The Asian American Experience
by Michael S. Liao
San Jose State Student

Perception is subjectively construed through a moral society's
intelligent eye and theoretical lens. A moral society to me is a
collective of social participants who discern right from wrong by
establishing a common set of values, beliefs, and norms. The
dominance of White Europeans in America results in the ascendance of
moral values and beliefs endorsed by Whites, leading to a distorted
perception through the filtered lens of a White perspective.

The establishment of power hierarchy legitimizes the dominant
culture's constitution of normalcy, thereby creating the social
construction of "other." Power and control are the antecedents for
social construction of "other," while the consequences reinforce and
perpetuate power imbalance and social dominance.

As a social observant, my analysis of ethnic "other" in America
incorporates my personal, as well as vicarious experiences as an
Asian American. A collective voice is utilized throughout the essay
which incorporates experiences of Asian Americans around myself, as
well as through the re-telling of Asian American experience through
many forms of media broadcasting.

My definitions of "other" entails an ideological silencing and
disenfranchisement of non-Whites, as the problems within the
oppressed groups are ignored and overlooked by dominant society. In
a personal and collective voice I will analyze stereotypes regarding
Asian Americans, suggesting a propensity for prejudice and
irrational hatred on the part of dominant culture. I will also
explore the social construction of Asian womanhood and manhood in
the context of social separation and discrimination.

Furthermore, I will discuss cultural-level portrayals of Asian
Americans that ignores cultural diversity, objectifies and reduces
them to their skin color. I will make the argument that the
construction of "other" justifies institutional racism and overt
discrimination, leading to potential violence against members of the
target group. The social construction of ethnic "other" functions on
multiple social levels, from interpersonal relations to cultural-
symbolic images and ultimately socio-political agendas.

The dominant culture takes up the active role of upholding the
dichotomous notions of "us" and "them," while a passive role of
acknowledging the inequalities is associated with the marginalized
groups. However, for many of the oppressed population, the "other"
label is not a prescriptive construction.

As social participants, oppositional resistance to challenge and
tear down the construction of "other" is forged through forms of
ideological broadcasting such as art, literature, and other forms of
media. In recognizing and resisting the imposed label of "other,"
and in writing this essay, I too am engaging in an oppositional
project and identifying myself as an Asian American activist.


As I walked through the crowded corridor with my head held low and
my loose-leaf binder held tightly against my chest, I felt the
weight of impending doom. I sucked in one final breath and held it,
praying to God to keep me from harm. My prayers were always silent,
almost routine, as I pleaded against the inevitable.

As I advanced toward the group of towering bullies like a lamb
amidst wolves, I was keenly aware of their watchful predatory gaze.
It started off as a spark, one of my tormentors called out: "Hey!
where are you going Chinaman?", and the abuse began. The verbal
taunts eventually escalated into nudges and shoves.

All the while I just kept my eyes on the door of my classroom at the
end of the hallway, praying for it to be over. On some days my
tormentors would hold me captive until the bell rang, making me
tardy to my class. High school, as a hierarchical social
institution, reflected the prejudices and attitudes of mainstream
society.

A nation with a population as diverse in personal and collective
identities as the United States can bring about a multitude of moral
concerns and predicaments. In the hegemonic patriarchal heterosexist
society of America, the norm by which all are measured against is
that of a straight White male. A self-fulling prophecy in both
dominant and oppressed consciousness perpetuates a cyclical power
inequality with its primary purpose as the legitimization of White
culture.

The social and psychological impact of marginalization as "other,"
profoundly disrupts inter- as well as intra-group harmony. Conflict
arises at times out of attempts by the oppressed groups to gain
acceptance by the dominant culture, while preserving one's own
cultural identity. Concordantly, conflict also arises when members
of the oppressed groups rise to actively resist and challenge
domination.

In an article from USA Today, Delaney (1995) argues that urgent
social issues such as crime and poverty within minority cultures are
largely debated upon by the groups involved, with whites acting as
spectators. Problems within minority communities are often
attributed to internal dispositions and inherent characteristics of
the minority population.

