I am an adopted, Asian-American woman. I have been fortunate with my individual circumstances, but sometimes I wish this generalized description was not my own. I think that a lot of times the diversity of minorities in America is overlooked or not treated with the same amount of compassion and reverence as others. It is a strange thing to be an Asian American. I do not know where I belong a lot of times, and I do not realize how much of an influence Caucasian culture has become to my mind. My self-awareness is fascinating because I really do not have it in a lot of ways. How do I think about myself as a Korean woman when all of my friends around me are Caucasian? How do I include myself with the first generation Koreans that I see without having anything (in my mind) in common with them? Matthew Salesses offers more support for this point. He says, “We hated being categorized as adoptees, or I did and I read those feelings into the others, who to me did not seem friendly, or familiar, only more strange for their yellow faces.” He is talking about going to parent-mandated meeting with other adoptees. I can relate with this because when I see other Koreans who are “more Korean” than I am culturally, I do not think of myself as the same background ethnically. I have no idea how this happens. Why do I think this way? And do nature and nurture come to anyone else’s mind as well?

Through my personal experience a student here at the University of South Carolina, I have seen racism towards Asian-Americans from both sides. I have been told to “jump in a dumpster” because “that’s where I belong”. I, myself, have also looked down internally on the students studying abroad here wearing different clothes from me. I used to be ignorant of the fact that racism takes many forms; that it does not all look the same outwardly. But, learning more about how I subconsciously view 1st generation Asians, I have realized how many thoughts I need to fix from negative to positive. The way in which my school handles racism is very peculiar to me. As students, we should be aware of the reality at hand yet also be taught how to use that awareness to be more considerate of others in thought, word, and action. I am a 2nd generation Asian American woman. I am full Korean and I was adopted by two loving Caucasian parents. I have an adopted, Caucasian sister, and the majority of my friends are also Caucasian. The way in which I was brought up and the demographics of the people I was raised around impacted me greatly. Allow me to explain, my parents taught me to love others and to treat them the way I would want to be treated. I was taught that all people were created equal and are to be treated with kindness and love. The difference, I think, is the limited exposure I had to other ethnic groups. There was not a conscious decision behind this outcome, it was simply how things naturally panned out. I am speaking to you, to fellow students and representatives at the University of South Carolina as an Asian woman who understands subconscious racism and wants to inform you of the possibility you too could be subconsciously racist. As an institution, I believe there are more effective, impactful ways we can love and include minority races on campus, beyond inappropriately shaming “the privileged”. 

When I arrived to the University of South Carolina I encountered an odd situation that I never thought would happen, though certainly found humorous when it did. I was walking down Greene Street to the student organizations fair. This was my first semester, and these things were fascinating to me coming from a school of about 180 students (Kindergarten through 12th grade). I strutted down the sidewalk in the blazing Columbia heat to see rows and rows of tables. Pamphlets were everywhere. “Here! Check us out” twenty or so students would continue to say. It was sort of a rush and all seemed to be a blur until I see a young man flagging me down, he was of Asian descent of some sort. The scene played out something like this:

“Hey! What are you?”

“Um, I am Korean. But! I was born in Florida.”

“Oh cool! I couldn’t tell if you were Korean or Japanese. Would you want to join the Vietnamese student organization?”

“Oh, well no thanks.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to be Vietnamese to join!”

“No thank you.”

“Okay well can I get your number to send you some information? Here, I’ll put mine number in your phone.”

“Thanks for that. Have a good day.”

This was not the end of these types of encounters for me. They kept happening. Reflecting on them though, I am finding that I was ashamed. I felt singled out, excluded from what I would later identify as my comfy, White-person bubble. I believe this experience and conclusion could represent many other Asian-Americans’ experiences and feelings towards being singled out. It so happens though, that subtle racism is overlooked by the majority of today’s culture. The problem with this is that extreme racism is easily recognizable and therefore, quick to be put down and discouraged. There are laws concerning things like this. Subtle racism and microaggressions are not so quickly dealt with until they too develop into an extreme, hardened form of racism.

“In addition, higher education scholars have underscored how Asian Americans experience more subtle racism on a daily basis, including members of society rejecting their interethnic differences (“all Asians look alike”), ascribing them intelligence (“you people always do well in school”), and denying their racial realities (“Asians are the new Whites and do not face discrimination”).” [Museus, Samuel D.. Park, Julie J..] 

