Week 6: Being While Asian

When i read about Vincent Chin i was disgusted. Vincent Chin was an Asian man who was brutally murdered by two white men. From the statements made in the reading i interpreted the crime committed against Vincent Chin as a hate crime. The statement was ("It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work.") i consider this a hate crime because the two men who killed Chin did so because of a factor that Chin could not change, which was his ethnicity. Some may argue he was killed because he and took someone's job. i disagree he was killed because those who committed the crime believed Chin and others in his ethnicity group are being awarded better job opportunities. i can only assume that this upsets the defendants because they are white males who may feel entitled to certain things. Whatever the motive was for killing Vincent was ethnicity relate, hint the clues "It's because of you little motherfuckers". I state again Vincent was attacked for a factor that can not be change, and because of the defendants unfair and racist ideology a life has been taken. The judge did not give the two defendants any jail time, but instead made them pay a fine and get on probation for 3 years. As a criminal justice student i see an immediate flaw. If the victim where white and the defendants Asian, would the outcome be the same? If the victim was black and the defendants black, would the judge's ruling be the same. That we don't know, but what statistics and other criminal Justice data suggest is no the outcome would not be the same. In fact the data suggest that if the defendants are non-white their outcome would be 25 years to life in prison for the death. The judge made the statement "These weren't the kind of men you send to jail...You don't make the punishment fit the crime; you make the punishment fit the criminal." The first part of the statement "These weren't the kind of men you send to jail" is an unclear statement. Why aren't these the type of men who should be sent to jail? Didn't they take a life on purpose for no life-threatening justification? I think the statement meant white males who have a family to provide for, maybe no real prior violent crimes. However these men took a life and a punishment that fits both the crime and the criminal is needed as a form of justice. I think the judge didn't care about the life that was taken, why i don't know. maybe it was because he seen the defendants as more of productive citizens than the victim.The judge seemed to have some racist or unjust point of view. In the article "Detroit Blues it tells the story of an Asian women who newly moved to Detroit and took a job at Chrysler auto factory. Initially her perception of Detroit and nob was fair, with her said that she very seldom experienced racial slurs from her co-workers or general citizens. However when the auto industry in Detroit declined and the auto industry in Japan started booming with foreign cars things changed. She began to here the same line "its little motherfuckers like you". Detroit residents were angry and felt that the Japanese had taken their jobs. In the article it says anything Japanese or thought to be Japanese became a political target. She mentioned how racial slurs were on television and radio, politicians took unjustified racial jabs at Asians and the atmosphere of Detroit change so much that it felt dangerous to have an Asian face. Asian in Detroit at this time was being blamed for a problem they did not create, nor have control over. i think people of all ethnic races should do a better job at placing the responsibility on those who are responsible. We can not blame Asians for American jobs being shipped over seas. We must get angry at the business making deals with the government to lower taxes on a company if the company labor jobs are shipped over seas.

Week 5: Femininity

Asian women in America are seen as the dragon lady who is dominate may be violent and in her own right powerful and respected. Other stereotypes of Asian women in America shows Asian women as submissive and sexually compliant. A common stereotype the "Lotus Blossom" is a submissive to her white male counter part. In a perplexed way the Lotus Blossom makes a woman more of an Americanized commodity vs. the Asian male because they are considered more useful because they are at their white male counter part disposal. The Lotus Blossom were originally prostitutes.The Geisha stereotype is an Asian "doll". Asian women are dressed in lavish clothing and exaggerated make-up for the pleasure of white men. They are overtly sexualized and compliant to please and entertain men. Hollywood treatment of Asian women have not steered away from these stereotypes, often times playing a white mans girlfriend and the Asian woman can barely speak English. I ran across an article that explains from a female writer's point of view why men like foreign women. There are four reasons she listed, 1. Husband and children come first. i agree with this because many foreign women are housewives, due to their lack of knowledge of working in America. Many American women are focused on being equal with the male spouse and having their own career. According to an Asian female professor  who is fairly young, she told me that teaching was a huge step to her. mostly because in her culture teaching is considered a man's job and a women it taught to be a wife/homemaker.She also spoke on how education for Asian women is valued, and great grades were mandatory. i find it very odd and a contradicting concept that education is valued, but being a wife/homemaker is the duties that are taught. 2. Femininity and Beauty was also listed. Many Asian and other foreign women take the time consistently to make themselves attractive to the husbands. Asian women have always been viewed as "dolls" since geisha's were first brought to the scene. From general observation American women are known to slack off in the appearance department once they have gotten comfortable with their spouse. The other two reasons are not specific to foreign women in my opinion, but applies to a woman who is a homemaker and taught to take care of her spouse. they are being very hospitable to her guest and pampering her spouse above and beyond the normal. These point have validity because many women not only foreign women are taught that their femininity is dependent on how well a woman takes care of men and children.   http://theartofbeingfeminine.blogspot.com/2008/10/why-men-are-so-attracted-to-foreign.html Another interesting point i read was Asian women prefer White men because Asian men are wimpy or nerds. however Asian women find black men over masculine and scary. I cant say that i disagree because i am not an Asian Woman. However in this day and age i have seen a lot of Asian women with black men, these couples varied in age. In general i think Asian women femininity is developed similarly to any woman as mentioned before, which is how well a woman can please a man and care for children. In the early and Mid 1900's women may have been considered more feminine because of the duties they performed vs. today many women are opting not to have families, or choosing to be a working mom and wife.