By ascribing to minority groups' dysfunctional pathology, dominant
society reasserts dominance and justifies its lack of intervention.
A reinterpretation of the famous slogan used to promote the status
quo can wholly embody the prevalent attitudes of privileged
America: "If it ain't White, don't fix it."

I heard her scream, as he chased her down the hallway. I froze, with
toothbrush in my hand and foam dripping from my lips, and tried to
make out what was going on. It took me a moment to realize that my
neighbors next door were fighting.

Well, to be exact, the husband seemed to be beating up his wife.
Being in proximity of the violence brought me back to a time when my
knees would go weak and my heart pound in crazy rhythms whenever my
parents fought. It was always the same cycle, beginning with the
violence, followed by the suffocating silence.

During every deafening silence episodes, I always hid in my mother's
closet so as to not get in harm's way. When I came to the United
States at the age of ten, I experienced the isolation and silence
associated with being an Asian American. Perhaps not wanting to
exacerbate public hatred, many social problems within the Asian
community are kept silent.

Domestic violence is discussed behind closed doors amongst
housewives, but never to the public. Just as my reservedness and
silence had earn me the title of "model student" in school, so did
the silence of Asian Americans in giving birth to the stereotype of
the "model minority."

The model minority stereotype refers to a categorization
of "positive" characteristics attributed to Asian Americans,
including passivity, docility, and high academic achievements.
Contrary to popular belief that Asian Americans are highly
successful individuals with no psychological nor social
dysfunctions, many social problems exist within the community.

The model minority stereotype effectively silences the Asian
community from speaking out about these urgent social problems. The
failure to see family violence and violence against women in the
Asian community as serious social problems is a direct result of
mental schemas derived out of notions of Asian docility.

For decades Asian women suffered in silence, their pains went un-
noticed even by their pale-skinned counterparts. In her discussion
of family violence among immigrant women, Easteal (1996) notes that
misconceptions and fears of being deported is a factor which
prevents many Asian women from seeking help.

In addition, many of the Asian immigrant women are taught to fear
and mistrust the criminal justice system, thus further limiting
their options. A lack of public care facilities and women's shelters
sensitive to the needs of Asian women acts as a deterrence from
seeking help for Asian American victims of domestic violence
(Easteal, 1996). Stereotypes foster not only social separation but
justify and perpetuate violence against members of the oppressed
groups as well.

Asian femininity is constructed to be mysterious and hyper-sexual by
the dominant White culture. The pornography industry cashes in on
this social attitude and responds to the high demands for
pornographic material depicting Asian women. Especially prominent
are materials centering on bondage.

In the extreme form of objectification a woman is reduced to merely
a sexual object, thus justifying rape and sexual assault. In reading
and writing about incidences of hate crimes against Asian Americans,
it then become a shared communal experience lived vicariously
through the re-telling of the story:

In 1985, an eight year old Chinese girl...was found raped and
lynched in...North Carolina- two months after Penthouse featured
pictures of Asian women in various poses of bondage and torture,
including hanging bound from trees. [Although the correlation
between the pornographic depictions and the sexual violence was not
established], her rape and killing were not investigated as a
possible hate crime (Zia 541-544).

The interconnections of gender and race continues today to manifest
itself in ways to exotify and objectify Asian women.
My close friend of ten years is an aspiring actor struggling to make
it in the film industry. In her career so far as a novice actor, she
has had to combat constantly the mainstream notions of Asian
femininity.

With much humor yet with a hint of resentment, she recounted over
the telephone a particular photo shoot in which the make-up artists
insisted on giving her the "exotic Asian look." This was
accomplished by applying excessively bright eye shadow powder and
accentuating her eye lines to emphasize a slant. In an industry that
thrives on projecting images of perfection, I imagine the profound
impacts on her self-esteem and efficacy in being treated as the
ethnic "other." Images of perfection denigrate women as a whole, but
for Asian women the ideal is far more unattainable.

