Hard work key to American identity ‘success’
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 6, 1995 9:00 p.m.
Hard work key to American identity ‘success’
By Yuchi Sung
Having just recovered from the town hall meeting (in which no
real discussions transpired, I might add), all I’ve been able to
think about is how my ancestors have been discriminated against.
All those statutes forbidding Chinese immigrants to enter this
country, to testify against a Caucasian and so forth.
After listening to people at the town hall meeting, what I have
been tempted to believe is that I am not at fault for any of my
failures. It’s not because my high school GPA wasn’t high enough to
get me into Berkeley, or it’s not because I haven’t studied hard
enough to maintain a 4.0 in all my college courses; all these
things occur to me because of the American system.
The system doesn’t work for minorities like me. Heck, why do I
bother trying then? Why don’t I just call it quits since my future
is out of my hands?
It’s because I know these statements are just meager attempts by
addle-brained liberals to brainwash and recruit me for the
socialist revolution they hope to incite.
Several of the panelists in the beginning of the town hall
meeting focused on the history of white discrimination towards
their ancestors. Miya Iwataki dwelled on the Japanese
"concentration" camps and the lack of reparations by the U.S.
government. Dr. Richard Yarborough made the point that the
credentials of black professors have been challenged for centuries
before affirmative action programs even started (a statement I
hesitate to accept, considering the U.S. is barely over two
centuries old).
From this, they attempted to establish a cause and effect
relationship between those historical events and the plight of
minorities today. Statements manipulated in this fashion are very
dangerous; in fact, in my opinion, they are evil.
Foremost, the subjects the panelists tended to dwell on inspire
hate between different ethnicities and classes. During the town
hall meeting, a Japanese American student was very aggressive while
speaking of Japanese discrimination toward his ancestors during
World War II. I cannot help but think that this individual somehow
subconsciously (or consciously) hates the white race.
An African-American student blurted out 400 years of oppression
as a reason for the plight of African Americans. Surely everyone
acknowledges these historical events are too important to gloss
over. However, when community leaders inspire such sentiments
within the youth, they are just feeding them with the necessary
ingredients to foment ethnic conflict and class warfare. This is
where America is headed if these finger-pointing, whining
individuals continue to preach hate and injustice.
I would also like to add that it is not clear that those
discriminatory practices play a significant factor in the struggles
of today’s Arab Americans, Australian Americans and, of course,
African and Latino Americans.
Liberals have this tendency to point at statistics or events and
concoct superficial explanations for those numbers. For instance,
some argue that the SAT discriminates against the poor. However, as
Thomas Sowell so poignantly points out, Asian Americans coming from
households with incomes under $6,000 score higher on the SAT than
African and Latino Americans and American Indians from families
with incomes over $50,000. This figure is not intended to conclude
anything, rather, its purpose is to show that cause and effect
relationships cannot be established merely by citing
statistics.
Additionally, when community leaders such as those on the panel
whine about historical injustices, they deflate the self-esteem of
youths who need the most assistance. By blaming the plight of
minorities on history, the youths who struggle to succeed are given
an incentive to quit. Since the system doesn’t work for minorities,
why bother? In other words, these panelists/community leaders are
just giving excuses to quit and turn to a life of crime. This is an
evil consequence lurking behind the agendas of individuals such as
five of the speakers on the panel Wednesday night.
There is a quote by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas I like
to cite. It was from a Nov. 1987 interview by Bill Kauffman for
Reason magazine during the Reagan administration:
"You’ve got to have some standards of morality, some strong
positive statements about expectations  and those
organizations could do that. Instead, they spend their time telling
minority kids that it is hopeless out here. Why is it hopeless?
Because Ronald Reagan is making it hopeless. When Ronald Reagan is
gone, why are you going to tell them that it’s hopeless? Because
the government isn’t spending enough money. It will always be
hopeless if that’s the reason. You don’t have any control over
that. What you do have control over is yourself."
This is what the adults who have tremendous influence on today’s
youth must emphasize. Instead of providing justification for
failures, individuals such as the panelists should focus on
individualism, hard work and resilience. Nearly all Americans
recognize that these qualities are critical to success. Henceforth,
I argue that these characteristics are an integral part of the
American identity and that these are the subjects which should have
been the focus at the town hall meeting instead of discrimination,
conspiracies and so forth.
Sung is a second-year political science/economics student.