Week 4: Masculinity

I found both parts of this video was interesting because it is opinions that are coming from Asian boys who will develop their masculine identity based on what society, family, and the  romantic mate desires as the perfect masculine male.

"When Hollywood allows Asian leading men to be macho, it rarely gives them the privilege of being “American.” “Asian Americans tend to be looked at as perpetual aliens,” says author and poet David Mura. “In other words, an Asian-American male can’t be seen as representative of all Americans in the way Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks or even Denzel Washington can.”According to University of Delaware English professor Peter X. Feng, the benefit of safely foreign heroes such as Jet Li or Chow Yun Fat is that “they come to these shores to solve a problem and then they leave. So there is never any question of integrating them into the American body politic.”  I found this statement from the readings to be very true. A modern example of that in movies is Romeo Must Die where jet Li played a bodyguard to his wealthy boss daughter. In the movie the daughter shows Jet Li how to dance and  listen to urban and rap music. however anytime that Jet Li is the hero, it surrounds him protecting the daughter or his boss. After he has completed his duties he is not an important factor or role in the movie.  Today Asian men are better off than they were years ago as they are finding traditional ways and no traditional ways in establishing their masculine role in society through novels, movies, magazines, television, computer programming and gaming systems.  I can say that it is easier in this day and age for Asian males to establish masculinity in their own self-portrayal vs. years ago when Asian males masculinity  was wrapped up in the concept of martial arts, Kung-fu movies and math genius stereotypes.
“traditional” masculinity, and American world, is equated with traditional standard masculinity with White masculinity since White pretty much equals “tradition” in the United States (This is not true, however it is the concept that Americans have adapted. An article that i read Asian American Men and Masculinity: a conversation list several reasons Americans should allow Men of all ethnic groups to find and adapt their own masculinity, because if we don't they adapt one that is forced, or they were influenced by. The article says men are lost without an idea of their masculinity. As mentioned this cause men to adapt ideas of masculinity from else where. In our society today this includes a plethora of violence and sex, which is neither healthy or right. The article speaks on how  more and more men are dropping out of society from the epidemic of school shootings all committed by young men, boys are dropping out of school, and men are failing to be good husbands. Men work best when there’s a structure and they know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing.
Second, there’s nobility in traditional masculinity. You want leaders who are brave, truthful, and good. Men usually don’t get there unless they have role models, and unless society respects these values. Of course you want the same in women–courage, truthfulness, and goodness–but it reflects itself differently in its expression, which is why we see so many books by both men and women that differentiate between the leadership styles.
3) We should change as a society. I won’t say that every individual should change. Most men and society in general would benefit from more knowledge of traditional masculinity. They can suit their definition to meet the times, but people should be familiar with it and practice it. When boys and men are forced to adapt a masculine identity that does not fit who they are as a boy or man, it does not good to that person or society.

I also found 2 videos on youtube that provided an interesting view on how society view Asians and how Asians see themselves being represented in the media.

Week 3: Yellow Face

By openly preferring Caucasian actors over Asian actors in an open casting call, Paramount demonstrated their innate racist assumptions – that a no name White actor was more capable of increasing box office numbers and (perhaps) “acting” than an equivalent Asian actor regardless of the Eastern-based characters in the series. Additionally, by casting Asian actors as secondary or supporting characters, Paramount clearly wished to create an “authentically diverse” universe, one that is distinctly Eastern and non-Western in its roots. 

