DiversityInc: 7 Things NEVER to Say to Asian-American Executives

By jozjozjoz | Wednesday, February 13, 2013 | 12 Comments

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DiversityInc published an articled entitled 7 Things NEVER to Say to Asian-American Executives but I feel like most of these are things that people shouldn’t say to any Asian American, regardless of whether or not they are “executives.”

The list includes one of the “most dreaded questions” (according to 8Asians) and also explains why these questions could be potentially offensive:

“You must be the IT person.”
“You aren’t like them” or “You don’t act very Asian.”
“Asian Americans are not risk takers.”
“Where are you from? No, where are you really from?” or “When are you going to go home?” or “How often do you go home?”
“Oh, you speak English good!” or “Do you speak your language?”
“You’re not a minority because all Asians are rich and successful.”
“You’re not Asian, you’re from India.”

Maybe we should be happy that “How do you pronounce your name?” didn’t make it on the list. But then again, in many business settings, given that professionals first make contact via email/in writing, “How do you pronounce your name?” is not necessarily an impolite question, no matter what ethnicity one is.

Categories:

Discrimination

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Facebook Comments (Beta)

LTE2

“You must be the IT person.””
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I can’t wait to use this one. Maybe add, Wait, didn’t I just talk to you on the phone? How did you get from India to here so fast?
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“You’re not Asian, you’re from India.”
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I do not see Indians as Asians,
http://www.8asians.com/author/ancientone95131/ jeffat8asians

But I am the IT person!
LTE2

Ha, ha. How’s your english?
http://www.8asians.com/author/ancientone95131/ jeffat8asians

I am occasionally asked to talk to customers about our IT strategies and implementations, yet no customer or colleague has ever commented about my English. Some coworkers have moaned, though, when I made some bad puns.
assam90210

Um, Indians are Asian whether you “see” them as Asian or not. They’re South Asian. There are tons of Indians, especially in the Northeast that have the so-called “Asian eyes” and as one of them, no one ever tells me that I’m “Not That Kind of Asian” though my relatives get that all the time as they don’t have “oriental” features. It’s erasure and it’s gross.
LTE2

“Um, Indians are Asian whether you “see” them as Asian or not.”
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I have known a few Indians and they never refferred to themselves as Asians. I had given my own point of view on the subject as I have always seen Indians as a distinct and separate group of peoples, neither Arab nor Asian.
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In the technical sense, every land from Israel to Japan is “Asian” or the “Orient”.
happyappa

I have no problem calling Indians South Asian. But what I don’t like is when South Asians appropriate East Asian culture because “they are Asians too”. I have seen this happen and it is also wrong the other way around.
arbirary names

in a technical sense, the CONTINUOUS landmass of “EurAsia” and Afro-EurAsia means that boundaries are arbitrary and stem from racist ideologies of “us vs them”

the concept of “Asia” as having arbitrary borders is defined by white institutions and history and not ethnic groups that see themselves as smaller entities.
LTE2

“stem from racist ideologies of “us vs them”
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When Europe was attacked by outsiders, it would be safe to say they would have a “us vs them” mentality.
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“the concept of “Asia” as having arbitrary borders is defined by white institutions and history”

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You get an “A” for ethnic studies.
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In geography I was taught Asia was just a land mass with no particular distinction in good, bad or indifferent. This was in the era before we all became sensitive to each other’s needs and World War 2 was a not to distant memory for our teachers.
might whitey

in other words you support a system of white supremacy. nothing new here. you tell Asians to stop being victimized, but is the first to cry foul against your hypothetical white racist hierarchy.

and your geography teacher wouldn’t be qualified to teach today given that all geologists accept “EurAsia” and “Afro-EurAsia” as the largest landmass on earth.
Steve Pan

how about you fuck off and stop posting here
LTE2

“in other words you support a system of white supremacy.”
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Hehehe… you’re going to have to do far better than this to annoy me.
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Anyway, I am in good company about the term Asia. Consuming international news for years, I have yet to see any leader of any country great or small ever use the term “EurAsia” or AfroAsia”.

8 Asians