What's With All These Asians?
So lately at work I've been hearing a lot of, "What's with all you Asians hanging out together?"
God forbid you find two or more Asian Americans hanging out together, because non-Asians will think that we're conspiring to take over the world or something. Forget that fact that we don't complain when 2 or more white people hang out.
There is a fear of a Yellow World on the part of non-Asians. People of European ancestry were initially the minority when they colonized various parts of the world, so there was always this latent fear that the more numerous natives they subjugated would rise up and revolt.
So when non-Asians notice "all these Asians," they're really expressing a fear of being the minority. They fear that we'll do to them what they have done to us. The underlying sentiment with statements like "What's with all the Asians?" or "There's too many Asians." is that our very existence is offensive and that we're cockroaches to be exterminated.
Asian Americans are a tiny but visible minority. We have the disadvantage of being racially marked as foreigners, outsiders who do not deserve any respect or equal access to resources. During WWII the Germans forced the Jews to wear the Star of David, so that they could identify them, segregate them from the rest of society and more easily persecute them.
For Asians, we don't have to wear a badge. Non-Asians don't refer to you as a person. They simply refer to you as "that Asian." And if there are 2 or more of you talking, people get antsy.
God forbid you find two or more Asian Americans hanging out together, because non-Asians will think that we're conspiring to take over the world or something. Forget that fact that we don't complain when 2 or more white people hang out.
There is a fear of a Yellow World on the part of non-Asians. People of European ancestry were initially the minority when they colonized various parts of the world, so there was always this latent fear that the more numerous natives they subjugated would rise up and revolt.
So when non-Asians notice "all these Asians," they're really expressing a fear of being the minority. They fear that we'll do to them what they have done to us. The underlying sentiment with statements like "What's with all the Asians?" or "There's too many Asians." is that our very existence is offensive and that we're cockroaches to be exterminated.
Asian Americans are a tiny but visible minority. We have the disadvantage of being racially marked as foreigners, outsiders who do not deserve any respect or equal access to resources. During WWII the Germans forced the Jews to wear the Star of David, so that they could identify them, segregate them from the rest of society and more easily persecute them.
For Asians, we don't have to wear a badge. Non-Asians don't refer to you as a person. They simply refer to you as "that Asian." And if there are 2 or more of you talking, people get antsy.
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