LA Times: Jews, Asians are building bonds

By John | Friday, December 7, 2007 | 11 Comments

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In today’s The Los Angeles Times, the newspaper reports that “Jews, Asians are building bonds“:

“Jewish and Asian American leaders, whose communities represent nearly 20% of Los Angeles County’s population, are trying to forge friendships in hopes of combating such chronic issues as racism and stereotyping. In an initiative begun by the Anti-Defamation League, about 50 leaders from the Chinese, Filipino, Japanese and Korean communities — the four largest Asian population groups in the county — met Wednesday at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo for dinner, a celebration of Hanukkah, some frank discussion and talks by diplomats from Israel, Japan and South Korea. It was the second event since the Asian Jewish Initiative was launched in June in Chinatown. During that meeting, which dealt mostly with demographics, some Jewish leaders were surprised to learn that there were three times as many Asians as Jews in the county. Hanukkah is a “perfect time,” said Faith Cookler, chairwoman of the initiative, to bring people from different traditions together because the holiday is associated with “tolerance, with freedom — freedom from persecution.”"

I’ve never lived in Los Angeles (nor do I think I could ever given its awful traffic), but my impression is that although Los Angeles is very diverse, there is a lot of self-segregation of ethnic groups within the vast Los Angeles County, with some better known areas such as Monterey Park (“Little Taipei”) and Rowland Heights, etc… for Asian-Americans. It’s nice to see the pro-active outreach of different ethnic communities getting to know their “neighbors.” My impression of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is that although there may be some ethnic enclaves, there is a lot more “integration” amongst the equally diverse population. What do you think? Note: I was born-and-raised in Western Massachusetts, so this is more of a non-native-Californian point-of-view.

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Bertie

When Asians and Jews get together, wonderful things are created, such as Soy Vay (http://www.soyvay.com/) and “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.”
http://www.8asians.com John

Bertie – Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle – ? What’s the connection between Asians and Jews?
Bertie

http://www.jewishfilm.com/jz41.html (scroll down to Harold and Kumar)

Also, read this: http://www.countingdown.com/features?feature_id=3961988

Eh, it’s not funny if I have to explain. :/

I also saw a lot of Asian/Jewish inside jokes in the film. Maybe it’s an east coast thing?
http://www.8asians.com John

Bertie – thanks for the links – very interesting and educational. Didn’t realize the screenplay for Harold & Kumar were written by two Jews – I always wondered…

I grew up on the East Coast in a somewhat Jewish town, so maybe I was just clueless, since I didn’t recognize the Asian/Jewish jokes in the film.
http://flanflanflan.blogspot.com Efren

Referring to your comment about SF and its “integration,” I think it depends on where you are. In SF proper, there seems to be relatively less integration, where Asians seem to hang out with other Asians, blacks with blacks, etc., at least in more of the middle-class or working-class neighborhoods. This has been my experience living in the Inner Richmond and now close to Visitacion Valley/Bayview. When I was growing up in the South Bay, there seemed to be more integration, but I tended to hang out with people of different races/ethnicities in high school, but I think is probably more because of my personality than a deliberate decision. I hung out with both the nerds (mostly Asian and white), and also with more politically identified people of color (the few blacks and Latinos who were all in the same AP classes I was, and being the only Filipino in these classes, I was one of the more “ethnic” folk). This was back in the late 80s-early 90s, so I’m sure this has changed significantly since then.
http://www.8asians.com John

I was thinking more along the peninsula / South Bay rather than San Francisco itself.
ancient one

Integration in the South Bay? I suppose it depends on how you define integration, but as I see it, the South Bay is largely segregated. While people work together in their Silicon Valley firms, after work, for the most part, they go back to their ethnic enclaves (disclosure – for the most part, that’s what I do). I really noticed this when I started coaching youth sports. I’d go with my mostly Asians group of kids to another school to play a group of mostly and sometimes all group of white kids. I suppose that it is definitely progress that they are at least playing against each other, but contrast is striking.
Bertie

Funny, this was just posted yesterday on YouTube by JDub Records, a Jewish-oriented record label:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUnrwfYGNC8

“Jon Cho and Kal Pen (Harold and Kumar) wish the audiences of JDub and Taglit-birthright israel’s The Eight a very happy Hannukah. light up!”
http://itsbo.blogspot.com/ Bo

Having lived in SF for a number of years before moving back to NYC, I would have to say that I was really shocked at how segregated SF seemed. Not that NYC is much better but at least we have the subway system in NY. Regardless of where you live, you’re forced to ride the subway like everyone else. Riding the subway is the best way to cure anyone of the delusion that everyone is like them. I was really suprised by how segregated the social scene was in SF – I remember walking into a bar in the SOMA district and being confronted by a big swath of white people. The looks I got made me want to leave after 15 minutes.
http://www.8asians.com John

So if NYC didn’t have a subway system, then NYC would be just as “segregated” as SF?

SF definitely needs better public transportation, that’s for sure!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000655872495 Al Powers

What’s with all these pro Jewish articles? Is this website some sort of Zionist propaganda infiltration towards Asian Americans? If it has anything to do with Jews, I wouldn’t touch their shit with a 10 foot pole.

8 Asians