That "Oriental" girl

We had company the other evening, and we were sitting around watching American Idol when
Ramiele (Ramiel) Malubay was eliminated from the final competition. One of our friends slipped and said, "Too bad the Oriental girl lost out." ARGHH!! ORIENTAL??? Like the rug???

I then remembered this weird exchange with a teacher, an older immigrant woman from a non-Asian country. In class she sued the term "Oriental" but not to refer to a rug or a vase but ME!!!! My APA programming kicking in, I didn't want to embarass her so I emailed her with a detailed note about how Oriental is for objects, and Asian American is for people. She never said anything about it, but later I heard that she still used that term.

It's hard enough for Asian Americans and anyone of color to redefine how we are perceived as a group when people who were born here keep using that irritating and historically condescending term, but then to hear it from "new" immigrants who are also educators??? What gives???

Signed, your rug lady.

Get the Cultural Edge

We've been struggling with posts on this blog because we have another blog that addresses the same issues. So, please come visit us at the Tamale Chica Chronicles for a different view.

"Bobby"

A Real Film for Everyone: My Life Disoriented

I just saw Eric Byler's film short entitled, "My Life Disoriented." Though short, it has to be his best work to date. I was very disappointed that PBS in Chicago rescheduled the air date for 2:30 am, but thankful that I could record it. The film centers on an Asian American family that has to relocate from San Francisco to Bakersfield, where there are far fewer Asian Americans. Byler and his writers address issues head on that Asian Americans across the country face, and issues that all teenagers, whatever their ethnicity, also experience, face and deal with, and hopefully grow from. Concience, conciousness, awareness, coping, sibling rivalry, finding our place in this world...these are but a few emotive areas which are shared via the character's experiences.

It is also with great relief that Byler, along with his generation of Asian American film makers, are bringing to the American public films that are rooted in reality. For most Caucasians, they see themselves reflected back in the entertainment media and have done so since television first aired entertainment, and since they can probably remember seeing a film. For Asian Americans, it is an entirely different and wondorous experience to finally see people who look like us, who speak like us, and who have families just like us, but on television!! Perhaps someday, a major network will also grow up and carry a series the likes of Byler's "My Life Disoriented." For now, we can only hope many, many people of all races and ancestry see this fabulous film short. For those who don't have Asian American friends, this may be their only shot at really 'seeing' who we really are in our complexities, our family situations and our mixed race relatives, who for once are also given a voice.

Asian American Veronica Mars

Well, not really. I just saw a YouTube clip of Eric Byler's "My Life Disoriented" and I liked it. It had many of the good qualities I like from watching Veronica Mars, but unlike the CW series, "My Life Disoriented" appears to explore more of the realities of young adult and teenage growing pains and experiences. It captures those pieces of life that can seem subtle to the partially sighted and larger than life for those who are very aware. For anyone who can identify as a person of color, or someone who just listens to a different drummer, this film is for you. For Asian Americans, this is a short film that is about us in contemporary North America. For more information, catch the program on PBS on December 26th. For those of you in Chicago, "My Life Disoriented" will be among several films shown in Short Stack, which begins at 10:00 PM.For film clips:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=110648654&Mytoken=AACC3892-8538-4F5D-80667E4E8E02957212303585

Tokyo Drift and Roger Ebert

I just saw Justin Lin's Tokyo Drift. When I first started watching the DVD, I stopped it and thought, ugh, I really don't want to watch a film about car racing. I paused and tried to remember why in earth would I have requested this in my Netflix queue. Then I remembered.... Roger Ebert had a good review about it. Roger and I don't always agree on what is a good film, and often have been in diametrically opposing sides of a film's merit. However, one thing I've noticed about Ebert is that he has the depth and social and cultural awareness that goes far beyond most film critics. Ebert has often been able to see a film that involves non-white characters in a way that those of us who are not Caucasian see our lives, from the inside. So with this in mind, I gave it a second chance.

Tokyo Drift turned out to be a good film. I didn't just like it, I loved it. It's not about the car racing, it's about much, much more. There is an almost surrealistic beauty in watching the cars "drift." The storyline about moving from feeling like an outsider to graduating to being an outsider and then transforming into something else was gritty but a good one. I've read disparaging comments by some who don't understand the racing culture, and misread the presence of the groupies as something else. Without them, the film would have seemed contrived.

Perhaps my favorite part of the film has to do with the fact that for once, many Asian Pacific Americans were finally given more of a voice, and face, in major roles that showed some of the complexities that all human beings have. I loved seeing newcomers of all colors in this film. And I thank IMDB, since I knew I had just seen Sung Kang on television recently but couldn't remem ber where (CSI Miami). And most of all, I thank Justin Lin for continuing to be one of the trailblazers in APA entertainment media.

Chief Illiniwek and racism against Native Americans

As an Alumi of the University of Illinois, I have been interested in following the Chief Illiniwek issue. This morning the Chicago Tribune reported that:

Dances by Chief Illiniwek, the University of Illinois' athletic mascot, do not violate the state's civil rights laws, a divided state appeals court ruled Tuesday.The Illinois Native American Bar Association filed suit last year against university officials, alleging that the Chief's performances humiliate Native American students and create a hostile environment that dissuades them from attending games or participating in other school activities.

But a trial judge threw out the lawsuit, and in a 2-1 decision Tuesday the 1st District Appellate Court in Chicago upheld that ruling.Writing for the majority, Judge Warren Wolfson noted that in a 1996 law, the General Assembly declared the Chief to be an "honored symbol of a great university."

How truly disappointing. Until the Chief is retired, I will never donate money to the Alumni Association nor anything associated with the university except ethnic organizations on campus that I have contacts with. To find a mascot mimicing First Nation peoples an "Honored symbol" is a rampant display of either his ignorance of Native American culture or just a complete inabilty to comprehend what it is like to not be a member of the racial majority in this country.

Academic friends and associates have told me that Chief Illinwek's "mascot" is a scholarship position that allows a student to attend the university and receive financial assistance. It would appear that the university is trying to rationalize the racism of one group by congratulating itself by giving financial assistance to another person of color, all in the guise of validating "the Chief's" presence as a mascot.

Awareness of the general population to the experiences and sub-cultures of our nation's non-white majority population goes a long way to promoting respect for each other, both as individuals, groups and ultimately as a nation. When we as a nation can continue to ignore and rationalize that while it is not okay to discriminate based on race, color or creed, we seem to think this applies to African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans. It applies to all people, and that includes our nation's first people, Native Americans.