The View From Here

What happened in Charleston yesterday was horrific. There are truly no words to describe what happened except that I'm even more demoralized by the state of affairs in the US when it comes to race. Even though I'm not surprised per se because of the amount of racial hatred in the US has been on-going from the founding of this nation, I'm still shocked. Yet what is as upsetting to me is that colleges and universities that are PWIs continue to have diversity and anti-racism efforts on the sidelines at their campuses. Then they wonder why bias incidents occur and faculty of color leave. Honestly, when one campus has a student putting a swastika on another student's dorm door  (who happens to be Muslim) then having a security officer tell the victim that he should be glad he's not a Jew is appalling. Another campus for which the president outright rejects his one Black faculty member's exhortation to not continue having ALL WHITE conferences and ALL WHITE speak

This past week in class we were discussing a case study about a Nisei and his struggles. A Nisei is a 2nd generation Japanese American. What struck me (again) is how very unaware that most of my classmates were about Japanese American culture and the generational impact of the WWII internment in the US. Many said that they didn't feel they "knew" the client enough because there wasn't enough information about his feelings and his habits. I felt I knew plenty based on what was NOT said knowing that Japanese culture is high context and indirect . One older classmate made a comment that the Japanese-American man took the "easy way out" when it came to his academic studies and choosing courses that assured success. Hearing her say that was like a slap across the face as her statement was definitive and filled with moral judgment. I had to (of course!) correct her on this, which just reminded me again that I'm the only one in my class who could speak to th

When I was working at a PWI (Primarily White Institution) in Santa Barbara, I thought it was going to be okay. Part of it was due to my still being ignorant about the dynamics of race and my own identity. I had glimpses of understanding when I was in graduate school at another PWI west of Chicago but not enough to propel me towards true cultural competence. Also, it was California! The land of diversity (so I thought) where I could find every kind of food within a few square miles and that Asian Americans were found outside of Chinatown and other urban spaces. So different from Boston! Hooray! Well, not so much. One encounter ----One day a staff member and me were talking on the steps facing the library and frankly I can't recall exactly what we were discussing. BUT, I remember this...she told me that TRUE Americans speak English meaning no English as a Second Language or even a distinguishable accent. All I could think, "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?&quo

The other night in class, an interesting statement was made by a classmate about identity, bias and prejudice. The classmate made clear that her identity was gay and that it would seem easier to have her identity more open so the bias and discrimination she experienced would be more obvious. Certainly there are challenges and pain when it comes to feeling the need as well as the very real necessity of hiding one's identity. At the same time being a person of color for which my features are identified as such doesn't make the experience of bias and discrimination easier. In fact it can be frightening when racism rears its head and physically and/or emotionally threatens a person's life. Yet what's interesting is that as a person who is Asian-American, I am both visible and invisible. Visible in the way people address me as if I'm a foreigner in my own country and invisible because Asians are supposed to be submissive and quiet. I can't tell you how many times I

For the next few days or weeks I'll be writing about my experiences as a former staff of color  having worked at Primarily White Institutions (PWIs). I named my posting as being a POW in a PWI to describe the experience of feeling emotionally and mentally imprisoned at a PWI. I'm particularly thinking of Japanese-Americans who were forced into internment camps in THEIR OWN COUNTRY during WWII and having to face once again the racism that came with being Asian. It is deeply disconcerting and disturbing to be seen as foreign and alien in one's own country of origin; thus the title of the blog. This video pretty sums up my life from East Coast to West Coast and all places in between: Disclaimer: This is not meant to discount the experiences of those who were POWs.I was once interrogated for several hours for two days by the Chinese Authorities in Wuhan, China in 1993; Even so I would not even compare my experience to those who were imprisoned during war.

Right now I'm taking a short break from reading my textbook for my Vocational Counseling summer class. So far it has been rather interesting and helpful. I had no idea that there were actual theories that framed the work of career counselors. I now have more respect for those who do this work day in and day out especially in a college/university context. In this particular chapter I'm reading about "Adult Career Crisis and Transitions" and the paragraph that I finished reading was about "Persistent Occupational Problems." I couldn't help but think of my friend who recently resigned from his tenured faculty position at a small liberal arts college. For over ten years he was the only Black male professor at a faith-based PWI (Primarily White Institution) and as time went on, the campus culture became increasingly oppressive and uninviting. In the end this campus culture not only drove him to an occupational crisis and non normative transition , his healt