Think for a Change (9): RE: Asians in the UCLA Library

A UCLA student's anti-Asian racist comments provide us with a great opportunity to think through other forms and operations of racism than what most people consider as "racist." I appreciate the feedback that has already been posted in light of my video. Let me be clear, though. My only hope in posting these videos is to encourage people to *think* about important issues, not to prove myself right or others wrong. Youtube provides a way to get ideas out there, but it's not ideal. A 13 minute video is too long! But it's also too short in that it will necessarily be an incomplete message. And it's just me and a camera; not a real dialogue that would be enriched by a back and forth discussion with different ideas and examples. A video can only do so much. I hope, then, that this will be sufficient for starting conversations and an exchange of ideas. Even though I can't respond to each individual comment, I hope that you take these ideas further by exploring them with others in a thoughtful, open-ended dialogue. And regarding this topic in particular, my point is that racism is complex, which is not to say that anti-black racism is a non-issue, or any other kind of racism for that matter, but that much of racism in America goes under-appreciated as such. My experiences help shed light on some of the "strange" occurrences of racist attitudes, like for instance, when a (white) professor of mine exclaims, "Well, if you're half-Chinese then I'm half-Chinese." Comments like these ...