Columbia University has long prided itself on its liberal activism and advocates for racial justice. From Trump’s election victory to his deportation order, from Citibank’s funding of Dakota Pipeline to Israeli U.N. ambassador Danny Danon’s speech, Columbia students were outraged at all these incidents and fervently protested on College Walk. However, all the social justice warriors at Columbia remained relatively silent when an actual racist and xenophobic incident happened on Columbia campus February 1st: door tags of Chinese names were ripped off in Columbia residence halls.
During Chinese New Year, some Chinese students at Columbia realized that their door tags with names in Chinese spelling were removed. After dozens of Asian students reported the door sign vandalism, Columbia’s Associate Dean of Multicultural Affairs Melinda Aquino sent an email to leaders of Asian identity-based groups in which she said she’s sorry for the unhappy incident and would like to reach out and offer support. There was no strong condemnation, no mention of investigation to find the perpetrators, and the email was only sent to a very small number of students. The comments that many Chinese students received from their schoolmates were mostly “ignore the incident and the show the childish perpetrators that nobody cares about their foolishness!” Excuse me? Would you say the same if the xenophobic efforts were directed at black, Latino, or Muslim students? If that were the case, the incident would be all over the news and the perpetrators would be expelled from college without doubt.
The Chinese students who were victims of the xenophobic behaviors made a video in which they explained the meaning of their Chinese names and expressed how important their Chinese names are for them. A beautifully made video but I was very confused why those Chinese students made such a video as if the xenophobic attack was directed at their names not themselves. The perpetrators obviously didn’t rip off the door tags because they dislike Chinese names; they did it because they are racist against Chinese people. Since I am friends with some Chinese students at Columbia, I asked them why they reacted in this way. “We don’t want to look angry and uncivil.” They answered.
It is undeniable that Asians face racism in America. Chinese Americans or Chinese are still constantly told to “go back to China and eat dogs.” However, when social justice warriors talk about racism, they rarely mention racism against Asians. They only care about racism against Asians when they are blasting Fox News and O’Reilly Factor. What’s more, social justice warrior liberals themselves very often blatantly express racism against Asians. For example, MTV News writer Ira Madison III, when he saw Jeff Sessions’ Asian granddaughter sitting on his lap, tweeted “Session, sir, kindly return this Asian baby to the Toys ‘R’Us you stole from her.” Another example: Chris Rock, when hosting last year’s Oscar-so-white-blasting Oscar ceremony, paraded three Asian kids on stage and made jokes about them. It is obvious that since Asian Americans have closed the wage gap with whites in America through hard work, social justice warriors believe Asians are of so-called “privilege” and no longer deserve any concern or protection. Just like they argued that there can be no reverse racism against whites (even after Chicago kidnapping happened), they tend to believe, with similar reasoning, that there can be no real racism against Asians.
Another reason why racism against Asians receives so little concern is that Asians are not very outraged at racist actions and don’t usually react fervently to racism. Like my friends at Columbia said, “we don’t want to look angry and uncivil.” It is part of Chinese culture to stay out of trouble and mind one’s own business. When faced with racism, Asians or Chinese don’t try very hard to fight racism, instead most of us try to succeed and live well despite racism, just like when faced with an authoritarian regime in China, most Chinese don’t fight very hard against it but try to succeed and live well despite it.
It has long been debated what is the most efficient way to fight racism. Booker T. Washington believed blacks should accept racism for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves from poverty through hard work. W.E.B Du Bois, however, advocated strong political actions against racism. Asians mostly adopt Washington’s approach and successfully lift themselves out of poverty, but the problem is racism still exists. I am not arguing that Asians should adopt the radical Black Lives Matter approach to fight racism, but I do urge my fellow Asians to speak out, act out, and adopt a stronger stance against anti-Asian racism.
I also suspect that if it was an insult against any other minority group, the comments section would be rife with myriad viewpoints, cathartic screeds and banjee-like caterwauls for heads to roll. Racism and xenophobic condemnation or non-action appear to be fueled by entrenched cultural norms. If someone stepped on your foot, the reaction would be immediate and unfettered by what others may think about your reaction to pain. Whereas, if someone insults or abuses a person due to their ethnic or cultural identity, then inferred information to initiate the apparent correct response must go through the external cultural filter to even acknowledge the incident as an affront. Apologists often acquit the villainous actions of forebears by suggesting that they were men or women of their times. Thereby suggesting they are innocent of villany due to their proximity to villainous times. This is the sad state of humanity when it comes to human dignity. Offense is protested only when it is an accepted norm to protest. Humanity is generally extended to those who are fully acknowledged as human by the dominant culture, whether those acting inhumanely are part of that dominant culture or not. It is correct to encourage the victimized to speak up and defend themselves as vigorously as they feel comfortable even if their vigor may offend some. React as if someone has stepped on your foot, without regard to any other’s opinion on your expression of your pain.
“If someone stepped on your foot, the reaction would be immediate and unfettered by what others may think about your reaction to pain.”
“React as if someone has stepped on your foot, without regard to any other’s opinion on your expression of your pain.”
– Depends on how hard the person steps on the foot.
Not every incident of getting your foot stepped on is the same. Some are full-on tramples that may definitely trigger a physical reaction – a yelp or a twitch or even a random profanity. If it hurts enough, yes, you will have a natural though noticeable and attention-drawing reaction. However, there are some instances for example on a crowded train, people shuffle about and someone steps on your foot hard enough for you to notice, but light enough that it barely hurt. You have at least two options: conjure up a noticeable, attention-drawing reaction; or simply noticed your foot was tapped, and continue the train ride.
