i'm going to be a nerd about this post...

[crystaline_iris]

i went to lawrence tech today to see a debate between ward connerly (foreman of prop. 209 in the state of californaia and supporter for the "so-called" michigan civil rights inititive) and frank wu (dean of wayne state university law school

Comments

[meliae]

i'm glad you posted on this because I was wondering how that debate went. It sounds like it was pretty sweet.
i really like what you said at the end of your entry: "yes people, asians are boat people. funny how it seems so, cos i've never been across the sea."

word.

[cooliepurana]

the facilitator's comment about boat people was really the only thing hinting at ignorance, which really surprised me. I'm not familiar with his news anchoring but I was impressed with the way he handled the discussion and the questions he posed, especially considering that he didn't cut any corners in his methodology (really, he was just straightforward and asked questions that were on everyone's minds, it's a bit of a shame that to have the media perform to what should be our expectations is surprising and refreshing). with regards to the boat people comment (was that term ever commonly used as a pejorative one? I had been familiar with the term as an historical one for many vietnamese immigrants and other SE asians as well but i didn't think it was that prevalent as a stereotype or as an insult), i think focusing on it is really missing the point and given what seemed like his familiarity with a lot of the issues he touched on, i felt it was mostly an anecdotal incident (his citation of southeast asians as math teachers wasn't the

[cooliepurana]

hm, i guess it can be construed as derogatory, but i would still argue given the context he provided, it wasn't

[crystaline_iris]

you make a valid point. but i just thought that it was unnecessary for him to keep saying "boat people" repeatively. maybe once to get his point across was enough, but for him to keep saying it just got irritating and made it sound like asians come up here by boat only. and talking about the whole math thing, that's again reaffirming the "model minority" stereotype that asians only accelerate in the math/science areas, which isn't true. but yeah, i guess him saying that in some way got my attention, among other things

[cooliepurana]

i understand where you're coming from, and his citation was problematic, but i felt his specificity and context slightly absolved him (referencing SE asians that immigrated to areas around military bases, where he grew up. most 1st-generation immigrants were professionals to some varying degree, that's why they were able to leave right? dide still did make a terrible choice of words). frank wu handled the situation quite gracefully anyways, in terms of his follow up to the comment as well addressing the model minority myth. I wouldn't think anyone paying attention to the discussion would have left with an entrenched perception of asians in america as model minorities.

[complexmystery]

Yeah, Devin Scillian made some pretty damn ignorant comments. I also suck at math and instead of teaching math, I choose language arts. Imagine that, an Asian being good at something other than math. And the boat people thing was stupid as well.

I was also wondering about the debate and how it went. I really think the proposal is ridiculous and that it's pointless to cut funding to clubs like APASO and CIUS, because I don't feel like it hurts anyone and it's a good way to still be involved in your culture at the same time. People are stupid. Enough said.