Comparisons of ethnic struggles unfair, demeaning

By Tiffany Jones

The editorial printed last Friday (“Racist clothes justify
Abercrombie boycott,” Viewpoint, April 26) infuriated me. I
was deeply offended by the comparisons that were made of African
American struggles to Asian American struggles; it was as if the
editors were minimizing the African American struggle in this
country.

Although I empathize with the Asian community for the recent
racist decision Abercrombie and Fitch made in their product line,
the article that was written was very disrespectful to the African
American community and the struggles of its people.

African Americans have endured centuries of racism in America
and continue to pay for being “black.” We are
discriminated against and stereotyped in almost every facet of
society. Even in the 21st century we are victims of hate crimes,
racial profiling by the police and other authorities and
stereotypes projected through the media. Rarely is the African
American community viewed or depicted in a positive light. And I
should note, American society did not deem African Americans as
“the model minority.”

The editorial stated that one of the reasons the Asian American
struggle is not recognized is because America focuses on the
“black/white paradigm”. While this paradigm does exist,
this article only perpetuates that. If the article’s
intention was to make all students aware of the ill actions of
A&F and to support its boycott, it should not have compared, or
even singled out, African Americans and our struggle.

The editorial made it seem like it is the African
Americans’ fault that the Asian American struggle is
overlooked. If it were not for African Americans’ involvement
in civil rights and over 400 years of slavery in this so-called
“land of the free,” Asian Americans would not even have
a struggle to fight. It is not the focus of “black/white
paradigms” that detracts from the struggle of Asian
Americans, it is the lack of activism on the part of Asian civil
rights groups. Do not blame African Americans for this. We have had
more than our fair share of being the victims of racism in this
country.

When African Americans were being lynched and hosed down by the
so-called “majority” during the Civil Rights Era, where
were the Asian Americans? Did Asian Americans offer to boycott and
aid African Americans in their struggle during that time? What
about the numerous advertisements that were made depicting African
Americans as pickaninnies, mammies or sambos in the fifties and
sixties? Only just recently, the Aunt Jemima brand changed
it’s packaging from the mammy-like cartoon to a more modern
African American woman. Did Asian Americans boycott the companies
that used these racist ads? What about police brutality and racial
profiling? Are the Asian Americans first in line to fight against
“black and brown” profiling? Or what about the new
video game, “Ethnic Cleansing,” where the game allows
the player to use African Americans, Latino Americans and Jewish
people as target practice? This game is currently being distributed
over the internet by white supremacists, and the Daily Bruin does
not seem to be concerned with that.

If the Daily Bruin editors feel that the Asian American struggle
needs to be equally recognized, African Americans would gladly
switch positions. The African American community would gladly not
have to worry about racial profiling. The African American
community would gladly be viewed as a group consisting of
“many members with a relatively decent socioeconomic
status.” The African American community would gladly not be
the focus of black/white paradigms. Would the Asian American
community want to be the focus of yellow/white paradigms in
America? Probably not. The editorial board should keep
peoples’ struggles in perspective, and avoid comparisons.

And why did it take a racist t-shirt for people to realize where
Abercrombie and Fitch’s sympathies lay? How often does one
see an African American in their advertisements? I can honestly say
that I have not seen one, nor have I seen any Asian Americans in
their ads. If you took a survey of how many African Americans even
know what Abercrombie and Fitch is, you would not come away with a
very high percentage of those who did. A&F ads are racist in
themselves. These ads project that if you are a young and white
American, you will be sexy, happy and healthy. Although I was
equally offended, I was not surprised that they produced those
blatantly racist t-shirts.

As stated before, to gain sympathy from other ethnic groups, one
should not compare struggles between different ethnic groups. In
the very least, it is disrespectful, it minimizes the group’s
struggles, and it takes away from the value of the article. I
believe if the editorial board had not singled out African
Americans, this would have been a better article, in which all
students could sympathize with the plight of Asian Americans and
support the boycott against Abercrombie and Fitch.