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Entanglements of the Asian identity: visibility and representation in the United States
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Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
ENTANGLEMENTS OF THE ASIAN IDENTITY:
VISIBILITY AND REPRESENTATION IN THE UNITED STATES
by
Karan Singh
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF
COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM)
August 2022
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
ii
Table of Contents
Table of Figures…………………………………………………………………………..iii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...iv
Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………………...1
Chapter Two: A Peek in the Rearview Mirror………………………………….…………2
Chapter Three: Negotiating an Ugly Past.………………………………………………...5
Chapter Four: The Gravity of Language…………………………………………………..9
Chapter Five: Asia v “Asians”…………………………………………………………...14
Chapter Six: The Spectrum of Racial Attitudes.…………………………………………15
Chapter Seven: Erroneous Technicalities...……………………………………………...19
Chapter Eight: Conveying an Under- and Misrepresented Experience………………….22
Chapter Nine: Similar Yet So Different………………………………………………….25
Chapter Ten: Epilogue…………………………………………………………………...28
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..29
Interviews………………………………………………………………………………...33
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
iii
Table of Figures
1. Six Asian origin groups in the U.S. had populations of at least 1 million in 2019………3
2. Asian population in U.S. nearly doubled between 2000 and 2019 and is projected to
surpass 46 million by 2060………………………………………………………………4
3. Proportion of respondents indicating that the reference category is likely to be Asian or
Asian American…………………………………………………………………………14
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
iv
Abstract
The “Asian” identity in the United States is a fitting example of how a community’s portrayal
and coverage is not commensurate with the reality of its condition. Asian Americans consist of
over 50 ethnic groups that represent a broad range of identities, yet only a handful of them are
recognized as part of said group.
1
The imperialist attitude of viewing other cultures through a
one-dimensional lens has, with time, shaped how we interact. Through conversations with
individuals who have, from different angles, put the Asian American identity under the
microscope in published works, my paper will explore the intricacies of one of the most textured
regions of the world with regard to visibility and erasure, under- and misrepresentation. In doing
so, it is important to consider the history of the communities involved as well as our inclination
to use indefinite terminology such as “Asian” or “Oriental” when talking about identity. A
narrow understanding of cultures is precisely what triggered a surge in hate crimes over the
coronavirus pandemic. Hence, it is necessary to contemplate what more can be done to repair a
flawed communication system so we don’t have to “Stop Asian Hate.” Identifying others within
a broad radius is the norm in American culture, and this puts off further inquiry. Observing the
Asian American community in its entirety entails recognizing who all are left out and why —
this ranges from the oneness of physical traits and cultural practices to the stigmas attached to
religion, and everything in between. The United States’ handling of the war in Ukraine as
compared to countries in the Middle East exposed this exclusive framework. Additionally, the
depiction of Asian American communities in entertainment and media must also be scrutinized.
1
Census Data & API Identities (Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
1
Chapter One: Introduction
“Sorry man, I only got pork sausages … ran out of everything else.”
The hot dog vendor was kind and professional, but certainly not on target when it came to
recognizing his client. As someone with a Hindu name from a predominantly Hindu country, the
fair assumption about me would’ve been that I don’t eat beef … though that would’ve still been
incorrect because I’m not religious. Yet, it wasn’t the first time someone looked at me and
thought I’m Muslim. My name, Karan, also sounds like “Quran” if you say it with an American
accent, which further adds to the layman’s perception of me.
As a third-culture kid who has moved back and forth between India and the United States from
an early age, I developed a heightened sensitivity to the different shades of the Asian identity. I
am ethnically Indian but American on paper, so the way people communicate race, culture and
nationality across the Pacific Ocean has always fascinated me. Individuals are habitually
identified by complexion or eyes or lips or hair, but rarely their experiences.
In my freshman year of college, which was also my first extended stay in the U.S. as an adult, I
noticed a lazy identification pattern that immediately stood out to me. During a class discussion,
a student from Assam (a state in northeast India) and I were identified as “Asian” and “Indian”
respectively. Assam shares a border with Bhutan, and hence, their people have some similarities
in appearance that, with distance, blurs their identities into one. This confused me because I’m
also Asian while the other student was also Indian. Over the years, as people have referred to me
as Arab, Middle Eastern and Muslim (usually because of my physical traits) without showing
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
2
any interest in my actual identity, I realized that the brittle rationale behind clumping cultures
together runs rampant in American dialogue.
Chapter Two: A Peek in the Rearview Mirror
Cultural erasure was built into the social structure of the U.S. since the very beginning, and the
American public, notwithstanding its immense diversity, actively participates in it.
2
My
interactions have taught me that the complexities of Asia have been obscured by an indifference
to the country’s rapidly evolving racial and cultural dynamic.
Historically, East and Southeast Asians were among the first to immigrate to the United States in
large numbers and establish their own communities.
3
Their shared struggles of being ousted in a
Eurocentric space resulted in the convergence of the pan-Asian identity.
4
From the Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882 to the Japanese American internment camps commissioned after World
War II, a glaring track record of being “othered” resulted in these communities forming a
contingent of their own. In the 21st century, Asian Americans have become the fastest-growing
racial or ethnic group in the country, and it is now home to people who originate from Central,
East, South, Southeast and Western Asia — all mashed into one to form the all-encompassing
unit that was dubbed the “Orient” by Western imperialists.
5
2
“The Chance That Two People Chosen at Random Are of Different Race or Ethnicity Groups
Has Increased Since 2010” by Eric Jensen, Nicholas Jones, Megan Rabe, Beverly Pratt, Lauren
Medina, Kimberly Orozco and Lindsay Spell (United States Census Bureau, 2021)
3
“Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans” by Ronald Takaki (1998
Edition, originally published in 1989)
4
“The Asian American Movement” by Daryl Joji Maeda (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of
American History, 2016)
5
“Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S.” by Abby Budiman
and Neil G. Ruiz (Pew Research Center, 2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
3
Pew Research Center
6
6
“Key facts about Asian origin groups in the U.S.” by Abby Budiman and Neil G. Ruiz (Pew
Research Center, 2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
4
Pew Research Center
7
The word “Oriental” was originally wielded by European colonizers to accentuate the alien
exoticism of the East in a way that conflated handicrafts, ornaments and lifestyle,
8
i.e., objects
and people were displayed and treated alike.
