The legacy of Vincent Chin and what it means to be Asian American

This past Saturday, June 23, 2012, marked the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin's death.  For those of you who aren't familiar with who Vincent Chin is, let me direct you to this article, which also has a link to a fantastic Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by Frank Wu.

30 years is both a blink of an eye (in terms of the age of the earth/how long humans have been in existence) and a long stretch of time (1982 means an era before the internet, before cell phones, before the phrase "google" or "blog" and when "twitter" was something that birds did).  30 years ago Asian Americans weren't Asian Americans so much as they were Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino...you get my drift.  They were also Oriental in many places, including how they self-identified.  Asian American studies was something happening on the West coast, specifically SF and LA, but not so much in the East or the Midwest (and forget about the South). 

And then Vincent Chin's murder galvanized Asian-ethnic groups across the nation, across ethnic and class and religious divides.  There was a realization about what it meant to have an Asian face in this country and what it meant to be racialized as Asian American, namely that violence and oppression happened because of one's race rather than one's ethnicity--Chin was targeted not because he was Chinese American but because the two Detroit autoworkers in the bar who attacked him were angry at Japan's auto industry and took out their frustration in a racist way--meaning, they scapegoated Chin as someone they thought "looked" like or could stand in for the Japanese.

There were many 30th anniversary events happening on June 23.  Unfortunately I couldn't make any of them because I was high on vicodin and swelled up like a chipmunk due to oral surgery the day before.  However, if anyone is interested in the video footage from APA for Progress, I will embed it at the bottom of this post.

[Aside: The reason I didn't write this post on June 23 was also because I was high on vicodin and rocking the chipmunk look/not feeling well--I find it's best not to write things in a public forum when you're under the influence...although perhaps it would have been amusing to read my rambling thoughts about race while drugged up]

I've been thinking a lot about how far we've come as a community and how far we have to go in light of the 30th anniversary of Chin's death, since this is the moment that many scholars and activist note is a turning point in pan-ethnic Asian American coalition building.  And I should add that it wasn't just Asian Americans who were outraged--black allies especially came out and decried this injustice.  And there were allies of all racial makeups who marched and protested and rallied alongside Asian Americans of all ethnic persuasions.

If we are to believe the recent Pew report that came out, "The Rise of Asian Americans," then we would think that we have, indeed, not only come a long way from 1982 but overcome hurdles that continue to plague other people of color and have achieved even beyond the standard of white Americans.  We are the most educated, happiest, and well adjusted of racial groups in this nation.  We have high median household incomes.  We also tend to vote democrat, and most of us don't actually identify with the label "Asian American," preferring our ethnic ancestries over a politically racial label.

What you may be hearing are echoes of the Model Minority Myth (MMM)--that tricky stereotype that says Asian Americans are high achieving and are outpacing all other minority groups in the US.  There are 3 dark underbellies to the MMM:

(1) It obscures the actual history of racialization and oppression that Asians in the US have been subject to, making it seem as if there is some kind of essentialized trait that makes them succeed instead of looking at the institutional and historic factors that have caused their subjugation--in other words, it's all happy news instead of looking at the more nuanced and complex history of Asians in the United States.

(2) Not all Asian Americans groups are succeeding.  To be fair, the Pew Report does mention Southeast Asian groups as among the lowest achieving in terms of education and household income--this SF Gate article was actually much more circumspect about the report and/or more nuanced in terms of understanding the diversity of Asian-ethnicities that comprise Asian Americans.  The MMM flattens ethnic differences and makes it seem as if ALL Asian Americans are succeeding at equal rates--it obscures the different histories and circumstances of immigration (see #1).

(3) It pits Asian Americans against other racial minorities.  The MMM basically says to Latino, American Indians, and African Americans, "Hey, why can't YOU be like these hard working/over-achieving/GOOD Asians."  It sets up a hierarchy of racial groups that continues to villify certain races by pointing to the success and achievement of others, again without thinking about the different sets of historic circumstances and racializations that have happened as a result of the greater social and cultural values that privilege whiteness.

Many Asian American scholars and activists have come out with statements against the Pew Report, such as the Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy and Research Consortium (click here for their letter) and the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice (click here for their response).  I won't repeat what they've written, but I do want to add one final thought (to which I'll elaborate later in a future blog post) and that is that increasingly I think we need a new definition for what it means to be Asian American--for what it means to self-consciously decide that you identify as an ASIAN AMERICAN.

