Cohousing-L Mailing List: Diversity and the term "Oriental"-sorry, I'm going WAY Off-Topic-LONG

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

Angela, you put me in mind of when I first moved to California, about 15
years ago, from my almost 100% white hometown in suburban upstate NY. I'm
pretty sure it was my sister who told me not to use "Oriental" when
describing someone. I couldn't really understand it. Ditto the use of
Colored, then Negro, then Black, then African-American. None of these terms
was considered offensive when it was coined. But I believed then as I do now
that people should be called what they want to be called, so I do.

I think the problem stems not from the words we use, but the inequality in
our systems and bigotry in people. As long as it exists, we will continue to
have to come up with new names for the people in our society who are
discriminated against. Each new name will, in turn, become stained with the
hatred that comes from the people speaking it, and will have to be replaced
by a new term with no connotations. I believe this is futile, this changing
of words, when the real problems lie so much deeper. "Asian" is no more or
less descriptive of the people included in that term than "Oriental."

Describing oneself as "a person of color" isn't very different,
linguistically, from saying you're "colored." It still lumps you in with
people who are no more or less like you in any way except having skin color
darker than the average "white" person.

I don't know how to get away from this, or what the answers are. I do know
that the person who is of Japanese descent in our community strongly objects
to any racial category, believing it does more to separate us than unite us
as human beings. Someday, it just won't be necessary to have artificial
categories for people. Race is nonexistent as a biological fact. It exists
in people's minds in order to differentiate us (good) from them (bad), much
as nationalism does. Both promote fear, hatred, and war.

I can think of no better time to contemplate this than approaching Martin
Luther King Jr.'s birthday. My son just had to do a report on him. It was so
inspiring to read about him again and to read the text of the "I Have a
Dream" speech. What the heck, I'll put it here so anyone who wants can read
it again.

I tried to read it without crying; it just doesn't work that way.

Liz

PS- Thank you Angela, for your thoughtful post and for being brave.

-- 
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California
tamgoddess [at] attbi.com



I have a Dream

by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August
28, 1963 

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand
signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great
beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the
flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long
night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is
still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still
sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of
discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island
of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred
years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American
society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here
today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the
architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution
and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to
which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men
would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note
insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this
sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has
come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the
bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we
have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the
riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this
hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no
time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing
drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate
valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time
to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time
to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock
of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and
to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of
the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an
end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam
and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to
business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America
until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt
will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of
justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm
threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining
our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek
to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into
physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of
meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which
has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white
people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here
today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny
and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk
alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot
turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights,
"When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our
bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels
of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long
as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We
can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a
Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are
not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like
waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you
have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You
have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the
faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to
Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing
that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in
the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men
are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together
at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state,
sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are
presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will
be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will
be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk
together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the
crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With
this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of
hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of
our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will
be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to
jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be
free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a
new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I
sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every
mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom
ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from
the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening
Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From
every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that
day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words
of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty,
we are free at last!"


> From: Angelapk [at] aol.com
> Reply-To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 15:37:46 EST
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: [C-L]_Diversity and the term "Oriental"
> 
> 
> I hesitate to even send this e-mail, but here goes. Please know that I send
> it with good intentions and no ill will.
> 
> As a person of color who just purchased a home in cohousing, I have read a
> number of the recent e-mails about diversity with great interest.  As someone
> who has a very strong network of friends and professional colleagues from
> diverse backgrounds one of the biggest drawbacks of cohousing is its lack of
> racial, ethnic, and income diversity. I believe in cohousing and am excited
> to be living "in community," but in addition to having friends from afar who
> are diverse, I would ideally like to live in a community that as diverse in
> these important ways.  I'm impressed by many of the efforts that have been
> made to diversify cohousing across the country and think we should share
> lessons learned to improve further.
> 
> But the reason why I am writing is to react to the use of the word "Oriental"
> on this listserv in describing people of Asian or Pacific Island descent.
> While many people continue to use this word to describe individuals, cuisine,
> and furnishings, I have to agree with Frank Wu, the writer of "Yellow: Race
> in America Beyond Black and White."  Wu writes that "Oriental" is an
> adjective that should be limited to the description of rugs.
> 
> While Asian/Pacific Islanders are not unanimous in feeling this way, a very
> large number -- and virtually everyone in my network -- is deeply offended by
> being called "Oriental."  When I describe this to others, I usually tell them
> that in 2003 most people would never call an African-American a "Negro" but
> people seem to have no problem calling Asian/Pacific Islanders an "Oriental."
> I would equate the two terms in how they're taken.  So, if you wouldn't feel
> comfortable calling someone "Negro" -- and I know I wouldn't -- I suggest we
> stop calling folks "Oriental" too.
> 
> I don't mean to be the PC police.  I am simply sharing my perspective in the
> hope that it might be of interest to some of you. I'm sure some Asian/Pacific
> Islanders have no problem with the term, but it's so deeply offensive to so
> many people that I think we do no harm in eliminating the use of the word,
> except in historical references.  I believe language is an important part of
> inclusion.  And, if this listserv aims to be inclusive and open to discussing
> diversity, I think we should be open to sharing these thoughts.
> 
> Thanks for reading and kudos to all who make this listserv possible.
> 
> Angela


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