 "Photo: lai-yan tang")
In a time of increased turmoil over the campus' racial diversity, author Arar Han, BC '03, returned to her alma mater on Sunday to discuss her book, Asian-American X, which describes the often overlooked struggles of Asian-American youths living in the United States.
Han's book consists of a series of essays that tackle an identity crisis among Asian-American youths. All the essays were written by Asian-American high school and college students and then edited by Han and a co-worker, a recent Harvard graduate.
The book's publication came on the heels of a widely-circulated essay written by an Asian-American college student that lambasted the social habits of his peers, describing them as introverted, self-absorbed, and sexist. "Anytime you say something like that publicly, it's going to kick up some dust," said Han.
Largely as a response to that essay, Han received 170 different essay submissions for her project. Due to space considerations, only 35 could be published.
Before reading two excerpts from the book, Han outlined some of her frustration with the term "Asian-American."
That label, she argued, oversimplifies the complex stories of many Americans of Asian descent. If they made up a larger part of the population, Han argues, more fitting labels would become part of the lexicon. "If you look at the United States, those of Asian descent only make up 3 percent of the general population, so everyone is thrown into the same pot as an 'Asian-American.'"
The first essay, called "Label Us Angry" described a racially charged altercation between two Filipino teenagers and an older white male in Palo Alto, Calif. A traffic accident escalated after the white man hurled insults at the two teens, Jeremiah and Carlos, from his car, calling them "lowlifes," "hoodlums," and "chinks." After hearing that last insult, Carlos assaulted the man, who responded to the attack by spraying mace in his face.
As the white man drove away in his car, Carlos hurled a quarter at him, shattering his rear window.
Students at a nearby school observed the incident and helped bring Carlos to authorities. He now has a criminal record and has done 200 hours of community service and mandatory anger management classes. The white male faced no criminal charges.
Having finished her reading, Han asked the audience if they felt Carlos' anger was justified. In a show of hands, the majority of the classroom sympathized with his struggle.
Han advised students to consider the daily instances of racism some of their peers face, and urged them to try to understand where such intense anger comes from. "Keep in mind that there is a reason for this build-up [of anger]. There might be a story there," she said.
The second excerpt from the book, titled "A Little Too Asian and Not Enough White," was written by Matthew Noerper, a student at Pomona College and the adopted son of a white couple. In the essay he describes his equal frustration with the racial attitudes of his Asian and white friends. On the one hand, he encounters a series of misconceptions about Asian culture among their white counterparts.
But he also observes several detrimental habits in Asian-American family units, with sons often being favored over daughters, he writes. This favoritism often clouds the judgment of male youths - a condition he describes as "Asian Prince Syndrome." He recalls being chastised by his male peers for cleaning up after a party, a job typically reserved for women. "For the first time in my life I was disgusted to be an Asian-American male," wrote Noerper.
Han concluded her reading with "some unsolicited advice" to the audience. She told students to avoid becoming too hostile in their interactions with people of opposing viewpoints and to remember that there is much to be learned by listening rather than speaking. "Whichever side you are on, try taking the tension level down a bit, and see if there are some truths to what the other side is saying," she said.
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