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As an Asian American, I recognize that racism against us is real, and that at the same time, the impact is far, far smaller than it is for people who are Black

As an Asian American, I recognize that racism against us is real, and that at the same time, the impact is far, far smaller than it is for people who are Black or Latinx. There is no modern history of Asian Americans getting redlined, whereas Wells Fargo sold subprime mortgages to Black homeowners in Baltimore while internally saying they were selling "garbage loans" to "mud people." Asian Americans are far less likely to be racially profiled by the police, while African Americans are far more likely to be wrongfully convicted of rape, for example. Honestly, there is a bit of a meme on HN where affirmative action always hurts Asian Americans. It's been documented that elite schools use sports to discriminate in favor of wealthy white students. (Think about what demographic goes to schools with top-rated lacrosse or crew or horseback riding teams.) It's time for Asian Americans to be in solidarity with other people of color who suffer more from discrimination. Fortunately, 80% of Asian Americans support affirmative action. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-reaches-settlement-wells-fargo-resulting-more-175-million-relief https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-reaches-se... https://cls.soceco.uci.edu/news/data-shows-african-americans-are-more-likely-be-wrongfully-convicted https://cls.soceco.uci.edu/news/data-shows-african-americans... https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-08-27/affirmative-action-yale-harvard-admissions-legacies https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-08-27/affirmative... https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/70-asian-americans-support-affirmative-action-here-s-why-misconceptions-n1247806 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/70-asian-american...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
apostacy 6y ago
Nearly everything said about asian Americans can be said of jewish Americans. Now substitute what you just said about asians for jews. Still ok with it? Jews are disproportionately over-represented in elite universities relative to the population. And on average we experience more well being that white people, along the same metrics you cited. It is ludicrous that you could lump together a child of Vietnamese refugees in with with someone who's parents are doctors who immigrated from The Philippines. It is almost as if we are more a product of our circumstances than our ethnicity. No, hard working asian and jewish kids should be punished for bad things that Wells Fargo did a quarter century ago.
- teachrdan 6y ago
  Ha, I'm actually half Jewish, and I am completely ok saying these exact same things about Jews. The harms that are inflicted against African Americans in particular are far worse than those against Jews or any Asian demographic I know of. > No, hard working asian and jewish kids should be punished for bad things that Wells Fargo did a quarter century ago. It appears you failed to look at the link I posted. Wells Fargo engaged in that behavior in the run up to the 2008 financial crash--hardly "a quarter century ago." Black folks in this country have faced ongoing discrimination since before the United States existed, and this persists in economic exploitation by business and government alike. I'll assume you're arguing in good faith, so I've added another example of how African Americans are economically exploited, this time by municipal government. This level of discrimination and exploitation simply doesn't happen against Asian Americans. Now do some Asian American demographics face greater challenges? Sure. You named one, Vietnamese Refugees. You could also include Muslim refugees escaping genocide in Myanmar, to provide another example. But what that really illustrates is that "Asian American" is a category stretched almost beyond usefulness due to the wide, wide range of folks who are included, covering a continent with 4.4 BILLION people. https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-ferguson-missouri-court-fines-budget.html https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-ferguson-missouri-cour...
  - simplemen 6y ago
    I am assuming you don't have any kids. I used to think same way and so did most of my Asian friends. Hey I am doing fine, I end up going to decent college, other Asians can do same, right? But it slowly changed when my friends and I started to have kids. When your kid get A but you know it is not enough. Even if you try to protect your kid, family and others tell your kid that they need to join more clubs and volunteer if they want to go to a good school. When your kid replies why and says my friends are not doing it, and you need to tell them that his friends have a different skin color and they will get preferred treatment, that's when you realize how wrong it is. Just because there are institutions in our society which discriminate aganist one group, the solution is not to ask other institutes to discriminate against a different group. We need to get rid of discrimination in all parts of our society and not increase it. Edit: anthoner unintended side effect of this is that many of extremely liberal Indian families that had many Black and Hispanic friends are now hanging out less with them. Because they want their kids to be friends with those who will be doing same activities.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

apostacy 6y ago

Nearly everything said about asian Americans can be said of jewish Americans. Now substitute what you just said about asians for jews. Still ok with it? Jews are disproportionately over-represented in elite universities relative to the population. And on average we experience more well being that white people, along the same metrics you cited. It is ludicrous that you could lump together a child of Vietnamese refugees in with with someone who's parents are doctors who immigrated from The Philippines. It is almost as if we are more a product of our circumstances than our ethnicity. No, hard working asian and jewish kids should be punished for bad things that Wells Fargo did a quarter century ago.

teachrdan 6y ago
Ha, I'm actually half Jewish, and I am completely ok saying these exact same things about Jews. The harms that are inflicted against African Americans in particular are far worse than those against Jews or any Asian demographic I know of. > No, hard working asian and jewish kids should be punished for bad things that Wells Fargo did a quarter century ago. It appears you failed to look at the link I posted. Wells Fargo engaged in that behavior in the run up to the 2008 financial crash--hardly "a quarter century ago." Black folks in this country have faced ongoing discrimination since before the United States existed, and this persists in economic exploitation by business and government alike. I'll assume you're arguing in good faith, so I've added another example of how African Americans are economically exploited, this time by municipal government. This level of discrimination and exploitation simply doesn't happen against Asian Americans. Now do some Asian American demographics face greater challenges? Sure. You named one, Vietnamese Refugees. You could also include Muslim refugees escaping genocide in Myanmar, to provide another example. But what that really illustrates is that "Asian American" is a category stretched almost beyond usefulness due to the wide, wide range of folks who are included, covering a continent with 4.4 BILLION people. https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-ferguson-missouri-court-fines-budget.html https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-ferguson-missouri-cour...
- simplemen 6y ago
  I am assuming you don't have any kids. I used to think same way and so did most of my Asian friends. Hey I am doing fine, I end up going to decent college, other Asians can do same, right? But it slowly changed when my friends and I started to have kids. When your kid get A but you know it is not enough. Even if you try to protect your kid, family and others tell your kid that they need to join more clubs and volunteer if they want to go to a good school. When your kid replies why and says my friends are not doing it, and you need to tell them that his friends have a different skin color and they will get preferred treatment, that's when you realize how wrong it is. Just because there are institutions in our society which discriminate aganist one group, the solution is not to ask other institutes to discriminate against a different group. We need to get rid of discrimination in all parts of our society and not increase it. Edit: anthoner unintended side effect of this is that many of extremely liberal Indian families that had many Black and Hispanic friends are now hanging out less with them. Because they want their kids to be friends with those who will be doing same activities.