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Post by jefe on Dec 16, 2011 3:01:24 GMT -5
Even back in the day when I went to university, many people told me that I would have gotten into Princeton or MIT had I checked "White" instead of "Asian", as at that time, they had an overabundance of applicants from places such as Taiwan (even though I got 800 on my MAth SAT and perfect score on Test of Written English ). Nowadays, I think it is almost a MUST to enhance your chances.
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Post by jefe on Dec 16, 2011 2:53:36 GMT -5
We have still come quite a ways.
50 years ago, this sort of news would not have been news. Allowing the interracial couple to attend when the member is the daughter of the Church Secretary would have been newsworthy in 1961.
But, it seems to have been precipitated from a drop in church offerings. Now, let's say President Obama came to visit the church. I bet offerings would soar. Now could they pass the resolution then?
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Post by jefe on Nov 27, 2011 9:58:57 GMT -5
Holy stale board! 3 weeks since the last post It's the end of an era...... 5 weeks to reply to your post. What do you think?
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Post by jefe on Jul 21, 2011 22:45:05 GMT -5
^ I am just imagining a Caucasian military woman bringing back an Asian man from overseas . . . .
Anyhow, I grew up near a military installation and most of the Eurasians I saw in my youth were children of white military men and their Asian brides. I couldn't identify with them at all -- it was obvious that their Dads set the social and cultural tone of their families.
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Post by jefe on Jun 18, 2011 10:45:35 GMT -5
I was a child during the Vietnam war as well, but I lived near a military base (even my family had no connection at all to the military). Most of the Eurasians I saw were those with white military fathers. Really couldn't relate that much to them.
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Post by jefe on Jun 18, 2011 10:40:48 GMT -5
Sometimes things are not consciously intentional, but people are led in certain directions.
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Post by jefe on Jun 18, 2011 10:39:36 GMT -5
"...is Asian" meaning racial makeup or cultural? I think the disparity between cultures is a more of a factor in causing tension within a relationship than external pressure coming from a couple being of different racial backgrounds (qualifier: in this day and age -- 50 years ago, I think it would be a different story). Really depends. Not everywhere is so enlightened. but yes, 50 years ago was a different story, esp. in USA with the Anti-miscengenation laws, redlining, restrictive covenants in residential housing, etc.
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Post by jefe on Jun 18, 2011 10:29:31 GMT -5
But, if you have kids with another multi-racial (Eurasian or Hispanic) person, even one that looks like he could be related to you, the chance for even more unusual combinations could arise. For example, one child could look considerably more Asian than either parent, another child would have no problem passing as Caucasian, and a 3rd might seem to inherit a bunch of things from prior generations and look like neither parent. I don't think that solves the problem either. If there were only some way to guarantee that they would look like their parents. If the other parent were full Asian, or full Caucasian, then some of them may be able to *pass* as monoracial or as a Eurasian who looks a little more Asian or Caucasian as the case may be.
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Post by jefe on May 12, 2011 4:48:02 GMT -5
I lost a good friend in the World Trade Center almost 10 years ago on 9/11, someone I used to hang out with in New York in my 20s and one of the few HK born people memorialized on the plaque at Ground Zero. But, by far, the historical event that has shaped my life more than any other happened exactly 50 years ago this month.
In May, 1961, a group of men and women had their last meal together in Chinatown in my hometown of Washington, DC. The next morning, they each took one of two busses bound for New Orleans. These people never arrived to their destination. After they left Atlanta and pulled into my mother’s hometown of Anniston, Alabama on Mother’s Day, they were greeted by a mob dressed in their Sunday finest. When they pulled out of the bus station, the mob, mostly KKK, chased the bus in cars and made it stop on the outskirts of town. They broke the windows with lead pipes and firebombed the bus. The riders were viciously beaten as they fled the burning bus, and only warning shots fired into the air by highway patrolmen prevented the riders from being lynched. Only one burning bus escaped and managed to arrive to Birmingham, where they were greeted by police dogs and an even bigger mob armed with pipes and clubs. The bludgeoned victims were arrested and brought to jail. What did these people do to cause such a violent mob reaction?
Very simple – they sat together on the bus and in the bus station waiting room and shared public lavatories. They broke the fundamental law of the South – “White” and “Colored” were not allowed to mix in any way whether in public or in private.