9
As immigration from other parts of the continent
began to proliferate, the term came to be used mostly in reference to East and sometimes
Southeast Asians, most likely because they have a denser presence in the country. In recent
years, the dehumanizing origins of the word have been widely denounced, birthing a socially
acceptable euphemism: “Asian.”
The Associated Press Stylebook:
the central standard of communication for American journalists
10
7
“Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population” by Abby Budiman and
Neil G. Ruiz (Pew Research Center, 2021)
8
“Orientalism” by Edward Said (2003 Edition, originally published in 1978)
9
“The Life of Afong Moy, the First Chinese Woman in America: Contending with the
Orientalist Fears and Fantasies of a Young Nation” by Nancy E. Davis (Literary Hub, 2019)
10
Associated Press Stylebook (56
th
Edition)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
5
Chapter Three: Negotiating an Ugly Past
Even though the general consensus among the people “Oriental” most recently referred to is that
it’s a humiliating term, some still see the value in reclaiming it to amend a Western-dominated
narrative.
Jane Tsuchiyama is a 64-year-old Japanese American who closely identifies with the Oriental
tag. She is a well-established acupuncturist based in Hawaii, though her success today belies a
childhood bruised by discrimination. Both her parents were sent to internment camps following
World War II, after which they shuffled around parts of the Midwest before settling in Chicago.
She had a lower-middle-class, blue-collar upbringing in Garfield Park, a racially divided
neighborhood in the city where her family always felt out of place. For that reason,
Tsuchiyama’s parents raised her and her brother to be “as White as possible.”
Still, they were bullied at school and called names. She remembers being sexualized since the
age of five, having kids hurl stereotypes that are, to this day, attributed to women with her
features. Her older brother had it even worse — he was beaten up on several occasions and
repeatedly had his belongings stolen or raided by other students because he was seen as an
introverted “geek.” Their father also passively tolerated the same treatment on a regular basis,
with people heckling him at stop lights and insulting his looks on multiple occasions.
Tsuchiyama recalls how he “would quietly drive on,” desensitized to the mockery that had
become a fixture in their lives.
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
6
She kept her anxieties to herself in the hope of not causing her parents any stress, but it was
difficult for her to deal with emotional trauma at such a young age. Yet, it was that environment
she wanted to get away from, not her race. With time, she was able to gain strength and embrace
her cultural roots. She describes growing up in Middle America using the following words:
“teased, tormented, embarrassed, humiliated, guilty, angry, special, unique and cool.”
Her evolving sense of self is evident from this.
Tsuchiyama went on to make a career out of a practice that has deep ties to East Asian culture.
Her interpretation of acupuncture borrows elements from the different regions that have mastered
it, from China to Japan to Vietnam, and more. Her craft evolved under the “Oriental” banner like
other businesses and practices in the United States throughout the 1990s, such as the Oriental
Trading Company and the Bank of the Orient, which is why the term has never bothered her.
Similar to how the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have retained archaic terms in their names while
continuing to help marginalized communities, Tsuchiyama believes there’s a history attached to
“Oriental medicine” that needs to be recontextualized. Hence, when New York Rep. Grace Meng
sponsored a legislation to remove the term “Oriental” from federal law in 2016, Tsuchiyama
became a strong advocate of the word.
11
11
“Meng Bill to Remove the Term ‘Oriental’ from U.S. Law Signed by President Obama”
(Grace Meng, 2016)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
7
That same year, she published an op-ed in the LA Times titled, “The term ‘Oriental’ is outdated,
but is it racist?”
12
In the article, she acknowledges that the word in question is old-fashioned and
was originally used when “exoticizing stereotypes was prevalent,” but also states that it refers to
the East just as the Occident refers to the West, and that “geographic origin is not a slur.” Given
that her execution of acupuncture fuses the different cultural practices from a general region, it’s
no surprise that she doesn’t find broad categories offensive. Tsuchiyama asserts that she has been
called derogatory slurs since her childhood, from “Chink” to “slant eye” to “zipperhead,” but that
“Oriental” is not one of them; contrarily, it’s a term she takes pride in because it symbolizes her
skill and its tradition.
She is on the board of the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture in Oriental
Medicine, and they have developed medicines that help combat opioid addiction and back pain.
More importantly, they are drafting a bill for Congress to include acupuncture as part of
Medicare. Amid these strides, the pressure to drop the word “Oriental” deeply upsets her. Since
the practice is certified under “Oriental medicine” in over 45 states, changing it would require
legislation across the country. This would considerably delay the work her community of
specialists is trying to do to help those in need. “It’s a conundrum of what we call ourselves
rather than what we are doing,” she said. “A mission without significantly positive outcomes.”
Tsuchiyama is nearly 40 years older than me, so there is an apparent discrepancy in how much
importance we give to words. Whereas I can make sense of her sentiments and the rationale
behind them, they are specific to her vocation and the inconveniences it currently faces, not the
12
“The term ‘Oriental’ is outdated, but is it racist?” by Jane Tsuchiyama (LA Times, 2016)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
8
larger Asian American community as it exists today. Younger generations are more intolerant of
microaggressions because the country we inherited is not as blatantly hostile as it once was.
Preventing the conditions that those before us managed to prevail over is now within reach.
Whereas our concerns might seem trivial in comparison to what they endured, language reflects
how people are perceived, and therefore, treated.
