Tommy Yu, a sophomore at Stony Brook University, is currently studying to become a TV journalist in SBU's new School of Journalism. He became involved in the Asian American E-Zine and when the current Editor-in-Chief, Yina Chun, an English major who wanted to move over to the AAJ, Asian American Journal, to bring lit and poetry back into its mix, Tommy was the obvious choice to replace her. So this is Yina's last issue and the next will be Tommy's.

As a new member of the AA E-Zine, this week I offered to talk to Tommy to find out his thoughts, feelings, and what it’s like for him to be an Asian American journalist in the making. This is the culminating piece for the theme of this issue - students getting involved to make things better for Asian Americans - with media as one way. Tommy wants to do that, and I am happy to join him.

AA E-Zine: It’s nice that I’ve gotten a chance to talk to you. So, tell me where you were born and raised?

TY: I was born in Shanghai, China and moved to New Orleans when I was three years old. Then I moved from New Orleans to New York at age eight.
 
AA E-Zine: So you don’t have many memories about living in China?

TY: Nope. I spent my childhood in New Orleans.

AA E-Zine: How did being an Asian American affect your experience in America?

TY: In New Orleans there were like only three other Asian kids in my class besides me. It was fun because I got to experience an 'American’ childhood I guess. In my experience, there was no racism among the people I saw and interacted with. It might’ve been because I was too young, but I don’t think that’s the reason why.

AA E-Zine: So you thought that being Asian, race wasn’t much of an issue for you in New Orleans?

TY: Nope, not at all.

AA E-Zine: Was your experience in New York any different?

TY: I really don’t remember any instance where being Asian affected other people’s treatment of me. You can say I had a racism-free childhood. What was different though, was that New York had a lot more Asian people than I was used to seeing.

AA E-Zine: How did that affect you? Did you begin to think more about what it means to be an Asian American?

TY: I mean I did see a difference in lifestyle, but that was due to the fact that this was the city. One thing though, because I was born in China, I felt a little different from other Asians here who were mostly born in America – and sometimes I wished I was too. When teachers asked us where we were born, I’d say “New Orleans, America”. I tried to 'Americanize' myself as much as possible.

AA E-Zine: What other ways did you try to 'Americanize' yourself? Did your parents try to encourage you to become as 'Americanized’ as possible?

TY: No, they raised me the way any child would be raised in China. They wouldn’t let me change my name because they thought that if I did, I would lose something valuable.

AA E-Zine: What was your original name?

TY: Yelong Yu. It still officially is but I’m called Tommy now because I used to love the Power Rangers. [Laughs] So from there I went by the name Tommy.

AA E-Zine: [Laughs] Would it irk you in any way if someone was to call you by your Chinese name?

TY: No, occasionally my friends would call me that for fun. It doesn’t bother me but I’d rather be called Tommy.

AA E-Zine: When did you decide that you wanted to become a journalist?

TY: I came to that decision in college, I thought that there wasn’t enough Asians taking journalism – at least I’ve never heard of many Asians in the news media.

AA E-Zine: So what are you hoping to bring to the table by becoming a journalist? Were you seeking to create a voice for Asian Americans in the media?

TY: I just wanted to see more Asians in the media and maybe encourage more Asians to join.

AA E-Zine: Why journalism? Why not become an actor or singer? Becoming either of those would create a major influence.

TY: The news media is something different. I just don’t feel that being an actor or singer would really change anything. I’d probably be forced to take a stereotypical role in the entertainment business as an Asian.

AA E-Zine: Being an Asian American myself, I know my folks wanted me to become a professional in the field of medicine, engineering or possibly law. What were your parent’s responses when they found out you wanted to become a journalist?

TY: Yeah, at first that’s what they said too but, they were just fine with this idea. Well, they’ve been saying since I was a child that I should do what I like.

AA E-Zine: Well it’s good that they’ve become supportive of what you hope to do now. What do you think are some issues that the Asian American community must tackle?

TY: I think the AA community has to overcome the massive amount of stereotypes we see in the media these days. As for how, it’s up to the individual.

AA E-Zine: You tell me there are massive amounts of stereotypes we see in the media. Can you tell me about them?

TY: Well, there’s stuff like all Asian women are either the submissive sex slaves or a woman who would sleep with anyone to get what she wants, or that all Asians are masters at Kung Fu. The media portrays Asians in a very bad way, but this is all in the entertainment business. In the news media it’s different, Asians are barely represented, and even the few that are in the news media are usually Asian females paired with white males.

AA E-Zine: Can you tell me about the CNN incident that has caused uproar in the Asian community and what your take on it is?

TY: The CNN thing was that Gary Tuchman interviewed some Asian people in a supermarket as to why they would all vote for Hillary and it just didn’t make Asians look good.

AA E-Zine: What do you mean?

TY: They didn’t interview any educated Asian Americans. They interviewed people with thick accents and made fun of this one Asian person who said Lincoln instead of Clinton. I just thought that Gary Tuchman could’ve gone to some other places to interview Asian Americans instead of heading to a supermarket where all the people there can’t even pronounce Clinton.

AA E-Zine: You’ve said to me that to tackle issues, a good example would be this one; it’s up to the individual. Can you expand on that?

TY: Well, what I meant was that if anyone feels put down by stereotypes, they should do their best to ignore them and work towards changing their image in their own way. Like for me, I decided to contribute to the news media to add the Asian voice to a predominantly non-Asian workforce.

AA E-Zine: Do you think there is a problem among Asians in trying to organize as a group?

TY: Yes I do, I just feel the majority of Asians tend not to participate in groups or feel the need to get their voices heard.

AA E-Zine: Why do you think that they don’t feel that need?

TY: I don’t know, but as Asians we have to participate more often in politics, media, and other things that can change the public image of us. The more people see us on TV, news, etc, the less prevalent stereotypes become. Right now, Asians are usually located in the East and West coasts, so the only interaction with Asians most of America gets is through the stereotypes seen in film. We should better our public image by making ourselves more noticeable in the media.

 

______________________________________________________________
Sign up to get a notice of each new issue of the AA E-Zine at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sbuaaezine/