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TOP 10 REASONS YOU NEED TO CLICK THIS> LINK <AND ORDER THE NEW BAMBU LP RIGHT NOW:
1. Bambu’s (and Kiwi’s) connection to his respective community/ies should be reason enough to support the art, but I’ma give you 9 OTHER reasons as well…
2. Bambu is a walking, living, breathing contradiction to the “model minority” myth
3. On “Quit,” he offers some scholarly advice to MySpace/Facebook/Internet Thugs and Gangsters who “photoshop bullet-holes on their cd covers…”
4. Production by Amp Live, Illmind, Sabzi, Fatgums, I.D., Nick James, etc. slaps, bangs and knocks at the same time.
5. He reps L.A. to the fullest but shows Bay love throughout the entire LP.
6. Bam love the kids. (“Misused”)
7. He loves people of color and is fighting for them on a daily basis.
8. He is against seeing poor/working-class people go to an illegal war in Iraq to die.
9. Hip-Hop saved his life and his love, respect and adoration for it is unquestionable.
10. Machine (native) Gun Flow: ie: “Iron Bam” (sample below)
[I see you, Phatty!]
I realize that we are living in a time when most people have begun to believe that they should never have to pay for music. I won’t lie, Megaupload links see my computer every cotdam day but Bambu is someone who seriously deserves some getback for all his hard work and honest expression. SERIOUSLY MUHF*CKA, BUY THE CD.
Swing,
Senbei
[PON DE REPLAY!]
I’ve always believed that different music speaks to different people in different ways. As a mixed race Asian male, raised working-class but currently middle-class due to the upward mobility my parents higher education afforded them, I am a mix of what feels like a proletariat-murderous rage at racism/oppression and at the same time, liberal guilt from the privilege I am afforded due to my racial, ethnic, gender, class identity. It’s a confusing mess, but at the same time I hate giving people the impression that mixed heritage people are confused so I make attemps at stifling these feelings. It’s a cold game (as most of you know).
This post is dedicated to the musical artists’ albums that save my life on a daily basis when I feel like I’m boutta go off the deep end and kill myself and/or someone else. =P Universal language/magnetic:
Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
I’m not sure what I would’ve done this past year without Cee-Lo Green and Dangermouse. I literally felt as if every song was made with me in mind. I will follow these two no matter what they do in life.
Green Day – American Idiot
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There’s really no better contradiction to the way I view Amerika, than 3 white dudes (from the east bay!) vehemently protesting the last 8 years of the U.S. foreign policy, domestic policy, pseudo-democracy, mysoginy and hypocrisy. Whie I am an emcee and a Hip-Hopper, I credit Billie Joe Armstrong as one of my biggest inspirations as to the way I write songs. To quote Armstrong: “There’s nothing wrong with me. This is how I’m supposed to be, in a land of make-believe that don’t believe in me.”
Outkast – Aquemini
My mind warps and bends floats the wind count to ten
meet the twin Andre Ben. welcome to the lion’s den
original skin many men comprehend
I extend myself so you go out & tell a friend
Sin all depends on what you believing in
Faith is what you make it that’s the hardest shit since MC Ren
Alien can blend right on in wit’ yo’ kin
look again ’cause I swear I spot one every now & then
It’s happenin’ again wish I could tell you when
Andre this is Andre y’all just gon’ have to make amends…-Andre3000
Need I say more?
Coldplay – Parachutes
I don’t care who you are. If you don’t feel all warm inside when Chris Martin sings, you just might wanna seek therapy. This album makes me feel like I’m being reminded that the world is so much f*cking bigger than I can comprehend. Its musicality is so beautiful that I actually begin to believe it when Chris Martin sings: “We live in a beautiful world…”
Nas – Illmatic
I often question if I would feel the same love and adoration for Hip-Hop if it hadn’t been for this record. Never before in my life had I heard such a transcendental amalgamation of gritty street life, spirituality and intellect all at the same time. It’s probably how older Hip-Hoppers felt when they first heard Rakim Allah. Life’s a b*tch, but as long as I represent, it aint hard to tell that there’s one love.
