# ([info]_assemblage) wrote in [info]ucberkeley,
2005-09-28 17:24:00
  • Previous
  • Memorize
  • Share
  • Next

Anti-Asian American Hate Crime at U of Mich

Last week, a White University of Michigan student on a 2nd floor balcony urinated on two Asian students walking below. Racial slurs followed. Here are some articles on what happened:

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/21/4330f61d9f9f0


http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw121690_20050923.htm

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/26/433793c716f81?in_archive=1

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the UM campus, it is rather diverse with a large Asian American student population standing at 13%. This is disproportionate to the state Asian American population at 1.8% (nationally we're at 3.6%). Ann Arbor itself is known as a very open minded community as a result of its association with the University and large multinational companies like Pfizer. Some like to compare the city to Madison, others call it "a cleaner Berkeley."

But there are obviously some distinct racial problems that pop up in this little bubble. I recall having some experiences myself as a student. Even more recently, about a year ago, there was an incident when some White men tried to run my husband and I off the rode while we were on our bikes (with the usual "Go back where you came from!"). I think it's about time that our communities speak out.

Here's an online petition......try reading some of the comments after the signatures. Very poignant:

http://www.petitiononline.com/aanohate/petition.html

Your thoughts can also be sent to University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman at presoff@umich.edu .

The students are organizing a rally and some public statements around what happened, especially as the University administration has yet to take action such as expelling the students or at least make a strong statement in support of the victims. Moreover, there's already a string of denials from the perpetrators and local community's wondering if this is even an example of ethnic intimidation. Please sign the petition and email the University president. I'll send updates on other action including a public demonstration and protest letter against some radio DJs who've recently made offensive comments about this matter.

Thanks!


Linh Song, MSW
Executive Director
Mam Non Organization
www.mamnon.org



  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

     
    Help
  • 61 comments

[info]krypticnight

September 29 2005, 00:50:29 UTC 6 years ago

You realize that we're at Berkeley, right? Asking for protest statements from students 2000 miles away seems a bit disengenuous. Obviously, this was a disturbing event and the people responsible should be appropriately punished, chastised, and ostracized... but, uh, what's this have to do with us?

[info]neuroticlardass

September 29 2005, 01:04:56 UTC 6 years ago

What that has to do with us is that U Michigan is analogous to UC Berkeley--it is a university with a high Asian-American population at which racist sentiment is directed against Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics and possibly Euro-Americans. I don't see what geographical distance has anything to do with this. People as far away as New York heard about what happened when Rodney King was beaten. I have no idea what you're talking about. Being 2000 miles away from the incident doesn't make me any less Asian.

[info]krypticnight

September 29 2005, 01:11:16 UTC 6 years ago

You realize that writing letters to the UM chancellor, or getting these students expelled, won't stop racism, right? Just checking...

[info]automath

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]automath

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]krypticnight

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]automath

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]krypticnight

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]krypticnight

6 years ago

  • Loading...

Deleted comment

[info]krypticnight

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...
...and 5 more comments... from [info]cuteplatypus, [info]juhi, [info]krypticnight… Expand

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]slestialrazbery

September 29 2005, 16:48:31 UTC 6 years ago

Maybe I'm naive, but I haven't noticed much racism at Cal (assuming you meant that Cal was like U Michigan because there are a lot of Asian-Americans and because there's a lot of racism). I've noticed racial clickishness, which does bother me a bit (mixing is happy), but other than that I can't really think of much.

[info]juhi

September 29 2005, 04:22:38 UTC 6 years ago

that's just like saying that "oh, aids is a huge problem in africa, and yes, people should try and come out with a cure for it, but let's not waste more time on what's happening there because we live in our own perfect bubble here, far away from it all."
i'm not trying to be pissy (no pun intended) but sometimes, people are way too bubble-y in berkeley, which surprises me quite a bit.

[info]krypticnight

September 29 2005, 04:49:59 UTC 6 years ago

You must realize there's a difference between a couple drunk assholes doing something stupid and mean in a fashion that's not necessarily symptomatic of any overarching problem on the campus and a pandemic that's wiping out millions of people. I know we have a tendency to exaggerate in importance problems that we perceive as affecting us, but of all the accusations of 'bad analogy', you must realize this one is a doozy. =)

[info]juhi

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]cdm137

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]berkeleybeetle

September 29 2005, 01:14:50 UTC 6 years ago

13% is a "large" Asian population? Where does that leave us?

[info]neuroticlardass

September 29 2005, 01:34:52 UTC 6 years ago

It leaves us a lot more than 13%.