Though Tsuchiyama’s article is compelling, there are parts of it that haven’t aged well. It was
published roughly three and a half years before the coronavirus outbreak that triggered a rise in
hate crimes against people with “Asian” features.
13
When Tsuchiyama wrote, “A wave of anti-
Oriental discrimination is not sweeping the country,” she overlooked the racial and xenophobic
hostility that has bubbled underneath the surface throughout the history of the United States,
sporadically culminating in violent outbursts. One example of this is the 1982 killing of a
Chinese man named Vincent Chin, who was beaten to death in Detroit by two White automotive
workers.
14
Japan’s success in the auto industry had cost several Americans their jobs, especially
in Detroit since it was the hub of automotive manufacturing, and the culprits blamed Chin for it.
Whereas there is no right target for violence, the fact that a Chinese man was mistaken for
Japanese brings attention to a trend of hyper-conflation that remains alive and well to this day.
One of the earliest incidents that sparked the “Stop Asian Hate” movement was the murder of
Vicha Ratanapakdee, a Thai American man, in early 2021.
15
The coronavirus pandemic put
China in the hot seat all over the world. I was in India at the time, and a large number of people
13
“National Report (through March 2021)” (Stop AAPI Hate, 2021)
14
“How the 1982 Murder of Vincent Chin Ignited a Push for Asian American Rights” by Becky
Little (History, 2020)
15
“Family of Thai immigrant, 84, says fatal attack 'was driven by hate'” by Kyung Lah (CNN,
2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
9
from the northeast region of the country were the victims of hate crimes for having features that
loosely resemble the Chinese..
16
Aside from the larger issue of racism, generalizations based on
physical traits, contrary to Tsuchiyama’s perspective, do indeed have dire consequences.
Chapter Four: The Gravity of Language
On the other side of the debate over how powerful words can be is Henry Fuhrmann, a former
copy editor who worked at the Los Angeles Times for 25 years. He has also served on the board
of the Los Angeles chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) for the last 20
years. His contribution to journalism took shape in ensuring that issues were communicated in a
focused and productive fashion. A proponent of polite and good-mannered language, he insists
that altering vernacular is “not hard, but made to look hard.” Fuhrmann ran the copy desk at the
Times for seven years and also took on the role of standards editor, and this has made him an
expert on the “consistent, thoughtful rendering of the actual words.”
Much like myself, he believes that language and identity shape one another, particularly in
matters of race, culture and nationality. When it comes to language, prioritizing the ease of
communication discourages a thorough understanding of someone’s identity. To this point,
vernacular convenience overlooks the intricacies that make us unique individuals.
“Labels are blunt instruments — they lack nuance,” Fuhrmann said. “It’s a shorthand to
introduce a larger topic of nuance. Sometimes, unfortunately, we stick with the label and don’t
get deeper into the details.” His mother was a Japanese immigrant and his father a German
16
“Northeast citizens faced racial discrimination amid COVID-19 outbreak, says govt. study” by
Vijaita Singh (The Hindu, 2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
10
American serviceman in the navy. Born in Japan and raised in Southern California, he watched
his mother transition from Japanese to Japanese American as she acquired citizenship a decade
after moving to the country. Such technicalities are of paramount importance to him. While
discussing the shift from print to online, he referenced an LA Times article from 2020 to
illustrate how the latter is free from the constraints of fitting a set number of letters within a box.
The digital headline read, “Arcadia, a WWII incarceration site, names its first police chief of
Japanese descent,” whereas the newspaper version read, “Arcadia’s first Japanese police chief is
selected.”
17
The word “American” was key, because without it, an honorable citizen of the
country was made to sound like an outsider. This point was particularly sensitive to the story
because the city in which the police chief was appointed was also where thousands of Japanese
and Japanese Americans were incarcerated in the aftermath of World War II.
17
“Arcadia, a WWII incarceration site, names its first police chief of Japanese descent” by
Andrew J. Campa (LA Times, 2020)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
11
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
12
The difference between Asians and Asian Americans therefore becomes clear. My accent has
always led people to think I’m American, but once I mention that I was educated in India and
that my parents still live there, I’m seen as Indian. Both are incorrect because I am an Indian
American; people with Indian accents have American citizenship (like my parents) while people
with American accents (who might have attended an international school in a different country)
don’t.
“The solution is often specificity,” Fuhrmann said. “If someone’s identity is germane to
communication in your story, your podcast, your TV segment, whatever your form of media is,
then identify them the way they want to be identified.”
He has established himself as a voice of authority on such matters. In 2018, he published an
essay on Conscious Style Guide titled, “Drop the Hyphen in Asian American,” that gained a lot
of traction.
18
Soon after it started making the rounds, the Associated Press Stylebook and
BuzzFeed Style Guide updated their respective styles accordingly by 2019. Two years later, the
New York Times followed suit. These changes were all prompted by Fuhrmann’s insistence:
“those hyphens serve to divide even as they are meant to connect. Their use in racial and ethnic
identifiers can connote an otherness, a sense that people of color are somehow not full citizens or
fully American: part American, sure, but also something not American.” The LA Times had
already adopted this style by the early 1990s, and most major publications now comply with this
guideline.
18
“Drop the Hyphen in Asian American” by Henry Fuhrmann (Conscious Style Guide, 2018)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
13
The Los Angeles Times guidelines, 1993
“I prefer to say guidelines instead of rules because I was open to interpretation,” Fuhrmann said.
“Guidelines are created by human beings — they evolve over time, and we should be open to
exceptions and knowing that language changes, and that our sensibilities change.” In this spirit,
he too has adjusted his vocabulary to accommodate the needs of others. Until recently, Fuhrmann
proudly identified as “Hapa,” which is a Hawaiian term for people of mixed ethnic ancestry but
also commonly used by people who are half Asian. He felt that it perfectly described him given
his half Japanese roots but was unaware that its immoderate use was bothersome to many native
Hawaiians. This came to his notice only when he read an essay titled, “Hapa: A Unique Case of
Cultural Appropriation by Multiracial Asian Americans?” published on the same platform as his
hyphen piece.
