Why Kenneth Eng Will Never Get It

In my mind, the day stands out clearly.

A couple years ago, I was sitting in my apartment with my friend Hae, browsing through articles on my laptop while watching anime reruns and chowing down on Popeye's fried chicken. An article I skimmed made me laugh out loud, particularly considering the circumstances I found myself in.

The article had the suspect title of "Fried Chicken and Kimchi: Black and Korean Leaders Sit Down to Discuss Their Communities." The article described how a small set of Korean community leaders (mostly pastors, if memory serves) and African - American leaders (again, pastors) sat down to a community barbecue to discuss how to work together more effectively. Searching the LookSmart Archives and Washington Post Archives today, I find no trace of the article. However, that article, with that title, had to have existed somewhere. I remember it precisely because its existence sparked an interesting exchange.

"Hae," I started, interrupting her mission to demolish her mashed potatoes, "Why don't Korean people like black people?" The question was tossed out somewhat ironically, because Hae is Korean (generation 1.5 to be exact) and I am African-American (or black to be more precise, since I have not traced where exactly I came from.)

"Huh?" Hae looked up from her food with a dazed expression.

I repeated the question.

"Oh, well...I dunno. I'm fine with black people. The only people I hear of that don't like black people are my friend's parents, and that's because they have a store in the inner city."

Hmm...Hae probably had a point. After all, if the question was reversed, I would probably have the same answer. For the most part, I have co-existed pretty peacefully with Asian people in my 23 years on earth. No real incidents of note, no real animosity - particularly not against an entire group of people.

So, when I first heard about Kenneth Eng's little rant "Why I Hate Blacks" (check the above referenced link) it got one skeptical eyebrow raise. Kenneth Eng's logic is questionable, at best. Citing a high school debate, where you are supposed to argue both sides of a point and using it as proof that black people "don't get it."? Yeah, real credible source Ken. Good job.

That mess aside, I must admit I was heartened by the quick response from the pan-Asian community. Before I could even finish reading the text of the article, I was quickly directed to angry blog postings and online petitions all saying the same basic thing: Asians wanted no part of that racist mess.

The aftermath of the discussions however, bring up a sore spot in both communities - why don't blacks and asians get along? A few posters referred to poor communication between the two groups, and others have gone even further to suggest that African-Americans are equally as guilty of spouting racist speech toward Asians.

As one commenter stated:

"All we do is have blacks bitching about Asians to other blacks and we have Asians bitching about blacks to other Asians."

Somehow, I doubt that.

I don't doubt that African-Americans have said a lot of ignorant things to Asian people directly and about Asian people as a whole (most famously, Ice Cube's rant on his album Amerikkka's Most Wanted). It's one of the reasons I posted Beau Sia's response to Rosie O'Donell on my hip-hop blog: maybe it will make someone else think before they joke around in that manner.

But I am not sure that the tension that once existed between blacks and asians is still as prevalent as people make it seem. One reason is that asian people and black people interact a lot more than before. When I was in middle school and high school, I came into regular contact with Asian kids in my classes. Through my friends how I learned how to pronounce "Nguyen" properly, that Asian grocery stores had cooler candy and school supplies, and what real Asian food tastes like. I still can't eat carry-out Chinese food.

I suppose I could have held on to my one questionable impression of Asian people - when a kid in 4th grade called Black History month "Hershey history" and I stomped on his foot. But again, after that incident, that was it. I believe we were friends again the next day, splitting an Oatmeal Pie and making faces through the cream.

Do black people need to publicly apologize when one of our major figures (or even minor, in this case) says something ignorant about Asian people? Hell yeah. The whole "black people can't be racist" argument does not hold water with me. And the next time I come across something like that I remember to blog about it and do my part in raising hell until they rescind their racist statements.

Still, I feel like the increasing globalization of our society is actually benefiting cross cultural relations. Hae and I did not become friends because she is Korean and I am black. We became friends out of a mutual love of video games, food, and anime. As our friendship grew, she introduced me more to her culture, and I introduced her to mine. She gave me Korean hip-hop, I explained basic American politics. And our friendship moves on.