Lupe Fiasco – The Cool
Being raised working-class I notice the myriad ways in which “coolness” is perceived. To me growing up, it was a suit of armor. I donned it everyday in an effort to attract the attention of girls, snap on anyone that had ill words for me, and most importantly used it to avoid being the target of violence and terrorization. While this “armor” no longer “suits” me or serves me in the way it once did, I realize fully that the remnants of its internalization still remain in tact in many ways. Lupe Fiasco’s personification of “The Cool” gave me chills in the way that ‘her’ allure and the promises ’she’ makes look enticing to the point that gambling your future and compromising yourself and your inner integrity, makes sense. What is so dope about Lupe (and I attempt with all my might to do the same thing in my art) is that he is able to use his “cool” to honestly express himself, while many others’ “coolness” keeps them from doing just that. Coolness. What a muhf*cking paradox.
Bob Marley – Legend
I am fully aware that this album was jampacked with his “safer” material in an effort to accrue the capital of liberal white people in the UK and United States, but that doesn’t mean revolutionaries, organizers and activists can’t enjoy it yo! While it is problematic that the undertones of the songs in this compilation suggest Marley was a passive, peaceful pothead, those of us who know songs like “War,” “Slavedriver,” “Crazy Bald Heads,” etc. can rest assure knowing that the love in his heart is not taken for granted on this cd. Sometimes for those of us dedicating our lives, time and energy to combatting the world’s mulltitude oppressive forces, it’s nice to be told by our elders: “Don’t worry about a thing, ’cause every little thing is gonna be alright…”
2pac – Me Against the World
Not unlike myself, Tupac Shakur was a gemini and had many faces, sides and complexes to him. It was during this period in his life that I like to remember 2pac by. He had been recently shot and jailed (for the first time) and was using this record to process the world both giving and taking so much from him at the same time. I remember listening to this record as a teenager and hearing someone so full of hope feel so deflated, someone so full of anger feel so much love, someone so brave sound so vulnerable and someone in so much danger sound so fearless.
With all this extra stressin
The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath
When will I finaly get to rest? Through this oppression
they punish the people that’s askin questions…
The title of this album says it all.
Looking back at the albums that save my soul on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis I feel the question I continue to ask myslef is: When is an Asian Pacific Amerikan gonna make some sh*t that moves me?!?!?! It’s been said many other times, by many other people, many times wiser than me: BE THE CHANGE U WANT TO SEE.
Hey Deejay, keep playin’ that song…
Senbei
[grown 'n sexy]
It happened a ways back, but I am finally getting to this post.
I did it. I married the love of my life and am on my way to being a (fake-lightweight) grown-ass man. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the best day of my life. Surrounded by friends, family, loved ones, allies (and caterers), Emalyn and I made a commitment to each other that contradicted what I believe to be many people’s feelings about this world. There exists a multitude of hopelessness in this life, and when one wittnesses two people pledging to love, respect and support each other for the rest of their existence, these feelings are challenged. I know my hopelessness was challenged this day, and I could tell by the looks on my loved ones’ faces, that theirs were too (they also told me “damn blud, you and Em give me hope for the future again!”). =P
["Look! New Kids on the Block and Danity Kane got a new video, blud!"]
To me, one of the most special things about this day, was that my Bachan (pictured right, below) was in attendance. For those of you who didn’t know, she passed away the very next night right in front of my family and I, all the time reminding us how much she loved us. As her eldest grandson, I felt we had exchanged gifts that weekend. Her hanging on to see Emalyn and I married, and I giving her a reason to hang on that much longer. Emalyn and I moved in with her during the last year of her life when things were the most difficult for her, and while it was very hard to see her fiery soul trapped inside this cage of an old body, I am eternally greatful for the time I had living with her. Even when she was in trememendous pain, she always smiled everytime I came into her room to check on her.
[Stuntin' like my Grannies...]
For those of you who were not in attendance during the ceremony, I thought it’d be a good idea to drop a few things into this post so you feel some of what went on that day. I am including in this post, the wedding vows that Emalyn and I wrote together and read to each other:
I promise to love, honor, respect, support and cherish you for the rest
of my life.
I promise to rub your feet, massage your back and hear you cry when days
are long and difficult.
I promise to continuously support your growth and individuality as we
progress through life together.
My love is not based on material posession but based on respect,
devotion, selflessness and resilience.I continue to offer you the bond of friendship and a lifetime of
unconditional love
I will always stand beside you and encourage you to pursue your hopes
and dreams and to overcome your fears, disappointments, and
frustrations.
