The “whiteface” of Asian claims of discrimination

 

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court—in another “shadow docket” ruling—this time let stand a lower court ruling allowing a “race-neutral” admissions policy to continue at the Thomas Jefferson High School in Virginia. The Fairfax County School Board argued that the Supreme Court has ruled before that promoting diversity in schools is constitutional, just not with direct racial “quotas.” Of course the farthest far-right fringe of the court—Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch—showed themselves eager to ban even race-neutral efforts to promote diversity.

According to Bloomberg, the “selective” school’s admission policy was changed last year “to guarantee slots for 1.5% of the eighth-grade class in each participating middle school. Remaining applicants compete for 100 other seats under a system that gives points for attendance at underrepresented middle schools.” This was  defended as being similar to the University of Texas' "10 percent" admissions policy.

Opposing this policy is the so-called “Coalition for TJ,” another “Asian-American” front group being orchestrated by long-time affirmative action and voting rights opposition leader Edward Blum, whose “Students for Fair Admissions” is behind the “Asian-American” lawsuit that was supported by Donald Trump’s unapologetically racist first Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, against admissions policies at Yale and Harvard, cases that are currently before the Supreme Court. Despite the fact that Asian students are still admitted at a higher rate (54 percent) than any other racial or ethnic group (even whites) at the Thomas Jefferson school, those bringing the case still claim to be “discriminated” against.

I put “Asian-American” in quotes because as Glenn Nelson (who is Japanese-American) wrote in the Pacific Northwest progressive website Crosscut, studies have shown that “the split in Asian American support for affirmative action was generational. In other words, more recent Asian immigrants were least likely to support affirmative action. Asian Americans born in the U.S., with both parents also born here, were three times more likely to support affirmative action. Another study found that, of the five largest Asian American ethnic groups (Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese and Korean), Chinese Americans were the least likely to support affirmative action.”

However, Nelson noted that it was the massive opposition campaign by mostly Chinese immigrants to the Washington State legislature’s passage of a law overturning the 1998 I-200 anti-affirmative action initiative that was most problematic. I-200, pushed by the troublemaking Tim Eyman, had apparently either “fooled” a lot of people in this allegedly “liberal” state with language allegedly claiming it was for “equality”—or merely revealed the level racial hypocrisy. But it was Chinese immigrants who were now the “face” behind I-1000, which would overturn the legislature’s move (it would by a narrow margin).

One proponent of affirmative action, Ben Henry, went to speak at the state capitol in Olympia, and walked into a “buzz saw”—mostly those Chinese immigrants of the so-called Washington Asians for Equality—wearing white T-shirts, which allegedly stood for “equality.” Of course if you actually know anything about this country, the color “white” really “stands for” anything but “equality” in this country. Henry observed that “It makes me sad that the opposition to affirmative action has an Asian face.”

An Asian face in “whiteface.” In 2017, Natasha Warikoo on PBS News Hour noted that far-right activist Blum—who was also behind the fight to gut the heart out of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court—represents a racist fringe element that is using both white women and Asians to mask their own agenda. Warikoo writes “Why the sudden interest in Asian-American rights by conservatives who normally reject any mention of race or ethnicity as ‘identity politics,’ especially when those mentions claim racial discrimination? Asian Americans are the latest vehicle for critiquing affirmative action.”

Warikoo notes that white students are under the assumption that opposing affirmative action for underrepresented minorities means that their place at the “table” won’t change. But under the “logic” of anti-affirmative action proponents, if “merit-based” admissions is the sole criteria and testing based on rote memory is how “merit” is determined, then white students would surely lose out too (the University of Washington's changing "look" from just a decade ago attests to that). But the racist white fringe is telling Asian students that they are the “losers”—when in fact what they really want is for Asians to back their racist agenda by making them believe that it is underrepresented minorities, and not whites who want to maintain dominance. who are their “enemy.”

