“God bakes human out of an oven…first time, He took them out too soon: white folks….second time, a bit too long: black folks…then He continuously self-improves.(Kaizen)..just right: folks who are neither Black nor White sort of in-betweeners…” goes the joke.
Throughout American history, these “just-right” just-in-time folks got barred (from bringing wives over during the Chinese Exclusion Act), got interned (round up your wives and children but to the nearest intern camp – Japanese during WWII)) and now get spit-on (or “go back to where you came from”).
No one said that to Native Americans (they were from here to begin with, where else).
I will not fuel the fire of controversy, of conflict and contentiousness.
Just on Asian contribution to the melting-pot (or stew) depends on your zip-codes and voting preferences.
First, the railroad…along with the Irish-American, Chinese-American men (100%) worked like eunuchs to build the Trans-Continental Railroad (at times, over-built that later Erie canal and Panama Canal render them superfluous).
Second, where do we go for food on Thanksgiving, if we are single and uninvited to those Turkey dinners? It’s either Chinatown or the Mission’s Soup Kitchen
Third, so many Chinese restaurants (more than fast foods restaurants) that P.F. Chang’s decided to capitalize on the trend (owners are no where near being Chinese – but might get spit on during this pandemic, a case of mistaken I.D.)
In between Peking ducks and P.F. Chang’s we came up with fortune cookies, Suzie Q (CCR) and General Tso (fictional). We have Rush Hour 1,2 and 3 that made us laugh (humor as a cross-cultural bridge)and John Woo who made Tom Cruise look larger than life (dangling and hanging on for dear life on a Grand Canyon cliff).
More Buddhist temples sprung up in the NE than churches (in Philadelphia, one Temple even bought out an old church facility)…while later refugees from Vietnam open up Nail Salons (thanks to Hollywood’s Tippi’s idea).
At my last reading, more you-tubers on the Vietnamese channels debating (albeit not too civil) and splitting over Trump and Trumpism, and more Vietnamese-American and Vietnamese in VN offered lip-service support for the now-X-President in his quest for America’s re-ascendency (and triumph over China, its serious debtor).
In short, Asian-American are not just faceless, invisible or behind-the-counter folks (essentials). More brain gains for the US, just as it got a windfall right after WWII with scientists like Einstein….
We (the world) ‘re transitioning, from the Atlantic Century to the Pacific Century (China, Singapore and others).
Demographic and talent shifts, (chip) manufacturing offshoring and consumer emerging, capitalism and casinos (Sands in Macau).
It’s the West that has to adjust to the Rest. Good things we went to France (50′), Korea, Vietnam(60-70″, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan (soon to be over)….to adjust to a multi-polar world. GI’s who came home often share stories and exploits…mini-Columbus’ tales….Vietnamese women even carried Black GI’s children, hence, many of us are in-laws. Just Google it or read a brief history to prep interactions with med/tech Asian co-workers…
Use a pair of chop sticks for a start = walking in s/o else’s shoes. Let’s just say, America has this burden of Manifest Destiny…i.e. to conquer and Christianize the heathens…then at the very least show some interests in learning about others (who it thinks as subservient – to be spit on or punched at). Ditto for later arrivals who need to put in years of learning the host country’s custom and culture.
After all, what we consume have been made in the Orient (supply chain), via essential workers and under-paid jobbers. It’s time to wake up from last-century’s dream (Euro-Colonial past) instead of scapegoating to a new Other (Asian-American as Covid carriers) …
Machine won’t take abuse (most of us are learning their “language” whether we like it or not, as pro-sumers or programmers) since it’s machine and associated productivity that eliminate repetitive jobs. If memory serves me right, latest variants started in the UK, and you cannot get more “European” than that (or last year’s covid’s first wave, rampaged Italy and Rome, HQ of the Roman Catholic Church).
God made them just right, so He started to scale…hence, population explosion in the Far East….I am getting hungry….for Chinese foods. And I know where I will eat this Thanksgiving when all the fast-food joints are closed.
By circumstances and necessity, we subsist on more rice-based than wheat/barley diet. That’s all there is to it. We do our best and what’s best for our children. Like everyone else of variant skin colors; we try to make life a little better each day, on ward, in pursuit of happiness and hopefully liberty and justice for all (as of this edit, the Floyd’s pre-trial settlement offers some encouragement).
..Then on the 7th day, God looks at his Creation ( Asian-American included) and He satisfies (for having baked them just right). Time for a smoke-break, if you’re an essential worker – baker or carpenter, plumber or gravedigger, who found Asian_American died of equal if not disproportionate rate during this pandemic.
Thang Nguyen 555 