racism

In western culture, many social animals like to associate drinking to social skill and ability, more particulary in males who measure theier masculinities with one's alcoholic tolerance ie. holding down their drink.

With this in mind, many Asians have long been on the subjected to stereotypes and made fun of when they preduce a flush reaction to their alcoholic drink.

These stereotypes can easily be debunked, as people become more clued in with a fact that the assumption is not a race matter. To imply asians are weak simply because they turn red is nothing more than ignorance and social racism, many of us do not flush.

Here is the story:

New Shanghai-based research reverses the stereotypical Western notion that Chinese people cannot hold their liquor – at least, when it comes to pounding back grain-based alcohols like baijiu.

First Asian American Serial Killer Movie Begins Fundraising Drive on New Crowd-Funding Site USA Projects
Los Angeles, CA. December 1, 2011 – The filmmakers responsible for independent hit, The People I've Slept With, are joining together again to make Chink, the first Asian American serial killer movie. It is the directorial debut of Stanley Yung, the film is written by Koji Steven Sakai and produced by Stanley, Koji, and Quentin Lee. The film stars Jason Tobin (Better Luck Tomorrow and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) and Eugenia Yuan (Memoirs of a Geisha and The Eye 2).
They are hoping to raise at least ten thousand dollars to cover production expenses on USA Projects, created by United States Artists to expand its mission of investing in America’s finest artists. They plan on beginning production in the spring of 2012.

Environment Minister Peter Kent calls neighbourhood “worthy nominee” for world heritage site.

Two of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s top ministers joined other politicians and community members today (October 13) in announcing that Vancouver’s Chinatown will be added to the list of National Historic Sites of Canada.

“There is no better example of the success of Canada’s multiculturalism than Vancouver’s Chinatown,” Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney said at the event, which took place today at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden on Carrall Street. “My parents were from the Lower Mainland, and I remember as a little boy coming down to Chinatown and being awestruck by the colour, the exotic architecture, and the tastes of Chinatown. And all of that as a little boy gave me a sense of the ancient Chinese culture and its role here in its home in Canada, here in Vancouver’s Chinatown.”

The angel Island Immigration Stations was enlisted  on as one of the 11 most endangered historic sites in 1999, As a major port of entry for immigrants from the Pacific Rim and parts of South America, the Angel Island Immigration Station is sometimes called "the Ellis Island of the West Coast." An estimated 250,000 Chinese and 150,000 Japanese, along with thousands of immigrants from other nations, passed through the station from 1910 to 1940.

This hallowed spot, a California state park, fell into ruin.  Its plight was mirrored throughout the 265 units of the state parks system, where chronic under funding resulted in a deferred maintenance debt approaching $500 million for historic sites alone.

Year Listed: 1999
Location: California
Current Status: Saved
Threat: Deterioration, Natural Forces, Neglect

Wikipedia describes the Russian word “pogrom” as a form of “violent riot, a mob attack, either approved or condoned by government or military authorities, directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious, or other”. Education Week reports “The courage of Asian students to describe the harassment and violence they experienced at South Philadelphia High School led members of the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission to act on their behalf, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.”

Maclean's article sparked overdue rebellion against powerful voices claiming racial discrimination is not a problem

Maclean's magazine has struck a match. Now a firestorm of criticism is headed its way. Canada may never be the same.

On Nov. 25, Victoria city council unanimously adopted a motion, submitted by veteran councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe, criticizing Maclean's for their article 'Too Asian' in their widely read special university rankings feature edition (Nov. 2010). The motion, unanimously adopted, described the title of the Maclean's article as "offensive and intolerant" and criticized its contents for "propagating a litany of racial stereotypes."

I agree and Thornton-George and the council deserve credit for speaking out against a media giant. Their action demonstrates how far we have come from the bad old days.

A Recap on the past news about "Too Asian" in Maclean's publication that triggered off public anger over it's racist content targeting Asian Canadians in higher education.

CCNC Statement on Dialogue with Maclean’s
Monday November 22, 2010

The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO) held a media briefing today to report back on the dialogue with Maclean’s magazine on their article entitled “Too Asian”?

Toronto, ON – The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO) held a media briefing today to report back on the dialogue with Maclean’s magazine on their article entitled “Too Asian”?

CCNC and CCNCTO and a number of community organizations met with Maclean’s on November 12th and again on November 17th for hour each time. Maclean’s had offered to publish a letter from CCNC in a future edition. CCNC and CCNCTO, after consulting with various community organizations responded with a 4 point proposal:

From our work at WTC, we have come to see racism and the internalization of racism as the primary assaults on our love for ourselves and each other. I understand love here as our ability to care for ourselves and each other spiritually, emotionally, physically and intellectually and to do it in a way that does not split us off from ourselves - body from mind, spirit from emotion, individual from community and so forth.

Like most progressive anti-racism trainers, we define racism as having to do with power. Separating it from the human flaws we all share such as prejudice and scapegoating, we see racism as a system of oppression based on race that in this country is perpetrated by white people against people of color.

It involves an unequal distribution of systemic power for people with white-skin privilege in four main areas:

1. the power to make and enforce decisions;
2. access to resources, broadly defined;
3. the ability to set and determine standards for what is considered appropriate behavior; and
4. the ability to define reality.

There has been some recent discussion surrounding a racist piece of media that had recently surfaced on the Maclean's website about the increasing number of Asian students in their academic institutions (racist...ahem).

Not only has this article unnecessarily making an issue of race but also implying that Universities and colleges are "too Asian" for their liking, a very racist emitting but also at the same time hideous at a glance.

Although the original article has been edited the original version can be found here "Too Asian" (Thanks to Angry Asian Man's post).

So you might ask should Chinese Canadians be concerned? of course not, because we are not the ones complaining. Obviously all those who are enrolled in higher education is obviously there to study and nothing else.

C.I.V Blog - The following is a letter of complaint we received over the weekend. It reminds us of how racism against the Chinese in North America (especially when at a time so many US politicians are playing the anti-China card in the mid-term election).

I am beginning to think that racism and racial hatred cannot be abolished. I used to think we could. I treat others well, I respect others, and living here in Vancouver, I was confident that here we tend to look past the colour of one’s skin.

Now, I am fighting against racism as I experienced it in Vegas. But fighting racism once you experience it so blatantly is more difficult since your sense of objectivism and your ability to identify what is right and wrong and your ability to move past bad experiences become very very limited.