"ASIAN-AMERICAN MONTH"

“ASIAN-AMERICAN MONTH”

            In the early 90’s at Oakhurst, we began emphasizing the different cultural heritages in our membership.  One May I recall watching some women of Japanese heritage and some women of Korean heritage work together on wrapping a kimono dress for one of the Japanese women to wear in worship.  One of the women of Japanese heritage commented to me:  “I bet you did not know that our ancestors were mortal enemies, yet here we are working together on this Japanese dress.”  I had sort of a vague memory of that history, but since I have concentrated so much on black/white dynamics, I was not well versed on that particular Asian history.  Then I did remember the 1905 invasion of Korea by Japan, and as I was thinking about that, the woman added along the lines that I was thinking:  “Yes, I know that you are wrapped up in black and white racism, but there are other cultures with some of the same history.”  Point well taken.

            In American history, we have often made people of Asian heritage invisible and irrelevant, concentrating our energies on the status of black/white issues.  I was reminded of this last Friday on the 150^th anniversary of the linking of the transcontinental railroad in what was then Utah Territory.   That railroad was built by mostly Chinese workers, though there were a few Anglos and African-Americans.   As Ron Takaki put it in his fine book on the cultural heritages of the USA (“A Different Mirror”), by the time that the railroad was complete in 1869, 90% of the work force was Chinese – the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad from the West was a Chinese achievement.   Their reward for that astonishing accomplishment was much lower wages and later discrimination and anti-immigrant legislation.  In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which virtually ended Chinese immigration to the USA for many decades.

            That exclusion and invisibility has not ended.  Over the many celebrations of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, the Chinese contributions to it were never recognized until this year.  Secretary of Transportation Elaine Cho, of Chinese heritage herself, recognized the 12,000-15,000 Chinese immigrants who had made the railroad possible.   She is also the spouse of Mitch McConnell, whose leadership has done so much to deny workers’ rights in his home state of Kentucky and in the nation.  The main thanks for this year’s recognition came from the Chinese Railroad Workers Descendants Association, which has worked for years for us to acknowledge the labor and skill of the Chinese workers.

            The official celebration of Asian-American Heritage began in May, 1979.  It began as a week of celebration and has now expanded to a month.  The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the USA in 1843 and to remember the work of the Chinese workers on the Transcontinental Railroad.  In the evolving American system of race, people of Asian descent have not reached “ethnic” status as people of Hispanic/Latinx have.  So, they are still classified as a “race,” even though no one really fits under that oppressive word, designed by Anglo men to be able to exploit labor and lands as those who were on top of the racial ladder.  One of the ironies of this racial coding is that Asian-Americans often beat other Americans on the standardized test scores.  That reality has led to an interesting and important court case making its way through the federal system, being pushed and pumped by the Trump Administration.    A conservative group, Students For Fair Admission, sued Harvard University (Yale watching closely), indicating that students of Asian heritage were discriminated against in Harvard’s admission policies.  A federal judge heard the case last fall, and the decision has yet to be announced.  Whatever the decision is, it will be appealed, and this case is likely headed to the SCOTUS, if SCOTUS will have it.   Many of its opponents believe that at its heart, it intends to end affirmative action law in all areas for African-Americans and Hispanic Americans (and women, who have benefitted from it the most). 

            So, great accomplishments and rich histories for those Americans of Asian heritage – from Maya Lin to Steven Chu to Michelle Kwan to Yo-Yo Ma to many others – to be remembered and celebrated in this month.  Yet, the powerful monster of race hovers over us and in us, and those of this heritage are in the middle of it, as are all of us.  Let us work towards a time where we see one another as siblings, where we believe that the powerful idea that all people are created equal applies to all of us.