We as consumers support movies that clearly exploit, manipulate, and misguide us in every sense. This is institutional racism because we as consumers need entertainment of some sort, so we keep supporting. It is just within the last two decades that black actors are winning Oscars, Asians have roles on t.v., that Mexicans get portrayed as more than a gang banger. Even then, the shows minority actors are on, those actors are not true to themselves, or play a stereotypical role of their ethnicity which adds to the racial divide our country already has.The article face painting left me flabbergasted because i did not know directors of movies were so racist. I say racist in the sense they openly prefer white actors over a minority actor, even if it for a minority role. not only did this article surprise me, but i also felt insulted. I felt insulted because directors know with the correct make-up and technology enhancing programs that they can trick their viewers, but they don't care what we prefer, or what we think would produce the best movie. Face painting is not only done to Asian actors and actresses, but also Latino, Native Americans, and black.Yellow face, brown face,and black face are all insults because it says to the people in these ethnic groups that they are unable or incompetent to perform these role properly. However when reading the article"a Certain Slant: A Brief History of Hollywood Yellow face i learned that film producers and directors were not the first to participate in yellow face. in fact it originally started with plays. Regardless of Yellow face start it upsets me that it is still used today in movies such as The Last Air-bender. As a consumer and not producer, i have no control over the casting process. however i do have control on what i spend my money on. i think consumers should demand more. We need to not pay to see movies that use yellow face,  brown face, black face tactics. There are more than enough talented Asians, Latinos, Blacks and other minorities capable of playing a specific role. We also need the help of actors and actresses to worry less about their paycheck and more about equality. Yes it shows talent to act as someone else  while no one knows. i believe it takes more talent to represent your character the best way you can when their are so many temptations. As mentioned before i find the concept disrespectful to the consumers of the product we are buying. I would not want  to purchase a shirt thinking it is an XL to find out it is really a small, or chips that are really rice cakes. We as consumers should not be ok with paying to see a kung fu movie with all Asian actors to find out the actors are white, but its really Asian stunt devils. How unjust, disrespectful and misleading can it get?

http://www.asianweek.com/top-25-yellow-face-performance-20-16/ This link shows the 25 most infamous yellow face film performances. 

Week 2: Yellow : Neither Black nor White

Both of these men are of Asian decent but have decided to adapt black culture as their identity. The one of the left, as many Asian Americans today are adapting black hip hop culture. Many do so in their way of dress, slang, and learning to Americanize themselves more. I can only assume it is because of the unfair oppressed stereotypes in America. It is becoming more common, especially in media that Asian Americans are adopting black ethnicity culture, probably stemming from the racial oppression that Black and Asian culture have experienced.In the documentary we were assigned to watch it says that there were only two races, black and white. Well if Asians are being told that they are not at all white, they may as well feel forced to adopt black culture. Yellow may be a safe zone for them, as well as Asian Americans taking a stand and saying they wont be in the black or white category, but instead make a category of their own, where they feel like they can be themselves. I think that Asian Americans deserve to identify with whomever they want and not be forced in a particular category, but this is what makes the powerful people in our society most comfortable and people go along with it because they don't know any better.The article "Neither Black nor White focuses on the movie "Do The Right Thing" where movie fiction has some truth to real life. The movie exposes some of the racial discrimination that Asian immigrants/Asian American face when they come to America and live in inner cities.The article "Neither Black Nor White gives credit to the film because it exposed it viewers to the real life outcomes in inner cities across the nation regarding race relations. The movie "Do the Right Thing" shows an Asian grocer in the middle of a riot in Los Angelos, in the process of the Asians store being vandalized the grocer yells out that he is black. Now the problem lies in between, because of the Asian economic status from owning a grocery store black people don't see the grocer as black, and because of the economic status white people don't see the grocer as white.This sort of problem leaves Asians confused because truthfully Asians are neither black or white. However the racial discrimination leaves Asians and blacks feeling less than equal to their white counterparts. The racial divides are tricky in many ways. Majority of Asians IQ match their white counterparts, as well as most Asians economic, and social status matches their white counterpart more closely than black, so this may cause Asians to code switch. Depending on the situation, environment, and people Asians are usually put in a predicament where they switch who they more closely relate to black or white.The biggest problem with the whole idea, is that race relations is only narrowed down to black or white, when there is more than black and white people. Our country current race relations approach eliminates acknowledging any other minority besides black. Every minority is not black, there are Latinos, Native American/Indians, Asian, pacific Islander.I understand that blacks have been the largest minority group since the beginning of our country, however i believe that our country needs to do a better job including other ethnic groups in equal treatment. In turn all minorities in the country have been treated unfair, which cause them to ralate to black people because the unfair treatment is similar. At the very least they feel as though black people can understand and respect Asians. Asians as constuctive blacks to me is a sign that progress is not being made, because they are still forced to identify with a group based ethnicity and lack of rights and unfair treatment. 
This bothers me because i it back and think what will it take for all minorities, all women, all gay, all handicapp people have the chance to be treated and respected fairly and solely on their character, and not their outer physical appearance, or preference.

Week 1: Lets Begin

 Hi, my name is Kandyce McGowan. I am a senior graduating in May. I will have a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Sociology. After graduation a have a variety of interest i would like to pursue, but not definite in what i will do right away. My career goals are to help troubled youth, and women.

This is not my first online class. I have taken a online science class, a sociology class, status and power, and also a sociology institutional racism course. I enjoy online teaching as long as it it concise and organized. Problems that i have encountered from online teaching is professors may not give specific instructions to assignments, and if there are online quiz/test with a time limit has also been a problem.

Asian Americans in media and in general life have been subjected to stereotypes similar to other inority races. Often times they are seen as very smart people in academics, but dont offer much to society. This link is to a webpage that explores several sterotypes of Asian Americans in media. It covers sterotypes that deals with Asian women, men and children. Media Representations of Asians.