Excited
With the recent spate of violence against Asian-Americans in places such as Oakland and San Francisco, this essay from New American Media expresses the opinion that Black on Asian violence isn’t about race, it’s about “economic opportunism.” Amanze Emenike grew up in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point area and as a youth, got into crime.
“When I was introduced to the crime scene, I was put on to rob Asians and Latinos on Third Street. We specifically preyed on Asians and Mexicans, and wouldn’t do anything to African Americans.
If young people try to rob an old black person in Hunters Point, they usually don’t know who they are messing with and they can fall into beef with the victim’s family or community. Robbing African Americans, it’s more likely that the family will come back and harm the robber. So young people go after Chinese and Mexicans.”
Emenike was jailed for robbing a Chinese student and charged with a hate crime. He says that he was embarrassed by the charges since he had Chinese friends, and was glad that the hate crime charges were dropped. He has apparently cleaned up his act, working as a content producer for Yo! Youth Outlook Radio.
New America Media also featured a response by Asian-American blogger Reappropriate titled “Inside Black-Asian Tension: Sometimes It Is About Racism.” She points out that if you consider Asian-Americans as ideal prey, “how is this not still racist stereotyping of Asians?
Meanwhile, Black-Asian tensions have attracted the attention of San Francisco City hall, and a number of Asian-American’s spoke at a board meeting about their experiences and fears. Some talked about how they were attacked, such as the woman who was knocked unconscious and shattered some of her teeth when she was thrown off a MUNI platform by a 15 year old African-American boy (see video). Many feel, as Emenike mentions, that they were targeted. San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon has downplayed race as a factor in the Bayview attacks, but as this blog post asserts, a survey on San Francisco strong-arm robberies done in 2008 showed that 85% of physical assaults had an African-American perpetrator and an Asian-American victim. The San Francisco Police Department is boosting foot patrols in the area.
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Phantom
Ugh. How do you edit a post?
If not possible, the last sentence of previous post was to end w/"they're being fed a bunch of lies."
Phantom
What any individual here may or may not have experienced is anecdotal evidence. If you want to know some real "facts" upon which to base opinions, try the DOJ's website (Table 42 at:
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/html/cvus/rac...)
Using most recent available stats (2008), guess how many black women were raped by white men that year? So low, it is estimated between 0 and 10. Now guess how many white women were raped by black men that year? ~19,300! That's right. Less than 10 black women raped by white men PER YEAR whereas over 50 white women are raped by black men PER DAY! ! ! Where's the outrage? Nowhere because this does not get reported. Imagine if the stats were reversed? Remember the all the media coverage of the "non-rape" by those Duke lacross players? That was just 1 reported rape. Where's the reporting of this?
IIRC, in 2005, the number of black women raped by white men was again between 0 and 10 that YEAR whereas the number of white women raped by black men was 37,460 -- over 100 PER DAY! ! !
I wonder how man black men rape Asian women vs Asian men raping black women??? :( Breaking the stats down to include Asians and Latinos would be a worthwhile study for a thesis. Might have to rely upon CA only stats since other states may not have large enough Asian pop. for valid statistical analysis.
I first started learning about all this about 6 months ago when I came across this C-SPAN episode:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/128178 (watch at least the first 10 min).
In case you think those stats or Mr. Taylor's interpretation of them are incorrect, Dr. Walter E. Williams, Econ prof at George Mason and a African-American, was so surprised at them that he ran the numbers himself and concluded . . . Mr. Taylor was right!
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams0818...
The Mainstream Media has been lying to us . . . . http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2011/05/31/... (intentionally doubling the number of white criminals and reducing non-white (I'd guess primarily black & Latino) 50%.
Regardless of our "political affiliations," we need the truth, even if it is "politically incorrect." Individuals and society can't make rational & wise decisions when they're being a bunch of fed lies.
Phantom
Just visited this old post and see that for some reason livefyre put a close parenthesis as part of the link to the DOJ BJS stats. Just delete that extra character and the link will work.
That is unfortunate that you see blacks in that certain light because while it may be very true you have suffered hardship and and pain from African Americans, it is an experience that does not reflect all. Growing up in an all-black neighborhood in Michigan, I have had my fair share of discrimination but at the same time, I also learned a lot of things about respect and honor.
It is a discussion amongst African Americans that "black culture" celebrates illiteracy, criminal activity, misogyny, and violence. For anyone within that community to focus their passions on academics, anything not related to hip hop or basketball, these people are often ridiculed by their own community for not being "black enough". In a similar line that Asians give other Asians crap for not being "Asian" enough, it is an issue that is not unique to just one community.
I'm sorry that you have suffered injustice from African Americans in your life and I hope that you will find people that will show you that this is not the case.
