Racial profiling of Asians is overlooked

Okamura is a third-year political science student with a minor
in Asian American studies. He is also external vice president of
USAC and chair of the National Asian Pacific American Student
Coalition.

By Evan Okamura

Imagine immigrating to the “Land of the Free and the Home
of the Brave” to escape rough times back at home and to find
“a better life.” Imagine going to school, getting an
education and becoming a citizen of the strongest and most powerful
nation in the world. Further imagine being accepted and respected
after only 13 years and being hired at the nation’s most
prominent research facility. Finally, imagine everything you know
to be true and fair, everything you know to be just and honest to
be corrupted in an instant, and in only one day lose everything
that meant anything to you.

Unfortunately, for Wen Ho Lee, he didn’t have to use his
imagination at all ““ this is exactly what happened to him.
Lee, who was fired from his job in March 1999 at Los Alamos
National Laboratory for allegedly violating lab security procedures
and mishandling classified information, is one of the most recent
and notorious victims of racial profiling within the Asian Pacific
American community ( www.wenholee.org).

Racial profiling is an issue that has continued to plague the
Asian American and Pacific Islander community ever since it arrived
here back in the mid-1800s. Whether we talk about exclusion acts,
ordinances specifically targeting our communities or the illegal
internment of 80,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry during
World War II, the trend toward racism and discrimination has not
ceased.

The theme of the “permanent foreigner” has been
embedded in the upbringing of Asian Pacific Americans, even though
many are American citizens and second generation or more.

Many try to label Asian Pacific Americans as the “model
minority,” citing fictitious data that stipulates that Asian
Pacific Americans have caught up to and even surpassed the median
income level of whites. But, when one reads between the lines it is
interesting to note that when such surveys are collected, often
times only Japanese Americans, Korean Americans and Chinese
Americans are included in this formula.

Poorer members of our community, such as Southeast Asians, are
excluded from this data because if they were included, it would
clearly show that Asian Americans are not superior to, nor even
come close to the median income of the white household.

Due to the model minority myth, many fail to include Asian
Pacific Americans in discussions of racial profiling. Or if so,
they are seen as the least oppressed and most assimilated of all
minorities.

Racial profiling stems out of ignorance and making quick
judgments about new people you encounter. Many times, people will
resort to it out of laziness or just lack of desire to come to
their own decisions about someone different from themselves. So,
they will go on the assumptions they hear from their peers,
parents, the media and society in general.

Misunderstandings lead to sweeping generalizations, which lend
themselves to racism and if taken to the next level, hate crimes
and hate incidences. In the past two weeks there have been a series
of hate crimes at the University of California, Davis where Asian
fraternity members were assaulted with racial slurs, threats and
ultimately attacked by other members in the Greek system.

Racial profiling is an issue too common to Asian Pacific
American students on this campus, whether they realize it or not.
Questions and comments such as the following directly speak to the
misunderstandings and stereotypes others have of the APA community:
“You must be a South Campus major, right?” Or
“Wow, you speak English really well!” And of course, my
all time least favorite, “Where are you from ““ I mean
originally?”

I would like to conclude with a message to my fellow Asian
Pacific American brothers and sisters, who may still subscribe to
the belief that racial profiling affects only African American and
Chicana/o and Latina/o communities, and believe themselves to be
immune to its evils.

The time has come for us as Asian Pacific Americans to stand up
for our own and to ensure that injustices against our people no
longer go unnoticed.

We have for too long been targeted as the enemy aliens. You may
not even be Taiwanese, like Wen Ho Lee, and may not claim him as
your own. But realize that society sees our community as a
homogeneous mix of Asian or Chinese and fail to recognize the
diversity that exists within our community. And further, realize
that if we don’t take a stand now, we are saying that
it’s OK for society to step on our community.

This week, the United States Student Association is holding a
National Week of Action as part of the “Build Education, End
Criminalization” campaign. This campaign is aimed at
increasing federal financial aid programs such as PELL Grants and
Childcare Access Means Parents in Schools (CAMPIS) as well as to
decrease practices of racial profiling and the privatization of
prisons.

I encourage all of you to familiarize yourself with these
issues. It is through knowledge of these injustices that we can
create better access to the university for all students.