Every so often, I kind of fear for my life...

I don't mind people criticizing a candidate's experience, policies, or overall character, but it's so depressing (and a bit maddening) to see Americans who still have such a narrow-minded and racist view of their fellow citizens here in the United States.  I'm actually almost worried about a second Civil War if Obama is elected in November based on the almost hatred these people have for the guy.  

To be fair, if you had a Republican blogger going to a Democratic rally and pulling a "Michael Moore" kind of interview like this, I'm sure Obama supporters would have some critical things to say about McCain and Palin that may look a bit fanatical.  Still, their rants would probably have something grounded in things that they did or did not do.  It would have nothing to do with what their ethnic background was nor with what their name sounds like.  

This video is downright disgusting.  I'd almost classify it as NSFW because it'll just leave you in a foul mood for the rest of the workday.  Be sure your desk is free of things to throw at your monitor before viewing:

A random YouTube encounter.

This was pretty fricken' hilarious.

That true feelings hidden underneath a veil of sobriety...

Here's an interesting clip from This American Life about the fine line between fun put-downs, blatant insults, and the things some people have to put up with even in this "enlightened" day and age to keep afloat in this country. A little NSFW for language:

I'd like to buy the world a bag of Cheetos, and live in harmony...

Here's a somewhat enlightening article in The Washington Post today as an example of how Asian racial slurs are sometimes overlooked by the general American public.

A cheese steak shop in Philadelphia has been in business for over 50 years and has a loyal clientele base.  But recently this popular eatery has stirred up quite a bit of protest from Asian-American groups. Why? Because of it's name--Chink's Steaks.

The restaurant was opened by Samuel Sherman, who was nicknamed "Chink" as a child because of his supposedly slanted, Asian-looking eyes. "Nobody ever called him Sam," said Groh, who started working at the eatery at age 15 and later bought it after Sherman died. "That was his name from the age of 6."

The problem is that the term "chink" is every bit as racist and hurtful to Asian Americans as "the n-word" is to African Americans -- so much so that some have taken to calling it "the c-word."

"It's definitely a derogatory term," said Ginny Gong, national president of the Organization of Chinese Americans, one of several groups pressing for the restaurant to change its name. ". . . Maybe there is this feeling that Asian Americans will not express some degree of outrage. But we are outraged that there is this comfort level."

For Groh, 45, the name remains part of his restaurant's tradition. When his mother suggested he change it to "Joe's," he said, he told her: "Why would I? This is Chink's."

I'm not quite sure what to think about this. Part of me says the nickname, and hence, the restaurant's name, wasn't really meant to be derogatory, so why get all worked up about it? Yet another side of me wonders if I shouldn't be a bit more sensitive to such terms. I mean, if a guy had some African-American features, I'm sure we wouldn't be calling him and his place "Nigger's" in public. This is yet another example of how the Asian-American is kind of in limbo as far as race is concerned.

Yu and others said that the groups learned from the failed experience, and that they recognize that part of their efforts must be to heighten sensitivity and educate non-Asians about the term and why Asian Americans find it offensive.

They are in some ways battling entrenched stereotypes. Among them is the perception that Asian Americans are, for the most part, affluent, educated and well assimilated, and should therefore have no complaints -- the "model minority."

"We have not done a good job at sensitizing the general population," Yu said. Many Americans, she said, "generally don't associate Asians as a minority facing discrimination."

Grace Kao, director of Asian American studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said part of the problem is the way race is still defined and discussed in the United States. "In this country, race is still largely a black-and-white issue. Asian Americans and Latinos are largely left out of the conversation," she said. "In public dialogue, you can't say certain things about African Americans, but it's still okay to say things about Asian Americans."

I'm not quite sure I agree, though. Perhaps being too sensitive about racial terms isn't such a good idea. Just the whole ___ - American terminology seems to have done nothing more than make people a bit more uncomfortable about talking about race. Do I call you black or African-American? Can I call you Chinese or Chinese-American? Maybe you're Asian-American. Crap. You only look a bit Asian (or is it Asian-American), but actually you're Tiger Woods and you're African-American.  But isn't your mother Asian?  No, she's Thai.  Oh wait.  That's Asian.  But she's an American citizen.  That makes her Asian-American.  Or is that Thai-American?  Wait. What?  It's all so confusing.  Please don't hit me.  Here--have a sack of Cheetos.