19
He made the conscious decision to stop using the word because the essay shed
light on the hurtful effects of borrowing an identity “without the experience of colonization and
inequality” of native Hawaiians. “I miss it, but it’s not painful,” he said about giving up one of
his favorite terms of self-identity. “It’s more painful for the people who are offended by it.”
19
“Hapa: A Unique Case of Cultural Appropriation by Multiracial Asian Americans?” by Joanna
Eng (Conscious Style Guide, 2018)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
14
Chapter Five: Asia v “Asians”
The complications of the Asian American identity are manifold, and Fuhrmann recognizes that
representation even within the community isn’t yet holistic. Because he has worked on language
for so long, “Asian” to him literally means people of Asian origin, but he is also aware that its
most common usage refers only to a selective portion of the continent. The region has been split
into ambiguous categories based on how people are discerned, each treated very differently than
the other. “Asian” most often means people from East Asia due to some intersections in
appearance and customs as seen in “Crazy Rich Asians,” while “Arab,” “Middle Eastern” and
“Muslim” make up another large group of Asians, clumped together based on a vague set of
attributes like Islam, headscarves, turbans and brown skin.
Findings from a 2019 research project by Jennifer Lee and Karthick Rama
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
15
A 2019 study put the government’s definition of “Asian” (see page 19) to the test by comparing
it to how people from other racial categories use it.
20
The results showed that most White, Black,
Latino and Asian Americans are referring to East Asians when they use the term. Indians and
Pakistanis, who fall under the legal definition of Asian, aren’t usually identified as that. My own
experiences with being mistaken for Arab, Middle Eastern and Muslim demand a better
understanding of what those terms denote.
21
Arab is an ethno-linguistic category for people who
speak Arabic as their native language or have ancestors who did. Middle Eastern, on the other
hand, is far more fluid in that its meaning changes based on the subject at hand — climate,
religion and economics each have different borders but under a shared name. Muslim, despite its
widespread misuse, has the most straightforward meaning: adherents of Islam.
The failure (or refusal) to understand Asia in its fullness has made mischaracterization a common
recurrence in the conversations surrounding it. That is why a Muslim from Bangladesh might be
confused for Middle Eastern while an Indonesian, the largest Muslim country in the world (an
estimated 229 million this year), might be referred to as “Asian” — a familiar crossfire I
frequently find myself caught in.
22
A shallow interpretation of these cultures has given way to a
widely accepted rhetoric that validates ignorance.
Chapter Six: The Spectrum of Racial Attitudes
Farrah Hassen is a policy analyst and writer who often scrutinizes the underrepresented and
misunderstood side of Asia that her own identity as a Syrian American is tied to. Additionally,
20
“Who counts as Asian” by Jennifer Lee and Karthick Ramakrishnan (Ethnic and Racial
Studies, 2019)
21
“Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim? What’s the Difference?!” (TeachMidEast)
22
“Muslim Population by Country 2022” (World Population Review, 2022)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
16
she is an adjunct professor in the political science department at California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona. She previously served as a political advisor to the Syrian Ambassador to the
U.S. at the Embassy of Syria in Washington, D.C., but resigned a few months after the war broke
out since she wanted no part in the ensuing human rights violations in her country of origin.
Hassen then moved to Egypt and worked as an election observer following the Egyptian
Revolution of 2011. Though she isn’t a full-time journalist, she writes a weekly column in the
San Gabriel Valley Examiner and occasionally publishes articles for outlets of the Institute for
Policy Studies. She writes from the different viewpoints of her distinct American experience,
switching between her Arab, Syrian and Muslim identities based on the subject at hand.
This year marks the 11-year anniversary of the war in Syria. In March, Hassen published an
article on Foreign Policy in Focus to reiterate the anguish of an ongoing war as it gets
overshadowed by a newer one.
23
A total of 610,000 people have died in Syria since the conflict
began, but over time, the American public has grown numb to certain parts of the world being in
a continuous state of turmoil.
24
Even though Russia has continued its war in Syria, its invasion of
Ukraine has elicited far more sympathy from the media and politicians, and the people they
influence. To further elaborate on this, Hassen wrote a piece for OtherWords where she
addressed how the American media has covered the war in Ukraine and the public’s reaction to
it.
25
She points to CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata’s (perhaps the most infamous
example, among others) comments: “[Ukraine] isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or
23
“11 Years of War in Syria” by Farrrah Hassen (Foreign Policy in Focus, 2022)
24
“Syrian Revolution 11 years on | SOHR documents by names nearly 161,000 civilian deaths,
including 40,500 children and women” (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 2022)
25
“Covering War Without Prejudice” by Farrah Hassen (OtherWords, 2022)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
17
Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. You know, this is a relatively civilized,
relatively European — I have to choose those words carefully, too — city where you won’t
expect that or hope that it’s going to happen.”
26
The fact that his words were so effortlessly
condescending even after careful thought speaks volumes. Hassen emphasizes how Syrian
refugees have been treated with “suspicion and hostility,” with more than 30 U.S. governors who
have tried to close their borders to asylum-seekers.
27
At the peak of the war in Syria, President
Donald Trump barred citizens from seven predominantly Islamic countries from entering the
United States, implementing what came to be known as the “Muslim ban.”
28
People from
Southwest Asia and the Middle East have been dehumanized and denied compassion while
Ukrainians have the world on their side when confronted with an equally destructive crisis. The
polarity is striking — within a month of the war breaking out in Ukraine, the president
announced that the United States will welcome as many as 100,000 Ukrainian refugees;
29
more
recently, he proposed a $33 billion aid package for Ukraine.
