By Chun-Fai Chan
What struck me about this story is not just the fact that the man was Asian, but to try to uncover the reasons why he killed and then how these reasons breed larger issues regarding unemployment, anti-immigration sentiment, and the intolerance of others toward people with limited or no English skills. For now, I am not going to speculate on his state of mind but I am going to focus on the three issues presented above.
In terms of unemployment, everybody is hurting and the damage that is caused by this is felt all over the country. Mr. Wong is not alone regarding this situation. However, what makes his situation worse than others is the fact that he had limited English skills. From my experiences at the Chinese Progressive Association, I see countless workers coming in to the office with limited English skills. They wait and hope to find better jobs for better pay as well as to seek ways to advance their careers through job trainings and English classes.
However, job trainings and English classes can be tough to get into with long waiting lists at community organizations in Chinatown as well as workers trying to follow though a time commitment to show up for class. I see my students having to leave my Citizenship class every Saturday 10-15 minutes early because they have to go to work. Of course they want to stay, but they have no choice. They have to work to provide for their families and loved ones at the expense of taking classes.
Let's think about the Binghamton tragedy for a moment, Mr Wong's unemployed and has limited English skills. He really can't do much, which is very similar to the students I teach. The only thing that he can do is a dead-end job cooking or cleaning somewhere. Does this justify killing 13 people? Absolutely not. However, does it raise the larger issue of providing more services in terms of job training, career advancement, and English classes for people in his situation? Absolutely. Are these needs being addressed? In some ways they are met particularly in Chinatown with the Asian American Civic Association, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center and many others. However, not every community organization in surrounding immigrant communities in Boston are as fortunate to meet these needs.
So why does the government do not help these particular community organizations and agencies to meet their needs? This brings up issue of immigration. There are certain community organizations and agencies that would not ask for government money because some of their students are undocumented. They have to rely on other funding to provide these needs. They are essentially caught in a bind here. Should they accept undocumented students in their classes or accept government money? They, being humans that have a heart and conscience, choose the former because undocumented students do live and work here and they should deserve access to these services.
No matter how Mr. Mitt Romney, Mr. Lou Dobbs, or others like them spin it, there is no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. The only difference is a card and documentation saying that a person has a right to be here. Here's the point all those talking heads are missing. Who can really tell whether a person of color is legal and illegal unless the people see your card? Those people would just see a person's skin color with limited English skills and assume that they must be an illegal immigrant. Additionally, people may just see your skin color and assume that you do not know any English. I will never forget when I was interviewed to go to private school that the admissions officer was surprised that I did not speak with an English accent. In some ways, it's a compliment, but it also speaks to the larger problem with the comment in terms of prejudice and intolerance.
As for the last problem with intolerance. Sadly, intolerance still exists in the Obama era, and there is not much people can do about it except to educate others and hope for the best. I was in Washington DC last year and a couple of fifth graders visiting the Air and Space museum that made fun of the Chinese language, and I just couldn't let that go. I had to speak to the adult in charge of them to let them know it was wrong and I did not appreciate it one bit. I told a friend of mine after the encounter that if I had let that go, then I would be guilty of breeding intolerance and hate. My hope to get them at a young age so that they don't advocate intolerance and hate when they are adults.
I hope that this article fully explores the deeper problems associated with this tragedy in Binghamton, New York and that there is still a lot of work to be done in this world to combat these problems.
Chun-Fai Chan teaches a U.S. Citizenship class part-time for the Chinese Progressive Association.
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