[info]rockstr13

September 29 2005, 01:54:52 UTC 6 years ago

isn't every crime a "hate crime"? why would you commit a crime against someone if you liked them?

anyway i think people should calm the hell down, everyone gets hated on and has terrible things said to them, including (gasp) white people. a petition isn't going to change that. someone urinating on someone else should get arrested regardless of the fact that he did it because they were asian or not.

[info]neuroticlardass

September 29 2005, 02:02:15 UTC 6 years ago

That's true. I'd just rather have someone hate me for my personality and not my ethnic background--because then there'd be a point to it. I completely agree that racism can and does go on against white people. No one should be mistreated (unless it's for their crappy personality), no matter what their ethnic background.

[info]orangefriendly

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]qweltor

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]spezzer

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]orangefriendly

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]qweltor

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]decidedlyodd

September 29 2005, 02:50:37 UTC 6 years ago

I'd argue that incidents like this one are in fact more serious. The difference between white guys peeing on white guys and white guys peeing on asian guys then shouting racial epithets is that in the former case perhaps every student feels a little less safe (most people don't want to be peed on) while in the latter a specific group feels even less safe. Such an act exposes fundamental intolerance in the community and can poison race relations there.

Last year in Chapel Hill, a gay student was assaulted on the major intersection of town on a night where the area was very busy with bar and restaurant traffic. Some friends of mine at the time didn't understand why it was being treated as a hate crime ("if you beat somebody up, you obviously hate them"). However, the act made a lot of GLBT students feel less safe about walking around downtown at night. Moreover, people (both gay and straight) were shocked that such a thing could happen in a tolerant and liberal college town. In that way it directly affected the sense of community for everybody and more importantly the feelings of safety for students in the demographic of the student who was attacked. If it had just been a group of straight white guys beating up another straight white guy, it would have just been another drunken brawl on Franklin Street. The impact in terms of how people in the community would have felt with regard to their safety would have been less significant on the whole. The perpetrators were never caught. Moreover, that nobody came forward to say they had seen it happen (despite the location and time) only increased such negative feelings through a loss of trust in the community to stand up against such acts.

In these ways, so-called "hate crimes" (by which I mean crimes which are directed at a specific person based on what race, sexual orientation or other characteristics the affected person may associate with) have a more dramatic impact on certain individuals in the affected group and the community as a whole. Because of the additional effects, more severe consequences (through hate crime add-on charges) are warranted.

[info]rockstr13

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]decidedlyodd

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]my_funny_cousin

September 29 2005, 03:13:25 UTC 6 years ago

I dunno, I tend to agree with the person who posted. How many people who've replied disagreeing with him/her is actually Asian?

Asians aren't very vocal when they get crapped on (no pun intended here), so it's good to take steps toward a change. Baby steps, people! Better than no steps at all.

[info]neuroticlardass

September 29 2005, 03:18:14 UTC 6 years ago

And I agree with you, both in the sense that the people who want to minimize what happened and dismiss it as nothing more than people getting peed on are probably not Asian, and that Asians don't speak out. I mean, I already posted on this thread knowing that I'd probably be the only Asian to do so, and that no one would stand up for me if I got rapped on--what I didn't expect was that people would be so willing to minimize what happened.

[info]my_funny_cousin

September 29 2005, 03:32:47 UTC 6 years ago

One of the first responses was half-right: we ARE in Berkeley. As a result, people tend to take for granted places outside of the San Francisco Bay Area isn't like Berkeley.

Most of my non-Asian friends do the same minimizing when I talk about race, so I end up not talking about it. They'd be singing to a different tune if they were standing in my shoes when I went to Reno over the summer. I go stared at, jeered at, belittled... terrible. Of course, people can say I spend too much time noticing what might not be there, but is it possible that it's the case that they aren't noticing? Because it's not happening to them? I think so.

[info]krypticnight

September 29 2005, 03:33:20 UTC 6 years ago

Maybe there is an issue of perspective here. That this is considered so outrageous just seems to indicate how good you have it, to be a bit insensitive about it. Do you know what hispanic and black people go through on a daily basis? Do you know the sort of things that happen right here in the bay area? I'm sure being pissed on is far from the worst story some other students could share. That the community responds so strongly when something like this happens 2000 miles away indicates that, clearly, you guys have it far better than most other groups. I've seen a lot of racism in my time, from both angles (having been in different cultural contexts), and it's quite frequently much worse than this. Again, not condoning this behavior, but I'd be careful that you don't lose respect when you try to hold this up to real racism - where people are getting murdered, racially profiled by the police, and having their entire lives ruined.