It has been 50 years since the legendary FREEDOM RIDERS took their first bus rides from Washington, DC bound for New Orleans. But it was these “Freedom Rides” that brought what had previously been a *Southern* problem to national attention. Despite for the cooling off period requested by President John F. Kennedy who wanted to try to manage this embarrassment at the height of the “Cold War” (ie, the War against Communism), the Freedom Rides continued over the summer and expanded to “sit-ins” at lunch counters and restaurants and hotels. Later in 1961, President Kennedy’s younger brother Robert Kennedy who was the Attorney General, forced the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its previous bus desegregation ruling. By November 1961, the signs for “White” and “Colored” began to be removed from bus stations and lunch counters, and drinking fountains, toilets and waiting rooms were consolidated.
My connection? Besides having my “滿月” (month-old party) in DC’s Chinatown, in May 1961, as an infant, I also took my first bus ride from Washington, DC to Anniston, Alabama. My parents had a fight and my mother went back to her parents’ house. But her parents would not allow her to move back in with her new baby. Mobs organized by the KKK had just beaten and tried to lynch bus passengers who tried to challenge fundamental law of the South, even though that “law” had already been ruled unconstitutional. Local people who did not participate in the violence still believed that those *fools* got what was coming.
You see, my mother had broken another law – she left the state and married a man of a different race. I can understand why my grandparents could fear attracting violence or even lynching in their hometown. It would take until 1967 before the Anti-Miscegenation laws were repealed (Loving vs. Virginia). You see, even though by the end of 1961, hotels across the country were obliged to serve customers of any race, my parents, although husband and wife, could live in the same hotel, but could not share the same hotel room. They would have to live in separate rooms.
Yes, I lost a friend almost 10 years ago on 9/11, and am still filled with great emotion over the incident, but the incident with the most impact on my life happened 50 years ago this month in May, 1961.
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Post by jefe on May 12, 2011 3:40:51 GMT -5
When I was in High School and Univ, people always told me I remind them of Spock - serious with controlled emotions. Later I realized there was another connection. Spock is obviously Eurasian, but portrayed as half-Alien as not to offend 1960s sensibilities. Jefe you look like a cross between errol flynn and johny depp. I get called marlonbrandojonnydepp. We have a hollywood connection. You would do well just on the looks. Errol Flynn was quite the dashing man. Maybe I was his reincarnation (not Johnny Depp)!
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Post by jefe on Apr 5, 2011 3:09:57 GMT -5
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Post by jefe on Apr 5, 2011 2:48:55 GMT -5
I can't wait to get the 'f' out of europe. The fallguy. My problems stems from nosy monos and not playing their game and racism. They're really pissed with me. GTFOOH!!!! Where're you gonna go? Reminds me of the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" - you can't escape! I thought about other planets or solar systems before. But I'd probably end up like Spock.
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Post by jefe on Mar 30, 2011 4:36:55 GMT -5
...... but I've reached a point now where I really do think race is important. Mono-racials simply can't relate to us as well as we can to each other. What we have, what we go through is just so unique and so special (including the negative stuff)....... you need someone who can understand this without having to explain it at all. I thought that I had simply had problems relating to monoracials (who had a world view that you were either part of their race, or a different race), but alas, I find that I can't really relate to multi-racials either -- their experience is completely different. . . . Still wondering if I should check out more of the transracial adoptees, or simply experiment with aliens.
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Post by jefe on Nov 18, 2010 11:31:29 GMT -5
In hindsight, it might be better to work part-time while studying (or do a part-time internship) in something remotely related to something you might be doing in the future. They do not have as much risk in hiring you for that.
In the meantime, you look at all the opportunities around you.
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Post by jefe on Nov 9, 2010 5:27:23 GMT -5
^ * a person whom happens to have some Chinese/Asian heritage * I am not sure I get what that means.
Is that different from a Chinese person in China, for example? I doubt if most would consider them to be people "who happens to have some Chinese / Asian heritage".
Do you mean that you are distinguished from "Ethnic Chinese who grew up in western countries and who are quite westernized" "Non-ethnic Chinese westerners who do not happen to have any Chinese / Asian heritage" "Local person (wherever local is for you) who are fully of Chinese / Asian heritage" "Local person (wherever local is for you) who do not have any Chinese / Asian heritage"
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