My Asian Privilege

There's been a lot of talk lately about white privilege. However, race privilege is not confined to white people alone. While minorities like to bemoan their lack of white privilege they too have qualities that only white people can dream of. Here is a list of my Asian privileges that makes me superior to white people.

Asians are rarely suspected of being criminals. When I go to L.A. International Airport, I am usually allowed to breeze my car right by the security stand at the entrance to the facility. I have never been asked to drive to the side to open the trunk of the car. Passing through the TSA is also effortless. Though we have to remove our belts and shoes like everybody else, the TSA agents couldn't be more bored when they see an Chinese-American family walk through. East Asians couldn't possibly be terrorists, right?

We Asians are also very unthreatening. When I walk down the sidewalk at night, no woman is clutching her purse tighter to her body. No one is turning around to see if I am following them. The police car cruises by without giving me a second look. At the mall, no security guard or camera is focusing his attention on me as I browse through the shops. In essence I turn into the tall blond white guy with the preppy shirt and chino pants that couldn't possibly be out ready to commit a crime.

When I walk into a room, people instinctively assume that I am smart. While some Asian Americans consider this an offensive stereotype, I personally consider it a compliment. I would rather strangers think I am smart than not.

Yet, Asian Americans are also frequently mistaken for being illiterate in English, even if we have advanced postgraduate degrees from Ivy League universities. While that may not sound like a privilege, one can use that ignorance to his best advantage. When I get phone calls during dinner time trying to sell me something or asking me to vote for a certain candidate for the next election, just for fun I just start talking in Chinese and pretend I don't know what the caller is trying to say. This usually results in an awkward silence on the other end then a quick dial tone. Ha, the joke is on them.

Asian Americans are also privileged to know where the best ethnic restaurants in town are. Through a tight network of Chinese American friends, the best Chinese restaurants are frequently discovered and the information propagated. This informal structure can't even be replicated on rating sites like Yelp. In the meantime, white people think the best Chinese restaurant in town is the local P.F. Chang, or worse, Panda Express.

Most of us Chinese Americans are shorter than the average white American. While this may not sound like a privilege, it does produce certain advantages. In an airplane's ever tighter seating arrangements, I can still sit in my seat without bumping my knees up against the back of the chair in front of me. I can also lower the tray table without having to suck in my gut, not that I have one since Asians are all thin anyway, correct? At the movie theater I don't have to worry about squeezing down the rows of seats or accidentally bumping the one in front of me with my giant boats for feet. I can even comfortably cross my legs without hitting my foot or knee on the person's head in front.

Finally, Asians always look young for their ages. In a country where youth is so highly prized and billions of dollars are spent on drugs and surgery to look younger, my naturally youthful skin tone is a major privilege. Asians are infamous for looking years, sometimes decades, younger than their real ages. Asian women can be deceivingly girlish looking, especially in the eyes of other races.

So there you have my list of some of the privileges Asians enjoy over other races. Why should privilege be the domain of white people alone? Every race has its advantages and disadvantages. If white people want to trumpet theirs, we can certainly publicize ours. We should be proud and proclaim loudly we are the smartest, youngest looking, safest race in America. That's a privilege we should never apologize for.

Is Being Racist The Worst Crime In America?

Poor Donald Sterling. The owner of the LA Clippers was banned for life from being involved in the NBA after being recorded making racist comments to his girlfriend. Now he is trying to sue the league to retain ownership of his team. Unfortunately for him, it appears that no major law firm is willing to attach itself to this controversy.

Has being a racist in America become so toxic that not even a billionaire with nearly endless resources can find legal representation? While being a racist itself is not a crime, apparently having been stigmatized as one is worse than almost any other atrocity. None of the law firms wanted to be tainted with defending a racist as it might upset their African American and corporate clients.

For instance, murderers almost always get some sort of legal assistance in the courts, unless the accused refuses any. OJ Simpson had A-list celebrity lawyers on his side of the court bench for years during his trial. Music producer Phil Specter also didn't have any trouble finding an attorney to defend him in his murder trial. Seems like none of these lawyers were afraid of how these cases might have affected their reputations with white clients or musicians.

Confessed drug use is also not a crime so heinous that people can lose their jobs. Both Presidents Clinton and Obama have confessed to smoking marijuana during their youths yet they were elected to the highest public office in the country. Most infamously, former Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry was convicted of using crack cocaine yet is still working in public office on the Washington City Council.