Maybe, just maybe, if Kenneth Eng spent less time in his house and more time out in the world, he would make more friends (maybe even some black friends) and realize that you can't judge an entire group of people based on the selected actions of a few.

Why Is Black History Month Necessary?

This morning, I woke up, looked at the icy roads outside of my building, and found out my office was opening late. I logged on to racialicious.com to get my daily fix of how race impacts pop culture.

However, I was not prepared for the lead article this morning.

Apparently, a woman named Lisa Stallings, from Leonardstown, MD was incensed enough at the utter injustice that is black history month to write a letter to the Enterprise (a Southern MD newspaper), calling parents to action.

Stallings writes:

"Many children in the schools are not black and therefore have absolutely no reason whatsoever to celebrate Black History Month. This is the exact same thing as many children are not Christian and therefore are not required to celebrate Christian holidays."

She continues:

"I no longer want my child to be forced to do a report about a famous black person just because of the month.

I do not want my child to have to listen to stories about Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver every single year during February.

The whole idea of Black History Month is for black people. There is no Asian History Month or English History Month or Middle East History Month or Russian History Month or Australian History Month.

Therefore, none of these groups has the chance to celebrate their heritage or famous people from their heritage."

I wanted to puke. Not only is she wrong (Asian - Pacific American History Month takes place in May) and a bit off base in her assessments of the situation (England, the Middle East/UAE, Russia, and Australia are OTHER COUNTRIES and hence covered in other courses like Modern World History) but her logic is completely skewed.

Her children are not black, and they should not be "forced" to learn about black history?

I'm not white - should that exempt me being "forced" to learn about White History? I didn't see any black people in the pictures of the Boston Tea Party. The Founding Fathers were not black. Am I exempted from learning about Susan B. Anthony? She wasn't black. There were not many black suffragettes - does that mean that her contributions have no impact on my life, as a woman who exercises her right to vote?

I am not Jewish, yet I know most of the major Jewish holidays, the name of their holy book, and how and why Hanukkah is practiced. I am not a Muslim, but I know who Muhammad is, what Ramadan is, and how the Nation of Islam differs from the traditional Islamic practice. I do not identify as a Christian, but know of the traditions and the basic story of the bible. And I was not alive in the Greco-Roman era, but I know the mythology of their Gods and Goddesses. All these things I learned IN SCHOOL. When I was growing up, learning about different cultures was simply something that educated people were expected to do. You learn about others different than yourself.

Why a parent would want to advocate for her children's ignorance of other cultures is beyond my ken.

What scares me the most is that this woman believes she is doing the right thing by her children. That this woman believes that black history can be encapsulated in Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver. It scares me to think that in a global society, there are still people who would advocate for the segregation of education by ethnicity.

That's right - the segregation of education by ethnicity.

That is what Lisa Stallings has advocated. If her white children are exempted from learning about black people - since "black history month is for black people" - then logically, my black children would not have to learn about white history. We'll just start from the kingdom of Kush and move on. And I suppose that means Asian children can get their own history class as well - hmm, but how would that work? Would Chinese-American children sit in a different class from Japanese-American children? Would Filipino kids split their history lessons between the Spanish (from Spain) kid's class and the Asian history course? Would Latin Americans be required to take an African history class, based on the color of their skin? Would mixed kids have to take extra history courses?

I also wonder if Stallings is just ignorant of the historical whitewashing that went on with the story of American history, and how black history month (and the subsequent additions of Hispanic Heritage Month, American Indian Heritage Month and Asia Pacifc Heritage Month) was created to rectify the willful editing of historical fact to minimize the achievements of people of color. Or maybe, just maybe, she believes that all this black history is detracting from "real" history.

My stomach is still turning.

However, I must admit that I too am sick of black history month.

