Arts & Lit

   Race and Racism in America
The 2008 Election and Interracial Dating

 AA E-Zine often discusses having an Arts & Literature section but it is harder than it seems. The conversations begin when every once in awhile someone submits a short story rather than a journalistic article. It gets turned over to AAJ (Asian American Journal) instead. But a few things have happened recently and this time it is being  published because of those other things. The first has been ongoing discussions that began with the primaries about "how my parents are going to vote." While the majority of students support Obama, they discussed arguments with their elders who refuse to vote for a black person. Then came an AAJ article about how Asian American men are portrayed as asexual while Asian American women are eroticized and how guys feel about girls dating white guys. Then overlapping in the past few weeks, a new student to the Zine submitted the following story, Rustling in the Wind. At the same time, a Brown Girls cartoon was posted online, reposted on Sepia Mutiny, and led to Bringing Obama Home to Momma and Obama vs. Brown ... vs. Brown. The reactions to it all now has the Washington Post asking Asian American readers to talk about experiences with interracial dating and their parents issues with it. Given how, as the cartoon now reposted below says, there is fear of the 'Bradley effect' in this election, and while the major media has primarily concentrated on white racism against Obama, the issue of race is far wider and deeper. Hopefully what is below will open more conversations about race in America beyond the black white divide.  -J Young, Alumni Editor

Rustling of the Wind

by Anonymous

There she goes again, her smooth long, silky, black hair that seemingly tried to escape from her. The wind rustles again and her hair sparkles beautifully against the cool, autumn air. I breathed out and noticed how incongruent my hot breath contrasted against the beautiful scenery of autumn right before me. She always walked past me as I stood waiting at the public bus for my daily commute home; and every day, I would tilt my head to the side just to have a glance at her petite frame for a second. I always thought about going up to her to greet her with a friendly “Hi” but the moment was never right. I remained hopeful that an opportunity would present itself when I least expected it, and hoped that when the chance arose, I would be able to muster the courage to take that first step. My hope remained strong till one day I realized that like any flame, it disappears.

“Hey Thomas, have you ever thought about your future?”

“Hmm, what do you mean by that question?”

“Like, what kind of girl do you want to marry?”

“Yeah I have, I’m going to marry a Chinese girl.”

“Really, so are you only into Chinese girls?”

“Yeah, why are you asking all these questions?"

“Because well there’s this girl that I’m interested in.”

“Is she black?"

“What? Uh… no….”

“Good, then go for it.”

Ever since the days of high school, my family and friends drilled several thoughts into my head. The first of which were do well in school and life. (Did you notice that school came first, then life?) Then came something totally expected, it was subtly said, no wait, it was whispered “…no blacks”. I was shocked yet intrigued in the views of my relatives and friends who strongly supported interracial dating, but with the exception of one race. How was this possible? Is that the same as racism? I thought to myself; well if you’re singling one race in particular to be scrutinized, then yes it is absolutely racism.

When I asked my Asian friends if they would ever date or marry a black girl they responded with a zealous no. There was never a moment of hesitation in their response. Even my friends from China that had just picked up the language understood my questions of race preference perfectly clear. They too responded without faltering. When I asked them why, they responded with “I don’t know, it’s just that it would never work out.”

One time I got this response, “It’s like mixing black paint and yellow paint. At first it seems fun but what you get in the end, is a messy picture.” I continued asking and received even more astonishing responses. “It’s the way they (black girls) talk, they way they look and the way they act, think about it, do you honestly think it’ll work out?”

Surprisingly, when I asked if they felt any sort of animosity toward blacks, my Asian friends would say that it’s not that they have any animosity toward blacks, nor were they racist. I was puzzled yet my fascination with the issues of interracial dating grew exponentially. For awhile, I too began to believe that the mixture was like oil and water, you can stir all you want but in the end, they will always separate. Perhaps, Asian culture was too different, too incongruous to the lifestyles of blacks.

This norm or whatever you may call it maybe in fact, applicable to the vast majority of blacks and Asians; but I hope in my heart that this wasn’t applicable to me nor to her, and especially not the embers that remained from my previous flame. One day in September, when the leaves rustled about and the cool autumn air was setting in, I spotted her. This was the moment and I took a step forward.