30
Hassen reveals these disparities by comparison: “Western journalists lift up President Biden and
other global leaders’ rightful denunciations of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. But they
often remain silent when these same leaders fail to condemn — or even aid and abet —
violations of international law elsewhere. This is evident in the over 50-year Israeli occupation of
26
“CBS Reporter Calls Ukraine ‘Relatively Civilized’ as Opposed to Iraq and Afghanistan,
Outrage Ensues (Video)” by Harper Lambert (The Wrap, 2022)
27
“More than half the nation’s governors say Syrian refugees not welcome” by Ashley Fantz and
Ben Brumfield (CNN, 2022)
28
“Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States” (Federal Register,
2017)
29
“The U.S. will take in up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war” by Tamara Keith
(NPR, 2022)
30
“Biden asks Congress for $33 billion in aid for Ukraine as war drags on” (NPR, 2022)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
18
Palestinian territories, as well as the war in Yemen.” The United States remains one of Israel’s
strongest allies, obscuring from the public’s consciousness the atrocities being committed against
the Palestinian people — as of mid-April this year, Israeli forces have killed 47 Palestinians,
including eight children.
31
This is the byproduct of an anti-Islamic rhetoric centered on
congenital terrorism, a whole other breed of discrimination unto itself that has been prevalent in
American culture, especially in the 21st century.
In a different article published last year on OtherWords, Hassen discussed this issue of
Islamophobia in the United States and the surge in hate crimes against people “perceived to be
Muslim” in the two decades following the September 11 attacks.
32
From 2000–2009, anti-
Muslim crimes spiked by 500%, and its residual effects persist to this day.
33
Today, Rep. Lauren
Boebert can casually get away with referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar as a suicide bomber,
34
the
“Jihad Squad member from Minnesota”
35
and an “honorary member of Hamas.”
36
Republican
leaders have remained silent and Boebert has carried on with her career without any formal
repercussions.
37
The normalization of such behavior from the country’s leaders cannot be
31
“Israel killed five times as many Palestinians in 2022 than it killed in the same period in 2021”
(Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 2022)
32
“Stop Normalizing Islamophobia” by Farrah Hassen (OtherWords, 2021)
33
“Racial Profiling and Islamophobia” (Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs)
34
Tweet (PatriotTakes, 2021)
35
“Boebert faces heavy criticism after Gosar floor speech” by Dominick Mastrangelo (The Hill,
2021)
36
Tweet (Lauren Boebert, 2021)
37
“There need to be consequences for Rep. Lauren Boebert’s Islamophobic comments” by Li
Zhou (Vox, 2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
19
isolated from the 500-plus incidents of Islamophobia that were documented in 2021;
38
it cannot
be separated from Omar receiving hundreds of death threats following Boebert’s mockery.
39
In the United States, those perceived to be Muslim, Arab or Middle Eastern are often deemed
barbaric and uncivilized, and treated like lower-class citizens.
40
These hateful sentiments have
very little to do with who people truly are or else adherents of Sikhism wouldn’t have suffered
from the collateral damage of Islamophobia.
41
Chapter Seven: Erroneous Technicalities
The way individuals are classified is directly proportional to how well their needs are addressed
and fulfilled. The latest U.S. Census determined the allocation of approximately $1.5 trillion
annually in federal tax dollars to local communities across the country; this data will be used till
the next decennial tally in 2030.
42
The census, however, is crucially imprecise because its
sweeping categories restrict fair representation.
The Census Bureau is accommodating of Fuhrmann’s and Tsuchiyama’s race and ethnicity, as
well as my own. Among the five categories that are offered, we get to mark the box that says
“Asian” since it includes Japan and India.
43
The other options are White, Black or African
38
“CAIR’s 2021 Mid-Year Snapshot Summary Report of Anti-Muslim Bias Incidents” by
Huzaifa Shahbaz and Robert S. McCaw (Council on American-Islamic Relations, 2021)
39
“Rep. Omar Remarks on Islamophobia” (Ilhan Omar, 2021)
40
“Islamophobia Through the Eyes of Muslims” by Elsadig Elsheikh and Basima Sisemore
(Othering & Belonging Institute, 2021)
41
“Fact Sheet on Post-9/11 Discrimination and Violence against Sikh Americans” (The Sikh
Coalition)
42
“Counting for Dollars 2020: The Role of the Decennial Census in the Geographic Distribution
of Federal Funds” by Andrew Reamer (George Washington University, 2019)
43
“About the Topic of Race” (United States Census Bureau)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
20
American (an odd categorization because it does not include people of African origin who aren’t
Black), American Indian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and
they each specify the regions they apply to. But nowhere in the listing under “Asian” is there any
mention of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA); instead, they are listed
under “White.” The existence of individuals belonging to said group is thus garbled — they are
counted but not seen.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s guidelines for race
An inaccurate identification system has ramifications because the data on race influences policy
decisions “particularly for civil rights” and is used to “promote equal employment opportunities
and to assess racial disparities in health and environmental risks.”
44
Maya Berry, executive
44
“Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Race” (United States Census Bureau)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
21
director of the Arab American Institute, said the absence of MENA representation has deprived
the community of basic services and rights such as voter protection, language assistance and
educational grants.
45
The contorted “White” label also misleads universities and companies that
refer to the government’s findings to promote diversity.
46
Moreover, it limits research on key
issues such as health trends of communities. Because the Arab/Middle Eastern/Muslim American
perspective is rarely given any consideration in matters regarding public advancement, its
fluctuating inclusion in American society is puzzling.
The 2020 U.S. Census form
45
“For Some Americans Of MENA Descent, Checking A Census Box Is Complicated” by Kat
Chow (NPR, 2017)
46
“Are Arabs and Iranians white? Census says yes, but many disagree” by Sarah Parvini and
Ellis Simani (LA Times, 2019)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
22
People who have never been treated as White are forced to contribute to statistics that doesn’t
don’t benefit them, in government funding or social acceptance. The United States’ imbalanced
response to different conflicts and wars is a testament to this overt bias.
