When I see these politically correct videos on the “Model Minority”, my mind goes back to 1991, and the news of Latasha Harlins. She had been my first experience observing Black/Asian crime. Growing up in a military family, we saw many Afro-Asian, “blasian” families. This thing, it was unfamiliar.
That Korean lady was probably one of those Koreans who never saw a black person their entire life. Not even when they came into the country, with the help of the army, after the Korean Civil War. Maybe the Korean lady was scared, tired of being terrorized by gangs? Maybe she heard from other store owners about Rodney King, and how he robbed another Korean store owner for two hundred dollars and then beat the owner with a pole?
Eight months later, the news said that the same Korean grocer lady gets probation and five months after, the Rodney King verdict arrived. A perfect storm. The four LAPD police officers (Daryl Gates, Laurence Powell, Wind, Briseno, Koon) accused of excessive force because they beat him in the street after a drunken high speed car chase, were acquitted. Hours later, a live helicopter feed shows Reginald Denny being pulled out of the cab of his cement truck by a group of black men.
I watched, horrified and listened attentively as the helicopter news crew described the blow to Denny’s skull by a cinder block. I silently watched wondering if Denny would die in front of us, as protestors pick pocket him and then took aim and shot him with their guns.
They don’t care about any of us.
For the days that followed, the news media feed cuts over to Korea business’s on Western Ave. They were being looted and burned down. Helicopter news crews sensationalize the activities and claim that dissidents vandalize Korea-town because they were an easy target.
We watched the news reports as the violence between the Black and Korean community swelled.The police and fire department failed to answer any calls for help from the Korean population. Only, a bunch of Korean roof top vigilantes to save the community, as the helicopter news crews pan their cameras to force a nonstop display of this spectacle.
I watched America not care about the Korean people. I learned that a “model minority,” must 1)take care of itself, 2)Koreans have duty to one another, and 3)do not trust the police.
I will forever wonder, “If Rodney King hadn’t robbed the Korean store, would Latasha Harlins still be alive?”
I didn’t have the eyes, or accent and had one very American name. My Korean family name became my invisible middle name. I was happy to be hidden from view. All this, taught me to grow up recognizing hypocrisy. I meandered through life thankful for my unhappy angry “white passing” face.
In 2010, while attending San Diego State University, I took a sociology class and learned that a hierarchy existed within the “Asians” in America, and “racism” is an American cultural value, as is “hard work”. In my Bio-cultural Anthropology class, I learned that homo sapiens are hard wired to be xenophobic and maintain an ethnocentric bias.
The “Model Minority” discourse is divisive and contributed to the LA Riots. It breeds insecurity, fear, and anger, instead of creating intrinsic motivation. It creates other internal conflicts, where Koreans bully other Koreans. It perpetuates Asian Racism within a hierarchy that already exists within the “Asians” of the world. Racism evolving from historic, nationalistic and religious sentiments. Everyone a racist; everyone clinging to their ethnocentric biases. People who say, “ No, I am not racist!” have yet to met the people group/ culture that puts them off. The “Model Minority,” as all other stereotypes, hinders the ability to, not be racist.
“Can we all get along…Can we get along, can we stop making it horrible for the elderly and the kids” Rodney King
Albert Camus wrote, “In a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners,” this means, that the oppressed should not become the oppressor.
Today we are here, stuck in that same place, exceptional at “racism” and “hard work.” Racism is worse than the climate crisis and more elusive than an airborne virus, creating a pandemic. No end in sight. Can we all get along? Can we drop these labels? Asia, America, and Africa are not monoliths. Can we remember respect is never earned through violence. Can we commit to a life dedicated to political and social reform through nonviolence. Can we take the time and attention to understand cultural relativism and be empathetic, not the fast “one size fits all solution. Can we love and respect ourselves and then be better community members for each other. Can we empower people, build community connections and live a life endeavoring to create cross cultural opportunities for conversations. I don’t expect racism to be wiped out in a century, but in an atmosphere of respect, people can find peaceful, creative solutions.