Child molestation, like racism, is also highly frowned upon in this country. However that didn't prevent one of the most famous child molesters of all time, Roman Polanski, from winning an Academy Award for Best Director in a vote by his directing peers.

What about infidelity? Everybody's doing it so it can't be that bad, can it?

Even 9/11 terrorist suspects can find lawyers to defend them in court.

Being a racist in America is so bad that Shelly Sterling would rather have people think her husband is demented than to consider him a bigot.

So yes, being outed as a racist in this country is probably the worst thing that can befall an individual. Unless it is being called a right wing conservative. Then you don't even get a voice in public at all.

Infidelity Vs. Racism. Lesser Of Two Evils?

The Other Woman

The revelation that L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling made racist remarks to his mistress V. Stiviano has rightfully brought a huge uproar of indignation among basketball players and fans alike. It is almost unfathomable that the owner of a business whose star employees are nearly all African Americans could harbor such hatred of black people.

Yet while all these denunciations are occurring over Mr. Sterling's racist rants, I find it disheartening that his other moral failing isn't even being discussed, much less condemned--his affair with his mistress V. Stiviano. Mr. Sterling has been married to Mrs. Rochelle Sterling for over fifty years. Yet there are multiple pictures of the mistress all over the internet of Mr. Sterling cavorting with his mistress in their court side seats at Clippers games.

Why hasn't anybody ever condemned this immoral behavior before? Has infidelity become so commonplace that nobody wants to be accused of throwing stones at glass houses? You can almost take it for granted that practically all the NBA players have had affairs while on the road and away from their spouses (yes Kobe Bryant I'm looking at you). Probably most of the men in high power positions like NBA team owners also have had indiscretions with their girlfriends too. Is that why nobody has been willing to speak up about Mr. Sterling's blatant acts of shamelessness at every Clippers game for the whole world to see?

Adultery was once an act of unbearable indecency. It is after all one of the Ten Commandments as set by God. History didn't used to treat infidelity with such blithe disregard. Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic book "The Scarlet Letter" demonstrated the ugly consequences of committing an affair in early America. All the way up to the 1980's, having a mistress on the side was so reprehensible that it could bring down the careers of aspiring presidential politicians (I'm talking about you Gary Hart).

But in the last twenty years, with its freewheeling attitudes towards behavior, where anything goes as long as nobody gets hurt, infidelity has become not only accepted, but practically expected of people in certain positions of power. President Clinton probably set the tone when he literally lied to the nation about his affair with Monica Lewinsky and nothing happened to his presidency. He is practically a saint in the Democratic Party now despite all that baggage. Movie stars are in the news regularly for their sexual indiscretions yet the multimillion dollar contracts and fan adorations continue. The America of the 1960's could only dream of being as carefree as the 2010's. This is truly the era where one is allowed to live and let live, without judgement.

Unless of course you are accused of being a racist. Or use the N word (unless you're black). One can't even talk about the inner city without being accused of racism if the speaker is of the wrong color. Racism has truly become the untouchable subject of our society. Drug use? OK with that. Infidelity? Sure. Everybody's doing it. Out of wedlock births? That's the hottest Hollywood trend. But being stuck with the term racist is practically a societal death sentence. One automatically becomes a persona non grata of his former social circle.

So go ahead. Have an affair. Have one hundred. Nowadays nobody will look disparagingly at you anymore for that moral failure. Can it even be labeled a moral failure if nobody considers it immoral? But watch what you say about races other than your own. This will truly put the fear of God into the very fiber of your being.

Learning To Become An American Rebel

The United States was founded by rebels. From the very beginning of its existence, American colonists defied their British rulers and fought victoriously in the American Revolutionary War. Every single one of our country's forefathers who signed the Declaration of Independence could be considered an insurgent. To this day American media celebrate the dissident. From Clark Gable to James Dean to Harrison Ford we Americans love to see lone wolves take on "The Man" and win. We deify Americans who break the mold and step on other people to get to the top, people like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. That's the kind of heroes American love to worship--rule breakers and insubordinates.

However it can be difficult at times for an Asian American to adjust to this highly celebrated American culture of rebelliousness. Like any good kid growing up, but particularly in an Asian American household, I was always taught to obey the rules. I had to listen and follow my parents' instructions without question. Any deviation from the strict laws set by my parents, grandparents, or teachers would be seen as an embarrassment and bring shame to the family. To this day I am still trying to come to terms with my innate need to follow orders against the Western culture's expectations that to succeed one must make his own rules.

