"The deafening silent, will it explode one day or be buried forever?"
After the out pour of Rally 119, the Chinese American community disappeared in quietness. So quiet it is hard to believe that there was some thing so extraordinary just two weeks ago. It is probably a time of reflection rather than giving up.
Law scholar Frank Wu was prescient when he opined 15 months before the infamous Jimmy Kimmel show. In "Why Vincent Chin Matters", he reminded us, with the hysteria and never ending China-bashing and hatred-mongering, something bounds to happen. It is not going to be precisely aimed at Chinese in the east hemisphere. Rather it will be haunting Asian Americans, who have their own differences and often flames among them, from the bloody history of past two centuries. It doesn't matter whether Japan or China was framed up as the enemy to divert people's anger from badly managed domestic economy. It is also already happening across American, sometimes whispering in the ears, sometimes brazenly declared, "kill all you Chinese", more than 30 years after the death of Vincent Chin.
Just like the murders of Vincent Chin didn't recognize that Asian-Americans actually made up much of the engineering force at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, the hate crime offenders of today won't understand that the mutual-benefiting trading and financing by China actually helped U.S. to fend off the worst recession since the great depression. Rather than demanding the truth, solutions and be more competitive, hatred were fanned and flaring. "It's because of you little mxxxxxfxxxxxs that we're out of work!"
This time most of Asian Americans also put their differences aside. Japanese American congressman and aspiring Indian American candidates came together to speak out against racial hatred. People from as far as South Africa or as close as ordinary Hispanic Women voiced their support.
Frank Wu also weighted in on Jimmy Kimmel show from a legal scholar, "I am not concerned for the Chinese. The Chinese can fend for themselves fine." But "someone who is angry at a visceral level about China is not likely to make an exception for me as an Anglophile... from the Midwest." What's more "the subject of harassment on a school playground has no more time to react and considerably less support. It was Kimmel who set up the scenario..." as a result "the professional producers of a hit show should be ashamed to retreat behind the youngster as they have. He has licensed his peers. The cruelty of children toward one another is limitless." Beware, Jimmy Kimmel, ABC and Disney, your behavior and choices are setting up the stage for the hate crimes. Hopefully the protesters can bring all of us the sober reality and nip the hate in the bud.
New generations of Chinese American considered 11.9 the birth of Chinese American Civil Rights Movement. Just like the Vincent Chin in about a generation before, Asian Americans are finally getting out, from the regular bullying that defined them.
It is as shameful though, for Kim Masters and Rich Lowry to come out to defend the "apologies" by Jimmy Kimmel or ABC. Our volunteer speaker from South Africa didn't have the language barrier, the Kids talk segment is a show of "atrocities" and the apologies are clearly "mockeries". With others we already have our share over there in the comments to help readers making their judgment.
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