I'm tired of walking around with an 800 lb Gorilla on my back

I'm angry. What else is new? My new source of anger is that over 2 weeks ago I wrote a guest column for the Diamondback, in the OPINION section mind you, and I am still getting heat for it. I have responded to now two reporters who are doing a follow-up article to my article and the many responses it got online. If you don't know what I'm talking about here it is:

http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2008/10/27/Opinion/Guest.Column.The.800Pound.Gorilla-3506761.shtml


I'll be the first to admit, I am awful at taking criticism. I'm getting better but it's taking time, and I still get upset when I look at the comments on my article. Mostly over the blatantly racist ones. What sucks the most is that these dickless sons of bitches can write whatever the hell the want to and not hold themselves accountable to it. Believe me, I did get good responses on the article, but they were via e-mail from strangers thanking me for writing it. Of course they did'nt mind holding themselves accountable. This is my response to those people, in which I don't have to hold myself accountable, because I know they won't read it.

I know that my opinions are bit extreme, and throwing out terms like the Model Minority Myth to people who would never in their wildest dreams refer to me as Asian(Asian American wouldn't even be in their vocabulary) was an overall disaster waiting to happen.Another one of my fellow AASU wrote a very similar column to the Public Asian, our school's APA newspaper, and got no heat for it at all. But I have freedom of speech just like the people who commented did, and I felt the need to address the newspaper that was publishing these articles.

Some of the comments hinted at the fact Asian Americans isolate or alienate ourselves. Really?? really??? We do this to ourselves? We wrote the Chinese Exclusion Act? The Japanese decided to head off to internment camps all on their own?? After 9/11, South Asians happily went back to their home countries without so much as a phone call to their families, who they willing left behind???? Sorry buddy, but I'm pretty sure we don't isolate ourselves, yeah I'm pretty sure American society does that for us. What I can't seem to understand is why people even question that racism doesn't exist. Do they think its some kind of jolly coincidence that minorities make up most of the people living below the poverty line and most of the people in prison in this country???? No, believe it or not, it's not because we are "too lazy" to pursue the American Dream, but rather institutionalized racism in play.

The blatantly racism ones don't deserve my time but I feel the need to share my favorite: People who eat dogs are beneath contempt. How many dogs have you eaten?


Oh I've eaten about 5 or 6 today, thanks for asking. What the FUCK? I cannot believe I go to a university that is one of the best public colleges in the nation, has AMAZING ethnic study classes, and prides itself on diversity, and yet I still have to put up with this moronic bullshit. Everything I've learned about racism in our society I have learned from this classes at this University, and now I'm having thrown back in my face by one of my fellow students. BEYOND RIDICULOUS. Actually, beneath contempt.

Moving on, my favorite thing I've been told through this experience is to just ignore it. One commenter wrote that if you don't like something, don't read it. Aka, her genius ass should have not read my article. Everyone and their mother has already shared with me that they think I'm being oversensitive. I found out recently that a professor looked into my article, the Public Asian article , and the cartoons that we were writing about, and informed us that when we see cartoons like this the best thing to do is just ignore it. Call it oversensitive. Call it whatever the hell you want, but when I see something that doesn't sit write by me, I need to say something. Because if I don't, I am only leaving room for this kind of bullshit to happen all over again. The cartoonist of the cartoon that used to sit next to Professor Gorilla, who goes by the name B.Ray, informed me that if we just ignore it, people will stop picking on us. It's like in elementary school he said. If you fight back, they only pick on you more. Too bad in other communities of color, people know better. I asked him why wasn't it "Shaniqua" instead of "Jung Sung". The Black community has been amazing at responding to racism, and although they still face UNBELIEVABLE amounts of racism, sometimes people know better than to make cheap shot jokes at them. Not B.Ray tho. Too bad for him, apparently he got fired last week because he made a cartoon that was racist against black women. Funny how things work out.

After hearing from some so many people that I was being oversensitive and I should ignore it, I almost started to think that they were right. But then, two things re-affirmed my own beliefs and my position in standing up for what I believe in. The first was the amazing performance of Yellow Rage, at the FUEL conference this past weekend. They did a poem on the word chink. How people use it, but they don't mean anything by it and sometimes even mean it as a compliment. Yellow Rage laid down the law. They affirmed what I had said in my last entry, which was that just because you don't mean it in a hurtful way, doesn't mean that it doesn't still bring back years of oppression. Find new words, people. Find intelligent humor, Diamondback cartoonists, there are plenty of funny things outside of race, gender, and sexual orientation.

The second thing was the election of our 44th President, Barack HUSSEIN Obama. Yes, HUSSEIN, which all too many Islamophobics out there are afraid of, many of whom still think he is Muslim. Many people did not believe they would ever see a black president in their lifetime, but he did it. Many people told him he was too black, too inexperienced, too young, too not fit to be our President, but he will be come January. Do you think this man listened when people told him all this?? He wasn't born with the mass following that he has now, but he earned his supporters and he did so by never backing down. I have to say, that around primaries time, I was on team Hilary(I'm Green, so i couldn't vote). But now, I have this man to thank for a renowned faith in hope, change, democracy, and the country that we live in. He has made me and so many others a better person by utilizing his freedom of speech. So for all of you who said I was being oversensitive and should ignore it, I'm officially ignoring you instead. I'm following the lead of our next President, and I REFUSE to back down. I am entirely too angry, smart, and empowered, to sit and smile while the rest of society takes a cheap shot at me. Sorry if that's oversensitive in your book, but in mine it's standing up for what I believe in.