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Nobody has yet commented on Arrington's thread of discussion regarding the non-minority status of Asians: And by minorities CNN meant blacks and hispanics, bec
by CWuestefeld 15y ago
Nobody has yet commented on Arrington's thread of discussion regarding the non-minority status of Asians:
And by minorities CNN meant blacks and hispanics, because Asians, who have disproportionate success in Silicon Valley, don’t count.
When people claim that there's a double-standard between whites and minorities, it's generally overlooked that there is in fact a triple-standard. The fact that Asians have become successful despite huge historical disadvantages should make us wonder if the approach we're taking to racism is constructive at all.
And it strikes me that the unspoken attitude that Arrington refers to is, itself, highly racist. Consider this article, "How the Asians became White" [1]
Ultimately, the only way to solve any of our problems, including our racial ones, is to tell the truth. We should celebrate the fact that Asians have succeeded. We should do things to make sure that all people, regardless of their race, have a chance to succeed. But in our fight for this success, we should be scrupulously honest about what's really going on.
[1] http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/asian.htm http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/asian.htm
- shantanubala 15y agoSince the financial barrier for immigrating from Asia is much greater than immigrating from Latin America, a greater portion of the Asian population in the United States will inevitably be skilled or educated. A person who can barely afford food isn't going to think about buying a plane ticket when they can eat a few more meals. On the other hand, a person who can barely afford food may consider walking in the Sonoran Desert because it doesn't require a significant amount of money. There's a lot of selection bias when it comes to the Asian population. Yes, Asians were discriminated against many years ago. However, educated and skilled immigrants skew the averages. Just to clarify, this doesn't say anything positive or negative about Asians, Latin Americans, or anyone for that matter. It just implies that it's easier to travel from Latin America than it is from Asia. Calling Asians a "success story" or using Asians as a "model" for other minorities is at best idealistic and at worst destructive.
- CWuestefeld 15y agoI'm sure there's something to your explanation, but I don't think that you hit the target squarely. It seems to me that in discussions about racism, what we're usually talking about is an "old white guys' club" that, through cronyism, manages to mostly keep out people other than white men. Even if it's true that geography tends to filter out low-quality immigrants from Asia, those high-quality ones would still be discriminated against by the white guys. The fact that this is not happening seems to show that the standard narrative of racism no longer holds water.
- kenjackson 15y agoEven if it's true that geography tends to filter out low-quality immigrants from Asia, those high-quality ones would still be discriminated against by the white guys. They probably are. How many Asians do you know that are CEOs of Fortune 500 tech companies? There's a well documented theme in the American Asian community that if an Asian and White guy are up for a promotion, the White will get it despite the quality of work by the Asian. Asians do fine on the front-line of professional positions, but they're horribly underrepresented in management (versus their numbers in the front-line).