Much was made out of the fact that African Americans and Latinos are less likely to participate in 401(ks), contribute less and are more likely to make hardship withdrawals or loans against the savings.

But what about all those other folks who aren’t black or white or latino?

Well, it turns out that one of those mine-orr-itt-eees is doing okay.  Guess which one?     (.pdf report here) Why, Asians are putting a larger percentage of their earnings into their retirement plans.  They are less likely than any other group to make hardship withdrawals or loans.  And yet, most articles completely ignore this fact, focusing instead on blacks and latinos who compare so poorly to white folks.

(Interestingly, although Asians put a larger percentage of their earnings away, they have lower average savings than white folks.  This probably reflects less tenure, less stability in employment and lower salaries.  Asian Americans typically need higher education levels to achieve the same income levels as whites.)

Take a look at the numerous articles written about this study on the web, and you’ll see that they are written from the perspective of “blacks and latinos don’t keep up with whites.”  I haven’t found one yet that comes from the perspective of “Asians in the lead, everybody else including white folks can’t keep up.”

It’s possible that prejudice harms children’s mental health, but it is also possible that troubled kids prompt more discriminatory remarks from peers or that children with emotional problems perceive more bias, says study leader Mark Schuster, a Harvard pediatrician and pediatrics chief at Children’s Hospital Boston.

It’s possible? Glad to see the possibility is being acknowledged. But of course, it just might be the kids’ fault for attracting more racism! Or maybe it’s just a matter of perception!

And maybe I don’t speak racismese all that fluently, because I read this paragraph three times and am still not sure what it’s trying to say:

The study asked students whether they “ever” experienced racism, and that raises a question, says Rebecca Bigler, a University of Texas psychologist. In other research, children who report racism consistently say it rarely happens, she says. “We don’t know if it was a rare occurrence with these kids. Maybe it only has to happen once to be devastating if you’re young.”

Since these “experts” are being paraphrased, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until I read the actual article.  But it doesn’t look good..

Another article quotes the lead author:

“It was surprising to see positive associations between perceived racial and ethnic discrimination in the children and symptoms of all four examined mental health conditions,” said lead author Dr. Tumani R. Coker, clinical instructor of pediatrics at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and an associate natural scientist at RAND.

“Parents, clinicians and teachers should be aware that children may experience racial and ethnic discrimination in and out of school and that there may be detrimental effects on their mental health.”

Wait, the author was surprised that racism might be associated with depression or other mental health conditions?  And what’s up with saying that children may experience racism in and out of school and that there may be detrimental effects on their health?  Oh yeah, I forgot that white kids were included in this study.

The senior author is quoted as well:

“It is concerning that children this young are already reporting that they have faced racial or ethnic discrimination,” said senior author Dr. Mark A. Schuster, William Berenberg Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School.

“We need to examine what they are experiencing and how to address this issue.”

Geez, I find it concerning that a professor of pediatrics is surprised that children in fifth grade report that they’ve faced racism.  Because I would hope that people are aware that it happens much, much sooner than fifth grade.  Here I think the problem has to do with children not being able to articulate what racism is, with the possible exception of the most blatant sorts of examples.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  We aren’t going to get any work done here until people stop asking the question “Is racism harmful?” and start asking “What are we doing to eradicate racism?”

It wasn’t the first time, either.  But despite what people of white might think about people of color, people of color actually give people of white the benefit of the doubt many more times than they deserve.

But I have to agree with the statement he issued regarding his plan to collect voluntary data on race:

He said the lack of data on ethnic minorities was hampering the ability to measure inequality and deal with it.

Having lived in the country for over a decade and a half, I can assure you that racism is rampant. I also therefore agree with the race campaigners in the article who say that the society is “plagued by discrimination”. This is a country that only got its first primetime newscast journalist of colour this decade.

However, I really do not believe that any light can be shed on the extent of this discrimination until reasonably reliable statistics are produced. Unfortunately, many, many groups do not agree with me, including the ground-breaking SOS Racisme.

Recent news articles, like the one in the Guardian linked above, cite France’s “shame at its collaboration with the Nazis”. I absolutely believe this to be true. The French were no more anti-Semitic than the rest of Europe at that time, but the Vichy government actively collaborated with the German occupants, controlling its own population through a well-organised militia (La Milice) that modelled itself on the Gestapo. (This is not something that is widely known, and I first discovered it in Louis Malle’s 1987 film, Au Revoir Les Enfants.)