The roots of the stereotypical notions of Asian femininity can be
traced to the images constructed during World War II. In presenting
a model of ideological racism expressed through mainstream media,
Espiritu (1997) argues that Asian femininity was constructed as a
response to the emerging feminist movement in the 60's. Asian women
were portrayed in media as the epitome of ideal femininity.

Having been ultra-sexualized, de-vocalized, and centralized to
please and satisfy, these one-dimensional caricatures were both
physically and sexually subservient to White men. Culturally and
symbolically, these images serve to uphold the virility of White
males, and cast off a categorizational depiction of the ideal
femininity.

Intentional parings of White males with Asian females are routinely
seen on television, symbolically conveying a cultural contestation
in which White males impose their domination through
the "undertaking" of ethnic females. As the war time propaganda
against Asians intensified, there emerged damaging stereotypes and
controlling images of Asians as a whole.

The World War II propaganda breathed life into the racial stereotype
of the yellow peril. This strategy effectively cast Asians as the
abominable "other," thereby justifying racial discrimination and
White domination. The construction of "other" served a socio-
political purpose in legitimizing the interests of the dominant
culture, as evidenced in the erratic shifts of stigmatization.

A trend of shifting racial stereotypes and controlling images in
accordance with the perceived "enemy" throughout American history
functioned as a categorization of "other" on a national level. While
Japanese Americans were under attack from the World War II
propaganda, the previously stigmatized Chinese Americans came to be
regarded in a brand new light.

Characterizations such as "hard-working peasants" were attributed to
Chinese Americans, casting a dichotomous good and evil caricatures
of Chinese and Japanese Americans, respectively. An integral part of
war-time propaganda, and construction of ethnic "other" in general,
includes the social construction of Asian American manhood.

I grew up being taught about the values of respect, reservedness,
and resilience. Asian masculinity is subtle, conveyed through
artistic expressions. The aggressive, tough notions of masculinity
are regarded as unrefined and an indicator of poor education and
lower class. When I came to the United States, my practice of
concession in the classroom was seen as a sign of timidity.

My proper respect for elders and teachers was seen as an eagerness
to please. My non-aggressive response and silent endurance of
harassments was seen as a sign of weakness. The traditional Asian
notions of masculinity instilled in me were perceived unfavorably in
the American context.

Ethnic minority manhood has always been constructed as deviant
relative to the White male norm. Stereotypes, like the brutish
sexuality of African Americans, systematically worked to White
males' advantage in constituting White normalcy.

The construction of Asian manhood served the same purpose. However,
Asian masculinity is broadcasted through a dualism of images
depicting hyper-masculinity through Kung Fu movies, and asexuality
through passive portrayals.

Depictions of androgyny in Asian male set them off as neither men
nor women. Asian men are never portrayed as masculine by the White
notions of masculinity, but instead are portrayed as effeminate or
homosexual. The only acceptable form of masculinity for Asian men is
achieved through Kung Fu movies, which in itself separates Asian men
as the exotic, outlandish "other."

Espirtu (1997) observed that the majority of Asian male characters
on television consist of minor background characters with
excessively domestic attributes such as laundry cleaners, waiters,
house keepers, shop owners, and other roles traditionally considered
to be feminine. The emerging popularity of Kung Fu movies gave rise
to a slew of American adaptations in which White Kung Fu fighters
save the day by stopping villainous Asian invaders in their mad
crusade of overtaking the world. So once again the power hierarchy
is restored and Asian masculinity is vilified and put in its place.

"YOU DAMN CHINK! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET!"- that was the last thing the
19-year-old Korean American heard before suffering a skull fracture
from the attack, which put him in the hospital (Clementson, 2000).
Asian Americans experience a multitude of overt discrimination
ranging from derogatory references in public, to more violent acts
such as the above mentioned experienced by John Lee, a student from
State University of New York. Virtually all Asian Americans I know
have experienced discrimination and racism of one sort or another in
their lifetime as an "American."

Violence is an universal assertion of power and control. All forms
of violence can be understood in the context of power inequalities
and issues of control. Social construction of ethnic "other"
delineates a model of social functioning based on hierarchies and
unequal distribution of power.

