Not long after receiving a NAACP Image award, Shaq made mock Chinese noises to Yao Ming on national TV. As a young man, Mark Wahlberg attacked several Vietnamese men in Boston while calling them "gooks." On an episode of "Politically Incorrect," Sarah Silverman quipped "I love Chinks." Aside from displaying callous insensitivity, if not outright bigotry, what do these three incidents have in common? All three incidents received scant attention from the national news media and produced little public outrage or rebuke.

If a celebrity had uttered something about fried chicken and watermelons or uttered the forbidden "N-word," the media would have had a field day. The same goes for anti-Semitic comments. However, this sort of racial sensitivity apparently does not extend to Asian Americans. Would Abercrombie & Fitch have ever made T-shirts depicting black slaves picking cotton or others mocking a rabbi? Racial sensitivity certainly was not an issue because A&F thought it was perfectly acceptable to produce the "Two Wongs Make it White" or "Buddha Bowl" T-shirts.

It did not surprise me much when ignorant comments about Asians and Asian Americans were freely spewed about on The Daily Jolt recently. Stereotype after stereotype, which very often reinforced by the media, was put forth. Asian Americans: (1) are all alike; (2) talk like fortune cookies (an American invention, by the way) and eat "pok fri rii" and (3) are all nerds who "pick up math books and solve the problems in it." Even the ugly slur "Chinaman" was thrown around freely. Asian Americans have become sitting ducks, target practice in racial barbs.

And part of this is our fault as Asian Americans-we have not been a very vocal group in the U.S. Recently, however, Asian Americans have been asserting themselves and "making a stink" about issues we find offensive. Some people try to brush off our protest with "you're too sensitive." My favorite is, "You Asians have it so good; what do you have to complain about?"

The fact is, it is hard to understand anyone's situation if you have not been in their shoes. And Asian American shoes are vast and distinct. The model minority myth that Asian Americans are all successful and face no bigotry obscures the very real ignorance, poverty, violence, suspicion and racism that confront our community. How many times have people assumed that a random Asian American would know all about South Asian history? How many times have people come up to an Asian American speaking in Ching Chong when English would suffice? While the public face of Asian America may be that of scientists and doctors and straight-A students, the reality of Asian America can also be seen in struggling war refugees, racial attacks against Indian Americans accused of being terrorists and the shameful persecution of Wen-Ho Lee.

Even if the model minority myth were true, on what grounds would the ugly incidents described above be justified? Is bigotry somehow more palatable when its targets are perceived as "successful?" I do not call for Asian Americans to be accorded any special privileges. Rather, I assert that we should receive the same considerations enjoyed by other Americans.

One anonymous forum poster remarked that I was simply "crying racism." If people want to silence Asian Americans, how then are we supposed to fight against injustices in a country that often does not see us as "real Americans?" Racism has not disappeared-it has simply been repressed.

Joanne Joo '04

Racism appears even at Amherst

We always think of Amherst as the bubble that the scourges of society (such as racism) do not penetrate. We live in an environment where everyone knows each other and students feel safe enough to keep their doors unlocked. This is an area so quaint that cars actually stop for pedestrians. When I read about the bus stop attack in last week's issue of The Student, I was surprised and concerned for the victims. I was also shocked by how the town police handled the matter-I expected a huge outcry against town police from the article.

However, when I perused The Daily Jolt that night, a thread titled "Asian Bus Stop Gang" caught my eye. As I read on, I became appalled by what the posts were saying. They alluded to nunchucks and ninjas and kung fu just because the attackers were Asians. I made several appeals to these individuals to stop posting these hurtful comments, but instead they responded with increased antagonism. And they went on. In a post titled "Panda East," the poster imitated a crude Pidgin English accent; this is a hurtful image that pervades throughout the Asian community.

All of these posts had absolutely nothing to do with the heart of the matter-the fact that our students were assaulted and that the town police handled it in a woefully inadequate manner.

I never expected to see any of this at Amherst, but was even more chagrined that no one cared enough to tell these individuals to stop. I was chided for being over-reactive-a stodgy stickler that cried "Racism!" from a simple joke. For me, this is another pattern that I see in our society. Racism and stereotyping against Asians always seem to be a minor offense on our radar. Shaquille O'Neal's "ching-chong" statements towards Yao Ming can be broadcasted across radio stations for a laugh, and no one stirs in the least.

As a child growing up in the inner city, these taunts were ubiquitous, but I always shrugged them off as ignorance. Although the messages on The Daily Jolt are just digital zeroes and ones, they hurt more. These posts tell me that for some people, no amount of affluence or education can make them more sensitive to the stinging issue of racism.

Chanta Pou '04

Dorm damage is only a symptom

No one, not even Stan Adams, claims the dorm damage system is perfect. Instead, it means to allocate charges in the fairest way possible. We all agree: physical plant doesn't charge us for the sake of charging us; they charge for the materials and labor necessary to replace broken items and clean up student messes. We want to thank The Student for bringing up this topic in a public forum, and we believe it will raise awareness for larger concerns regarding dorm damage.

First, some specifics. Physical plant and custodians do the actual assessment in regards to damage charges. When charges are entered into the system, the resident counselor (RC) receives a dorm damage information sheet and is asked to find out who should receive the charge. The system is intended to encourage peers to monitor each other's inappropriate behavior. It is extremely helpful when the person responsible comes forward, or when another resident points out who is responsible for a particular charge. This means that sometimes, to avoid charging the whole dorm, we need residents to name names. Often the RC knows immediately who to charge-and sometimes it takes a little investigating. RCs are strongly discouraged from applying charges to an entire dorm.

It is current policy that any all-dorm charge must be posted in a public place, such as a bulletin board or door. The Student is entirely correct-not everyone in the dorm sees this notice, but this is not necessarily the fault of physical plant or the RC. To safeguard against this, the dorm damage office has incorporated The Student's request to send a dorm-wide email for charges whenever an all-dorm charge is incurred. Thank you for this suggestion-we feel it will raise awareness for the dorm damage situation in general and increase the chance of effective appeals cases. The residential life/dorm damage office is always open to hearing constructive feedback where policy is concerned.

This focus on dorm damage really raises a larger concern. How can we justify the disrespect for space evident in the enormous damage charges incurred each year? We live here, and yet we consider things acceptable that would never pass in our own homes. It doesn't matter if we're sober or wasted, the amount of malicious destruction that happens on our campus is unacceptable. Our custodians are mistreated-it is not pleasant to clean up someone else's vomit or excrement, and they are forced to do so. Furthermore, why is it deemed "okay" for a person to break a table or spill alcohol on the floor, so long as he or she promises to pay, in money, for someone else to clean up after him or her?

It's not okay. The residential life office is concerned about this attitude, and the editorial column in last week's newspaper only scratches the surface. In order to raise awareness about the campus' issue with respect for space and person, we are embarking on an anti-dorm damage campaign. Beginning this week, RCs will be hanging posters in dorms, houses and public spaces on campus. On Oct. 15 and 16, we hope to table in the campus center with dorm damage statistics, as well as a short survey encouraging everyone to think about the reasons why dorm damage happens and what can be done to prevent it. We'll publicize the information we gather the week of Oct. 20. Finally, to put names to the faces of those individuals who tirelessly clean up our messes, we'd love to have a project similar to the theme house "FACES" project with any custodians willing to participate.

Again, we want to thank The Student for beginning a dialogue about this problem, and encourage everyone to think seriously about our acceptance of dorm damage and the ways we can work against it.

Polly Hall '04

Geoff Walter '04