COLLEGE PARK, Maryland—Ever since the gunman of the Virginia Tech shooting was identified as an Asian American, deep emotions and inner conflicts erupted in the Asian American communities. The repercussions may lie deeper and be more confusing to Asian Americans than they themselves anticipated. At a public forum entitled "The End of the Model Minority Myth: Reflections on the Virginia Tech Tragedy from Asian American Perspectives," several Asian professors, staff members, and students spoke May 9th at the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP).
Group or Individual: The Dilemma
The keynote speaker Professor Frank H. Wu, Dean at the Law School at Wayne State University, said that he associates his own mistakes with other Asians and conversely. So whenever he encounters negative behavior from his fellow Asian Americans, he feels a sense of guilt and shame.
At the same time, there is always another reaction in him: "We are different individuals. How dare you say that I am a bad driver because he is, just because we are both Asian Americans?"
He said that there were two typical reactions to the Virginia Tech shooting. One was the "old way": the killer was one of us. People felt collective guilt and shame. This was reflected in the apologies Korean and other Asian Americans made.
The other type was the "new world" approach: Asian Americans have moved into the mainstream. Therefore, we will not be identified with those who only look like us.
Regardless of the reaction, "We could not help being affected by this tragedy," he stated.
Communication Discouraged
All participants at the forum acknowledged that they were told by parents or friends in the Asian American communities not to talk about their sadness and confusion regarding the Virginia Tech tragedy.
Professor Wu shared that his parents' strategy, translated into English, was "the nail that sticks out gets hammered." His parents came to the U.S. from China. He was born and raised in the Midwest. His parents benefited from civil rights, but supported civil rights silently. His mother often told him not to "stick out."
This kind of mentality made some Asians believe that if they did not talk about the issues, the issues would go away. The participants said that it was even difficult to start a conversation at home about their feelings regarding the Virginia Tech tragedy.
Yixin Li, a freshman at UMCP, said that other students joked with him by calling him "Cho," the last name of the gunman, even though Li was Chinese, and the gunman was Korean. Fellow students also joked with him, "Please don't kill us." He wasn't able to talk about this to his family.
Hoan Dang, President of the Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, shared that 22 local Asian Pacific Islander associations initially wrote a joint letter regarding the Virginia Tech tragedy to offer condolences and to emphasize that the shooting was an individual act. It took 4 to 5 days for them to decide to write the letter. The associations were deeply conflicted about writing the letter.
When the letter was finally completed, the Korean association made a plea that they no longer wanted any attention on the issue. They wanted to stay quiet. So the letter was never released.
Belonging to the Mainstream or the Asian Community?
Participants also shared the internal pressures they have endured from their families and Asian communities. Almost all speakers have been pressured one time or another to study engineering or some hard science. Each has been faced with having to make the difficult choice of following their parents' wishes or their own.
Yixin Li is now majoring in economics. He came to the U.S. at the age of five from Tianjin, China. He grew up in Howard County, Maryland. He initially entered UMCP majoring in biology because his mother wanted him to go to medical school. However, English and the fine arts are what he really wants. He picked economics, something in between, and something his community could accept.
"My family and friends will be like, 'how dare you not to do what we say?'" He said that he didn't dare to switch his major to English. The family and friends thought that they had sacrificed for Li so much that how dare Li want to pursue his own wish.
"My parents still see themselves as Chinese. In the community I live in, a lot of people there will definitely see it as an insult if you call them an American." Li said his parents were "still mentally in China." They came to the U.S. to make more money and provide a better education for their kids, Li said. Parents thought being a doctor or a lawyer meant fitting into the mainstream. But Li thought fitting into the mainstream had little to do with the professions.
"My Dad used to be a factory manager for its local branch of the Communist Party. It was his job to tell his workers, 'you gotta work hard. I'm responsible for you. I'm responsible for your success.' In America, you are responsible for your own success. No one is going to tell you to succeed or work." For Li, America is more about embracing American values and fulfilling one's own pursuit.
Asians: 'Model Minority' or Perpetual Foreigner?
Professor Frank Wu mentioned that the "model minority" image had its dark side as well. He thought that Asians were usually perceived as passive, subversive and having no feelings.
When asked whether Asians could behave like mainstream Americans, Hoan Dang said, "We call ourselves Asians. That puts us as a foreigner. We should refer to ourselves as Americans of Asian descent. My parents always told me that you are an Asian. They never say you are an American. They say that you are NOT an American. You don't look like an American. Fortunately, I didn't listen to them."
"Once we see ourselves as equals and recognize that the others came over just as we did, that will help us breakthrough from a lot of stereotypes," said Dang.
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