Asian American 亞裔美國人

Asian American 亞裔美國人

Wayne Yeh葉華

Goal: For members to understand the history of how Asian Americans have been racialized, so that they have a stronger identity as people of color and deeper solidarity with other communities of color (could focus on model minority myth, AARW pet/threat workshop content, etc.)

要旨: 讓會員瞭解亞裔美國人如何被種族化的歷史, 使他們作為有色人種有一個更強的身份認同, 並與其他有色人種社區有更深的團結 ( 可能集中於講及模範少數族裔神話, 亞裔文化中心 AARW 寵兒或威脅研討會內容等。)

What Does it Mean to be Asian American?

亞裔美國人意味著什麼？

The term “Asian American” has been used for the past fifty years. However, Asians have been in America for far greater than just five decades. The history of immigrants coming to America from Asian countries can be traced back to 1587 when a group of Filipinos arrived in Morro Bay, California on a Spanish Galleon more than three decades before Pilgrims from England arrived at Plymouth Rock. In 1763, Filipino workers escaped a Spanish ship in New Orleans, Louisiana, and became the first migrant community in the United States to come from an Asian country. Over the next century, waves of labor migration brought Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indians. Many of them worked on plantations in Hawaii, gold mines, and the continental railroad.

"亞裔美國人" 一詞在過去的五十年中被人們使用。然而, 亞洲人在美國的經歷遠超過五十年。亞洲國家移民美國的歷史，可追溯到 1587年, 當英國的朝聖者Pilgrims抵達普利茅斯石Plymouth Rock時，在此三十年之前，一群菲律賓人已乘西班牙帆船Spanish Galleon，抵達加利福尼亞California的莫洛灣Morro Bay。在 1763年, 菲律賓工人逃離了在路易斯安那州Louisiana新奧爾良New Orleans的一艘西班牙船, 並成立了美國第一個來自亞洲國家的移民社區。在下一個世紀, 勞工遷移浪潮帶來了中國人、日本人、韓國人、菲律賓人和印度人。他們當中許多是在夏威夷種植園、金礦和美洲大陸鐵路勞動。

During World War II, over 110,000 Japanese American families were unjustly rounded up and placed in unconstitutional internment camps for fear of holding allegiance to the Empire of Japan. However, many of the Japanese Americans were born in the United States. In addition, many other Asian ethnic groups, such as Chinese Americans, distinguish themselves by wearing “I am Chinese” buttons so that they would not be targeted by anti-Japanese sentiment.

二戰期間, 超過11萬名日裔美國人家庭，因恐防效忠日本帝國，而不公平地被安置在違憲的拘留營中。然而, 許多日裔美國人是在美國出生的。此外, 許多其他亞洲族裔群體, 如華裔美國人, 都以掛上 "我是中國人" 的紐扣來區分自己, 這樣，他們就會避開反日情緒的攻擊。

While laborers coming to America from Asian countries prior to the 1960s were ethnically Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Indian, the American government referred to them with derogatory terms such as “Oriental,” “Asiatic,” and “Mongoloid.” Just as African Americans struggled for their own equal rights under the law through the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, the outcomes impacted and benefitted all immigrants and communities of color. In the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Asians in the United States intentionally embraced the term “Asian American” coined by a Japanese American historian named Yuji Ichioka. The term “Asian American” is used as a multi-ethnic pan-Asian American self-identifying political group in solidarity with other communities of color struggling for equal rights.

二十世紀六十年代之前，從亞洲國家來美國的勞工多是華人、日本人、韓國人、菲律賓人和印度人, 而美國政府則用貶義詞來稱呼他們, 例如 "東方人"、"亞洲人" 和 "蒙古種"。正如二十世紀六十年代, 非裔美國人通過民權運動，為自己的平等權利而抗爭, 結果影響和惠及所有移民和有色人種社區。在民權運動的高潮, 在美國的亞洲人，故意擁抱由日裔美國史學家Yuji Ichioka創構的"亞裔美國人" 一詞。"亞裔美國人" 一詞始被一個多民族的泛亞裔美國人，用作為自我認同的政治團體, 聲援其他有色人種族群, 爭取平等權利。

“Asian American” was inspired by the term “Afro-American” coined by Black activists in the Civil Rights Movement and was used as an umbrella term for Americans with roots or origins in Asia. Being Asian American is a political statement that we are united by our status as being American, but we claim a new political identity for empowerment, social change, and racial and ethnic equity.

"亞裔美國人" 是由黑人維權人士在民權運動中，所創構的 "非裔美國人" 一詞所感召的, 並被紮根於或來源自亞洲的美國人用作為保護傘。作為亞裔美國人是一個政治表態, 我們在美國的地位是團結的, 但我們主張在權力、社會變革、種族和族裔平等中，賦予新的政治身份。

In 1977, the Office of Management and Budget recognized the growing use of an “Asian American” identity and directed that the 1980 Census collect aggregate data on “Asians and Pacific Islanders.” Previously, these groups were thrown into an “Other” category. For the first time, the 1980 Census provided a deeper look at the Asian American community and revealed that they are the fastest-growing population in America with a median household income and college attendance rate that outpaced White people. This did not come without consequence in the post-Civil Rights era.

在 1977年, 管理和預算辦公室Office of Management and Budget認識到，越來越多人使用 "亞裔美國人" 身份, 並指示1980人口普查，收集 "亞洲人和太平洋島民" 的綜合資料。以前, 這些組別是被歸進為 "其他" 類別。1980的人口普查，首次為亞裔美國人提供了更深層的研究, 揭示了他們是美國增長最快的人口, 家庭收入中位數和大學入學率遠超白人。這是在民權運動時代之後所帶來的結果，不無關係。

Asian Americans became labeled as the model minority tool, used as a racial wedge between Asians and other communities of color. Asian Americans became elevated by the dominant White narrative as “hardworking” and “deserving,” which served as a tactic to put down Black Americans and minimize the impact of the civil rights movement. Asians began to be portrayed as a rebuttal to Black Americans calling out institutional racism. Specifically, the Asians that White supremacy uplifts as the model minority are highly educated professional Asians who immigrated by means of selective recruitment.

亞裔美國人被標籤為模範少數族裔工具, 用作亞洲人和其他有色人種族群之間的種族楔子。亞裔美國人的地位提升，被主流白人視為 "勤勞" 和 "應得的"的成果, 這策略是貶低美國黑人和減少民權運動的影響。亞洲人開始被描繪為對美國黑人評擊制度化種族主義的反駁。具體來說, 白人至上有意提升亞裔為小數族裔模範，受過高等教育的專業亞裔, 便成為他們通過選擇性招攬的移民。

Although there was a new term coined, groups still used both used ethnic identities relating to their country of origin, in addition to a racial identity grounded in unity and solidarity with each other and communities of color for the sake of racial equity. While there are some subgroups of Asian Americans, such as East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asians, each subgroup is still made of ethnic identities. These racial and ethnic identities are separate from nationality, which is a country that a citizen belongs to.

雖然創構了一個新的名詞, 但族群組別仍同時用與原籍國有關的族裔身份, 除了以種族身份團結外，並以種族平等為基礎, 彼此團結及團結有色人種社區。儘管在亞裔美國人中有一些細分族群, 如東亞人、南亞人和東南亞人, 但每個細分組別，仍然是由族裔身份組成的。這些種族和族裔身份是與國籍分開的, 這是所屬的國家的公民。

           

Source: www.cnn.com/2018/05/26/opinions/asian-pacific-american-heritage-month-opinion-yang/index.html