I admire the courage of your convictions. Unfortunately I have had the real-life, what you have termed "media-constructed" image of blacks -- many times. I can assure you it wasn't media that made the racist slurs and violent threats. Fox News wasn't the person shouting at me.
As far as your characterization of imperialistic white forces seeking to divide and conquer, I have to disagree with you there. It may have been true up to the 1960s, but certainly isn't true now. If you think that both races have been down-trodden, why is it that one group, Asians, have risen above whereas another group continues to decline? I don't ascribe the differences in achievement to race, but rather to an extremely negative black culture that values criminal activity, misogyny, violence and teenage motherhood without fathers.
In short, I don't see blacks taking responsibility for themselves whereas Asians do. And I don't think this a media fabrication.
Hmmm. Interesting. From the point you have made (and correct me if I'm wrong), you have a general assumption that African Americans are more likely to be prone to violence and rioting than Asians?
While I was only 5 when the LA riots happened (and in NY), I later focused my academic studies on the topic of the LA riots and the distrust Koreans have towards Blacks and vice versa. I began to learn how that their hatred towards each other is manufactured by years of imperialism and the divide and conquer strategy that the patriarchal elite white system has put upon people of color. We are basically fighting for scraps and it does not help that the white system paints Asians as "honorary white people".
While African Americans have been treated like dirt for centuries and despite many progresses, the final battle is the socio-economic level and that is the hardest to conquer. It is the result of many years of disenfranchisement and while the answer is not to just give out welfare since it may just continue the cycle.
On the news, we always see reports of African Americans committing crime and the media has a huge way of influencing our mindset. Statistically, you would be correct. But if we just rely on statistics and apply that to the entire group, we will never look into the real root of the trouble. The healing has to begin somewhere and it can only happen when we take the time to understand what is truly happening around us.
I'll go first and be blunt about myself. I'm a little bit racist and I have suspicions about every white person I meet and when I see a urban-looking African American, I notice I have a tendency to hesitate before I cross the street. For the longest time, I also was racist towards my own Korean people because I hated everything they represented.
These are things that I'm working on and the only way to do that is to actually go out of my comfort zone and talk to them and TRULY understand them as people, not just some media-constructed image of what I think they are. Yeah, I'll be mocked and spit upon, but I have to start somewhere.
Thanks, Edward for your comments and questions.
Re Cosby's comments, I don't think Asian kids act that way and you would be blind to think so. That alone is a huge cultural divide.
Do you believe that African Americans will never get along with Asians?
Depends on education and shared values. If every black you meet were like Obama, then yes. Real-life experience unfortunately shows that Obama is an outlier and that the typical black (statistically proven) is more likely to be involved in criminal behavior.
Do you believe that the attacks in SF were not racially motivated?
They *were* racially motivated. I hear the racial slurs against Asians by blacks, just walking down the street.
Finally, do you believe that our vastly different communities will never get along and we are doomed for another LA riot in the near future?
You may not have been around the Rodney King (assume that's what you're referring to) riots. I was. What started as what I agree as police brutality led to an excuse for blacks to target Korean-American stores for looting and burning. Again you don't see that kind of behavior among Asians. I think the blacks hold the cards for whether a riot is in order or not. So it will be their choice not ours.
Your quote from Bill Cosby does not help in your argument that African Americans and Asian Americans can get along. Look, in order to co-exist, we MUST find what makes us common, rather than what makes us different. The more time we spend in focusing how African Americans are this and that and that they will never mesh with Asians, the more incidents we have like what happened here. Kung fu movies are only the tip of the iceberg in the exchanges between the two communities but it must be mentioned because that is exactly the bond that we need to focus on.
I'm very curious though. Your tone throughout the entire conversation has been very angry and I wonder if something happened to you to make you feel this cynical about these matters. I'm not here to make you believe everybody should hold hands and yell out kumbaya and that everything will be better but rather to start focusing on the LITTLE details.
So I'm gonna ask you some questions because I want to get a better understanding of where you are coming from. Do you believe that African Americans will never get along with Asians? Do you believe that the attacks in SF were not racially motivated? Finally, do you believe that our vastly different communities will never get along and we are doomed for another LA riot in the near future?
I didn't write this. From today's SF Chronicle:
portside5/4/2010 9:02:10 AM
It's irrelevant, in one sense, whether the criminals are attacking Asians for being Asian, or for being easy targets--small, unarmed, likely to have money and unlikely to report the crime to the police. It's still a crime and should be severely punished.
But that's where we go wrong, due to the professional apologists among "activists" and ethnic studies professors who leach every last drop of personal responsibility from the attackers, and the local and national media that give them a platform for spouting this nonsense.
