f:\doc\web\2000\07\unzasia.txt Nice commentary on Asian Ams from conservative Ron Unz (Mr English for the Children) Date sent: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 11:00:46 -0500 From: JimmyKilpatrick Subject: The Asian-American Double Standard To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Didn't know if you received this from Ron Unz or not. Jimmy Dear Friends, The current issue of Commentary contains an excellent article by Tamar Jacoby on Asian Americans: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/0007/jacoby.html. The article prompted me to submit the following letter, which I have been told will be published in a forthcoming issue. Sincerely, Ron Unz, Chairman English for the Children ========================= To the Editor: Congratulations to Tamar Jacoby for her excellent article ("In Asian America"), one of the best on Asian-Americans I've read in a number of years. I'd only add two important points. First, although the handful of Asian-American ethnic activists whom she interviewed may receive considerable attention in the mainstream media, a far larger phenomenon is the huge impact which socially-conservative Asian-Americans, particularly Koreans and some Chinese, are having on America's mainline Protestant churches. For example, Korean pastors strongly opposed to gay marriage and other liberal policies are currently attempting to gain leadership positions in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and reverse the cultural tide of that association. Today, the Christian Fellowship circles of most Ivy League universities are heavily Asian-American, and this is likely to continue. Since such religious issues are far from the thoughts of most journalists, these trends receive little attention. Second, I believe that although some of the rhetoric of Asian activists regarding the Wen Ho Lee affair or the campaign finance scandals is exaggerated, their basic complaints about unfair racial targeting have considerable merit. Lee has already been cleared of the original espionage charge which began the case, and the only current charges against him---the mishandling of non-secret but restricted data---is quite minor compared with the self-admitted practices of John Deutch, former CIA Director; yet the former is being held without bail in solitary confinement, while the latter lives in honorable retirement. Similarly, the Clinton Administration's "Asian money scandal" became the central focus of media coverage and Republican rhetoric during the 1996 campaign, even though the amounts involved were a relatively small portion of the total, and there is no evidence that the Asian donors were seeking anything different than the government access and favors being sought by all the other Clinton donors. It seems likely that the continual Republican emphasis on "Asian money" and "Buddhist Temple fundraisers" is due to the demonstrated impact of such phrases in polling and focus groups, and that this impact derives from ethnic suspicion. Given the extreme sensitivity of ethnic matters, it is often illuminating to conduct a thought- experiment in which one ethnicity is substituted for another, and then consider the reaction. I suspect that if the Republicans had spent most of 1996 attacking the Clintonites for taking millions in illegal "Jewish money" and continued to endlessly remind the public that Al Gore had gone to a fund-raiser in a "Jewish Synagogue," the media and the readers of Commentary would rightfully regard this as the most blatant form of anti- Semitic race-baiting and react accordingly. This analogy is not merely hypothetical. During the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, a hugely disproportionate share of America's Communist leaders and Communist spies were of Jewish origin. Nonetheless, all but the most irresponsible anti- Communist leaders did everything possible to ensure that America's large Jewish community was not unfairly tarred by any general taint of disloyalty. Today's Jewish-Americans should remember this history as they consider the sometimes uncomfortable position of more recent immigrant groups to our country. Ron Unz Palo Alto, CA Jimmy Kilpatrick, Editor EducationNews.org World's Leading Source of EducationNews http://www.EducationNews.org