For instance, my elementary school daughter recently participated in her school's science fair. We had thought up multiple excellent projects she could conduct to show off her astute knowledge of science. But when we received the application, it said the project had to comply with this year's theme of environmentalism--another typical liberal brain washing subject. There went my ideas for studying things like thermodynamics in the kitchen or making astronomical observations, both of which I'm sure my daughter would have loved.

We searched through multiple science project books and came up with one that was healthy for the environment, easy to conduct, and understandable for elementary level school children. It took a few weeks to perform but we got all our observation data. We printed up multiple pictures and constructed a very pretty poster board for her presentation. We were all so proud of her hard work. On the day of the fair, we waited anxiously at home while the judges looked through all the experiments during school hours.

When we went to the public showing that evening, we were disappointed that our daughter's work was not recognized for its creativity nor appreciated for how much time she put into it. While walking around the gymnasium I started becoming disturbed by how few of the projects actually complied with the theme of environmentalism as spelled out in the rules. There were studies on how many Mentos candies does it take to blow up a soda bottle. Another project opened up multiple bags of Skittles to see the flavor distribution inside each bag. What the heck does that have to do with the environment?

But one of the grand prize winners made it clear that following the rules in America is for losers only. The kid demonstrated how to turn a Wet-Dry Vac into a hovercraft. Granted it was a pretty cool project and certainly drew plenty of attention on the floor of the fair. But first of all, it was more like a shop project than a science fair project. Second, there is no way the child did most of the carpentry and electrical work. And third, it had NOTHING to do with helping the environment. Sure it was loud and flashy and made people smile just watching it in action but this contraption was a detriment to our air and noise pollution, not a savior. In the meanwhile my daughter's quiet little experiment was stuck in a quiet corner of the floor barely drawing any recognition or even a second glance from all the passerby's.

So what should I teach my children after this episode? I comforted my daughter's deflated ego as any good parent would. I told her I thought her experiment was great. Her work was original and her conclusions matched her premises. She has nothing to be ashamed of for not winning any medals. But inside I was still seething with resentment for the typical American attitude of rewarding the showiest and most ostentatious subjects regardless of merit. I still have a lot of learning to do to succeed in this country. I hope my children will understand this need to disobey the rules more easily than me if they hope to get ahead in life in the U.S.

Senator Ted Lieu. Two Time Loser

This is what happens when a politician doesn't possess any core convictions. California State Senator Ted Lieu hails from the South Bay area of Los Angeles. It is generally more conservative than the Westside and has a large Asian demographic. Even though the senator is a Democrat, he has been able to win elections here based on his Asian American background and an impression as a moderate Democrat.

When longtime U.S. Congressman, Democrat Henry Waxman of Hollywood announced he is retiring when his term ends this year, multiple candidates jumped into the fray, hoping to win this coveted and long occupied seat. Mr. Lieu quickly won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party. But now he is in serious hot water with the more liberal members of the group.

What is the sin that he committed to get him in trouble? He initially voted for SCA 5, the California Senate bill that will bring back affirmative action as a factor in public college admissions in the state. Needless to say, there was a huge uproar from the Asian American community over this discriminatory plan. Mr. Lieu and two other Asian American senators were forced to back down and said they would no longer support the bill. He claimed he had never heard any of his Asian constituents complain about the contents of the bill prior to the senate vote.

Now the other shoe has dropped. Since affirmative action will likely help mostly Latino and black students, some of the state senators from those districts with large minority voters have now rescinded their endorsement of Sen. Lieu. A letter to the senator from his Democratic peers read in part, "At this point, we cannot in good conscious endorse a candidate who does not share (our) perspective."

Unfortunately for the senator he has lost two of his Democratic constituencies. He has alienated his Asian American voters with his short sighted and asinine vote for SCA 5. If he had spent one minute talking to the Asian parents who go to the same school as his children, I personally have met him at after school activities, he would have realized that the bill would be a total deal breaker for Asian American parents. What Asian voter is going to vote for him now? His attempt to curry favor with Democratic party bosses by endorsing the bill has now backfired as the powerful Latino and African American party members have turned against him too for turning tail just when they thought they had sure passage of a treasured Democratic principle, affirmative action.

Senator Ted Lieu has shown himself to be nothing more than another mediocre opportunistic politician. He has lost two core Democratic voter blocs because he couldn't decide which side of a controversial issue to take a stand. Ultimately he took both sides and quickly lost voters from all sides. You think white voters will choose him from the myriad of white candidates who are also running? I don't think even the Westside voters are that liberal. He had better hurry up and make nice with his core voters of the South Bay if he hopes to have a chance of winning the upcoming election. Otherwise the sewage that spilled into his house recently may have just been an ominous omen for his political career.