I am sick of this band-aid solution to a long standing issue. People like Lisa Stallings need to realize that black history should not be confined to a month. Black history is AMERICAN history. I am sick of it being segmented out and highlighted in a month - as if the tumultuous history of African-Americans could be summarized with neat sound bytes and biographical information.

I want black history month scrapped. Done away with. Because it simply is not good enough.

American history needs to be rewritten. It needs to show an accurate portrayal the people and events that went into the foundation and creation of this country.

The history of Native Americans did not end with the settlement. The Trail of Tears did not kill them all. Where is the history of the Native Americans? Why are there still reservations? Why is their community plagued by alcoholism? What have they accomplished (besides casinos)? Those questions should be answered and recorded in our history books!

If Columbus is still getting shout-outs for "discovering" America, can we please add a section that discusses the Vikings and China landing here first? And can we also throw in some Latin American history, and their perspective on the Columbus situation?

Can we add in the section on Asian-Americans? Something beyond that one sentence "They helped build the railroad?" Can we talk about the issues and discrimination they encountered? Can we talk about the internment of Japanese-Americans in WWII, not as a historical "my bad" but as a time when the United States of America persecuted a section of its citizenry?

Can we really talk about the Louisiana Purchase, and what that meant for the indigenous people in that region? Can we really discuss the Alamo, and the Panama Canal, and how that impacts how other people around the world perceive us?

And can we please stop advocating the same five pinnacles of African-Americana - Slavery, Harriet Tubman, Jim Crow, MLK, and George Washington Carver? There was a bit more to things than that. Start asking people you know: Who was W.E.B. Dubois? What did Booker T. Washington contribute to African-American history? How do the positions advocated by Dubois and Washington equate to the modern African American? What did Ralph Ellison write? Why were the Black Panthers so militant?

This is all American history.

And even if Lisa Stalling and a few other members of her generation do not recognize that, it is up to us to ensure that the next generation will.

Have They Finally Seen the Light?

In the linked article above, the Washington Post reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has issued an open call for music companies to abandon DRM software, and allow music to be licensed and distributed in without anti-piracy controls.

Job's declaration comes as a welcome endorsement to the millions of internet savvy music fiends, who find that their appetite for music and variety vastly outpaces their resources to spend on musical download services who can charge up to $1.50 per song. For music enthusiasts, whose song catalogs can number over 10,000 tracks, the low per song price is a deceptive lure. Other enthusiasts find that their chosen MP3 player is incompatible with whomever is licensing the music. For example, music sold through the Apple Itunes store is not compatible with Sony Walkman MP3 player. However, if one is attracted to the design of a Sony Walkman Mp3 player over that of the Ipod, you are limited to purchasing music from the Sony store - which carries a much smaller song collection than Itunes.

In addition, people with off-brand MP3 players (like Creative Zen's offerings, or Iriver or Toshiba products) also have to contend with problems legally purchasing music that is compatible with their players. Efforts to offer cross compatibility (like when Real networks began to support Itunes m4a format) are swiftly met with litigation.

Another complication to the online music debate is the actual ownership of the content. Licensing music between countries is unbelievably cumbersome. To illustrate, take popular R & B artist D' Angelo. D'Angelo has released an album in Japan - for US fans of his work, actually acquiring this CD will be about $50, after import fees and shipping. And the content is not available online, as it was produced by a Japanese label. Purchasing music online is just as difficult - Itunes Japan does not carry artists on the Sony label. The Sony and Mura networks only carry music from specific labels.

This provides a headache for consumers: there is a will to legally purchase the music, but the means simply are not there.

The only recourse, in many cases, is to use the file sharing networks to obtain the songs. It is relatively quick, painless, free, and compatible over different networks and platforms.

The music industry is shooting itself in the foot. With its Nazi-like devotion to protecting their royalties and publishing, they have alienated many of their core consumers.

Steve Jobs' call for the end of DRM (or the potential open licensing of the most popular DRM software) is definitely a breath of fresh air for consumers who refuse to choke on the bitter rhetoric of the RIAA.