Chapter Eight: Conveying an Under- and Misrepresented Experience
Los Angeles Times television critic Lorraine Ali is no stranger to this. Her father was an
immigrant from Iraq and her mother a native Californian of French Canadian ancestry, but her
last name has always negatively affected how others view her. From early in her life, she has had
a conspicuous presence in spaces she was not expected to be: growing up in a predominantly
Jewish neighborhood, starting her career as a music journalist covering the punk scene in 1980s
Los Angeles, writing about sociopolitical issues while everyone saw her as a “music critic.” She
spent the 2000s working as a senior writer at Newsweek, during which time she began branching
out and shedding light on the predicament of Muslims in the United States following the
September 11 attacks. Her articles were reaching millions of readers, and this put her on the
radar of anti-Muslim media propagandists like Steven Emerson and Breitbart News. Political
commentator Daniel Pipes even devoted an entire blog page to why she is “the Worst Political
Reporter in America.”
47
An obsessive series of chronological updates on her work, the gist of his
entries was that Ali is a dishonest and un-American alarmist who defends Islamic extremism.
One of his entries from 2008, concise and to the point, reads as follows: “Lorraine Ali writes in
the ironically titled ‘Having Kids Makes You Happy’ about the joys of childlessness. Thank you,
Ali, for your insights.” Ali has since raised a son and Pipes’ blog page has been inactive for over
a decade.
47
“Lorraine Ali, the Worst Political Reporter in America?” by Daniel Pipes (Daniel Pipes, 2004)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
23
The audacity of a Muslim American woman with a loud voice in the Western mediasphere
doesn’t sit well with a lot of people. When Ali was awarded the National Arab Journalists
Association's Excellence in Journalism Award, Newsweek’s editor-in-chief, Jon Meacham, told
her she shouldn’t be proud of it. Other writers and editors told her to be careful of the “hot-
button topic” she would often write about because of her last name, which frustrated her, because
they had reduced “Muslims” to a topic whereas she was reporting on them as fellow human
beings. And this has been a defining characteristic of her writing: empathy for the defenseless.
She suspects she lost her job at Newsweek because she had broadened the scope of her work and
become a culture writer who was addressing contentious subjects. She moved back across the
country from New York City and got a job at the LA Times, once again as a music critic before
transitioning into her current role. She now has more freedom to write about what she wants —
“Pop culture, immigrant culture, my own experience, Muslims, Asians.” Today, her work ranges
from writing forthright television reviews to dissecting the status quo to illuminating cultures
that remain unseen. She punctuates her writing with personal anecdotes, and the conviction with
which she presents her observations allows readers to expand their vision:
“The last two decades have arguably been the hardest I’ve experienced as a
journalist and the daughter of an immigrant who left the tribalism of his old country
behind for the wide-open promise of the West. Few things are worse than having to
defend your intentions, your faith and your loyalty to your fellow countrymen. I too
was weaned on “Scooby-Doo” reruns and McDonald’s jingles. Isn’t that enough?”
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
24
Like Hassen, Ali has also pointed out the flaws in the Western media’s coverage of the Arab,
Middle Eastern and Muslim regions. “But by the time the fallout from years of war made its way
to Europe, in the form of Arab and North African refugees who poured in by the millions, the
press had grown tired of covering the war on terror, much less its reverberations,” she wrote in a
recent piece. “Without a personal connection, that human tragedy was just old news, and the
refugees were a ‘crisis.’”
48
Another article she published close to the 20th anniversary of the
September 11 attacks looked back on the casualties of the war on terror.
49
She energizes her
writing by reflecting on the hardships she faced during the influx of Islamophobia at the time of
the incident. By referencing “the hate mail and threats, the trolls and profiling,” she gives readers
a first-hand account of the Muslim American condition in a post-9/11 world.
In moving away from the more serious matters and into the domain of television, she keeps an
eye out for projects that serve a greater purpose than mere entertainment.
A 2018 study on MENA representation in television revealed that 78% of the time, MENA series
regulars are terrorists or tyrannical soldiers, whereas 67% of the time they have inflated accents,
furthering the notion that they are foreigners.
50
By bringing attention to shows like “Ramy,” “We
Are Lady Parts” and “Our Boys,” Ali has opened the Times’ readership up to a side of the
MENA identity that is often eclipsed by derogatory caricatures.
48
“In Ukraine reporting, Western press reveals grim bias toward ‘people like us’” by Lorraine
Ali (LA Times, 2022)
49
“20 years after 9/11, an American Muslim recalls the costs of war you didn’t see on TV” by
Lorraine Ali (LA Times, 2021)
50
“Terrorists & Tyrants” by Nancy Wang Yuen, Christina B. Chin, Meera E. Deo, Faustina M.
DuCros, Jenny Jong-Hwa Lee, Noriko Milman (MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition, 2018)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
25
“A lot of people don’t want to be learning while they’re watching television,” she said. “The sign
of a good show, to me, is that you’re learning something new, and you don’t even know it.” This
is precisely why she sees the value in a show like “Never Have I Ever,” a coming-of-age comedy
about an Indian American family based in San Fernando Valley, California. Ali wrote about how
closely she can relate to the story even though her Asian lineage traces back to the Middle East. I
myself saw resemblances between the characters on the show and my own family, and since Ali
did too, that means Iraqi and Indian culture aren’t completely different either. Asian cultures do
indeed have similarities, but it is important to recognize what they are beyond superficial traits
like chopsticks and headscarves.
Chapter Nine: Similar Yet So Different
Several first-generation Asian Americans have comparable upbringings, united by strict yet
loving parents who, in more ways than one, can be embarrassing to youngsters trying to blend in.
This is because a lot of immigrants share an objective in raising their kids away from the cultures
they leave behind: a strong-willed commitment to ensure their sons and daughters are positioned
to succeed.