New Poster Child For Affirmative Action

First I want to say right at the start that congratulations should be given to Kwasi Enin, the New York high school student who got accepted to all eight Ivy League schools. He deserves all the accolades he's been receiving for this extraordinary achievement.

However, every Asian American parent I've spoken with had the exact same thought when they first read this news--he got in because he is black. Now before you start saying this is just sour grapes, let me just go down the reasoning for our carping.

Mr. Enin's SAT scores are brought up in every article. He scored a 2,250 out of 2,400, which ranks him in the 99th percentile of all test takers. While that sounds wonderful, it's not out of the ordinary for high achieving students. Two thousand two hundred and fifty is just the bare minimum required for Asian students to get into a competitive school, much less an Ivy. I know Asian kids who scored a perfect 2,400 and still were not accepted by Stanford or tougher Ivies like Harvard. They may have a shot at lesser Ivies such as Brown or competitive University of California schools like Berkeley or UCLA. But 2,250 for Asian students will probably land them in the second tier of UC schools: Irvine, San Diego, or Davis.

Articles point out that Mr. Enin also participates in music and arts programs in school. He sings in an a cappella group and plays three instruments in orchestra. I would suggest that most Asian students, with equally high SAT scores, also play musical instruments. Heck, piano and violin are practically de rigueur for a proper Asian American upbringing. Three instruments in orchestra? I played four. It's not that hard if you play the same family of instruments such as B flat woodwinds or brass instruments. My precocious ability to play multiple parts in an orchestra never got me an invitation to an Ivy.

Sports as the reason Mr. Enin was accepted into multiple Ivies? While he is noted to participate in discus and shot-put, there is no mention that he got in on a sports scholarship. And since the Ivies don't offer any sports scholarships anyway, he didn't get accepted for his athletic abilities. Asian American kids also play actively in school sports, just not the usual football, basketball, baseball that many white and black kids play. We're more likely to excel in tennis or golf, which are not the usual glamor events that schools like to recruit for. If table tennis and badminton were NCAA Division I sports, we would totally rule. But since white people don't play or watch those activities, Asian kids don't benefit from these traditional Eastern pastimes.

Some people say that Mr. Enin probably received outstanding letters of recommendation from his counselors and teachers. That maybe true. But frankly, and not to put too delicate a way of saying this, his classmates probably made it easy for him to stand out. Studies have repeatedly shown that African American students score well below the averages of Asian and white kids. When a few of them inevitably break out of that mold and score above their peers, it is easy for their counselors and educators to sing their praises to the high heavens. They may see only one or two African American kids score that high each year. Meanwhile, in Asian predominant schools, a score of 2,250 with musical abilities will land you right in the middle of a pile of similar and not particularly outstanding students.

So once again, congratulations to Mr. Enin. He has achieved what most Asian American parents can only dream of. But his accomplishment only highlights the feeling that competitive colleges use race as a major factor in deciding who gets admitted. Though they all deny it, it is clear to many of us that affirmative action is alive and well in college admission offices around the country.

Filipino Americans Are Kicking Ass!

This has been an amazing month for Filipino Americans. First Robert Lopez won an Oscar for Best Song for "Let It Go" from the movie "Frozen." He becomes the youngest person in history to win all four major artistic awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. And he did it all in less than ten years, also another record.

Then we hear that a 16 year old FA from New Jersey managed to elude tight (?) security in and around the new World Trade Center and climb all the way to the rooftop spire. Justin Casquejo snuck through a hole in the fence surrounding the building and climbed the scaffolding to the sixth floor. From there he hitched a ride on the elevator, courtesy of a trusting elevator guard, to the 88th floor. Then he climbed the stairs to the 104th floor and walked around a sleeping security guard to get to the roof. Too bad he didn't post any of the pictures he took from up there from his cellphone. At least I didn't find any on the web. It sounds like the hardest part of that journey was sneaking out of his house after midnight to get to lower Manhattan.

Finally, here is the amazing victory by Emil DeLeon on the game show Wheel of Fortune. With only two letters on the board, he correctly guessed the phrase "NEW BABY BUGGY" on his first try, thus winning himself $45,000. That is practically supernatural.

Congratulations to all three FA's this month. You have made all Asian Americans proud of your achievements, even if one of you had to break the law to do so.