Because for me, to be Asian American means understanding that this is a political category--that all racial categories are political categories, ones that were created to uphold certain ideologies (in the U.S. this has meant the belief in whiteness as supreme--aka "white supremacy," which shouldn't be confused with the guys in white sheets, although they are a manifestation of this ideology).  Being Asian American means that I understand the history of racial oppression that Asians in the U.S. have been subject to.  It means I understand the intersectional identities of Asian Americans--that they are also oppressed and privileged depending on their sexual, gendered, religious, able-bodied, regional, educational, and class status.  And finally, it means that to be Asian American I believe that all people are equal--that I support issues that, for lack of a better word, are social justice issues.  I support marriage equality.  I support overturning racist laws that primarily target Latino people in Arizona.  I support access to physical spaces for people of various abilities.

Being Asian American, to me, means that I want to end oppression and be an ally--wouldn't it be wonderful if more people wanted to be Asian American?

 [30th Anniversary event of APA for Progress]

T.G.I.F.: Helen Zia

I should begin this post by disclosing that I know the subject of today's T.G.I.F. (The Great Impossible Feat). But this is not why I've chosen to talk about Helen Zia today. Helen Zia is an Asian American activist par excellence. She most famously is tied to Vincent Chin--fighting for justice on his behalf. She was featured prominently in Christine Choy and Renee Tajima's excellent documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin? (by the way, if you haven't seen this documentary, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT, although truth be told, it will be hard to find outside of indie video rental shops or college/university libraries).



The first time I met her was when she came up to me after I delivered a conference paper on R. Kelly and The Matrix called "From R. Kelly to Keanu Reeves: Asian influences in American Pop Culture" (to be honest, I'm not sure if this is the exact title, but I know that the title had both R. Kelly and Keanu Reeves in the title, which made people scratch their heads since this was an academic conference). I saw her walk into the room and was pleased that she stayed for our panel and then shocked when she came up to me afterwards and asked for my card because she liked my paper! You have to understand: I am a total academic geek. So Helen Zia coming up to me at the end of a conference panel and telling me she wanted my card would be the equivalent of having George Clooney or Helen Mirren coming up to you and asking you for your autograph--you'd be speechless (and I nearly was).



So why was I so thrilled? Because I want to be Helen Zia when I grow up. Seriously. This woman was a community organizer in Detroit back in the day when we had no idea what a community organizer was. She was on the front lines of fighting for social justice in the Vincent Chin case, but has also continued to fight for social justice for many causes, like women's rights (she was an executive editor at Ms. Magazine), queer rights, Asian Americans falsely accused of espionage, like scientist Wen Ho Lee (she helped co-author Lee's My Country Versus Me), civil rights (she has testified to Congress about racial impacts in news media) and the connection between race and gender (which came about from her research on women who join neo-Nazi organizations). She is also clearly in support of gay marriages since she was featured on the cover of the New York Times as one of the first couples to be married to her long-time partner Lia Shigemura in 2008 when California, for a brief and shining moment, allowed gay marriage in the state (she and Lia also married in 2004 when Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed marriages to occur in SF City Hall).


[Helen and Lia at their 2008 wedding at SF City Hall]

Plus, she is the author of an incredible book: Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People. I had the privilege of introducing Helen at a book reading at the latest American Literature Association conference.



When Helen talked about writing this book and finding a publisher for the book, she talked candidly about wanting to tell a story, private yet public, personal yet global, about Asian American experiences that reflected the reality of Asian American life, which means talking about queer Asian Americans and her own experiences as a lesbian and coming-out. And her book talks about gender, class, racism, and a host of other topics in an organic and empowering way.

Helen Zia continues to be a scholar and activist and journalist and a woman who wants others to be involved--like most recently with this video she did on behalf of AAPI Momentum encouraging APA people to get involved and volunteer the week of May 24-31 as part of AAPI Week of Service:


[Tip of the hat to Angry Asian Man]

Helen Zia inspires me to want to work on behalf of social justice issues; her dedication and devotion to multiple causes is admirable. Like I said, I want to be Helen Zia when I grow up. Which is why she gets the T.G.I.F. award for not just talking the talk but walking the walk of social justice as a life-long activist.




[REMEMBER: If you post a comment during the month of May (which is APA heritage month) you will be automatically entered to win one of five books donated by Hachette Book Group. Read the May 14 post (scroll to the bottom) to see the details of the books and how to win]