Virginia Tech (long)

I think everyone is undergoing a similar set of emotions and reactions to the shootings at Virginia Tech. I've pretty much been unable to get anything done the last two days, sitting instead at my desk with the computer constantly refreshing CNN.com and the radio on NPR. Yesterday, Neal Conan did a live broadcast on Talk of the Nation of news updates, talking with students, faculty, and others at VT who had been affected. One man was a janitor in the classroom building where most of the shootings happened who had been shot at by the shooter as he came upon the scene. Neal Conan asked him to describe the shooter, and the janitor responded that the shooter looked "like a foreigner." At that point, there had already been a report that the shooter might be Asian, so Conan asked if that was what the janitor meant. "Yeah, Asian. Foreign." he responded. I winced.

When I read the first stories this morning that identified the shooter as an Asian student from VT, I winced again, and when I saw the first picture of Seung-Hui Cho, I was very worried. And I'm not the only one. Upon hearing about the various Facebook groups that had been started in response to the shootings, I went to check them out. "A tribute to all those at VT," "[Blank] University supports VT," and others with similar names were joined by "Fighting Asian backlash (VT)," and "Now I feel uncomfortable in public (VT)". NPR interviewed a Korean-American man in New York City today who said his daughter requested a car ride to school this morning (rather than having to take the bus) once she found out the shooter was Korean. And on The World earlier this hour, Lisa Mullins interviewed Dae Young Kim, an assistant professor of sociology and Asian-American studies at UMD (Go Terps! We have an awesome Asian-American studies program.), who expressed similar fears. Listen here.

"When I first heard the suspect was an Asian, I was concerned, as an Asian-American, I was very concerned [about] who the suspect was. ... When I heard he was Korean, then again, I was very, very worried. ...[Mullins asks why he was worried.] In terms of the negative publicity [for] the Korean-American community as well as the Asian-American community, especially the level of hate mail and hate violence that could also be triggered as a result of a tragedy such as this one. ... [Mullins asks why he thinks this is a possibility, and who he is worried will generate the hate mail.] It's the general public, because the Korean-American community as well as the Asian-American community is generally concerned about their image in American society, in terms of how they are portrayed... The Korean-American community has been trying to portray themselves as hard-working immigrants that are coming to the U.S., work hard, and achieve the American dream, that they are contributing to American society. And when you have the situation where you have a 1.5-generation Korean-American, or an Asian-American, that commits such a heinous crime, that's going to cast a negative light about these immigrants and their role and position in American society."

Kim went on to talk about how Asian-Americans are the "model minority," and 1.5-generation Asian-Americans (1.5-generation refers to those who were born overseas but came to the U.S. before the age of about 12) often feel tremendous pressure to perform, achieve, and succeed, in part to validate their parents' struggles to bring them to this country, but many are most likely not taking advantage of counseling services offered by their schools, moreso than their non-Asian counterparts. Mullins didn't delve into that issue, but my two cents to explain that thought are that mental health issues are very highly stigmatized in many Asian cultures, even among 2nd- and third-generation immigrant families, so even if a troubled teen recognized he or she had problems, it is highly unlikely that he or she would seek help or counseling.

The idea of the "model minority" is echoed in medicine. It's well-known that we need more minority physicians, and medical schools have committed to making medical education more accessible to under-represented minorities. But Asians are by no means under-represented; in fact, many refer to Asians in medicine as over-represented minorities, and postulate that while in most of society, white men hold the least advantage in terms of getting ahead, being an Asian college senior might be the worst thing going for someone trying to get into medical school (unless you happen to be an out-of-stater applying somewhere random -- like, say, Kentucky). But since the admissions process recently opened the possibility of marking multiple race boxes and I already got admitted, I'll leave that discussion for another day.

Of course, I don't think -- and no one should -- that this guy did what he did because he was Asian. New immigrants from many parts of the world have trouble adjusting to the United States (there was a similarly tragic, though smaller-scale, event here in Louisville in the last year), and people who have been in the United States for decades still have problems. And plenty of teenagers, regardless of race or ethnicity, have issues that could lead them to depression or violence, although thankfully most people seem to make it through life OK. But being that this country is what it is, there's a very real risk that there will be a backlash, because in America, we still identify people by their skin color. Not even by their actual facial features -- because I can tell who's Chinese and who's Korean and who's Indian and who's Pakistani, even though a lot of people can't -- but by their skin color. That's why Middle Eastern-Americans still face problems today, and that's why I stick out just a little bit (but no one's sure why :) wherever I go. Why else do I worry that there will be hate mail? Because people in this country like to send hate mail, even if it's not warranted. I mean, the Rutgers women's basketball team received hate mail during the Don Imus event, and they didn't even do anything! Imus's wife had to tell the public to send hate mail to her husband, not the team! So I think I have a justified worry that hate mail will be generated.

The other reason I worry is because if and when the hate crimes occur, there won't be a strong voice to stick up for the community. The Asian m.o., for the most part, is to work hard and succeed, maintain a strong private life, maintain a humble public life without promoting yourself too much, and not get involved in public issues. When Don Imus makes offensive remarks that are deemed racist (I say his remarks were at least an equal part sexist), against the black community, everyone (rightfully) gets up in arms, and leaders in the black community speak out loudly, and sponsors pull their funding and Don Imus gets fired (the ideal outcome, although I will say that outcome was not expected by many). But Asians don't have a strong voice, because efforts to organize Asian-Americans as a whole, or Asian sub-cultures individually, are still in their infancy, which makes the population as a whole think it's OK to say inappropriate things, since there's no fear of backlash. (Oh yeah, and I think there's a certain sense that there don't need to be efforts to organize the community, because, hey, they're all rich doctors and engineers, so they can take care of themselves, right?)

When NJ101.5 DJs mocked Jun Choi, a Korean-American running for mayor of Edison, NJ, in 2005, they did manage to stir some waters, but not the big ones. After referring to all Asians as "Chinese," saying that Asian-Americans (citizens, with the right to vote) were NOT American, and saying "ching chong" on the air, some people got pissed. Other people called in to agree with them. Despite requests for The Jersey Guys to be fired and for sponsors to pull their funding (including requests by me), all that happened was that they were forced to apologize on air and undergo sensitivity training. Oh yeah, and Choi won his election, which is a good thing, too. But the bottom line is that pretty much the only minority group in this country that is organized enough to create change as a bloc is the black community, and even they aren't strong enough to create all the change they would like. So how is the Hispanic or Asian-American community supposed to defend itself? (Oh yeah, I'd like to say that now my only reason to ever listen to 101.5 when I'm in NJ is for the 24-hour traffic reports.)

The bigger issue, one that comes up over and over and over again, and is not limited to this event, is that race has to stop being a defining characteristic, or a reason for people to do things. When an illegal Mexican immigrant kills two girls in Virginia Beach, Va., because he is drunk, it's because he's drunk, not because he's Mexican, OK, Bill O'Reilly? (Go Google it yourself). When a Korean guy shoots people at Virginia Tech, it's because he has serious mental and social issues, not because he's Korean. The person who started the Facebook group "F*** the dude that shot up VT" understands that; the person who started the group "F*** that Asian kid that shot up VT" doesn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And since today is the tax filing deadline, I thought this commentary was fairly interesting as well. Taxes should really have nothing to do with marital status, I've decided, and Martha Burk, Money Editor for Ms. magazine, agrees.