[591] in peace2
Justin Fong's response
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jimmy_B,MajMoola,MechWarrior,etc._)
Sat Mar 17 01:18:48 2001
Message-Id: <200103170619.BAA01385@MECHWARRIOR.MIT.EDU>
To: peace-list@MIT.EDU
cc: mit-talk@MIT.EDU, sss-talk@MIT.EDU
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 01:18:59 EST
From: "Jimmy_B,MajMoola,MechWarrior,etc._Chien-ta Wu" <jimmbswu@MIT.EDU>
From: Juice Fong <jfong@fas.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: Juice Fong <jfong@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 15:21:03 -0500 (EST)
To: Pfoho-Open <pfoho-open@hcs.harvard.edu>
Subject: [Pf-OPEN] Please Spare a Few Moments re: The Invasian
I'm anticipating that many of you are staying off of
Pfoho-OPEN because of Pfoho-Debate's raging popularity, and
the fact that I am also on Pfoho-OPEN despite being ragingly
furious at me. I am free and willing to talk to any and all
of you if you feel it so requires. Please read the following
email I just sent to a mass of people. I hope it calms your fears.
- -Juice
=2E..
Dear All-
This will be a long email. But I think I have already
caught your attention and I hope you will stay with me for a
few minutes.
First and foremost, I would like to offer my apologies
to any of you who were offended by my article in FM today.
In hindsight, I do regret the manner in which I presented
this material. Had I known it would affect such a large
audience nationally, I would have taken more time to
reconstruct my arguments, emphasize some things that I have
said in response to complaining emails, and omit some of the
overly offensive portions.
Many of the sharpest criticisms have come from my
closest friends. I do not hate Asians. I probably have a
disproportionately high number of Asian friends. I regret
that someone forwarded my article along with the title
"ANTI-ASIAN HATE SPEECH IN THE HARVARD CRIMSON." I regret
that people called it "Asian-bashing." I intended for it to
be a wake up call to a much larger audience, certainly far
outside the Asian community. Obviously it was received much
more negatively and I am sorry for that. But please listen
to the core of my message:
I have received about 90 personal emails in response to
"The Invasian." I would characterize about one-third of them
to be positive and supportive. There were about 10 or so
that were neutral and more inquisitive, and the remaining
were of varying degrees of criticism. In response to these
emails, I would first like to thank those who have taken the
time to write me, both good and bad. I have received
insightful emails that have scrolled beyond the base of my
desk, and others that literally consisted of: "FUCK YOU"
Before reading on, I would like you all to keep in mind
the following assertion: We will not agree. We will not find
an answer. No one is right here. No one is wrong here. What
we will facilitate is something that can be defined as the
end purpose of my article: a meaningful and contemplative
discussion about our behavior as individuals, here at
Harvard, and elsewhere around the country, as I have sensed
from emails tonight. It's obvious that it's not a one-sided
issue. By the amount of support and sympathy I have
received, I can tell that there are others out there who
share my frustrations. There are certainly an equal number
of people who strongly disagree and would like to know my
physical address so they can send me an explosive surprise.
(Don't worry, it will be listed below, but do keep in mind
that I will be x-raying everything for the next two years.)
Thus it is a divided issue, an issue that deserves attention
and dialogue. The good thing about this all is that we have
already created dialogue, in our anger, in our frustration,
in our sympathy and pain. Let us continue, for these issues
will not resolve without exposing themselves to the masses.
I will now provide a context for my article. Fifteen
Minutes Magazine is an interesting publication. It likes to
be a bit edgy, a bit controversial, and a bit humorous at
the same time. Among its 24 pages is one page that is soley
dedicated to a weekly endpaper. The endpaper is free from
constraint. It's 1500-2000 words for me to use to
disseminate to the Harvard population. It's a chance for
someone to reflect on their college experience, it's an
opportunity for David Newman '03 to proclaim "I'm white,
damnit!" and it has become a place for me to stir up a bit
of controversy regarding race relations. Thus, for those of
you on other campuses unaware of the publication, this might
account for my attempts at being witty with a sense of
conviction.
I wrote around 1500 words that pissed many of you off.