I will always remember that the world is not perfect and that we are not
perfect.
I embrace your imperfections and recognize that it is these
imperfections that make us truly human and unique as individuals.As we continue this partnership, I look forward to beginning a family
with you and creating new life in a world that can take the blessings of
this world for granted.
I will always remember that I own this partnership but not this person.
As we unite together in marriage, I recognize that we are not only two
individuals coming together, but the coming together of many cultures,
languages, beliefs, customs, traditions, and histories.
I will always continue to honor, love and respect your family members as
my own, sharing in the joys and burdens of our collective lives.I will remind you to never sweat the small stuff. I will remind you that
it’s all “small stuff.”
I anxiously await the hours, days, weeks, months and years of laughter
together, and the tears of joy that come when we bring Filipino,
Spanish, Japanese, Scottish, German, Native American babies into the
world.
I will hold your hand at Warriors games, share popcorn with you at Will
Ferrell movies, dance with you at parties, and talk with you late into
the night about nothing at all, as we continue to love, support and
welcome friends and family into our lives.I will remember both our insignificance, as well as our vast potential
in this world as we wander through the rest of our lives together. I
love you Colin Masashi Ehara/Emalyn de la rama Lopez.
I’d like to thank OUR PARENTS, our extended families, our entourage (best men, maidens of honor, wittnesses, groomsmen, bridesmaids), Rev. Debbie Lee, the Wake familia (Amanda, Steve and Barbara), DJ Joedobo, Tilden Park in Berkeley and a kazillion other folks who helped to make this day as beautiful as it was.
[multicultural rainbow coalition mafiosos =P]
["the mamas and papas"]
[stueyness that would NOT rival that of the evening time... wow.]
August of 2008 was a great time in Amerikan history to get married. While currently under mad scrutiny, Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transgenedered/Queer brothers and sisters are legally allowed to marry one another at this very moment. Emalyn and I made a point throughout the ceremony to never use the words “man,” “wife,” “husband,” “bride,” etc. and instead inserted the term “parnter/s” into the slots these forementioned words would normally fall. Afer pronounced “Colin and Emalyn, united in marriage,” Rev. Debbie Lee turned to Emalyn and said: “Emalyn, you may now kiss your groom.” Contradiction my people, is so critically necessary.
For those of you who didn’t see it (or were too faded at the after-party to notice), here is our slideshow (THANK YOU MATEO!!!):
pt. 1
pt. 2
AND…
["Where Em&Colin Happens..."]
If you’d like to see more pictures of the wedding AND our HONEYMOON in the Fiji Islands, click HERE.
Thank you so much to our respective communities. Keep fighting for love & contradicting the bullsh*t in your life that just doesn’t make any sense. This is for you Bachan. Rest in Peace.
“Those who are dead, are NOT dead, they’re just LIVING in my head…”
-Chris Martin (Coldplay)
I f*cking LOVE you, Emalyn. Thank you baby.
Senbei
[Senbei in Fiji having a convo with his Bachan]
[J-Smooth's VLOG, ill-doctrine is superfulously fresh ta def]
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LITTLE HATER IN MY HEAD.
Dear Little Hater in my head,
F*ck you blud. I need to make something very clear with you. While I realize I may never be rid of you entirely and that we are inseperably linked because I am a human being and reside in the United States of Amerika, I refuse to engage with you in the same way I always have. Little Hater, you and I have shared too many meetings to recall and these meetings have taken place in a frequency that exhausts both of us.
I guess what I’m trying to communicate to you is that I think we need some time apart. I would be lying if I thought you’d never been of assistance to me in my life. I remember the time I considered skydiving and you kept shouting “you’ll fall out of a f*cking airplane and f*cking die, C!” Now insome respects, you might have saved my life LH. I may have gone up in that plane, leaped into the abyss, my chute might now have opened and BLAOW: Senbei pancake. On the other hand, your hateristic ways MIGHT have kept me from one of the most exhilirating experiences of my life.
When you told me not to make Hip-Hop music, because “no one would listen to a Japanese-whiteboy,” you were wrong. When you told me no woman would love me, for me, you were wrong. When you told me the people I could hang out with were relegated to my race, class, gender and sexual orientation, you were wrong. When you told me this letter was the corniest sh*t you’d ever seen, you MIGHT have been right…but more importantly than feeling smart or cool, is my letting you know our relationship is about to change.