I relate to the statements here. In those moments of being called out based on my appearance, I felt like I did not have any individuality. I think of myself as a white female; I do not identify with the assumed type that would join an Asian club on campus. But this too is wrong. I was not created a white female. I am supposed to look the way I look. I think it is very important for individuals in my position to be proud and not ashamed of looking different (being a minority). Overcompensation to go as far as saying “I look different and I am better because of that” is wrong as well. This would be an example of inappropriately placed value.

Today, many forms of racism towards Asians is referred to by internalized racism. “Asian Americans may adopt the negative attitudes and experiences to which they have been exposed.” [Choi, Andrew Young. Israel, Tania. Maeda, Hotaka.] I can personally speak for this being true. I had a difficult time understanding why my boyfriend would be attracted to me. I have always been very insecure about my dark hair, olive skin tone, the shape of my legs, the shape of my face, the list continues. I did not realize how insecure I was or how negative my thoughts were until he was shocked at my perception of my appearance. Growing up, I have been told I have squinty, black eyes. I have been told my hair is too coarse, and that I needed eye lash extensions. I have been told my face is too flat, and my nose is too flat. These are all statements I have come to believe, creating a very negative impact on my self-esteem and emotions. Therefore, I also had a negative perception of others that fell into these categories of outward appearance.

This matter is a difficult one to verbalize, both personally as I have been effected and externally because it is not a popular subject. Asians have been separated from the majority of culture on this college campus, and the racism shown towards us has not been addressed. The more predominately addressed racism on campus is between African Americans and Caucasians. I believe there is a different, deeper way to address these issues, because the history of this racism is different and heavily more severe. But, in all forms of racism and discrimination the bigger question we must ask ourselves is how are we to treat others? And why? The current action plan to inform and persuade on basis of “just because” is not cutting it. The University of South Carolina should do four things. First, they should do away with the mandatory “tunnel of awareness” and other required lectures about not discriminating against races. Second, we should reevaluate their “why”; the reason why their students should not exclude minority races and treat them poorly and why colorblindness is not the answer. Lastly, we should have a staff and leadership that is kind and compassionate, as they are the models for the students and should be handling that responsibility with great honor and wisdom. This also plays into the psychological impact on Asian Americans in education; higher education especially. 

Up until this year, the concept of the term racism not being allowed to apply to any other races except in the case where African Americans are victims of Caucasians’ racism was completely new to me. Upon my arrival to the University of South Carolina, I was quickly submerged in an array of surface level non-discriminatory outcries. My RM had all the girls on our wing of the hall travel as a group to the Russell House ballroom. We were greeted by a team of people from the university housing staff and volunteers. We were then told to proceed through the 45-50 minute exhibit as a group. The topics ranged from poverty awareness to sexual orientation awareness and of course, racial diversity awareness. The racial diversity awareness booth was not nearly what I had expected. There were photographs of non-Caucasian individuals hanging all around the curtains. They were holding signs that said a line that had been said to them before that they were hurt by. I could not believe my eyes though, at some of the lines. One in particular that stood out to me was an individual asked what their ethnicity was. I did not think this was something to be offended or ashamed of. You see, the problem is not that people are of different skin colors and ethnicities. The problem is the value and shame associated with the different races. This institutional display told a different story. I had never thought of being offended when I was asked my ethnicity and suddenly I was finding myself wondering if I should have been. The display went on to call all Caucasian people over-privileged, shaming them for the education they were able to have. This was a very interesting, pivotal moment for me, because I was raised in a Caucasian home. Did that mean I was over-privileged? Did that mean I was supposed to feel guilty for my educational opportunity? My family has a middle class economic status, and it is taking a scholarship, my parents income, my income, and financial aid to get me through college. I am also planning on graduating early to save money. Does this mean I should be ashamed? I came to the conclusion that I am very blessed and I am privileged in many ways and I should absolutely be grateful, but I am not to feel ashamed. 

Lectures and events such as the “Tunnel of Awareness” categorize people based on their race. It defines humans with differences as too individual to come together. Though the intentions behind such strategies are good and respectable, the effect it has does not satisfy the problem at hand. There is no quick fix for poor treatment of others. This issue needs to be addressed more wholly and with a deeper understanding of human nature. A racist’s external voice and actions can be limited, but the root of the problem internally cannot be mended and brought to a place of higher understanding and compassion without leadership to do so. 

