Silence of the Asian Americans, Essay Example

King Kok published several novels that provide the readers a window into the Asian community and the opportunity to see the direct and indirect discrimination that takes place in America. The author exposes in all three novels that the expectation and compliance of no speaking is a relevant issue, and the silence needs to be broken. Silence has occurred for many reasons such as the majority silencing the minorities. Families also encourage silence as a method to maintain cultural etiquette, secrecy, or even dignity. The silence and feminization of an entire culture are externally imposed; however, it internally accepted when it goes unchallenged. A method to keep the peace in many situations predicates and fuels the discrimination. Racism comes in many different forms, it is no longer about making minorities sit in the back of the bus; however, it does consist of trying to keep minorities in an inferior position and silencing their voice in society.

Racism in America has been a battle that gone on for centuries. It has evolved from slave ownership to setting up a society to keep minorities in a place where they remain minorities. However, despite the many advances that America has put into play, there is still a very real system that allows for discrimination to take place. King Kok has presented experience from different perspectives that has taken place in a society that is set up for ‘equality’. “Many women and members of racial minorities, growing up in an America where voice is tantamount to power and where they have been traditionally muzzled, have also forsworn silence in order to have a say in society” (Cheung, p.2). Taking away Asians voices prevents them from ultimately belonging to the society in which they live.

The inability to understand and relate to a society in which minorities live prevents them from being accepted. “The quiet Asian American are seen either as devious, timid, shrewed, and above all, ‘inscrutable’ in much the same way that women are taught to be mysterious and unknowable – or as docile, submissive, and obedient, worthy of the label minority model minority just as silent women have traditionally been extolled” (Cheung, p.2).The minorities are depicted in many different manners that are often incorrect and misleading. Asian men have been feminized by the American expectations and standards. The attitudes and expectations towards minorities directly set the stage for reading Asian literature.

In the story “Wilshire Bus,” the author tells of an experience of three Asian American individuals who are innocently utilizing public transportation. A drunk man was carrying on about ridiculous matters and turned his attention towards the Asians on the bus who were quietly traveling to their destination. “Why don’t you go back to China, where you can be collies working in your bare feet out in the rice fields? You can let your pigtails grow and grow in China. Alla Samee, mama, no tickee no shirtee. Ha, pretty good, no tickee no shirtee!” (Cheung a, p.36). A bus full of people allowed the harassment to occur and for these three individuals to be referred to as Chinese in such demeaning racial banter.

After the drunk man had exited the bus, the three belittled Asian passengers were approached by an individual on his way off of the bus. “I want you to know that we aren’t all like that man. We don’t all feel the way he does. We believe in America that is a melting pot of all sorts of people. I’m originally Scotch and French myself” (Cheung a, p. 37). The attempt to comfort these harassed individuals, a passenger, offered his position that not all Americans are racist. However, the banter took place, and there is no way it could have been undone at that point.

A vital point that King Kok included in the events that took place on the bus was that even though the Asians took the harassment and never spoke up for themselves, the one passenger still had a revelation that infuriated her. “People say, do not regard what he says, now he is in liquor. Perhaps it is the only time he ought to be regarded” (Cheung a, p. 37). She was left with the haunting idea that all Americans felt the same way, and maybe it was only the alcohol that allowed this one man to speak his mind truly. It was no comfort that the second man offered an accepting voice, because the drunk man spoke much louder. The Asian community would always be viewed as ‘Chinese’, and they had no voice to speak back or defend themselves. It was a sad revelation for America society in its entirety.

The second novel is the “Legend of Miss Sasagawara”. Miss Sasagawara is the story of a beautiful middle aged woman who was judged because she could not fit in the society that she was relocated to. Individuals were constantly talking about her and how weird she was. She did not communicate when other spoke to her, and her actions were unfriendly. No one understood the thirty-eight-year-old Asian women who chose to be single and not have children. They didn’t understand her anti-social way of life, and they constantly were talking about her in efforts to understand why she was the way she was.

She had abdominal pain and went to the hospital. It was ruled out as appendicitis, and she was released. Instead of accepting a ride home in the ambulance she ignored the drivers offer and continued to walk home instead. “The whole hospital staff appeared to have gathered in the room to get a look at Miss Sasagawara, and the other patients, or those of them that could, were sitting up attentively in their high white and narrow beds” (Cheung b, p. 29). The hospital decided she was crazy and admitted her to the psyche ward. Miss Sasagawara was different, and the only explanation that this community could gather is that she was crazy. It turns out that Miss Sasagawara is one of the first Japanese American women that published an amazing poem, and she was an amazing writer. She was not crazy, she just did not know how to fit into a society that she was forced to move into.

King Kok also tells stories of other Asians who have been pressured and abused by American society. Maxine entered an American school and called retarded because she was unable to speak English. However, when it’s her turn, she chooses to torture another mute Chinese girl into speaking. Many Asian Americans are baffled by the social assessment of silence. “Verbal restraint, often inculcated in both Chinese and Japanese cultures and reinforces as a survival strategy in the face of racism in the corresponding immigrant communities, hardly prepares a child for vocal assertion, especially when she is perceived as the Other” (Cheung, p.6). It is not a cultural practice that protects the image of the family or race, and it is a method that allows indirect and direct discrimination to play continually out.

The Oriental community has been voiceless in America for far too long. They have been shut out of the political and cultural systems and kept on the backburner of society. Silence may not be a law, but it has been inflicted on a society by fear, domination, and even at times punishment. “Other critics go further in suggesting that Asian Americans who exhibit a reserve have simply internalized white imperatives” (Cheung, p. 8). The expectations of Asian Americans to stay in the place created by the majority has fueled the treatment for far too long. It is disheartening to know that events like this are still taking place in a ‘modernized’ and diverse society.

Racism comes in many different forms, it is no longer about making minorities sit in the back of the bus; however, it does consist of trying to keep minorities in an inferior position and silencing their voice in society. Racism in American society has taken on new forms of life. The Asian community, as presented in King Kok’s work has been silenced and abused in many different manners. The attempt to keep a society down by silencing them has prevented them from fighting back in situations where they have every right. Some of the events were indirect abuse against a society, and however, others were blatant verbal racial abuse. Still, in every example, the individuals operated with silence instead of fighting for their own individual rights. Silence may be golden; however, it almost justifies the ability for others to hold the Asian community down. They have a voice, and there is no justification for a society that continually pushes towards silence as a method for discrimination. America is a melting pot of races, cultures, and beliefs in which all characters have the right to contribute.

Work Cited

Cheung, King-Kok. Articulate Silences. 1993. Print.

Cheung, King-Kok a. Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories: Wilshire Bus. 2001. Print.

Cheung, King-Kok b. Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories: The Legend of Miss Sasagawara. 2001. Print.