I'm sorry. Although my original forethought predicted that
it would come off with a mysterious fusion of humor and
gravity, it is clearly apparent that it was received with
much less understanding than I would have hoped for. I blame
myself for that. Those who were offended have a right to be
offended. Some have expressed that I set Asians back ten
years. Others think that I am, myself, perpetuating these
stereotypes in that "others" who read my article will nod
and say, "Okay, that IS what Asians are like after
all...just checking." Again, I am sorry that I caused this
damage. On the other hand, however, it is my assertion that
these sensitive issues cannot be raised without offending a
great number of people. But I will apologize for going
overboard. Nevertheless, I stand behind my convictions and I
hope people will begin to understand my point of view. As I
have mentioned, however, understand that we will not all
agree and that no one is right or wrong in this dialogue.
Many of my beliefs were not well articulated in this
article, and I apologize to the Crimson for not exercising a
sufficient amount of journalistic integrity. Furthermore, I
also want to point at that my opinions do not represent
those of the Harvard Crimson nor those of Harvard College,
but mine alone. But stay with me while I divulge into my
argument a bit more clearly: My problem is not
Asian-specific. I feel that I could more easily discuss this
group and feel a lesser rash of criticisms because my last
name is Fong. But the problem rings true for so many
demographics in our Harvard community: those who are black,
Jewish, rich, athletes, Hist and Lit concentrators, VES
students, smokers, et alia. Self-segregation is a problem
everywhere, but I feel it's most dangerous in an ethnic
sense:
My real problem is with the "wall." One of my theses was
to say that Asians who self-segregate themselves only
perpetuate their own stereotypes. Again, I am not a
sociology professor, nor have I done any undergraduate
research on this topic - but this is still my opinion. The
problem has to do with "the wall." A group of Asians hang
out together. Fine. They hang out together because they have
something in common. Maybe they all speak Chinese, maybe
their parents are all from Hong Kong=97either way, they share
a cultural identity and it's nice to have others around to
whom you can relate and celebrate your traditions. I'm fine
with this. I know many people who do this. Cool. The
problem? I perceive that many of these same individuals
exclusively and only hang out with Asians. Now again, I'm
fine with them hanging out - but to the extent where they
won't make an effort to forge relationships with
others...I'm not so hot on that. Furthermore, in their
appreciation of their own ethnicity, it seems only to
highlight race as a distinct feature of primary importance
when regarding relationships.
Do we want to think like this? When I meet a new
classmate, what should be the first thing that pops into my
head? "He's Asian. Excellent. He is now worthy of being a
friend." I don't think this way. Rather, I wish people would
dig beneath the surface color and get to know people for who
they are. That said, I must sound like a hypocrite at the
moment. You're probably thinking: "This guy doesn't
appreciate me as an individual. He thinks I just fill a
stereotype." I'm not stupid. I know stereotypes are both
true and false, but mostly false. But the reason why so many
of you laughed at some of my mocking remarks was because
there was a hint of truth to them. So how do Asians, in
being so introverted, perpetuate their own stereotypes?
Simple: the wall. With this prerequisite of Asian-ness, they
start to build a wall around their group of friends, not
attempting to reach beyond the wall and share with others.
Thus, at the same time outsiders observe this wall and seem
to react in a turned-off manner. It's the feeling that I get
when I approach a table of all black people or all rich
white men whom I don't know; I'm a bit intimidated. I'm a
bit awkward. Can I sit with these people?
So we have established this idea of a wall dividing the
two of us. Thus, those on the outside want to know what's
behind the wall. Who are those people? What are they like?
And now these Asians, for example, have established their
own little community and closed it to themselves. This
alienates people from both the inside and the outside. It's
exactly because we can't get to know them as individuals
that we create stereotypes about them. And thus, these
stereotypes are perpetuated as groups continue to cluster
and exclude.
Tonight I have talked to dozens of people for the first
time. I have found, and I think they have found that we
might have more in common than we originally thought. In
fact I would probably get along just fine with many of the
people with whom I've corresponded, despite their nasty
slurs at me (and mine at them, if they so perceive).
I would now like to offer an explanation of these
stereotypes that I offered. As a first-year, I took a small
freshman seminar called "Race, Modernism and American
Culture:" A diverse crowd with diverse beliefs. I was more
of a "melting potter" or an advocate for the so-called
"tossed salad." At one point in the course, I was asked to
examine yellow peril at the turn of the 20th century and
researched the Asian stereotypes of the time. In short they
were what I mentioned in my article which I do not wish to
revisit at this time. I would like to point out that I did
not create these stereotypes. Americans in the early 1900's
did. They applied them to some of my ancestors as they came
over to America. My family experienced yellow peril. My
grandmother spent weeks in a horse's stall, and then, later,
a couple years in an internment camp in the midwest (no
offense) during WWII. Her life was forever changed because
of these stereotypes and these fears. I mentioned them in my
article not to proliferate them (although it seems,
unfortunately, that they have been propagated) but to point
out that this is how others will perceive Asians. And as I
have stated, they are stereotypes. They are inaccurate, but
partially true. Again, I feel that self-segregation only
intensifies these stereotypes and that's a darn shame.