My experience with this matter is limited to the confines of my own life, but many others have even constructed studies on college campuses about this topic. This brings me to my next point of the need for the University of South Carolina to reevaluate our “why”. Why should we put forth effort to change the way we perceive and therefore treat those of different ethnicities than ourselves? Should we be colorblind? And train ourselves to think there are not actual differences between humans externally? The distinction here, is between colorblindness and multiculturalism.  A study called “From Ignorance to Intolerance: Perceived Intentionality of Racial Discrimination Shapes Preferences for Colorblindness Versus Multiculturalism” in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology in 2016. It was constructed by Evan P. Apfelbaum, Rebecca Grunberg, Nir Halevy, and Sonia Kang in which they examined PIRD (perceived intentionality of racial discrimination). Their findings on the matter were simply that, “there is no one-size-fits-all prescription for improving race relations—the merits of colorblindness and multiculturalism depend on other contextual factors, including PIRD.” [Apfelbaum] I believe this is not the answer to our “why”. The problem is not that we need to ignore the differences in other people from ourselves. In fact, a study done by Jennifer A. Richeson and Richard J. Nussbaum suggest that multiculturalism is better than color-blindness. 

“These results suggest, therefore, that racial attitudes may fluctuate depending on the approach taken to achieve interethnic harmony. Consequently, the present findings echo the vast majority of non-experimental research in education finding that multiculturalism yields more positive outcomes for intergroup relations than color-blindness.” [Richeson, Nussbaum]

They saw in their study that the learned racial bias, or inherent racial bias, if you would rather, increased when the colorblind strategy was put in place. These studies prove that there has not been a code cracked to solve the problem of negative racial relations. What do these strategies have in common? They are literal, external fixes attempting to mend a deeper issue. My proposition is for the institution to reevaluate their strategy not by an extreme change of definitions such as negating race altogether, but by modeling and encouraging a deeper, internal change within the student body.

I recently attended a lecture from Dr. Jaris J. Williams. He was speaking on race in the church and he made several stark points. He started out his argument of how race should be handled in the church by saying that race in the modern world refers to a form of “biological inferiority”. I believe this is the actual trigger of those who seek to mend the issue with these ideas of colorblindness and such. He goes on to say, “whether I like it or not, I have inherited a construct to have implicit assumptions about you and how you look”. Who can disagree with that? This is a reality. He went on to say how we are to train and admonish our hearts and minds to go against this internalized concept of biological inferiority to love others as we are intended to do. He made an important point of saying, “racism is subtle. It is overt but it is also covert.” My hope is that this paper will bring forth for somebody the first step of beginning this process of admonishment of the mind towards others; to simply become aware. 

Many readers may have never been exposed to an area where Asians have experienced violence because of their race; it does exist. A study was conducted called, “The model minority myth and perceptions of Asian-Americans as victims of racial harassment”. This study yielded devastating results as the victims accounted for were severely harmed. The first victim was stalked, verbally tormented, and physically tormented [Delucchi, Michael]. In the 1990’s a Vietnamese American student was stalked at his dorm, the cafeteria, and other places on campus. The student went to the University of California and underwent many more provocations as he went about his daily life. The later convicted perpetrator was leaving this Asian American student with black eyes, bruises, and eventually a broken nose that required surgery. The student filed a police report and the perpetrator was arrested and put in jail. He got out the next day, and returned to torment the young Asian American man. The institution’s response was that the incident was not racially motivated, but an “unfortunate act of violence”. The University made no disciplinary actions for the student and left it up to the police. The voice here of the institution is weak and unjust. The students see no justice paid for the victim’s sake. I think the permissiveness of passivity and the bystander effect diffuses the expectations of responsibility on campus for students. The administration modeling that this is okay, is not okay.

My last point is that the administration of the institution should be modeling good behavior towards those of other races. Without the cohesive unity of the institution’s voice (the president) and the voices of professors and staff working together, the students will not be as impacted greatly. Professors and other members of the staff are representatives hired to submit to the University policy. But, a lackadaisical attitude will influence students more than you may think. The fix for this is not by adding an incentive nor discipline, but by finding select staff that truly believe in the policies themselves. This will ensure a sensitivity to those who may be victims and a passion for the cause. An example of when this was not occurring is when Harvard turned down students based on their race and the stereotypical academic performance that went along with that. More than 60 Asian American organizations filed a federal complaint against the institution for the outrage. [Morris, Catherine] Many students turn to their professors in college for moral advise. They are now separated from their parents and learning about different types of world views and they are looking for wisdom on the subject matter. 

The two ideas of a well incorporating institution staff and how it applies further to students comes together in this quote from a Forbes online contributor. 