Do this thought experiment: what if the Asians were attacking vulnerable blacks? Worse still--what if it were whites? Would our local media be so incapable of calling it a race crime, or would they be shrieking "race war" 24/7. The failing of our media is that it cannot process news that doesn't fit the narrative.
One must feel great sympathy for the victims, and contempt for the apologists who place blame everywhere except where it lies.
Edward,
What did you think of Cosby's comment? That wasn't a trolling comment, insult, anger, Cosby was being quite serious about a serious problem. But you wrote it off.
Kung fu movies? You've got to be kidding. Two lowest denominators, one from each group finding each other.
Caca, huh? That's pretty clever...I'll remember to not use that for any discussion I may have where I disagree with someone.
Whether or not you're trolling or just genuinely just a pissed off individual (if you are, I genuinely feel sorry for you and I hope one day you will be happy), I will respond back to your general belief that African Americans and Asian Americans have no connection whatsoever.
Here's a historical fact for you...did you know that African Americans were the first to embrace kung fu movies back in the 60's and 70's? Before the Civil Rights Act fully took off, African Americans would rush to the theaters playing these films and feel a sense of empowerment as they watch these movies. When they see films of Bruce Lee kicking the white man's arse, they could relate as a person of color was kicking some serious booty on the big screen. In addition, Richard Aoki was one of the founding members of the Black Panther movement and has been a huge influence in the pursuit of justice and equality.
The connection isn't just with African Americans and Asian Americans. It applies to everybody and when you boil down to it, we are ALL connected. While we must appreciate our differences, we must also look beyond that and see the tie that binds us all. I know this may sound uberly preachy and hippy to you but we must stop obsessing over our differences and how we can never get along.
It is fear that prevents us from truly understanding each other. It is fear that turns our uncertainty into hatred and prejudice. We must overcome that so that we can start truly seeing each other as beautiful folks that we are.
You're probably rolling your eyes and muttering how much of a naive idiot I am. That's totally fine. I hope one day you will see the world in a similar light as me and know that we are all in this together.
Edward,
In case you think all this is a joke, here's what Bill Cosby had to say:
Bill Cosby seemed to be responding to that concern when he spoke last week in Chicago. And he was roundly cheered and applauded when he reiterated the heart of his early message and told the Rainbow Coalition and PUSH members that too many black children, especially the urban poor, are "the dirty laundry" that many avoid criticizing despite their failed grammar, foul language and absence of civility and manners.
"Let me tell you something," Cosby said: "Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other [the N-word] as they're walking up and down the street. They think they're hip. They can't read. They can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."
Dang, Edward! You think you're hip, too, man! Cool, brotha!
And now you're just being a troll.
This is for everyone: I'm all for a discussion, and as I said to someone else with a mailinator (read: spam throw-away e-mail address) account via e-mail, so long as the person owns their opinions in a non-anonymous format, I'm all for having them post whatever as a guest post on 8asians. But ixnay on the personal attacks.
Dang, man, you're full of caca, aren't you?
Dang, man. You're full of anger, aren't you?
I cannot hope to match the eloquence of this posting by CVT at Racialicious:
http://www.racialicious.com/2010/04/29/black-and-a...
The lie is to believe that we aren't intertwined. That's what the media wants you to believe, what everyone wants you to believe. They want to divide us because they're afraid.
Don't believe the lies.
for reals. give jet li some lovin lol
Edward,
Maybe you oughta explain yourself. Ask yourself what bonds? How are the communities intertwined?
Gee let's look at a few typical life paths: One studies hard, gets into college, gets a job, contributes to society. Another thinks school is "too white," drops out of school, decides that preying on Asians is the easy and cool thing to do, contributes nothing to society.
Before you get all PC on me, the stats unfortunately speak for themselves. I'm not imagining things, but maybe you are. Certainly Asians beaten or killed by blacks aren't imagining things -- they're experiencing an awful reality.
A lot of Asians, perhaps this includes you Edward, think that fitting in with their friends and classmates means buying into PC BS -- especially in the bay area. There is no natural link except one that's forced by magical thinking.
@topofthemark2 - What in the world are you talking about? What the heck makes Mike's comment on the Asian community having many links and bonds with the African American community a "banana PC BS" statement? Please explain yourself if you must resort to attacks...
This would never have happened had they thrown in a love scene between Aaliyah and Jet Li in 'Romeo Must Die'.
Mike,
Your banana PC BS is beyond laughable; it's tragicomic. Did you go PC because you thought it made you fit in?
Thanks for the link!
This is so tragic. There's so much distrust and escalating violence between the Asian and African American communities, that really should not exist. Our communities are so linked, so intertwined, and so many of our problems are the same. Asian Americans worked together with the black power movement and many were members of the Black Panthers.
But we - all of us - forget our history, because the media paints a certain picture of race relations, and doesn't let us remember how things were, how things are, how things should be.
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