I also wouldn't worry too much about Asians not sticking together on this issue - you may have noticed, but the Asian community at Berkeley is by far the strongest community on campus. Hell, it's so strong that it almost never seems to interact with any other racial group on campus. Perhaps that to, is a form of racism. To be honest, I don't think I've ever met a white person that had anything bad to say about an Asian - but you'll do a lot more for your cause if you integrate more into the Berkeley populatioon. Racism comes when we psychologically define people as part of an outgroup, relative to ourselves. Stop making yourself an outgroup and you'll be far more likely to experience things differently. (Although I think this is mostly true, and it is a real issue I've heard numerous people comment on, I may be just bringing it up to be a bit cheeky.)

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]krypticnight

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]cdm137

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]krypticnight

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]krypticnight

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]lonesumlogician

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]cdm137

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]youthinazia

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]neuroticlardass

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]youthinazia

6 years ago

  • Loading...

[info]cdm137

September 29 2005, 03:17:48 UTC 6 years ago

This is a bit ridiculous, don't you think?

[info]juhi

September 29 2005, 04:20:11 UTC 6 years ago

i wish i had as much time on my hands as krypticknight does...then i'd read this thread more carefully.=p
this makes me feel a wee bit unsure of applying to michigan(my first choice) for grad school. =(
the comments from their old students made me sad...racism in such a good college still exists...i guess education can't change certain things.
haha i get racist remarks from bums, but those guys got it from studens...just LAME.

[info]krypticnight

September 29 2005, 04:32:20 UTC 6 years ago

I definitely don't have time, but the pain and suffering involved in doing my CS170 homework causes me to seek any form of distraction - however damning it may be to my productivity.

If it's any consolation on the UM thing, we see the same thing here at Berkeley. Last year it made the news when a Muslim girl was basically accosted by a bunch of white hicks. I think incidence rates of things like this are far more common than many people realize. Which isn't a 'good' thing, of course, but I wouldn't let it sway you from your choice in schools. However, we do have a very distorted view of the country being out here in the Bay Area - or even California - large swaths of the country are still amazingly, blatently, and disturbingly racist.

[info]cdm137

September 29 2005, 05:42:23 UTC 6 years ago

Ahhhh, 170. How I miss thee.

[info]katworthy

September 29 2005, 21:49:58 UTC 6 years ago

I went to Michigan for undergrad, and personally, I think that it is a little ridiculous that everyone in Berkeley is so angry that they want to email Mary-Sue. Trust me, there are plenty of people at U-M at this moment protesting and being disgusted by this (I personally am.)

If you want to do something in response, do it here. Locally.

By the way, definitely apply to Michigan. It is a great place. These guys are not the typical guys from Ann Arbor. My personal belief is that this event is going to massively blow up in these racist's faces.

The University doesn't take things like this lightly.

[info]lonesumlogician

September 29 2005, 04:20:26 UTC 6 years ago

Those naive Asians didn't realize that getting peed on was the white man's way of greeting.

Cultural differences, is all.

[info]harryhermione73

September 30 2005, 22:54:09 UTC 6 years ago

that is an incredibly caustic and immature comment, considering the context under which you are replying.

[info]hotcowma

September 29 2005, 05:15:10 UTC 6 years ago

While he may get up to 2 years for racial crime felony charge, in many states if you do that to a gay person you probably just get something much less.

[info]guardmisfit

September 29 2005, 09:19:02 UTC 6 years ago

This isn't completely related - but if they can get between 20000 and 50000 of us to march down SF protesting the war, I wonder how many they could get to march down SF protesting Schwartzenegger's (sp?) veto? Certainly not as many, since many diff. interest groups came together in their dislike of the war, but I do wonder how many.

[info]harryhermione73

September 30 2005, 23:07:27 UTC 6 years ago

I read all the articles in the links you've given, and no where do I find the story being told from the point of view of the supposed victims. I think all of this might have been a big understanding, but at the same time, it's good to raise consciousness and awareness about such things, because they do happen. Growing up Asian in America, I've had my share of racial slurs (and in California too), most of which I only half understood at the time. But honestly, to people who think it's ridiculous for us to sign a petition while being this far away, when has distance become a deterrent for justice? The only thing to do in response to this kind of thing is to unite together and make your voice heard. Nothing will be accomplished by being a sitting duck. The whole world is filled with jaded people who stand idly by on the sidelines while waiting for someone to do something. In my opinion, we've done enought waiting.
Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Facebook Twitter More login options
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…