Illustration by Sean Basista. Provided by Jerk Magazine.
Jerk Magazine's latest issue published an article entitled, "Asian vs. Asian Smackdown: Can't We All Just Get Along?" criticizing Asian and Asian American students on campus for self-segregating from one another. Its author, Karen Hor, calls out all the APA student organizations and asks, "What's the damn difference?" According to Karen, these student organizations "fortify racism within a race."
Have you had an experience similar to the one Karen illustrates? Do you agree with the points in her article? Is there self-segregation on our campus, and if yes, how do you think that affects our student body?
I think that it was an excellent article. It brought a lot of really great points that people don't normally bring up. I'm friends with a lot of international students, and I think that it's both of our faults that there is such a huge difference and split between Asians and Asian-Americans. We, as Asian-Americans normally don't try and associate ourselves with Asians, fearing the label of being a "fob". But, Asians also generally don't seem friendly nor approachable, often speaking in their native language, and unintentionally creating a barrier.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I personally believe (and agree with Karen) that all the different Asian organizations segregate the Asian population on campus. It may have not been intentional, but it divides us as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc. I know that there are people from all races attend the meetings, but why can't we have just one large Asian organization that brings us all together?
Again, these are from my own personal experiences - I don't believe that I'm racist, and especially not against my own race.