French society has never got over it. Never even dealt with it properly. After the war, it was easier to tar and feather (literally) a few poor girls who’d slept with German soldiers for whatever reasons, than to actively pursue those in charge. In the 1990s, the trials of Paul Touvier (regional head of the Lyon Milice) and later, Maurice Papon (in charge of “Jewish Affairs” in the Bordeaux area’s regional administration) caused a stir. People, especially Gen Xers and younger, were obliged to face the country’s dark past. And very uncomfortable they were with it too.

It is much easier to pretend that this is the country of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité than to face up to Difference, Privilege and Discrimination. (Maybe I should suggest that as a new motto for France.) By avoiding the collection of data, we can safely shove it all under the rug and not worry about it.

In this current debate, it has also been said that “nobody should ever have to wear the yellow star again”, but the person who said that, (strangely, a politician of colour), forgets that those of us who are not white or who have “foreign-sounding” names wear that badge every single day. And like many Jewish people during that time, we are not or no longer ashamed of it. What we require is that it not be a reason to discriminate against us.

Opponents of the proposed measure say that statistics will not help in the fight against discrimination. And they may be right – per se. But one of the things I believe is important in the collection of statistics is to alert the general white population to the fact that we are not just talking about a handful of troublesome furriners here. We are talking about significant portions of the population, born and bred in this country, and contributing to its economy. To fight against discrimination, we need to be seen.

(On a final note, I abhor the way the Times and the BBC have referred to the measure as an “ethnic census”, effectively bringing back memories of the counting of Jews prior to rounding them up and deporting them to concentration camps. What is journalism coming to?)

But we lied.

In 1946, the Rescission Act was passed. Just like it sounds. We took those benefits away. Sorry for your service. Too bad.

An estimated 15,000-18,000 Filipino veterans are still alive.  Given their advanced age, undoubtedly hundreds are passing away each year.

But hopefully some will receive a lump-sum payment under a provision of the stimulus bill.

The fight for the Filipino veterans’ benefits has been going on for decades.  But acceptance of this lump sum payment stipulates that the veteran cannot make any further claims.  That is, no benefits.   No pension.  No healthcare.  Too bad.

I previously read that the money had already been appropriated.  It isn’t coming out of the bajillion dollars allotted for the stimulus package.  But there’s still a lot of opposition:

“I hope Americans will stop to ponder the distorted values of those who crafted this bill,” said Republican Representative Steve Buyer of Indiana in an interview with The New York Times.

I hope Americans will stop to ponder their values. It is time to right old wrongs. Even if we’re just putting a band-aid on a gaping wound.

From there it went to the listserves, which were abuzz with comments about how this gesture feeds into systemic racism and about how it should not be tolerated any more.

From there people called for a boycott of Disney, which paid Cyrus a whopping $20+ million last year.

It caught on.  Soon it wasn’t just the Organization of Chinese Americans and the Japanese American Citizen League issuing press statements.  Soon the Families with Children from Vietnam, Families with Children from Asia, Families with Children of Color and Families with Children from China joined in.  They used their contacts to get the word out.  Cyrus’ actions are racist.

They posted the statements on their web pages.  They sent e-mails to their members urging them to take action.  They read Asian American blogs and offered support where others offered hate.  They patiently explained to less-racially-educated members why the “slant-eye” gesture is “real racism.”  And the people who read Mike2Cents’ blog forwarded the addresses for Cyrus’ executive producers and Disney.  They wrote letters.

Michael Poryes (Executive Producer/Creator Hannah Montana)
c/o Debbee Klein
Paradigm
360 N. Crescent Dr.,  North Bldg.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Steven Peterman (Executive Producer/Creator Hannah Montana)
c/o It’s A Laugh Productions
201 N Occidental Blvd Bldg 6
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Rich Ross
President, Disney Channel Worldwide
3800 W Alameda Ave #2026
Burbank, CA 91505

Yeah, it would be nice.  But it’s not going to happen.

But I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But now he doesn’t see me any more.  I’m there.  I’m just invisible.

Reason 16:  Assuming your experiences encompass all experience everywhere.  Because you were raised white with privilege, you assume that how you lived was natural, normative, regular and right.  And you were regularly validated and supported in your viewpoints.  You surround yourself with people just like yourself, and you assume that’s the world in its entirety.