So this is the crux of my argument and I am very
regretful that I did not express it more clearly and more
sensitively before: (1) Self-segregation happens among
groups of people by race, religion, academic interest,
common activities, etc; but it is most intense and dangerous
with regard to race. (2) Stereotypes exist because we don't
know people as individuals, but only as members of larger,
more general groups. (3) Using Asians as one of many
possible examples, self-segregation builds walls and makes
those on the inside unfamiliar with that on the outside, and
those on the outside unfamiliar with those on the inside.
(4) Thus, self-segregation intensifies these unfamiliarities
and intensifies these stereotypes as we fail to recognize
one another as individuals with distinct personal
narratives.
I don't know what to think of my actions in the past few
days. I am a bit regretful, a bit shameful, but a bit cheery
as well. I know I have hurt many people, but I have also (by
the responses I have received) helped many express their
sentiments. In the words of a good friend, "it took a whole
lot of cajones to put it out there." Obviously I am not as
politically correct as others would wish me to be, but
that's my nature. I do understand that I have hurt many
people's feelings. I understand that people of all
backgrounds think this was a terrible mistake on my part.
But at the same time I can't but help to read all of the
positive support from around the country. (Surely, the
criticisms are not only nationwide, but also international.)
I am willing to take the heat, as I have. You are receiving
this email because you wrote to me tonight or spoke to me in
person (or I know you and I feel you will listen.) For about
the first 60 emails, I was able to write back serious,
thoughtful personal responses that I feel pacified the angry
to some extent. But there should still be fury out there.
People should still be very upset. Why? Not only because of
insensitive little me, but because of America's inherent
incapability to deal with the issue of race in a way that
leaves everyone smiling. Thus, out of all of this
controversy, I hope only positive things will come,
particularly a dialogue among all of you who have felt
strongly enough to approach me.
If anyone has any proposals to ways we can start talking
about issues such as those I have resurfaced, please let me
know. However, I would like it to be known that Harvard and
Stanford undergraduates (including myself) are currently
working on a conference that will occur on both coasts in a
few weeks called "The Face of America" (explored more at
http://www.thefaceofamerica.org). Here we hope to encourage
discussion and contemplation about various issues that help
us define (or make us struggle to define) the face of
America. As soon as I am done with my lynching I am fully
prepared and willing to talk to groups of irate individuals
who want to discuss these issues with me.
I said I was somewhat cheery about my article. The
reason being that it did provoke a great deal of
conversation from what I hear. I think that is a good thing,
especially considering that it consisted of disagreements.
Even today, I have had many a conversation and have given
time to consider my own beliefs. I'm willing to have them
changed. I'm willing to listen to you. I hope we are all
willing to listen to each other. I also want to say the
following that may seem a bit unrelated: I do not believe in
censorship. I do believe in the marketplace of ideas. I do
not believe that people should be persecuted for their own
beliefs. I believe that people have died for their beliefs
before, and it would be a shame for me to blow up in ashes
before I finish a response paper that was due last
Wednesday.
For all of you who have forwarded my article to people
and places across the country, please be just as angered or
shocked or affected by what I have said and pass this along
to those same people again. This message is very important
to me, and I hope it helps to appease the anger of many.
Please take what I have said into consideration. I don't
want to appear as if I dislike so many people. Rather, I'm
frustrated that there are so many walls within our society.
I think it's time someone said something. There is much more
I could say, and you could say about this topic. It will not
end here. And those are my
two cents.
Again, I apologize for offending many many good people.
Sincerely,
Juice Fong
P.S. For the record I am officially an East Asian Studies
concentrator strongly considering a move to Philosophy.
Furthermore, the caption at the end of the article including
the words "self-hating" was not my contribution, but the
commentary of an editor.
I apologize to anyone receiving this in duplicate.
- --
Juice (Justin Geoffrey Fong)
jfong@fas.harvard.edu
317 Pforzheimer Mail Center, Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.juicefong.com
------- End of Forwarded Message