From now on, if I know I want something, I aint even gonna engage in a dialogue with you about it. If something presents itself that will assist me and those I love in our future aspirations for greatness, I’ma make it happen. If you try and stop me, I’ma burp and blow it in your face. The fact is, you’ve abused the power you have over me for far too long and I become fed up. You’ve kept me from my goals for the majority of my life and I think this codependant relationship has run it course.
I realize fully, that I need you in my life in SOME ways. However, the way we’ve interacted with each other in the past will never be the same again. I will look to you in the future at times, to remind me of my supreme insignificance when I grow arrogant and overconfident. At the same time, I will not continue to allow you from reaching my vast potential. In other words, IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU.
I’m sure I’ll see you around sometime Little Hater in my head, but I think it’s important that we not see each other for a good amount of time. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. In the meantime, I’ll be staying with the Little Lover in my head.
[Look Baby, they're playin' our song!]
Later,
Senbei
p.s. F*ck you blud.
[NEVER FORGET that he sat there, not knowing what to do for 15 minutes.]
Today is the 7 year anniversary of a tipping point. Because many in power use the memory of those who died this day for political, economic and monopolistic gains, I sometimes expend much of my energy focusing on how and why this day took place. I am guilty of at certain times forgetting the individuals who literally had their lives taken on this day.
The first song I recorded for the “Literary Ca{n]non” project is about a love story between two people who find each other at last, oly to lose it all the same day. It is dedicated to Chinua Achebe, Saul Williams for his beautiful prose in “, Said the Shotgun to the Head” and for those who left this world so violently that day.
You can listen to this song for free at the Broken Halos’ MySpace page.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Senbei & Dynamic Souls – Things Fall Apart
(Produced by Akiyoshi Ehara)
V1:
The day I died, I woke-up in the morning, stretching, yawning, made my coffee, toast and butter, fighting sleep off, crack of dawnin’ / and I jumped inside my ride, headed for the Brooklyn Bridge, dreaded looking into traffic that I knew I wouldn’t miss. Ya dig? / On the way to my job, Dunkin Donuts? Why stop? I’ll have another cup of coffee at the office, why not? / I might be late as it is, an occupation like this, calls for punctuality as a normality, sh*t! / the world trade center! The world pays members of my staff to have class and wear a suit and tie / I might be scrutinized if I don’t truly fall in line and gamble with my country’s life, today I’ve chosen suicide / I walk into the lobby, hop inside the elevator, and press the number “62” by now I’m well aware / that at the front desk, I’m falling like a Prom Dress, because of our receptionist son, it aint no contest / her name is Emily, and man she’s more than friend to me, she lights a fire, die beside her, lives inside my memories / but this just in, we’re just friends, she’s pledged herself to someone else, my bliss just ends / I walk up to her desk and smile, wave, exchanging pleasantries, talk and “chew the fat” awhile, YAY! Could stay for centuries / the Boss walks by, and we lock eyes, it’s time to find my desk and stress about the NASDAQ highs. No lie.
