarin. I have nothing against China--I would love to walk on the Great Wall, to visit Shanghai, to see the Weigar population of Western China. But there are also places I'd love to go: Italy, Tibet, Costa Rica, Kenya, the Galapagos Islands, Great Britain. Do I owe China a top priority because I have an ethnic connection?