The Great Migration by Celtic

One of the problems that I believe may be hindering Asians in the West is that there aren’t enough established communities in every corner of each country. I recognize that migrating to areas where there is less Asian representation, at least for those on the front edge of any big movement, can be stressful and yes – even frightening. But I feel that one of the reasons that the media has so much power to influence stereotypical impressions of any group is rooted in the fact that communities without living, breathing people representing themselves have nothing else to go on.

Beyond the fact that Asians are a minority in North America is the reality that they tend to build large communities in only a few areas of the continent. Areas such as San Francisco, or Vancouver or Toronto. But the Southeast of the United States, for example, mostly only sees transient students who stay for a couple of years on university campuses and then move on. There are very small communities dotted here and there, but nothing on the scale of the Chinatowns, Coreatowns or Japantowns in other places.

Humans are hard wired from prehistory to experience an instinct I call ‘Us and They’. At one point in our evolution, it was an important survival tool. When resources were hard won and certainly never guaranteed – food, water, shelter, etc. – small bands had no room to be generous if they wanted to live. They had to quickly surmise who was ‘us’ – meaning their own group members – those with whom they could afford to share resources. All of those that were determined to be ‘they’ – meaning those outside the group – must be rejected. And in fact – with survival on the line – they might even need to be rejected with force.

I believe it is very easy for humans in modern societies to still twitch to this instinctive hard wiring, in big ways and small. And we seem to have various levels of ‘us’. There is the ‘us’ that consists of the family unit and much of the time these are the strongest bonds. Then there is the ‘us’ of friends. The ‘us’ of co-workers. The ‘us’ of neighbors. The ‘us’ of the greater community. We are so hard wired to build groups that we consider ‘us’ that we find all sorts of ways to do it. Sports teams and clubs and online websites…

Members of the Asian community that I have spoken with over the years often talk about their experiences of feeling as if they are always outsiders – the eternal foreigner – even if they were born and raised in North America. I can understand that this must create intense feelings of disconnect, something that runs counter to our nature as a species. We all prefer to belong somewhere.

So what are some of the answers to change this? In simplest terms – Asians have to become more ‘us’ and less ‘they’. As with most problems in the world, identifying the answer seems easy enough – but accomplishing the goal of making the answer a reality is potentially a long hard slog. I do believe that by expanding average Asian families into the greater American (or any other Western) communities, over time and with exposure, Asians become more familiar.

Asian based traditions and cultures become normalized. With every Dragon Boat Festival, Bon, Tet, Chuseok, Water Festival, Songkran Day and so on that is held in a local community that has never had them before – the less alien that community’s Asian neighbors seem. With every invitation to join in on these festivals, much as I have invited my Asian friends to attend a Highland Games Festival with me – is the possibility of opening a door to closer ties and greater understanding for non-Asians.

To elaborate a bit on my earlier post about names, when children bearing Asian names enter kindergarten with their age mates in the non-Asian community – those non-Asian children hear those sounds early on and it becomes a normal part of their perception of community. These children who grow up with Asian friends in the school system, and by this I don’t mean one or two per class, but a substantial number, stand a greater chance of viewing Asian traditions as normal. They begin seeing Asian faces as just other members of their neighborhood. An expected sight. Not strangers. Not alien. Not ‘they’. But ‘us’.

But further, once Asian families begin to move into areas of Western countries that have thus far not enjoyed as much Asian exposure in the past, they need to make every effort to place themselves in leadership and authority positions. On the smaller scale, that would include seeing local Asians become cops, firemen, paramedics, soldiers etc. Those members of the community that people seek out in a crisis, those that they come to depend on during their times of greatest need. And also teachers – who the children of a community grow up seeing as their earliest authority figures outside of their own families. This builds community trust for those with Asian features. Maybe not so easily from the older generations of non-Asians, but over time, from the children who grow up in these places.

On the grander scale, local communities need more Asian politicians, school board members, respected business leaders, college professors and deans, etc. And I say this, although there is often resistance to this concept, when it comes to politicians – I would want to see politicians that represent the full scale of political philosophy. Not just Democrats but Republicans and Libertarians as well. There’s no reason that every group of people shouldn’t have the chance to vote for an Asian that represents their beliefs as well (and I know that there are those in the Asian community who do).

So these are some of the inroads that will begin, I believe, much of the process of normalizing Asians in the wider society of Western cultures. Over time, over the generations, with concerted efforts in these areas, I think that new generations of Westerners will grow up thinking that hearing Asian words added to their everyday conversations or seeing Asian neighbors decorating their homes for some traditional festival or trusting an Asian firefighter to rescue them from their burning home is unremarkable.

In the case of Asian words, I’ve already experienced how adopting them into English can happen. I was telling a relative of mine over the holidays about an old Mifune movie I had seen called “Samurai” (I believe it also goes by the title “Samurai Assassin”). My relative asked, “What is the Japanese title?” I asked him what he meant. He asked again, “What is it called in Japanese?” I had to laugh a bit, because I realized then that the word ‘samurai’ has become so much a common word now in the English language that many English speakers no longer recognize it at first as being part of the Japanese language.