I think this is a dangerous assumption for any parent, but especially for an adoptive parent.  For a white adoptive parent to a child of color, this sort of worldview is abusive to your child and ignorant of his or her lived reality.

If you were raised by your first parents, you do not know what it is like for a person who was adopted into another family.  If you are white, you do not know what it is like to be a person of color.  (Also, I do not want to hear any of you dismissively say, “I get it!  I get it!  I’m one of those who gets it!”  Because if you have to say it, the opposite is true.)

So for white adoptive parents who believe that Miley Cyrus’ actions are no big deal because “everybody” has made the “slant-eye” gesture at some time:

NO.  We have not.

It is not “normal” to make a racist gesture at other people.  And “everybody” does not do this.  But what does that say about the “everybody” you’ve been hanging out with?

And this is not just a “goofy kid thing.”  I’m tired of hearing this rationalization.  It is racism.  Children need to be taught that racism is wrong.  We (hopefully) don’t allow our children to hit other children.  Racism similarly should not be tolerated.

Additionally, this is not “innocuous.”  It is not “in good fun.”  Because for this gesture to be considered fun, you have to be accepting of the racism that it perpetuates.  It’s probably helpful to be the perpetrator rather than the victim.  Because while I know some people find “fun” in hurting others, it isn’t “fun” for those who are hurt.

I am really tired of making this same statement over and over again, but I think it is necessary:

Your life experience is not the totality of all life experience.  Your opinion is not everybody else’s opinion.

So you don’t think the racism du jour is of any consequence.  You don’t think it is real racism. You believe that it is just political correctness gone crazy.

Remember this when your child comes home crying.  Remember this when somebody ching-chongs your kid and then beats the crap out of them just for fun.  Remember this when an adult male tells your little Asian daughter that he’d like to fuck her and love her long time.

And remember to tell your child that he or she shouldn’t play the victim and should not give bullies the power over them and to just let it roll off his or her back.

Because racism was never a big deal to you and you never bothered to speak out against it.

And one day you wake up and your children no longer speak to you.  Because they are hypersensitive and have chips on their shoulders and are just angry ungrateful adoptees.

So even though race never mattered to you and you were colorblind, all of a sudden you’ve become the enemy.  You’re whitey.  You’re the man.  And it’s because your children have become reverse racists.  They see racism in everything.

But it can’t be in you, can it?  You tell your white friends, and they nod along.

Funny, but although the sexism did not go unnoticed by me, the racism jumped out in the opening scene of the first episode. So I wonder, how come my white friends didn’t mention that?

Could it be that they just didn’t notice it?

Everything about this show is subtle but can also come as a slap in the face: from the ad men labelling their secretaries ‘girls’, to the adult slapping a child for knocking something over (and the parent of the child making his son apologise to the adult and telling him to get his mother to clean up the mess), via the white account executive ignoring the black elevator attendant, the chief secretary warning the new secretary not to be overwhelmed by the advanced technology of the electric typewriter, and the agency head searching the company for a person of Jewish faith to make the Jewish client feel ‘at home’.

In many ways, one could sit back complacently and think, “Goodness! Hasn’t the world changed!”, especially with all the smoking and drinking going on in practically every scene. But I look at it and see how much hasn’t changed.

And I wonder, if the blatant racism of the time is just not obvious to my friends, and presumably others, how aware are they of today’s racism?

“Given that the vast majority of American and European families adopting from Ethiopia are Caucasian or other non-black, the adoptive families and their Ethiopian child are easily distinguished and are often a point of curiosity among Ethiopian citizens. Understandably, due to misconceptions about adoption some Ethiopian citizens even look upon American and European adoptive families with suspicion. Cultural differences in parenting and child behavior are contributing to this suspicion.”  

Frankly, the Joint Council’s policy statement itself is culturally insensitive, painting Ethiopian citizens as ignorant, superstitious and potentially hostile natives who don’t understand adoption. When Ethiopians see white people taking away Ethiopian children by the thousands, they understand quite well the loss that international adoption means for them, their children and their country, and they understand only too well that the “help” they get from white people is taking away their children, the rest of the country’s citizens be damned. 
 