HOOK:
Let me speak from the heart, and teach about how things fall apart, the brightest light becomes a beacon of dark, and man it’s menacing, the world’ll spin then rumble and shake, ‘cause everything’s impermanent: it crumbles and breaks…
V2:
On my 3rd cup of Java, the caffeine makes me wanna holler, coursing through my veins, today my karma’s for the dollar / cell phone and email, Dow Jones and retail, my cubicle aint beautiful, this shroud blows, I feel ill / as I’m buggin’ out, there’s a tap on my shoulder, it’s Emily, it’s break-time now, she asks me to join her / amazing grace, how sweet the sound, her angel face retreats the ground, with danger pace heart beats and pounds, my anger fades, depletes, I’m found! / I keep it together, grab my coffee, head for her desk, the sweetest of treasures, passing madness: head is a mess / we talk, she sips her cup o’ noodles, I sit there stuck and drooling, smitten, sick, I’m so uncool and feeling like a f**kin loser / but then a glimmer of hope is what she starts to unfold, she tells me that the guy she’s dating dropped her heart and it broke / he’s a cheating, lying, two-timing sunuvab*tch, a ho-ing, scheming, noose-tying, pile of sh*t / “I shoulda chose a guy like you, someone that’s compassionate. I shoulda rolled my eyes at dude, he only wanted ass & t*ts!” / tells me that she’s glad it happened, that she finds it mad attractive that I care enough to listen, sniffling - so I grab a napkin / she wipes the tears from her face, we smite our fear and embrace, I look into her eyes, all fear gets erased / we confess our feelings, I damn near keel over, but then I look up at the clock and our last meal is over…
(HOOK X2)
V3:
Overwhelmed by happiness, I’m sitting back at my desk, I sort of felt spectacular, I’m kicking back without stress / overjoyed like Stevie Wonder, I hear the sound of thunder rumble through our office and causing panic and I stumble / the lights go black and fright attacks, it’s like a trap, I might react by running out, but not without the one that makes my life climax / smoke and fire, evil, crying, co-workers bleeding, dying. It came from up above, but just enough to leave these people blinded / I shout her name in pain, the ceiling pieces start to rain. I’m scared-insane. I search in vain and find my boss’s dead remains / almost vomit from the trauma, keep on moving. I keep on calling for her, holler: “please be lucid.” I hear her calling for me, hollers weak and muted. I fear our karma’s called for horror, reach her: moving! / I help her up, she’s semi-conscious, it’s hard, I’m no Adonis, but I make a solemn promise that I’ll help her leave the office. / Hand in hand, the elevator’s out of the question. Ran and ran, both hella scared without a direction / fire blocked the fire escape, with no desire to wait, I broke a window open, staring at the direst fate: / burn or jump together, either way we’ll meet in heaven, inching toward the ledge, I look straight at the one I keep and treasure. / Our exchange of vows was truly different than most: we jumped the broom and fell until we turned into ghosts. No joke.
(HOOK X2)
Refrain:
And this is how I always will remember from heaven, the day I fell in love was on September 11 / And this is how I always will remember from heaven, the day I fell in love was on September 11…
["Never get used to the unspeakable violence and vulgar disparity of life around you."]
“Dont ever let anyone make you think God chose America as his own divine, messainic driving force, to be a sort of policeman of the whole world…I can hear God saying to America: ‘You are too arrogant, and if you dont change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power and I will place it in the hands of a nation that doesn’t even know my name.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
ColinMasashiEhara
p.s.
[Wake Me Up When September Ends]
p.p.s.
[Mad World]
So I HAD to shout-out my dear sister, Ruby Veridiano-Ching of the uber-dope spoken word collective, iLL-Literacy.
Sister ‘Bing’ is one of the strongest, most outspoken (and always fashionable) Filichina (Chinese/Pinay) womyn you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. Her new book entitled: “Miss Universe” will be available for your purchasing pleasure THIS FALL!
[Bing Punisher]
Click HERE to download an excerpt from her new work entitled, “Only the Happy Things.”
Keep on, keepin’ on young Roobz. When Emalyn and I have a daughter (someday =P), we’ll read her your poetry and prose as a reminder of the stuey/mango/bananas potential that mixed-heritage API sisters possess. YEE.
[www.knowaboutrubyyoudumbbastards.edu]
Church.
Senbei
[Where I'm tryna be in 2 years...]
I just started school last week and it is at the same time, ree-dick-u-less-lee exciting AND flabberghastingly overwhelming. My mind is working in new ways each day and I’m overjoyed at the blessing of this privilege and opportunity. I’m finally in a place where I can fully appreciate school and in no way do I plan on squandering this time in my young life.
I am posting my first essay in SFSU’s Asian American Studies M.A. Program. It is for my AAS 810: Immigration Seminar and asks me:
“How would you respond to Asian American Studies intro class students notion that ‘Things are better now for Asian Americans’?”
Long-Ass *SIGH*… =T
Please bear with me on this. It’s my first time, I’m a lil’ nervous and I’m only getting started. Be gentle. =P
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I have known and experienced for the majority of my life that the way racism affects Amerikans of Asian ancestry, not always, but many times differs when compared to the experiences of Amerikans of Black/African, Indigenous and/or Latino heritage. To even begin examining a question like this, others must be asked. These questions range from: “Who is asking this question,” to “What is their ethnic background and how do they identify (or not identify) in regards to race, class gender and sexual orientation,” and “When they speak of ‘Asians,’ who are they really talking about?” My answer to this question is two fold. I would first wholeheartedly disagree with the undertones of the fore mentioned statement, in that it holds connotations of the non-existence of racism in the everyday lives of Asian Pacific Amerikans. Secondly, my answer would depend entirely on who this person was and how they had come to arrive at their chosen (or un-chosen) identity.