Having said all of this, one can only ask, how does it get started? I recognize that it is difficult for people to pull up roots in those big cities with established Asian communities and set out for the unknown to build the seeds of new communities. A young student from mainland China gave me her thoughts recently. She studies languages and in her opinion, one of the reasons that people cling to these large encampments that have long been established is because older people aren’t forced to learn English (or any other Western language) as long as they stay put. They can live out their entire lives speaking the language of their birth. And because the family structure is so important, the younger generations will tend to remain in place as well, until they are also no longer young and daring.

I don’t know what would start the outflow of Asian citizens from the old cities into new Western territory. I feel like it would help a great deal if the majority Western societies could interact regularly with Asian people in the flesh. Because if they don’t meet and grow to empathize with real people, they will fall back on all that they have left to understand ‘Asian’. They will return to the popular media. I don’t think that has been working out too well so far.

So…getting started. This is probably only a question that Asians can answer for themselves.


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Comments

J said…
This kind of reminds me of a previous post on transculturation: What the Future Holds

Instead of diffusing our numbers in areas like SFO, LAX and NYC, I'd like to keep what limited power we have in these areas and have new Asian immigrants settle in other parts of the US. And I think this is already happening.

I think acculturation goes both ways, but it can only happen when you have a sizable Asian community, and communities develop when Asians cluster in certain areas. Otherwise individuals and families living out in the boonies isn't going to amount to much transculturation.

I know Anna brought up the idea that in order for Asian communities to gain more influence in the Anglosphere, that we should increase our population:
The Key Is To Emotionally Involve Others-But How?

That may work in China. Half the dynasties in China's ancient past were foreign, but the "barbarians" were culturally absorbed in a couple of generations.

But in order for Asians in America to increase our population, we need immigrants to grow the communities and maintain ties to our ancestral heritage. I think IR marriages would actually increase the numbers for the Asian population in American, because

1) Asian genes are dominant: Look at Jon and Kate Plus 8. Those kids are 1/4 Asian, and all of them are phenotypically Asian in appearance. Hell I just saw Leann Rimes on TV, and I think she's got some Asian in her from several generations back.

2) The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world: If your mom is Asian and brings you up with reverence for your Asian heritage, then you as a Hapa or Blasian would identify with your Asian heritage.

I think everybody's either got a little Asian or a lot of Asian in them, whether culturally or genetically.
Anonymous said…
I agree with much of the OP, but want to add that being an outsider isn't always a bad thing. At the risk of over-generalizing I'll say that the outsider is something of an anathema in some Asian cultures, so much so that I would suggest that some people of Asian descent may "suffer" more from the idea of being in the outsider role than a non-Asian might.

Sadly, this may be the most apparent in the entertainment industry where there seems to be no shortage of Asians that are willing to act the clown and demean themselves and their cultures. Some people may say this is a symptom of self-hate (which may be true), but it could also be a symptom of an intense need to not feel like an outsider.

In short, as part of the development of an Asian consciousness, perhaps Asian-Americans need to go against tradition and embrace the role of the outsider? To my way of thinking it seems a more valiant endeavour to strive for excellence whilst being true to our integrity. As most people realize, being the best may make one an outsider - but we would all agree that this isn't a bad thing.

I think it comes down to respect - personally, I would rather be a respected outsider than a disrespected insider.

G-A
J said…
I would rather be a respected outsider than a disrespected insider.

Very well said, G-A!

I think this is why it's very important that we continue to develop distinct Asian AMERICAN subcultures in different areas of the US. Asian Americans in areas with huge Asian populations (such as California) really don't care about assimilation, because the numbers are on our side here, so we don't seek approval from anyone.
Celtic said…
Thanks for the good food for thought James and G-A. My apologies for a delayed response - yesterday was the last of a two week vacation and I had to do a lot of prep that I had neglected before returning to the daily grind today.

Plus I like to think on things sometimes rather than rush a reply.

This is definitely what I would hope to see happen... Asians and Asian-Westerners (not sure that's a title that works - but basically I mean Asians born and raised in various Western countries) looking at this potential issue and trying to find solutions that make sense to themselves.

As a non-Asian, although I suspect that this lack of exposure of the majority of non-Asian citizens in Western countries to actual Asian people is one of the roots of the problem with stereotypes and misrepresentations (and also creates an unnatural power in the media to define what 'Asian' is), I recognize that Asians may not feel the same way.

But if they (you) do agree, I think coming to the answers that make cultural and historical sense is best achieved by Asians themselves. I don't feel qualified to know what the right approach to solving this would be. I may not twitch to the cultural nuances at the instinctive level that I think might be required to create such an ambitious social change.

Mainly, I am concerned about the vacuum that is created in people's understanding of Asians as fellow human beings when they have so little real information to draw on. I have been saying a personal belief for over 15 years now (maybe even 20) - that I think an "Asian Renaissance" is coming - to North America at least. In fact, I feel we are in the early stages of it now.

If I'm right, and I won't bore you right now with my reasons for believing this (perhaps I should write it up as blog entry), then the iron is hot and ready to be forged. Young non-Asians are growing hungry for information and exposure to Asian cultures.