Ali’s upbringing was no different. Humiliated, she’d sink into her car seat when her father would
drive her to school playing a cassette tape of Quranic sutras on the stereo. Visible cultural
differences often make the children of immigrants question where they belong in society.
Tsuchiyama also stood out beside her peers but eventually grew indifferent to their ridicule. Both
Ali and Tsuchiyama have put up with verbal abuse in different forms over their lives, which is
why they both feel that the sentiments behind what people say are the actual problem.
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
26
A fixation on words, they think, is counterproductive when there are more important things to
worry about. Their concerns, however, differ vastly. Fuhrmann is more sympathetic to
Tsuchiyama’s case given that his mother worked as a seamstress for the now-defunct Oriental
Drapery Co. in Oxnard, California. Still, he is optimistic that younger generations are
reinterpreting language for the right reasons, namely inclusivity and accuracy. Along with Ali,
Hassen and Tsuchiyama, he too stresses the need for a “universal standard for compassion.”
“An injury to one is an injury to all,” Hassen said. “It’s an affront to justice if it’s an affront to
respecting human rights. Regardless of how we identify ourselves, there should be a core set of
standards.”
In an article published by Vox last year, scholars offered their thoughts on the term “Asian
American” and its larger implications.
51
Many consider it inadequate due to the large surface
area it covers and the blurring of cultures it validates. Furthermore, when the label stretched out
to include Pacific Islanders, a lot of the communities it then pertained to rejected being
categorized that way. After all, Tahiti and Kazakhstan have very little in common. Sela
Panapasa, a researcher at the University of Michigan who identifies as a Pacific Islander,
believes that the “Asian American and Pacific Islander” tag only worsens the invisibility her
community has felt throughout history.
The ideological and economic differences between the communities bundled under this sizeable
category remain in the shadows because it has very few stakeholders, most notably East
51
“The inadequacy of the term ‘Asian American’” by Li Zhou (Vox, 2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
27
Asians.
52
Still, UC Riverside political science professor Karthick Ramakrishnan (an earlier study
of his from 2019 was referenced on page 14) believes that a shared history of exclusion laws and
immigration bans is a uniting factor regardless of how far-reaching the group might be — “What
makes us Asian is a history of exclusion.”
Whereas the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Muslim ban were both products of scapegoating, the
similarities between the affected cultures remain tenuous. Only a handful of issues plaguing the
larger Asian American cohort have been constructively addressed. This is clear from the
outpouring of global support that helped launch the “Stop Asian Hate” movement soon after the
rise in hate crimes during the coronavirus pandemic. Islamophobia, on the other hand, had been a
pressing concern in the United States for two decades before that, but it never prompted a
campaign of its own. Charles Tilly described a social movement as a “sustained challenge to
powerholders” through “repeated public displays of that population’s numbers, commitment,
unity, and worthiness,” and this is precisely what separates the above issues.
53
The pushback
against Islamophobia never garnered public sympathy the way “Asian hate” did, which is why
it’s necessary to separate the two despite the technicality that integrates them.
Broad-strokes, in-group/out-group classifications impact how we view other cultures with a
limited capacity. The Asian American condition, when taken as a whole, must be observed as a
multi-dimensional entity existing in many parts with both similarities and differences, some
52
“The Asian American wealth gap, explained in a comic” by Lok Siu and Jamie Noguchi (Vox,
2021)
53
“Social Movements as Historically Specific Clusters of Political Performances” by Charles
Tilly (Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 1994)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
28
subtle and others stark. Breaking down its expansive categories to properly acknowledge the
assorted elements within—religion, geography, economics, politics, education—paves the way
for the fair representation of Asian Americans.
People have always seemed more comfortable identifying me from a distance rather than taking
a few steps in my direction to get a better look. Allowing others to distinguish themselves is
rarely encouraged in American discourse. When we lose control of our narrative, we lose our
identity. This is the product of deciding who others are instead of letting them convey it
themselves.
Chapter Ten: Epilogue
“Nah, pork is fine,” I told the hot dog vendor.
This caught him off guard. When I noticed the embarrassment on his face, I smiled and spoke
up: “I eat everything.” This sparked a brief conversation between us that let me explain why —
just like him, my beliefs didn’t restrict my diet, and just like him, I was more than what I
appeared to be.
His intentions were pure and that’s all it took for me to engage with him. I’m not offended by
people who don’t know better; contrarily, I consider it my responsibility to help them widen their
line of sight.
Effective communication is central to seeing and being seen — I’ve learnt this first hand.
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
29
Bibliography
1. Census Data & API Identities (Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence)
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Groups Has Increased Since 2010” by Eric Jensen, Nicholas Jones, Megan Rabe, Beverly
Pratt, Lauren Medina, Kimberly Orozco and Lindsay Spell (United States Census Bureau,
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(Pew Research Center, 2021)
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(Grace Meng, 2016)
12. “The term ‘Oriental’ is outdated, but is it racist?” by Jane Tsuchiyama (LA Times, 2016)
13. “National Report (through March 2021)” (Stop AAPI Hate, 2021)
14. “How the 1982 Murder of Vincent Chin Ignited a Push for Asian American Rights” by
Becky Little (History, 2020)
15. “Family of Thai immigrant, 84, says fatal attack 'was driven by hate'” by Kyung Lah
(CNN, 2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
30
16. “Northeast citizens faced racial discrimination amid COVID-19 outbreak, says govt.