I disagree with the statement “Things are better now for Asians,” because of the mere fact that it dismisses the oppression that still exists explicitly and implicitly in the lives and minds of Asian Pacific Amerikans. While progress has been made in many arenas of the everyday lives of people of color in general, capitalism (in its current state) will continue to work in a way that maintains a fundamental need for oppression. The majority of this oppression is rooted in a systematic ability to categorize people by race, gender, class and/or sexual orientation, and attach an essential code of characteristic traits to these groups. When these “categories,” coupled with their fundamental characteristic traits, are implanted into the minds of young people from a very early age through (mis)education, the media, familial exchange as a tool for survival and safety and/or access to privileges, oppression is self-perpetuating and does not cease to exist until actively addressed with the intent of seeking it out and destroying it.
While a plethora of “rights” and “privileges” have been won for and by Asian heritage Americans (and Asian people living in Amerika) though hard work, resilience and determination, the statement: “Things are better now for Asians,” ignores the psychological damage inflicted during times past, that has been internalized and passed down from parent to child, for generations. When people of Japanese heritage (of which about 50% were Amerikan citizens) were incarcerated in “relocation centers” during WWII, a phrase commonly used by Issei (first generation Japanese Amerikans) was Shikata ga nai. It meant literally: “Nothing can be done,” “It cannot be helped.”
While interned people of Japanese heritage did not all use this phrase and/or act accordingly, this ability to suffer in silence has not been a trait occurring without consequence. I have not had the ability to study statistics, nor would I know how to document these statistics as of yet, but I have witnessed countless occasions in which Japanese-Amerikans have remained silent in shared spaces with people of other ethnic groups because of the internalized feeling that finds safety in silence. Amerikans of Japanese ancestry are not genetically predisposed to being stoic, “quiet people.”
Once upon a time, we spoke out against oppression and attempted to form labor unions and unify with working-class whites, demanding that we be accepted as “Americans.” For it, we received the fist of racial hatred, square upon our upper lip. In the early 1900’s the majority of white, working-class laborers not only resented Japanese competition, but our mere presence in Amerika, and would not accept us in their labor unions. After many attempts at assimilating, Amerikans of Japanese heritage were notified in very obvious ways (violence, verbal abuse, refusal of service, etc.) that their physical characteristics would not allow them to do so under the current power structure. Japanese-Amerikans were forced into their own ethnic enclaves and ethnic solidarity, and then labeled and chastised for being “clannish.” Asian Pacific Amerikans needed be “assaulted” only so many times before we began to reply: “Shikata ga nai.”
Today, the racism I encounter personally as a Japanese-Amerikan, differs vastly in its blatancy than that of yesteryear. While growing up, Anglo-Amerikan children would make fun of my slanted eyes, sing rhymes with words like: “Ching,” “Dong,” “Ping-Pong” to me, and ask me if I “knew Karate,” but I have never (yet) been assaulted physically because of my Asian heritage. I have been called “Jap,” only once in my life (as opposed to the everyday harassment that my great Jichan may have received) and if I want to, I can purchase land anytime I wish. Within the Amerikan social illusion of racial hierarchy, I am far from the “top” and far from the “bottom.” The majority of Amerikans of Asian heritage today find peace and prosperity through silence; be it in subservience to white supremacy or in being sanguine in their behavior as Black and Latino Amerikan men are brutalized by Police and targeted for incarceration and/or destruction.
The racism encountered by Asian Amerikans has in the past and present day, always been about a need to compromise yourself and/or your beliefs in order to get “ahead.” In the past, Asian people could come to Amerika, but couldn’t own land. Today, you can apply for a job, but having an Anglo-Saxon/“Christian” first name will make your chances that much better of being hired. In the past, Japanese Amerikans were seen as “sneaky,” “not to be trusted,” and were “perpetual foreigners.” Today, South Asian, Arab and/or Muslim Amerikans are seen as “sneaky,” “not to be trusted,” and are “perpetual foreigners.” While my Grandparents were harassed by white people on a daily basis growing up, I have grown up in an era and time when Anglo Amerikans are forced to think twice before explicitly perpetuating racism. I have found that today, the job whites once did in explicitly perpetuating oppression is now promoted implicitly, and/or has been “handed-over” to people of color themselves. While white youth were “not allowed” to make fun of people of color to their faces in my high school, Asian kids relentlessly tormented F.O.B.s (“Fresh Off the Boat” Immigrant children), Chicano/Latino students harassed their own brethren for not being able to speak “proper English,” and I cannot erase the vivid memory of Black/African-Amerikan heritage youth, showering their own with the harshest of insults in regards to dark skin, and any or all African features that one possessed.
