"...no man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me,
for I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. John Donne (1572-1631)"
Here are several stories from ordinary Americans:
"I want to relate a story which just occurred. It has further resolved in my wife's mind that as soon as we are done with school, we are to leave the US, at least for the next few years, without returning, to reassess.
In Cambridge MA (A relatively diverse city), as my wife and I were walking to a subway station, a dark skinned african american lady spat in my wife's face. She then proceeded to walk on about 10-15 meters and stopped. At this point, she hurled insults at us about the damn communist Chinese taking away all of the jobs from americans. She then continued to shout in unintelligible comments, as an attempt to fake Chinese and make further light of the system. She was egging my darling on to step forward and punch her (which would no longer be self defence under MA state law, because of how far away she went). I restrained my darling and helped to get her away, back to home, to clean up.
To make the situation worse, I noticed that two african american police were watching the whole thing from across the street and were just waiting to pounce in and not to arrest the lady who committed the battery, but instead to arrest my wife if she were to go back and hit the lady back.
Later, after being at home, I obtained an email from a witness to the incident, an ethnic Chinese, US Citizen, Professor from my university. I did not see him in the crowd, but there was a crowd around. It turns out that he thought we did well, given that unless we want to file a federal racial claims violation, that there was little that would happen. He said he filed a brief of the situation with the university police (who are mostly European american, or Asian american) and that they said it was not in their jurisdiction. And when he tried to file a brief with the city police, they said that everyone knows that the racial tension is not good, so if people want to vent, that the best thing to do is let ie be if it is not too serious.
Naturally, she feels, and I agree, that if she was white and the officers were white, the lady would be arrested; if she was black and the offender was white, and the officers were black, the lady would be arrested.
All we know is that racism is even more alive here in the US, since it seems to be codified into the very law enforcement and society that we have.
As far as my wife sees it, since the US Government does not shut down the obvious prejudice being espoused by the New York Times (which this lady happened to be carrying a copy of) with respect to China, that they are at least partially responsible for these crimes of hate and of ignorance.
What do people think? Is there some group willing to use federal anti-racism law to pursue an action against the police department here and the specific officers in such a case? Is it best to do as we have done so far, just get away, patch up the safety information, and hope that we can move on as quickly as possible, or some other approach in between?"
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"The sad truth of what you describe is that it would be hard to get enforcment of the minor laws that were broken. Freedom of speech is protecting the news media and you would never get attention for a claim against them. Racism under American law is not involved because it was national origin directed (seperate laws). I am not making light of this and that my Love may some day be exposed to this horrifies me. Knowing it has already happened to a friend makes it a much more immediate concern.
I have made a number of posts here relating experiences growing up in America as a minority. Tthe purpose of this is to make my fellow CFLers aware that they have chosen to become a minority. It can be very uncomfortable or worse at times. Today violence against minorities is often from other minorities. If it stays as that the government views it as a release value. A sort of "they do something to me so I will take it out on you". I hear many stories from Hispanic, Black and Jewish friends like this.
Go to China? We have had long talks about the violence in China directed towards Japanese. It would not take much for tempers to rise against America. Welcome to scape goatism (no sheep/goat jokes please), which has always been a part of my life. We are responsible at any downturn of the economy. We are responsible if the U.N. does not favor the U.S., responsible for taking the good jobs, responsible because Joe's daughter couldn't get into law school, human nature plain and simple that will find a punching bag. In the past my people have been it. Now you can blame us for wanting to share the honor smile.gif .
I am much more concerned that in the mixed community you describe a stranger could pick her out as 1)Chinese 2) Mainland Chinese. I hope we wont see more of this as China/U.S. compete more and more for resources. My personal experience during job and energy shortages when I was the scape goat is that we will. I have never been violently attached. I have been called names and had property vandalized.
I can tell you that government cooperation is much better than in the past although recently reversing. The 1964 Civil Rights Bill is one every one of us should celebrate. It made such an important change in the life of minorities. (We were blamed for that by many as controlling the courts and government)
What can we do? Actively support tolerance whenever and wherever we can.
Some schools have started tolerance classes to help avert the type of thing you experienced. Tolerance must be built into every lesson and course in our education system. Through the internet and friends worldwide I push for tolerance by everyone for everyone that anger not be directed simply because of affiliation. I have friends and coworkers who are intolerant but they know my position and I keep them aware of it. I speak up on hearing inappropriate ethnic jokes and comments. For this I have been called a "commie" = someone who does not think that America is the best on earth and says it can improve. I was called this often since high school long before my first trip to China. I simply felt that the non Western countries brought up valid points of criticism that should be considered. I am no longer shunned for this and now find many fellow minded people of all groups.
As bleak as it seems it is getting better and I hope it will in all nations. Violence must be unacceptable whether it is a war, a violent demonstration, a political statement or hitting a fellow human being. Here or in China it is not an acceptable means of expression or forcing change or resisting it.
Let me relate a story about my soon to be son-in-law. He is Jewish and heavily tattooed and shaves his head. He was attending college 4 years ago and at the top of his class for IT. The teachers would have him work with them on projects outside of class and get him jobs. On the way to class one night he saw 4 of his teachers talking together, as he approached. One yelled "skin head" at him then jumped him and knocked him down. No one helped him they all yelled at him. He reported it to the school. Two were fired and 2 given legnthy suspensions. This happened to a man wwho cries hearing about anyone getting hurt.
Violence is unacceptable! Those who believe so must insist on it and promote tolerance. The 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps is being celebrated. China should also commemorate the end of atrocities from the war. Remembering the horror man is capable of towards his fellow man is to say "Never Again"!
Namaste (sanskrit salutation meaning "the divine within me bows to the divine within you in oneness) "
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"On the other hand that is life, to be exposed to the world around us and learn to deal with it. One of my earliest memories as a small child was seeing a sign on a public gate saying "no Jews allowed" and realizing they didn't want me. Another was going home frome school ashamed to let my mother see I had gotten blood on a shirt she had just bought me and there was a tear. I had been beaten up by some older boys on the way to school for having killed Christ. I am not ashamed to say that as a 54 year old typing this brings tears to my eyes. "
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"The story really brings tears to my eyes. Although Rong and I are both only 26 years old, each of us exchanged stories related to us by our parents of people treating them differently. My father, on the Ohio State campus, being accosted for being seen in public with a black lady (who he was not even dating) in the very early 1960's, and her father for the first time he came back to the city he was born in, after being forced to leave during the "time of Mao eg: cultural revolution" to do labor in the countryside for many years, and his being abused.
When I was young people used to try to pound on me for being the devil for not being a Christain. It was very painful, and I always fought back with words (I stopped being violent after tearing out 2 full handfuls of hair from a girl who attacked me for not being Christain in 5th grade and then having both of us suspended for 3 days --- which in my case was later overturned on appeal 2 years later). However, no matter how much I would try, it would seem to help a few people on the sidelines to be stronger, but would always cause a much larger majority to harden their stance against me.
Hence, I am glad that you were able to confront the man, but in a way which did not exacerbate the situation. I certainly hope that your daughter can talk with you about the situation more freely as she gets older and can be show the compassion that you have and that we can all offer. She did nothing wrong, and if possible, ending the cycle of violence at home, can always offer some new hopes to all, as well as her own health."
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