Cohousing-L Mailing List: Diversity and the term "Oriental"

[Casey Morrigan (cjmorr]

Thanks, Angela, for letting us know what you believe - I appreciate it.  I
also share your point of view regarding using Asian or Asian American as a
term, and came to it from listening to my friends, reading, and listening to
media programming that expands my view of the world.  In other words, my
awareness did not come automatically, but arose from someone taking the time
to tell me, usually gently, in just the way you have done in your email.

Then I also listened to the meaning behind the original email, which was,
where can we go where we will be welcomed, where diverse races and
ethnicities are the norm and not so unusual - the human heart seeking
acceptance and appreciation.  I hope cohousing brings what they seek!

Casey Morrigan
Two Acre Wood
Sebastopol, California
-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of Angelapk [at] aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 12:38 PM
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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