“When you factor in the graying of the professoriate and impending retirement of hundreds of thousands of faculty and administrators, it quickly becomes apparent that the challenges we are facing today may create even wider gaps in racial and ethnic representation. When these students feel slighted and harassed at their own universities, what motivation do they have to join the ranks of the faculty and administration?”

It is a cyclical rotation, and just like most leadership the issues trickle downwards; starting with the few and affecting the many. The University must first start with a good policy and stance on the issue of racism and inclusion of others. But, if they do not have this to begin with then the staff will most likely not seem cohesive on the matter. This negatively impacts the minority students who may or may not be already bullied or put down for their differences. The combination of the two will significantly turn away the younger generation of minority students and this will cause the pool of those wishing to become professors and work for the institution to significantly lessen in interest and commitment. But, if starts with a positive effect then the outcome will most likely also become positive. Professors can impact students worldviews greatly, and I have found that the overall character of the professor is a determining point for me personally. If I respect my professor naturally by the way they treat others and the way they treat me as a student, I am more likely to test their beliefs and stances for something of my own. 

This happens because of the psychological impact people have on other people; especially people in authority over other people. A common belief among older generations of Koreans is the belief that psychological distress brings shame on the family line. [Kim, Paul Youngbin] This is controversial to the American mindset of ever growing acceptance of counseling and professional help. The reason why I am stating this fact is because it reveals another layer of the multifaceted, complicated plane of psychology and how people are affected. To be aware of this will greatly help an understanding of this issue as it is not a very well known or popular subject matter. 

I am not above reproach, I understand many of the topics here are in the gray area of understanding. Many of my claims are drawn from my own experience and understanding. My experience is but one section of my life time, as one voice out of many, many others over the course of time and numerous places. Some may say that the term racism cannot be applied to other races, especially in America, other than between Caucasians and African Americans. I can understand this as historically this has been the greatest amount of tension and damage between races in our course of history. Here, I am simply defining racism as how Dr. Jarvis J. Williams did, as a modern day biological inferiority. However, I can understand how this would be inherently offensive. I also know that this sort of subtle racism I have experienced and have witnessed on campus is not felt by every minority student, especially Asian American students. I understand that it must be very difficult to practically find staff and to differentiate individuals from truly believing the policy to trying to incorporate it into their interview as this is a public policy. My ideas and experience are limited to the theoretical as I do not have experience in this matter other than what I have lived and have access to research. 

There are clearly individuals that think lectures and exhibits such as the Tunnel of Awareness are necessary. I admire the determination, time, energy, and voices of those people. Here, I am speaking from my experience and not from the experience of others. I would also like to add that the Tunnel of Awareness dealt with more issues than just race. I cannot speak for those issues and the way they were addressed, I am speaking of the exhibit that dealt with race and how that particular subject was addressed. 

During the time of when I was making my research on this subject matter, I was in a conversation with a friend about her professor. She said that her professor talked about how race does not exist. I was curious to see what else she had told her. My friend, Julia was bringing this up to myself and another friend of ours. The professor seemed to propose that race is a social convention, that especially in America it is not a determinant of where you are from so therefore we cannot use this term of “race”. [Budiongan, Julia] In this case, my argument will not be received well and as terms evolve and change over time and circumstance I can understand a rejection of my use of “race” here. However, it is important to me that the readers understand the deeper issue here and that my use of the term “race” is not a statement going against those who adhere to this definition. It is simply a means of consistent definition within the context of this paper. 

This argument is important to me because it has affected me and the changes I have proposed could have impacted me in a positive way and therefore could do the same for others. The principles especially apply for Asian Americans as we are the fastest growing race in the nation. [Lam, Charles] The psychological health of Asian Americans and other minorities is being damaged on the campus of the University of South Carolina and other campuses too. Colleges are the beginning of the workforce and the psychological damage is being carried on into the work force as well. There is a great deal of urgency in this subject because it deals with the next generation and there is direct impact in how that generation is treated and how it will grow to treat the generation after that and so on. These issues of subtle racism are very covert and internally impactful. Just like how I had grown to not believe my appearance could be attractive. Or how Matthew Salesses felt targeted and separated from the rest of his peers. These are just a couple of examples of this direct impact. And as I proposed, the steps for the University of South Carolina to take in achieving this difference are by getting rid of the mandatory, bias lectures, reevaluating their “why” to include minorities and treat them well and hiring administrators to incorporate this mentality on an everyday basis. 
