The Value Of A Man's Life

[neo_prodigy]

The value of a man's life, as long as he's not white?

Never forget the story of Vincent Chin. Vincent Who? Exactly.

And this post here, speaks for itself.

As I said to Box, this is my black ass, exhibiting no surprise.

Comments

[basswhooper]

I learned about Vincent Chin a couple of years ago from altbro_emeritus (himself a gay POC of Thai descent), and the title of his LJ post on the story haunts me to this day: "ALL ROOK SAME!"

[deepseasiren]

" All Rook Same"

You're right about that one.

[azn_jack_fiend]

I was a little kid when that happened, and I never knew about Vincent Chin until decades later. But I was already living through the same hate that killed him. Other kids used to call me "jap" and "chink" interchangeably, and when I tried to tell them I was American, they'd just laugh at me and tell me it didn't matter because we were all the same. Anything they said to me or did to me was OK because I was responsible for WWII and "taking American jobs".

That was a terrible time. I think things are a little better for Asian-Americans today, but I'll never forget it, or stop worrying that it will happen again.

[deepseasiren]

I got called names like that and I would beat the shit out of a kid who said that to me. I have relatives who all got put in Internment Camps because this country wasn't able to distinguish the face of an American from that of the 'enemy alien' my relatives and ancestors were considered. NO ONE called me a Jap or a Chink without getting their face slapped or nose bloodied as a kid. My dad was the same way. I remember in 1975 when the Vietnam War ended, some people called my dad a gook when we were driving, and he chased their asses down the street. My dad took NO racist shit from anyone

[kittenmommy]

Because my ex wife was from Vietnam/Japan/Phillipines.

I'd say that's pretty telling right there.

And I'm sorry people were so awful to you and to your family.

[deepseasiren]

Not many people, I'd say over my 43 years, maybe a dozen. That's not so bad out of all the really cool friends and people that I know. Later on I just chalked it up to ignorance but as a kid, when they said racist shit, you couldn't insult a white person back in the same way.

[deepseasiren]

See I heard about Vincent Chin ONLY through my dad's Asian American newspaper for his community group. Otherwise, I wouldn't have. And I'm Asian. And this really, really pissed me off. It showed me that the life of a person of color is expendable.

[kittenmommy]

I remember the huge Anti-Japan bashing that went on in the late 80s to early 90s, seeing it on American news, but I never heard of this.

Yes, exactly. And I'm pretty sure the anti-Japan stuff started in the '70s, when we began importing Japanese cars due to the oil crisis.

[deepseasiren]

Yes, that's when it happened. It was a classic case of xenophobia and ignorance. American cars CAN be shitty quality. So my feeling is, I buy what is the BEST quality car.

[pfeifferpack]

I kinda wish we were at a point where there would be REASON to be surprised.....*deep sad sigh

[deepseasiren]

I hate being viewed as 'other' and not American. When are people going to realize Asians( and Latinos) have been here longer than some caucasians?

[pfeifferpack]

Exactly! In fact unless a person is full Native American we are all "newcomers" with some more new than others.

I have trouble with the term caucasian for that matter....none of my ancestors came from the Caucasus region! I have Irish, English, Cherokee, German and God only knows what else in my ancestory but none from the area called the caucasus region . Labels are a pain in the butt!

As for "American"....everyone in this hemisphere is American be it north, central, south, etc. but in the USA we claim it as ours exclusively. Crazy!

[deepseasiren]

Allright so...that's a good lesson to not use caucasian because no one person in this world is 'pure' racially. I love it when someone for example is a racist and then you find out they have Native blood in them or whatever, you know?

[deepseasiren]

Oh my God, someone actually remembers Vincent Chin. You see, I remember that when it was the height of 'Buy American'. The life of a person of color is expendable. Those fuckers who did that shit to him thought he was 'Japanese' and therefore responsible for the loss of jobs because people were 'not buying American cars'. The media didn't even make a big deal out of this. I can guarantee if his name was Vincent Smith, they would have. Thank you for this D!

I also remember even seeing racist bumper stickers at that time ( like, Jap cars suck...and there was one I saw with a rising sun that said " Buy American, before it's too late). My dad's Asian American newspaper from his organization had a huge article about Vincent Chin but I sure as shit didn't see any about it anywhere else.