Discrimination Against Asian-Americans

Why is racism against African Americans and Jews considered hate crimes by the public while that same racism against Asians is not? Asian discrimination and racism has been around for hundreds of years and is as harmful and prevalent to that of these other races. In the Washington State University March issue of their newspaper, Alex Kuo delves into the issue of, “How much progress against racism has WSU really made” (Kuo 1). Racism as a whole has dramatically decreased in the last few decades but it is still around. At WSU 30 years ago, there were "three Asian American female students working at this counseling/support center encountered repeated racial epithets, animal calls and gestures simulating chinky eyes from two varsity basketball players passing by their workplace. The in-house student conduct staff concluded these accusations were not serious enough to warrant a full investigation, referring to the two athletes' actions as adolescent behavior that was misconstrued as racially oriented" (Kuo 9). This only shows that racism against asians is not taken on the same level in the eyes of non-asians. However, callingo an asian a "chink" and calling somone who is african american a "nigger" is of the same nature and yet when an outside party hears both, one is clearly seen as more offensive and more racist than the other. In the same sense, "chink" is deemed the result of adolescent behavior and not punished as racism. The article shows that after events such as WWII and the Virginia Tech Shooting, there is an increase in cautiousness and racism towards people of that race.

This problem is evident throughout the story of Kabuo Miyamoto in David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars. Mr. Miyamoto is on trial throughout the book for the murder of a fellow fisherman and war veteran. The back stories tell the reader that the Japanese immigrated in order to find jobs and work in the local mill and as share croppers picking strawberries. Asian americans are known as people, "who depended on our own efforts and not welfare checks" (Kuo 12) and yet people look down on that as if Asianas are willing to work for any type of pay, ruining their chances at making money. Even with their hatred for the immigrants there is a cycle of benefit which they would break if they were to kick out all the japanese. Kabuo even fought on the American side during WWII, not with the Japanese and yet the war has cased an anti-japanese climate and he knew from the start he would not be getting a free trial. After an event like 9/11 or the Virginia Tech shooting, there is always a sense of heightened fear against a whole race of people even when there was only a few people involved int eh tragic events. This is the same with Kabuo who was disciminated with an unfair trial simply because he was Japanese. It didnt matter where his loyalty was as long as the color of his skin was of yellow descent and he had smaller eyes than his neighbors. Racism has not gotten any better both in the book or at Washington State University, instead it has become more accepted as a form of joking and not the harsh cruel racism it really is.

Being an asian american and having lived in America for my entire life, I have become accustomed to the asian joking around but there is a thin line between joking among friends and blatant racist comments. As one of the WSU alumn's tried to write, "racism is no more..."; this is not true. "There are no Ku Klux Klan chapters on campus or in Pullman" (Kuo 13), nor was there ever a holocaust. Because there never was some big event or period of time when there was brutal racism known to everyone, people think asian americans have not been the victim of racism and discrimination. Discrimination can take many forms from physical hazing to discrimination in college admissions. With the newly instated affirmative action, top colleges make it harder for asians to get accepted, but the chances of whites being accepted has not changed. A yale student sued the school for discriminating only against asians in favor of hispanics and african americans and at the same time did not affect whites. The more common discrimination is less physical and abusive as it was in the past.

Kuo, Alex. "How much progress against racism has WSU really made?" Seattle PI 1
Mar. 2009. 15 Mar. 2009 401894_alexkuo_01.html>.