About the students affected, without knowing the details of this incident, I can only assume that either (1) the students posted their names in Chinese characters and (1 and a half) those were the ones that got ripped off and/or (2) there are dormitories at Columbia Uni that house primarily or majority Chinese students. Otherwise, what would stop the average American from differentiating a Chinese name from a Korean or Vietnamese one? Though the difference are rather obvious to Asians, we can’t really say that about people who don’t know the culture or didn’t grow up in the country or family. If the perpetrator were “racists against Chinese people,” that person would have needed some kind of ‘route’ that would single out Chinese in the Asian community.
(Even Koreans get told “go back to China and eat dogs.” As long as we’re surrounded by people who gather substance of the outside world through American Dad, SNL, and comedians, all Asians will be dog-eating Chinese people, all Latin@s will be border-hopping Mexicans, all Middle Easterners will be turban wearing terrorists and all Blacks will be obnoxious, under-evolved thugs.)
The situation with the Chinese students getting their name tags ripped off didn’t get a reaction right away possibly because this tap to the foot was just barely noticeable. With reference to the train example I mentioned earlier, all this situation took was for one person to be more sensitive either to pain or to personal space to make a noticeable reaction.
This was how something like Black Lives Matter would come about – there were more members of that community who are more collectively sensitive to pain + could react more often and at a more magnified level + get their feet stepped on… alot, irrespective of how hard or how soft the tap was. Try not being Black, but telling a “Black joke” similar to Chris Rock’s spiel with the Asian children.
On the same token, however, a reaction does’t have to be negative. The creature of the “Say My Name” video commented that his “reaction” wasn’t to argue or condemn, but to sit down with the people have open the floor for conversation about names and their connection of culture.
How we chose to react to pain after the physical sensation has subsided does matter. When the students said, “we don’t won’t to appear angry or uncivilized,” it sounded more like “we have more important things to worry about,” and not so much “we didn’t realize or register this incident as an insult or abuse.” The concept of saving face in many societies is one of the many social mechanisms that sets a path for how far one progresses in that community. Silent doesn’t equal Blind. For these students, withholding an immediate, village-ravaging reaction could have meant they were simply scoping the arena for more ample opportunities to build functional relations and gain the most psychosocial benefits.
“If someone stepped on your foot, the reaction would be immediate and unfettered by what other may think about your reaction to pain.”
“React as if someone has stepped on your foot, without regard to any other’s opinion on your expression of your pain.”
…Depends on how hard the person steps on the foot.
Not every incident of getting your foot stepped on is the same. Some are full-on tramples that may definitely trigger a physical reaction – a yelp or a twitch or even a random profanity. If it hurts enough, yes, you will have a natural though noticeable and attention-drawing reaction. However, there are some instances for example on a crowded subway, where there are many people shuffling about and someone steps on your foot with a pressure heavy enough for you to notice, but light enough that it barely hurt. You have at least two option: conjure up a noticeable, attention-drawing reaction to whomever stepped on your foot; or simply notice your foot was tapped and continue the train ride.
About the students affected in this incident and to the OP, without knowing the clearer details, I can only assume that either (1) the students posted their names in Chinese characters and (1 and a half) those were the name tags that got ripped off and/or (2) there are dormitories at Columbia Uni that house primarily or majority Chinese students. (3) The perpetrator was either a well-informed non-Asian… or Asian. Otherwise, what would stop the average [non Asian] American from differentiating a Chinese name form a Korean or Vietnamese one? Though the differences may be obvious to Asians, we can’t really say that about people who don’t know the culture or didn’t grow up in the country or family. If the perpetrator were “racists against Chinese people,” that person would have needed some kind of ‘route’ that would single out Chinese in the Asian community to be targeted.
(Even Koreans get told “go back to China and eat dogs” by ignorant people. As long as we’re surrounded by people who gather substance of the outside world through bogus television and prime time comedy, all Asians will be nerdy, dog-eating Chinese people, all Latin@s will be border-hopping Mexicans, all Middle Easterners will be temper mental, turban-wearing terrorists and all Blacks will be obnoxious, under-evolved thugs.)
The situation with the Chinese students getting their name tags ripped off didn’t get a reaction right away possibly because this tap to the foot was just barely noticeable. With reference to the train example I mentioned earlier, all this situation took was for one person to be more sensitive either to pain or to personal space to make a noticeable reaction.
This was how something like Black Lives Matter would come about – there were more members of that community who are more collectively sensitive (and acknowledge) pain + react more often and at a more magnified level + get their feet stepped on… alot, irrespective of how hard or how soft the step was. (Try not being Black, but telling a “Black joke” similar to Chris Rock’s spiel with the Asian children.)
On the same token, however, a reaction doesn’t have to be negative. The creator of the “Say My Name” video commented that his “reaction” wasn’t to argue or condemn, but to sit down with the people and open the floor for conversation and about names and their connection to culture.
Howe we choose to react to pain after the physical sensation has subsided does matter. When the students said, “we don’t want to appear angry or uncivilized,” it sounded more like “we have more important things to worry about,” and not so much “we didn’t realize or register this incident as an insult or abuse.” Silent does not equal Blind. For these students, withholding an immediate, village-ravaging reaction could have meant they were simply scoping the arena for more ample opportunities to build functional relations and gain more psychosocial benefits.
Another way to look at this response is that they rose above the racism. A Chinese friend who told me about this incident also explained about the importance and beauty of their names. I think the video was an entirely appropriate response. With grace and dignity, these students offered a lesson about their culture for those who want to learn. Make no mistake. An attack on their names is an attack on themselves. However, it is not for me to dictate to anyone how to respond to such an attack. To do so is also to be guilty of imposing a western-biased expectation on people who choose not to respond from a western framework.