The question is, are they going to get accurate information from the source or bad information from the media?
Larry said…
I don't buy the premise of the argument in this article.

It basically deflects blame from White racism and xenophobia to an issue of Asian people needing to migrate to White-dominated areas of the USA in order to humanize us for Whites.

The onus is effectively placed on Asian Americans to prove our humanity to White racists in this argument!

Regardless, I doubt the logic behind this argument stands up.

White people have been exposed to significant numbers of Blacks and Latinos in the USA yet this has not ended stereotypes or racism against Blacks and Latinos.

The problem is America is based upon a racist caste system in which Whites are the rulers.

In order to stay on top of this racial food chain, White people must *of necessity* keep others down--through institutional discrimination or through stereotypes.

That's the American Way(tm).
J said…
It's true. Pockets of ethnic communities sometimes just leads to resentment. Familiarity breeds contempt as they say.

If you take a look at the Japanese American community, they did what Celtic proposed:

JA Community

The Japanese American community have essentially dissipated into American society, and yet the most understanding non-Asians have of Japanese culture is sushi.
Celtic said…
Actually, I am watching young non-Asians (and by this I don't only refer to white people) who 20 years ago would have only been interested in learning European languages and study abroad opportunities in European countries, now choosing to study Asian languages and expressing an interest in spending an extensive amount of time in an Asian country. So again, I say, the iron is growing hotter - who gives them the information they are looking for? Asian people themselves or the media alone? Or should this trend simply be ignored as having no influence on the future of Asian / non-Asian relations in the West?

It sounds as if the preferred method for solving problems in this area is to just keep the communities exactly as they are making no attempt to expand on smaller communities in other areas. Shall it always be large communities in the West and North and never anything in the Midwest or South? Influencing adults is much more difficult than influencing children. Would it be better to have no influence on those children or to have some ability to shape their initial impressions by becoming authority figures in their communities?

As for blame, there hasn't been an attempt to assign blame in this case as much as there is an attempt to find a solution for a problem. If this is not a potential answer, than what is? I hear 'change the media' quite a lot, a daunting task in the simplest form - is that the only thing that anyone wants to try?

I am not suggesting that 2 or 3 Asian families spread out evenly amongst every non-Asian community of 4,000 or some other preselected number. I am suggesting that the seeds of Asian communities in other parts of the country - such as those having 400 or 500 members already - can be expanded into the types of Chinatowns, Coreatowns, etc. that you see in other parts of the country.

As for the situation with the Japanese American community, the encampment system of that time period did a great deal to encourage them to assimilate in an unhealthy way as the quoted article points out. The family structure broke apart almost immediately in the camps, as is explained in the excellent documentary by Emiko Omori called "Rabbit in the Moon". Children stopped eating with their families and began eating with their peers. Eventually they spent most of their time away from their natural family units and began functioning in artificial peer oriented 'families'. Chizuko Omori mentions that it was so extreme that she doesn't even have memories of seeing her own sisters in the camps.

Beyond that, the authorities over the camps made the calculated move of removing camp power positions from the elders - the Issei who had migrated directly from Japan - and instead gave it to the first generation Nissei - many of them just barely adults. They felt the Nissei would be less of a threat.

Divide and conquer as it were.

Then there was the JACL, which many Japanese internees (especially those who could not become citizens by law) began to look at as traitors, because the JACL encouraged cheerful acceptance of the camps as a way of expressing their 'loyalty' to the United States.

These acts began the process of destroying the cohesiveness of the Japanese community in the United States, and that damage continued after the camps were closed. As the quoted article mentions, they began to avoid congregating in large numbers, and subverting their traditional culture to become less conspicuous.

This is not what I am suggesting here. I would rather see traditional cultures celebrated openly and clearly so that they are better understood - with time. None of this will happen overnight, and nothing will change if things aren't at least attempted.
J said…
I think we can all agree that if non-Asians were exposed to various Asian cultures that they would get a better understanding of Asians and there would be less hostility and distrust. I guess it's like what Bruce Lee said in the movie, "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story."

"They are not the enemy. They just don't know us. We've been so closed for so long. They don't know the beauty of our culture."

Wait a minute, that was Jason Scott Lee playing Bruce Lee. Well who knows if Bruce said that, but it echoes what you said Celtic: greater exposure to Asian culture leads to greater appreciation and understanding for Asian people
Larry said…
"Actually, I am watching young non-Asians (and by this I don't only refer to white people) who 20 years ago would have only been interested in learning European languages and study abroad opportunities in European countries, now choosing to study Asian languages and expressing an interest in spending an extensive amount of time in an Asian country."

Asia is a lucrative emerging market. And "non Asians" (especially Americans and other Westerners) want a piece of the action.

They see Asia as a ticket to their own wealth.

You can almost hear the "cha-ching" ringing in their greedy little heads.

It's about money.

This has nothing to do with respecting Asian culture or challenging the racist steroetypes that the West holds about Asia.

Just look at all the cretinous Western expats that live in Asia.

They invariably display that instinctive White Colonialist mentality towards the "natives"--even as they economically parasite off these nations whose population they disdain.

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