Research Method

For my topic of racism against Asian-Americans, I will be performing "participant observation". I will go to numerous public places and see how people will react in certain situations that involves an Asian-American (me). I believe this will truly show if racism against Asian-Americans is still practiced or not. I look forward to see the actions of people and the results of this observation.

Judging a Book by its Cover

Most of us can admit that when we think of Asian parents the following jokingly come in mind:

Their kids probably have no social life.

They probably make them study 24/7.

I can't even imagine the punishment they give their kid if they got an A-.

They most likely make their child play piano, violin, cello, or all of the above.

When people hear Asian parents, many people tend to label them as the "The World's Strictest Parents", "Tiger Mom", etc. All jokes aside, many Asian parents are always trying to make their child the best they can be, but they're not the only culture that does this! As I was looking through many funny Asian memes, I found that most of the memes had to do with strict Asian parents. They are portrayed as intimidating, but in reality, they're not even that bad compared to what society compares them to.

It irks me that people almost always turn to the stereotypes when judging a person. As a result, people treat them based on their label. In this case, people end up treating Asian parents harshly because these people think Asian parents deserve it for treating their children so cruel. The assumption that Asian parents are strict and do not care about their own child is absolutely not accurate, which is unfair to the parents that do not even portray these stereotypes. My question to the people who think so horribly of Asian parents is: How would you like it if you were based on an assumption, when you are the total opposite of it? Never judge a book by its cover!

Think Before You Speak!

As I was searching for an article for this week's blog, I came across this crazy article. Recently, a college student made a four and a half minute Youtube video rant listing reasons why he would hate to be Asian.

Some of his reasons are summarized as followed: 

1. Most Asians look alike
2. If I were an Asian man, I'd most likely be with an Asian woman and I do not find them attractive
3. I suck at math
4. The only way you can be in show biz if you know kung fu or if you play an Asian mobster
5. I'd be short
6. I hate sushi and it would be “everywhere” if I were Asian. 

This situation mirrored an incident a couple years back that involved a UCLA college student ranting about Asian students in the campus library. After receiving harsh criticism, this college kid said the whole video was just a joke. Come on......you're supposed to be a mature college kid and you thought this wasn't gonna get you in trouble?! I am utterly disgusted at how inconsiderate people can be in what they verbally say. 

Since this situation has occurred before, incidents like this show that racism does continue to exist in our world. Even though the college kid said it was purely a joke, the video is seen as complete racism and a huge offense to the Asian community. People need to realize that there is a fine line that exists when blurting out a racial joke is okay and not okay, but this college student completely crossed that line. Never forget that saying: Think before you speak!

What's wrong with Asian athletes, Floyd Mayweather?

You may or may not know who the famous African American boxer, Floyd Mayweather, is, but he is known for his intimidating persona. I came across this video, which consists of two ESPN personalities discussing Mayweather's remarks about Jeremy Lin, an Taiwanese-American NBA player. Floyd Mayweather tweeted, "Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise." 

The two personalities strongly agree how Mayweather's remark was utterly  crude. In addition, they referenced  back to 2010 when Mayweather ranted about Manny Pacquiao, a Philippine champion boxer and Mayweather's longtime boxing enemy, in a video and said, "He should go make some sushi rolls and cook some rice." But really, Mayweather? Was that really necessary or are you just afraid Pacquiao is going to possibly beat you in a next boxing fight? 

What I do not understand is why Floyd Mayweather continues to make racist remarks against these Asian athletes. Although it may not be the norm, Asians can be good a sports, too! I believe that Mayweather should just simply praise Jeremy Lin and Manny Pacquiao for proving to the world that Asians can be stellar athletes rather than stating all these offensive remarks. Floyd Mayweather needs to take in consideration of what he says can potentially hurt someone's pride.

"Come on, do math!"

We can all admit to at least some extent that Family Guy is a hilarious and enjoyable show. Who doesn't love Peter Griffin and his immature ways? I remember watching this episode that was aired during the summer and I couldn't help, but notice how stereotypical and racist this one segment was. It showed Peter telling his daughter, Meg, that he "will do better at this job than I did on the SATs". After, the show flashbacks to Peter taking an Asian boy out instead of using a calculator and saying, "Come on, do math!".  I admit, I did laugh, but as I look back, I couldn't help but notice how racist it was. Do people really think that the only thing Asians do is math and anything school related? 

All jokes aside, there are actually some Asians out there that take these types of jokes offensive. Although it is the stereotype that Asians are smart in school, they can also excel at other things! Sure, it is funny the first time to say something to your Asian friend like, "What?! How'd you fail the test..you're Asian?!?", but if you say this phrase more often to your friend, they may take this phrase more personally every time you say it and feel degraded. 

A Racist Rager

As I was researching for this week's blog post, I came across a shocking article. It seemed that a fraternity at Duke University threw a "Asian-Themed" party. This "racist rager" required party goers to wear conical hats, geisha outfits, and any Asian related clothing. The invitations to this party also included Asian stereotype misspellings such as, "Herro" for Hello and "Chank you" for Thank you. This sparked a huge uproar on the campus. Asian student groups organized a rally against this offensive party. As a result, school officials have suspended all activities for this fraternity. 

Although I recognize that college students just want to have fun and make their parties more interesting, students need to take their actions into consideration because it can truly offend someone that could even be their fellow peers and students. Is it really necessary to throw an Asian themed party that's basically making fun of a valued culture? Why can't they just throw a themed beach party that won't be offending anyone? People need to realize that a culture is of a huge importance to people and doing these kinds of actions can make cultures feel like they are a joke to society. 

Make Me...Asian?

We may be familiar with the smartphone apps of  "Fat Booth" or "Face Swap". These apps give us the ability to make ourselves look physically funny; however, I encountered an article written this month that there was an app created for smartphone users to make themselves look Asian. This app was called "Make Me Asian".

This "Make Me Asian" app caused huge uproar with many Asian Americans and criticized this app to be "ridiculously racist", as quoted in the article. I recognize the fact that the main goal these "Make Me Asian" creators wanted to achieve was purely for amusement, but I do agree this could be possibly crossing the line towards racism. The article also stated that this app included features, such as "conical hat or a Fu Manchu mustache". Really? Are conical hats and Fu Manchu mustaches truly what make up the entire Asian culture?  Due to the harsh criticism received , Google removed the "Make Me Asian" app to prevent more future complaints from emerging. The problem is that people continue to judge other cultures only based on stereotypes. This issue needs to be fixed because this kind of receptivity of the Asian culture can cause a valued culture to feel degraded. 

Check it out!

Google removes 'Make Me Asian' app amidst racism concerns