But. as Warikoo notes, “Asian Americans, as well as white, black, and Latino Americans, need to understand the history of racial exclusion and the production of racial inequality in American society. When we do, it’s hard not to support affirmative action for underrepresented racial minorities.” Nelson also quotes from a study by sociologists Jennifer Lee of Columbia University and Van Tran of the City University of New York: “As nonwhites, Asians have endured immigration restrictions, legal exclusion from U.S. citizenship, anti-Asian hostility, violence, prejudice and even internment. But as non-Blacks, Asians have escaped centuries of slavery, the legal codification of racial inferiority, the cumulative and intergenerational disadvantages that blacks have endured as a result.”

Yet some Asian immigrants can “feel like they are both victims of discrimination and victims of affirmative action who are penalized for their race while Blacks and other (people of color) are rewarded for theirs” according to Lee and Tran. I have said again and again that hypocrisy burns me up more than anything, and in particular in regard to the Asian group making the loudest noise—Chinese and Chinese immigrants—they need to look at themselves square in the mirror and see the darkness of ugly racism in themselves.

Racism and racist acts against African students and businessmen in China goes back decades when they were “invited” into that country, mainly to convince African leaders to provide them access to markets and natural resources. But even efforts to “disperse” their presence in China as not to cause fear and discrimination among the Chinese citizens seldom worked to do that, and mob attacks against Africans was not uncommon over the slightest “provocation.” In 1988, a race riot occurred on a college campus in Nanjing. According to a story by CNN

Later that night, about 1,000 local students surrounded the Africans' dormitory, after rumors swept campus that they were holding a Chinese woman against her will. Chinese students lobbed bricks through their windows. After police broke up the scene on Christmas Day, about 70 African students decided to flee the campus and went on foot to the city train station, hoping to travel to Beijing where they had embassies. Other dark-skinned foreigners, including Americans, also fled, fearing for their safety.

 

During the Covid-18 pandemic, Yaqiu Wang of Human Rights Watch noted that this kind of racism only became worse, despite official denials by the Chinese government, which claims that racial incidents are social media inventions. “For those who think the official line from Beijing is bad, check out the Chinese internet, where the rampant racism against Black people is often too appalling to repeat.” WeChat—which is the social media platform most commonly used by the Chinese—translated the Chinese “neutral” term for black people as the N-word, before outraged readers outside of China forced a change in the “translation.”

Wang writes that “People of African descent living in China are often depicted as overstaying visas, not paying taxes, and encroaching on Chinese culture”—much as Hispanic immigrants are viewed in this country. “African migrants as well as African-Chinese intermarriages are commonly described as spelling doom for the Chinese race.” Stereotypes and racist caricatures are common features of Chinese media and cultural views of Africans, often with “actors” in blackface, fake posteriors and dressed as monkeys. Many excuse this behavior as a “subconscious” admiration for lighter skin, and that “dark skin”—even among Chinese and especially Chinese women—is looked upon as being lower status. Of course in that kind of world, you can’t get any lower than “black.”

But worse happened during the pandemic, when Africans were forced out of their homes and run out onto the streets. Earlier this month in the wake of a surge in virus cases in China, CNN reported that “The African community in Guangzhou is on edge after widespread accounts were shared on social media of people being left homeless this week, as China's warnings against imported coronavirus cases stoke anti-foreigner sentiment. In the southern Chinese city, Africans have been evicted from their homes by landlords and turned away from hotels, despite many claiming to have no recent travel history or known contact with Covid-19 patients.”

Further, “police ordered bars and restaurants not to serve clients who appear to be of African origin. Moreover, local officials launched a round of mandatory tests for Covid-19, followed by mandatory self-quarantine, for anyone with 'African contacts,' regardless of recent travel history or previous quarantine completion.”  “Rows of Africans” were seen sleeping on the streets with their luggage because of being “evicted from their apartments or been turned away from hotels. Other videos showed police harassing Africans on the street.” A volunteer group was also shown being harassed by police when they tried to help the homeless Africans with food and supplies.

 

So yes, we’ve seen this all before in “whiteface,” and these are the kind of people who claim to be the “victim” of discrimination, and only quite willingly bring their own racism and throw it into the pot that is already present here. I for one have little sympathy for their complaints when underrepresented minorities have fought decades and even centuries for a place at the table.