In the end, though, I think they should leave Chink's alone if for no other reason then to spark a bit of controversy and continue the discussion about race. And in the meantime, I'm starting up a pub in Asia called "Honkey," not to be confused with it's sister bar called "Crackah."

Why Barack Obama is still a long shot for President...

There are times when I feel like America has made incredible strides in racial equality, and other times when I come crashing back down to reality after hearing about things like this:

As Wander's mom once told me, "If they make fun of you again, and ask you if you know karate, just give them a good karate kick to the nuts!"

My wife came home today and asked me a somewhat perplexing question about the tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday--when is the backlash going to start? Out of all the new information that was disclosed today about who the shooter was--being a loner, seriously depressed and deranged, on the brink of a psychotic break perhaps--what some have focused on was his race.

For an Asian here in the United States, I guess it's only natural to think this way. I hate to admit it, but the thought had crossed my mind, as well. Living in the minority in this country, we can't help but think this way. Life is a constant struggle to measure up to the majority. When we don't, it plays as an example of how we're inferior and perhaps lower-class citizens. And when a minority commits the ultimate act of murder, well, break out the torches and prepare the nooses 'cause it's time for a lynching. When the Japanese invaded at Pearl Harbor, Americans (who happened to be of Japanese descent) were rounded up and placed in internment camps. The acts of a radical group of Middle Eastern terrorists on 9/11 brought a wave of racism that many in this country still struggle with.

Timothy McVeigh kills 168 people in Oklahoma, and the country pointed to his extremist beliefs. At Columbine, it was the proliferation of media violence and suggestive music that was to blame. Charles Whitman and his killing spree from atop the University of Texas tower? Child abuse. Granted, these were acts committed by isolated people not affiliated at all with any larger entity that would pose any continuing threat, but I use them to illustrate the point that we didn't question their racial backgrounds in the aftermath. No one is going to go out and say that Caucasians are dangerous. And I'd hope the American people won't make an issue about Cho Seung-hui's Asian or Korean ethnicity either.

The guy was clearly not psychologically sound based on what little the community knew about him, and perhaps his racial background played a role in pushing him further into an isolated world within himself instead of fully interacting with those around him. I've often felt that sense of isolation at times just from being a minority in this country, and I find myself a bit intrigued by how he fell into this hole of despair. I share some similarities to him, being the first generation of an immigrant family to grow up here in the States and being a bit of a quiet loner (although not quite to his extent). I even noticed that I have the same birthday as him. Yes, it was tough being a kid with immigrant parents who spoke with accents and did things differently than what we saw other "American" families do. It's hard enough to fit in with the peer pressures of childhood and adolescence, and harder still with parents that were trying to fit in themselves. What makes me different? Perhaps I wasn't genetically fated to have the extreme psychiatric issues he may have had. I don't know. What I do know, though, is that I grew up with a close group of friends that never made race an issue. I was raised in perhaps one of the more racist areas of the country, and at times I think it was just by the pure grace of God that I met friends like the Kool-Aid Gang of this blog.

So when my wife asks me if there's going to be a backlash, I really hope that there isn't. There's certainly other minorities in this country dealing with the same issues as this guy who perhaps are sitting on that tipping point between a decent life and a tragic one. If we can learn anything from history or even this horrific event, it's that racism only fuels more disaster.

But I'm not allowed to use the n-word...

Just read a nice essay in the December issue of Esquire. Entitled "The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American Nigger," John Ridley reexamines the roles of Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell to bring a resolution to the Hainan incident early in the presidency of George W. Bush, when an American surveillance plane made an emergency landing in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet. In contrast, riots in Cincinnatti occuring at the same time overshadowed the accomplishments of these two Black Americans who had been dismissed as "Uncle Toms," with much of the African-American community focusing on the fatal shooting of a black teenager by the police.

It's an interesting insight into what may be hindering African-Americans from seeing themselves as victims, and more as an ascendant group with no limit to the accomplishments they can achieve for themselves and the country as a whole. Doesn't hurt that the author, himself, is black.