Dominant culture has always employed smoke screens such as
diagnostic labels or political propaganda as forms of social control
in addition to legitimizing discrimination. While many of the
prejudiced ideologies and racist images from times of war have
withered; the seed of fear and hatred have been left unscathed,
giving birth to an reincarnated chaparral of unseen institutional
racism.

The dominant society's fear now is not of questionable political
allegiance as was during times of war, but rather the economic
motives of the perceived technologically advanced Asian immigrants.

As an immigrant, I faced pressures both from the dominant culture to
conform and the pressures to preserve my own culture. I struggled
with the contrary notions of masculinity endorsed by the dominant
White culture and the notions I was brought up to honor; that is the
conflict facing young Asian Americans in our society.

The hierarchical structure of high school creates a dynamic of power
imbalance, in which the disempowered seek to identify with their
oppressor. As stressful as the demands for social conformity for
native-born students, the additional cultural-identity conflict for
immigrants creates the potential for extreme social deviance.

Stripped of self-confidence and sense of belonging, many Asian
immigrants participates in gangs for affiliation and group identity.
In my personal experience with several high school friends, the
violence they exhibited came as a direct response to the alienation
and overt racism they experienced as the "other."

On the other side of the extreme is a total inhibition of one's
social interactions and eventual break-down resulting from social
isolation. I can identify with the latter. Desperate for mainstream
acceptance, but at the same time vigilant to cultural preservation;
I resorted to living a double life. By keeping family and social
life separate, I felt a false sense of fulfilling my
responsibilities. However, the opposing values and beliefs of the
two worlds must invariably collide together and compete in a
identity tug-of-war.

My family ties deteriorated in my attempts to distance myself from
my Asian identity. The put-down's from the popular crowd created in
me a vicious cycle of self-loathing. All I had wanted was
acceptance, a misguided notion of the embodiment of American moral
values.

The attempts by young Asian Americans to gain acceptance is evident
in their immersion into hip hop culture. Such immersion is perceived
by many Asian Americans as a rite of passage into mainstream
America. It is not hard to see what Asian American males are
desperately seeking; the masculinity which was robbed from them.

Acting out in violent and sometimes delinquent ways is a defense
mechanism against feminization through cultural stereotypes. Asian
males wish to identify with the hyper-masculine construction of
African American manhood through the adoption of hip hop culture.
Many of these liberation-seeking Asian youths carry around slogans
such as "Asian power" and "Asian pride" as a form of self-
empowerment and reminder of a culture that is greater than the parts
of the whole.

The phenomenon of the Asian gangs and their prevalence does not
imply an underlying propensity for crime, as some may argue, but
rather the logical response for a proud people robbed of their
personal and collective identity.

We were friends for almost ten years, up until we lost touch in
college. He was an Asian American who was active in Asian gangs. He
shared with me once, when we were sitting around in his dorm room;
the anger he cultivated from years of experience as an
ethnic "other."

With raw emotions and unfiltered fervor he recounted the times he
was picked on by the popular crowd in high school. In response to
the feminization of Asian manhood by dominant culture, he began to
work out religiously to achieve physical prowess.

Furthermore, he sought group affiliation and an Asian identity
through gangs. With a look of unyielding determination he recounted
the pride he had in himself when he, along with his gang partners,
sought physical retribution toward those who had abused him years
before. Violence to him was a means to an end to reclaim his
usurped "Asian Pride."

The struggles and accomplishments of the African American community
has been a great force in shaping the advancements of Asian
Americans into mainstream society. During the 60's, the civil rights
movement opened the door for many marginalized groups to voice their
rights. African Americans, at the forefront of the movement,
rightfully gained a gradual acceptance into mainstream America.

Popular media currently reflects a much greater inclusion of African
Americans, relative to the onset of the movement. Wahl (1999)
observes that the popularity and influence of hip hop culture
provides a form of ideological broadcasting for African Americans,
giving the disenfranchised a voice. Their hard battles and countless
sacrifices have shifted public opinion, making discrimination
against African Americans socially inappropriate.