The general sense of our accomplishments as an “Asian” people in mainstream Amerika is rooted in internalized racism and the myth of us as the “model minority.” In an effort of the time-honored tradition of “divide-and-control,” we have been used to perpetuate ideas that again, attach concrete, fundamental characteristics to other groups of color as “lazy,” “inferior,” “savage,” “unintelligent,” “criminal,” etc. Statistics that display the large numbers in which “we” enroll into the best universities, won’t inform the public that these numbers are overwhelmingly students of Chinese, Japanese and Korean ancestry (usually of lighter skin tone), while disproportionate numbers of children of Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Filipino and Hmong heritage (usually of darker skin tone) languish in poverty and despair. Statistics in widely published magazines will tell Amerika that “Asian-American families have the largest familial income in the U.S.,” but won’t tell you that these households overwhelmingly have two, three or sometimes more, working people residing inside them, in comparison to most Anglo- Amerikan households where one person is primarily responsible for the households income. Amerika will speak of one of “our own” who has made a successful living as a lawyer, but will not tell you how many times, and for how many years that person has been passed over to become a “partner” in the firm – their face pressed against a bullet-proof “glass ceiling.” The role of Asian Amerikans as the “model minority,” is a myth used time and again to perpetuate racism and internalize in “us,” a sense that we are at the same time, superior to other groups “of color,” yet “perpetual foreigners” and inferior to white Amerikans.
I have personally, more compassion and understanding for a younger person who has internalized racism from an “oppressed” standpoint, than I do from an “oppressor” standpoint. What I mean by this, is that I feel more invested in having a drawn-out dialogue with someone who says “Things are better now for Asian Americans,” and is not benefiting from believing it to be true. If this statement is coming from an Asian American (or any person of color), I do not fault them in the same way I would an Anglo-Amerikan. Racism in Amerika sets-up both people of color and white people to play our designated “roles” (in regards to white supremacy); however, the life I have lived and the racism I have witnessed and experienced does not allow me the extreme patience I would need to assist a white person in unlearning the misinformation they might have internalized during their lifetime.
I have no doubt in my mind that there are some fiercely intelligent white allies who realize fully, that race does not exist and is an illusion, but that it also has and does play a behemoth role in the world we live in today. I would most likely respond by directing an Anglo-Amerikan AAS intro class student who stated: “Things are better now for Asian Americans,” to one of these good people. I have found that it is usually easiest to discover you that have been lied to, from someone who has little or no investment in your knowing the truth about something.
I have come to understand that when most Amerkans use the term “Asian,” they mean quite literally “East Asian” (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.). The word “Asian,” encapsulates the clothing, food, art, history, cultures, religions, beliefs and people of about 2/3 of the earth’s population. By lumping such an exorbitant amount of people into one “race,” and having that narrow definition then include only those groups with which European and Amerikan governments had first contact with, or “respected” because of the “other’s” ability to participate in the perpetuation of oppression for their own benefit, renders certain groups of people “invisible” and left out of the equation.
If it is true when Arundhati Roy states: “The American way of life is not sustainable because it does not acknowledge that there is a world beyond America,” then the Anglo-Amerikan way of life is not sustainable, because it does not acknowledge that there is an Amerika outside of Anglo-Amerika. While my own group (Japanese) is usually accounted for in the rigid definition of what most Amerikans perceive “Asian” to be, my acceptance of the way Amerika operates in terms of race today would mean both my compliance to white supremacy, as well as my standing by passively as peoples’ potential value as human beings remains in a multitude of ways, based upon melanin and your place of origin. “Shikata ga nai”: These are two things I simply cannot and will not do.
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ALL my love to those who need it. We just gettin’ started, family.
Paz y Amor – Your brethren in all things yeetadee,
Senbei