study” by Vijaita Singh (The Hindu, 2021)
17. “Arcadia, a WWII incarceration site, names its first police chief of Japanese descent” by
Andrew J. Campa (LA Times, 2020)
18. “Drop the Hyphen in Asian American” by Henry Fuhrmann (Conscious Style Guide,
2018)
19. “Hapa: A Unique Case of Cultural Appropriation by Multiracial Asian Americans?” by
Joanna Eng (Conscious Style Guide, 2018)
20. “Who counts as Asian” by Jennifer Lee and Karthick Ramakrishnan (Ethnic and Racial
Studies, 2019)
21. “Arab, Middle Eastern, and Muslim? What’s the Difference?!” (TeachMidEast)
22. “Muslim Population by Country 2022” (World Population Review, 2022)
23. “11 Years of War in Syria” by Farrrah Hassen (Foreign Policy in Focus, 2022)
24. “Syrian Revolution 11 years on | SOHR documents by names nearly 161,000 civilian
deaths, including 40,500 children and women” (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
2022)
25. “Covering War Without Prejudice” by Farrah Hassen (OtherWords, 2022)
26. “CBS Reporter Calls Ukraine ‘Relatively Civilized’ as Opposed to Iraq and Afghanistan,
Outrage Ensues (Video)” by Harper Lambert (The Wrap, 2022)
27. “More than half the nation’s governors say Syrian refugees not welcome” by Ashley
Fantz and Ben Brumfield (CNN, 2022)
28. “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States” (Federal
Register, 2017)
29. “The U.S. will take in up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war” by Tamara
Keith (NPR, 2022)
30. “Biden asks Congress for $33 billion in aid for Ukraine as war drags on” (NPR, 2022)
31. “Israel killed five times as many Palestinians in 2022 than it killed in the same period in
2021” (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 2022)
32. “Stop Normalizing Islamophobia” by Farrah Hassen (OtherWords, 2021)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
31
33. “Racial Profiling and Islamophobia” (Watson Institute for International and Public
Affairs)
34. Tweet (PatriotTakes, 2021)
35. “Boebert faces heavy criticism after Gosar floor speech” by Dominick Mastrangelo (The
Hill, 2021)
36. Tweet (Lauren Boebert, 2021)
37. “There need to be consequences for Rep. Lauren Boebert’s Islamophobic comments” by
Li Zhou (Vox, 2021)
38. “CAIR’s 2021 Mid-Year Snapshot Summary Report of Anti-Muslim Bias Incidents” by
Huzaifa Shahbaz and Robert S. McCaw (Council on American-Islamic Relations, 2021)
39. “Rep. Omar Remarks on Islamophobia” (Ilhan Omar, 2021)
40. “Islamophobia Through the Eyes of Muslims” by Elsadig Elsheikh and Basima Sisemore
(Othering & Belonging Institute, 2021)
41. “Fact Sheet on Post-9/11 Discrimination and Violence against Sikh Americans” (The
Sikh Coalition)
42. “Counting for Dollars 2020: The Role of the Decennial Census in the Geographic
Distribution of Federal Funds” by Andrew Reamer (George Washington University,
2019)
43. “About the Topic of Race” (United States Census Bureau)
44. “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Race” (United States Census Bureau)
45. “For Some Americans Of MENA Descent, Checking A Census Box Is Complicated” by
Kat Chow (NPR, 2017)
46. “Are Arabs and Iranians white? Census says yes, but many disagree” by Sarah Parvini
and Ellis Simani (LA Times, 2019)
47. “Lorraine Ali, the Worst Political Reporter in America?” by Daniel Pipes (Daniel Pipes,
2004)
48. “In Ukraine reporting, Western press reveals grim bias toward ‘people like us’” by
Lorraine Ali (LA Times, 2022)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
32
49. “20 years after 9/11, an American Muslim recalls the costs of war you didn’t see on TV”
by Lorraine Ali (LA Times, 2021)
50. “Terrorists & Tyrants” by Nancy Wang Yuen, Christina B. Chin, Meera E. Deo, Faustina
M. DuCros, Jenny Jong-Hwa Lee, Noriko Milman (MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition,
2018)
51. “The inadequacy of the term ‘Asian American’” by Li Zhou (Vox, 2021)
52. “The Asian American wealth gap, explained in a comic” by Lok Siu and Jamie Noguchi
(Vox, 2021)
53. “Social Movements as Historically Specific Clusters of Political Performances” by
Charles Tilly (Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 1994)
Copyright 2022 Karan Singh
33
Interviews
1. Jane Tsuchiyama, National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental
Medicine
2. Henry Fuhrmann, Asian American Journalists Association
3. Farrah Hassen, Institute for Policy Studies
4. Lorraine Ali, LA Times
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
The “Asian” identity in the United States is a fitting example of how a community’s portrayal and coverage is not commensurate with the reality of its condition. Asian Americans consist of over 50 ethnic groups that represent a broad range of identities, yet only a handful of them are recognized as part of said group.1 The imperialist attitude of viewing other cultures through a one-dimensional lens has, with time, shaped how we interact. Through conversations with individuals who have, from different angles, put the Asian American identity under the microscope in published works, my paper will explore the intricacies of one of the most textured regions of the world with regard to visibility and erasure, under- and misrepresentation. In doing so, it is important to consider the history of the communities involved as well as our inclination to use indefinite terminology such as “Asian” or “Oriental” when talking about identity. A narrow understanding of cultures is precisely what triggered a surge in hate crimes over the coronavirus pandemic. Hence, it is necessary to contemplate what more can be done to repair a flawed communication system so we don’t have to “Stop Asian Hate.” Identifying others within a broad radius is the norm in American culture, and this puts off further inquiry. Observing the Asian American community in its entirety entails recognizing who all are left out and why — this ranges from the oneness of physical traits and cultural practices to the stigmas attached to religion, and everything in between. The United States’ handling of the war in Ukraine as compared to countries in the Middle East exposed this exclusive framework. Additionally, the depiction of Asian American communities in entertainment and media must also be scrutinized.
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Shifted perspective: creative first person journalism across media
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Singh, Karan
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Core Title
Entanglements of the Asian identity: visibility and representation in the United States
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Journalism (Specialized Journalism)
Degree Conferral Date
2022-08
Publication Date
07/28/2022
Defense Date
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