Asian Americans, on the other hand, are still viewed as "permanent
houseguests" of America. The lack of representation and outright
misrepresentation of Asian Americans in popular media fuels existing
stereotypes and perpetuates social separation.

What the African American community has gradually attained that
Asian Americans lack is one unified voice. So much cognitive and
organizational effort is put into solving internal conflicts we lack
the energy expenditure to focus on a collective goal.

Many of the conflicts within the Asian American community arise out
of intergenerational disputes and cultural clashes as a result of
social construction of "other." The westernization and exploitation
of second generation Asian Americans contribute to the break down of
traditional values. Intrafamilial conflict is among the most
devastating to the Asian American social structure.

An understanding of the values placed on relationships is imperative
in analyzing the impact of western exploitation. "Guanxi" is a
Chinese term connoting an interpersonal sense of connectedness that
acts as cohesive bond which ties members of the community in a
collective embrace.

Western exploitations and the imposed ethnocentric values by the
dominant culture wreaks havoc on the intricate relational
dispositions of Asian Americans. Among the damages of imposed
eurocentrism is the loss of dignity for Asian Americans. Under the
White man's shadow, it is not easy to proclaim "Asian pride."

Old traditions and Western influence come together in a cultural
clash that breaks down family relations. The soap operas I watched
growing up reflected the parental anxieties and fears of Western
influence on their children.

These shows incessantly portray traditional Asian parents to be in
conflict with their Westernized children within the context of abuse
and neglect. To offset the separation between the two cultural
entities, the parents are dressed in traditional Asian clothing,
while the adult children are seen wearing Western suits and dresses.
While the Asian youth of my generation was advocating modernism: the
extent to which a non-Western culture embraces and incorporates
Western values and beliefs; the older generation was projecting its
fears of an abandonment of traditional culture.

After moving to the United States, my mother would continually
remind me of the dangers of becoming too "American." During family
gatherings my elder relatives would sit around to denounce relatives
who did not impose the Asian tradition on their children and
allowing them to become too "Americanized." Along with the
Westernization or "Americanization" comes a plethora of intra-
familial conflicts and break-down of traditional family structure.

The enculturation of American lifestyles reshapes the traditional
family structure, where the values placed on group identity and the
proper respect reserved for elders were replaced by values for the
self and notions of egocentrism.

The imposed English language places the Asian parents in a position
of dependence on their children, polluting the existing
authoritarian relationship between parents and children typical of
Asian cultures. Lost is the communal respect and honor once
associated with one's seniority, and a new fear arises of
abandonment and rejection by one's own children.

In this essay I have attempted to provide a coalescence of social
construction of ethnic "other" relevant to the various social levels
of functioning. The conceptualization of "other" can be expressed
through personal interactions on an individual level and racial
idioms employed by dominant culture, leading to potential for overt
racism and social ostracism. Ethnic stereotypes proliferated through
prejudice and ignorance of cultural relevancy may result in socially
imposed attributes to an ethnic collective.

Cultural broadcasting through mainstream media concomitantly
produces a trite portraiture of ethnic minorities according to White
eclecticism, denying diversities within ethnic cultures.

Supposed "universal" cultural dimensions in research and literature
derived out of a White perspective fosters ethnocentrism on a
national level, contributing to a selective filter on the
theoretical lens of social functioning. With the construction
of "other," there must come inevitably the social separation,
identity discrimination, and potential for irrational fear, hatred,
and violence.

This essay has been a montage of my personal experiences as an
ethnic "other," as well as collateral experiences lived vicariously
through many forms of ideological broadcasting. These experiences
were ontological to my emergence as a participant in the
oppositional resistance to the dominance of White perspective.

As social participants, we may begin to break down the barriers and
promote our fundamental rights to be different in order to de-
construct social "other." The integration of one unified voice is of
utmost importance, while at the same time being vigilant to the
unique issues posed by the various cultural contexts. Only then can
we live up to the ideological covenant between a moral society and
its people to uphold diversity and celebrate individual uniqueness.