The Joint Council never explains what they mean by cultural insensitivities, but they sure sound scared at the possibility for business drying up: 

“Without exaggeration, this [cultural insensitivity] may lead to the elimination of intercountry adoption as an option for ensuring that every Ethiopian child has a safe, permanent and loving family.”  

If the sheer magnitude of international, transracial adoptions from Ethiopia looks so bad, wouldn’t the most culturally sensitive response be to find ways to keep children in country with their Ethiopian families, instead of counseling adoptive parents to slip Ethiopian children out of the country as quietly as possible so that Ethiopians don’t notice? 
 
When has secrecy in adoption ever been a good strategy?

” … I can’t trust Obama … I have read about him and he’s not a … a not … he’s a … he’s an Arab.”

McCain responded with the following:

“No ma’am, no ma’am.  He’s a decent family man, a citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.  And that’s what this campaign is all about.”

This response seems quite telling in that it implies what an “Arab” is not–a “decent family man” and a “citizen.”

Researchers have now shown what those of us who are brown have known all along.  People of color are seen to be the “other,” and the “other” is scary.  They’re not “one of us,” as Sarah Palin reminds her supporters.

Since the campaign began, it seems like anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiment has flourished.  It is fed by fear-mongers and reinforced by responses like McCain’s.

And what the heck has that woman been reading, anyway?  The Muslim/Arab thing seems to have gained quite a bit of currency, since I’ve talked to any of a number of normal-seeming persons who have expressed similar sentiments.  The dental hygienist, who often talks about current events while she has me as a captive audience, told me that Obama was from a “Muslim country.”  When I pointed out he was born in Hawaii, she said that his parents were from a Muslim country.  “Because Kenya is Muslim.”

Actually, it’s not.  But don’t let facts get in the way.

McCain taps into racism in other ways as well:

“We’re going to spend a lot of time and after I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we’re going to be going out 24/7,” McCain said.

This is undoubtedly part of what McCain refers to as his straight talk (other examples here).  But it’s part of what I find unsettling and unpresidential about McCain.  He appears to be appealing to people’s base instincts.  And he appears to believe that people want to see him whip Obama’s ass.

Not “kick his ass,” mind you.  But whip it. Spoken by a white man in a position of power, I can’t help but seeing that as tapping into white people’s desire to see a black man beaten and broken.  Because these sorts of images are burned into our national unconscious.

Our national unconscious is also rife with stereotype. But the problem with stereotypes is their common usage to fill in spaces where people have gaping holes in their knowledge.  Stereotypes are comforting, and they fit in with their world view.

So we may not know much about Obama, and what we don’t know is filled in with our fears and mistaken notions of the “other.”  On the other hand, we know little about Sarah Palin, and what we don’t know is filled up with apple pie and Americaness and hockey moms and Joe Six Pack.  A regular sort, not like one of them.

(And as an aside, I’d suggest that “hockey moms” are not the average American.  When I was growing up, ice sports were restricted to people with serious money.  I knew I was a fish out of water when I went to college and one of my classmates was a champion figure skater.)

This is one of the ways in which privilege works.

But what McCain and Palin are forgetting is that “us” (or maybe the U.S.) is not as simple as it used to be.  The “us” that they’re selling (them against us) excludes huge groups of people.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with people of color.  As I was waiting among a group of predominently women of color, who ranged in age from 35 to 80+, I took the opportunity to ask who was a John McCain supporter.

Lips tightened.  One woman made a face as if she smelled something bad.  For about two minutes, they were reserved in their criticism of the McCain-Palin candidacy.

And then the dam burst.

When McCain strategized that picking Palin would appeal to women, I think that he defined women as “white women.”  Because none of the women I spoke with saw her appeal.  They were mostly disgusted.

And I thought about this later in light of many discussions I’ve had with other people of color.  And I think that we know that Sarah Palin’s “us” was never meant to include us.  She’s the white person who skated by on her privilege while we worked our asses off.  She’s the white parents* who never talk to us at the hockey games (despite the fact that we’re as rich as they are), who don’t remember our names, who don’t sit with us in the cafeteria or at “ethnic” events.  She’s the Joe Six Pack who screams racist vitriol out of his car window.

She reinforces our experience of the world, and she also fits neatly into all the negative stereotypes we have held about white people.

But the McCain-Palin “us” is not what I want my country to be.

.

*See harlow’s monkey’s take on this here.