I
cannot help but reflect on Monday's distressing discussion about using
Affirmative Action practices during the Selection and Hiring in the workplace,
which had left me feeling suspicious, challenged and offended as an Asian
American.
The book states the importance of understanding that "protected classes" or
groups of "people who have been a target of discrimination in the past"
includes: "African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and women.."
while leaving Asian Americans out of the
categories of
protected minorities. When I questioned why the book consistently
failed to be inclusive when it comes to counting Asian Americans as minorities,
my concern was casually dismissed when a comment was made that Asian Americans
had not been a 'traditional' class of people discriminated against in the
workplace. I was and am still shocked and appalled by this comment!
I
responded by citing one of the most lamenting racial episodes of the past --
the mass incarceration
of Americans of Japanese decent who were detained in concentration camps
without charges, without evidence, without trial, and in violation of every
basic constitutional right! And the years after World War II, when racial
discrimination against Asian Americans has continued to be perpetuated as part
of the "traditional" fact of life with regard to discrimination in housing,
social relations, education, public accommodations, and yep, employment too!
I immediately think of the Asian American immigrant's labor history beginning
with the Chinese who provided cheap labor for the nation's railway system to
feed the American's gold rush frenzy, and their current peril today, as millions
of them in recent waves of first generation Asian Americans are immigrating to
the United States and are
employed in low-paying service jobs or
sweatshops, and more likely to experience unfortunate and deep-seeded ostracism
and hate-bashing that characterize the mainstream American polity system today.
Today,
we can turn on the TV or look at cartoons and see how the media constantly
reinforces negative stereotypes and exploits the Asian American group. All
of this historical background is so indispensable in understanding our ongoing
political and economic struggle with discrimination, having been the target of
several hate crimes and hostility perpetrated by the American majority in the
past and even now in the present. And despite what anybody says to
diminish the issue, one cannot ignore the very visible developments and facts
which still remains --
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS IS A HUGE PROBLEM!
When
doing some research, I found
several cases where Asian
Americans constantly experience discrimination in the workplace, especially
with regard to managerial position, language, and of course, race itself.
Typically, the discrimination seen here is in the form of a backlash against
Asian Americans hard work ethics and business success. I can think of no
better example than of the full force I had to feel when my uncle and aunt's
grocery and merchandise store in Los Angeles, along with other Asian businesses
in California, were targets of the burning and looting occurring during the
Rodney King riots in 1996.
Furthermore, there are several reports in the business world today where
glass or "bamboo ceilings" exist to prevent Asian Americans from aspiring to
higher positions of management, often being accused of several things, including
being too aggressive, having poor communication skills, and suffering from a
megalomania that renders them all-capable of anything since they are the "model
minority". Meanwhile, Asian Americans are pigeon-holed into technology
jobs and are excluded and restricted from several other jobs because they are
not considered as having many non-technical abilities, et al.
To say that Asian Americans have not and are not experiencing the
discrimination in the workplace, is a false statement and greatly saddens and
disappoints me.
First of all, to clarify the understanding of the policy of Affirmative
Action, to my knowledge, our organizations and institutions have a real
responsibility under
the Executive
Order 11246 administered by the Employment Standards Administration of the
DOL. Here, the Affirmative Action purpose and goals are clear -- their
motto: "Creating Economic Opportunity and Security for All Americans."
However, what is lingering in the back recess of our minds is the intention that
Affirmative Action will correct the historic cycle of mistreatment, which is
controversial and left to its ever complex development in the future. In
the meantime, however, we cannot ignore the facts that current federal and state
legislation
applies the term of "protected classes" to the following Americans:
Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, persons of
disabilities, and last, BUT NOT LEAST, Asian Americans and Pacific Americans!
I really hope the author of this book feels a twinge of guilt when he reads
this.
But what really peeves me is the fact that time and time again, Asian
Americans are almost always left out. I saw this
"LET'S-IGNORE-THE-ASIAN-AMERICAN" phenomenon once again in the Spector textbook
and just had to *groan* -- Oh God, here we go again -- wondering if the author
of this book intentionally ignored Asian Americans, because he has some sort of
decade-old construct of group victimization, which is precisely what our efforts
are trying to do away with: that racial bias and bigoted favoritism that hurts
us. Or is he casually brushing aside Asian Americans from the group
because their numbers or data are usually the least mentioned and almost always
conveniently missed since they are not a "traditional" minority? What kind
of twisted logic follows when we buy into the premise that Asian Americans are
somehow not qualified to be considered a minority??
Well if you need data, I am here today to show you them
now and to point out how
sad and devastating it becomes when you let Mr. Spector and other authorities
get away with inconvenient and incomplete data, continuing to subvert the intent
of the law initiated and overwhelmingly approved by the people of this country.
Please, colleagues, do not let the author or other leaders in academia continue
politics which are aimed at promoting racial preferences. Such an old
policy of political correctness will almost always hurt our understanding,
rather than help us.
Today,
we can turn on the TV or look at cartoons and see how the media constantly
reinforces negative stereotypes and exploits the Asian American group. All
of this historical background is so indispensable in understanding our ongoing
political and economic struggle with discrimination, having been the target of
several hate crimes and hostility perpetrated by the American majority in the
past and even now in the present. And despite what anybody says to
diminish the issue, one cannot ignore the very visible developments and facts
which still remains -- 
First of all, to clarify the understanding of the policy of Affirmative
Action, to my knowledge, our organizations and institutions have a real
responsibility under
