I,frankly,had to Google the news articles and then watch the episode in question to see what all the fuss was about. Honestly, while I do see what the Asian American community found offensive,I have frankly seen and heard worse.

When not at school I live overseas in a little country called Belgium with a rather large Asian population,Antwerp even has a tiny Chinatown that is all of a city block long give or take a bit. When I first got to Belgium the very first people I interacted with was a lovely Asian couple from Shanghai who happened to run the local fry shop. Met some other fine folks along the way that were,also, of Asian descent. However, all this being said there is another group in Belgium that would simply “love” if all of us immigrants would hit the bricks and go somewhere else. They aren’t nice about either in fact they are downright evil. This group has always reminded me of the Nazi’s of the 1930′s variety where the caberets were for the tourists and not the locals.And about as pleasant too.

They have billboards all over that state in many languages that you are not welcome here unless you learn the language,adopt the culture of the host country and dress Western. This group is vicious in the fact that there have beatings in the past to the point people have been in hospital because of some groups small minded notions about nationalism. Where is the local government you may ask when this group so obviously anti-immigration? Well, Belgium allows it because of some very complicated laws that would take too long to explain here. The point that I making is this…a television show may have acted in poor taste,however, that is nothing in compared to what I have seen first hand in a country that is home heaped towards immigrants. What it boils down to is this,if you don’t like what is on the telly no one is making you watch it so turn the channel,don’t watch it or don’t support because in the grand scheme of things there are worst things out there.

I know because I have seen it.

Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese imperial army straggler lived in Guam for 28 years after World War II ended, died on Sept 22, 1997 of heart failure at JR Tokai General Hospital in Nagoya Japan. He was 82 while living in an underground cave in a bamboo grove until Jan 24, 1972, when he was discovered close to Talofofo River by hunters. Fortunately Yokoi, was a tailor’s apprentice before being drafted in 1941, made clothing from the fibers of wild hibiscus plants and survived off of eating coconuts, breadfruit, papayas, snails, eels and rats. He stated: “We Japanese soldiers were told to prefer death to  the disgrace of getting captured alive”. “The only  thing that gave me the strength and will to survive was my faith in  myself and that as a soldier of Japan, it was not a disgrace to continue  on living”.

Astronaut Ellison Onizuka was a Japanese American who grew up in Hawaii and was the first Asian American astronaut to fly into to space. Unfortunately, he was one of the crew members who dies in the 1986 Challenger Explosion.

Also, Donald J. Kutyna he served a combat tour of duty from December 1969 to January 1971 with the 44th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. There he completed 120 combat missions in the F-105 tactical fighter. He is most famous for his help in several investigations of NASA launch failures, especially his membership on the Rogers Commissions investigating the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger. He was key of NASA’s decision to allow the shuttle to keep flying despite knowledge of the O-ring flaw that led to the explosion.

A key accomplishment for Asian/America was Paull Shinn being the first Korean American ever elected to the Washington State Legislature. He was elected from the 21st Legislative District in Snohomish County. He was born in South Korea and was also orphaned at the age of four and lived on the streets of Seoul begging for food until the start of the Korean war. He was also a sponsor for legislation that enacted observance of Asian Pacific Heritage Month in the United States. Unfortunately, on January 7th of this new year 2014, he resigned after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and now Shinn currently resides in Mukilteo, WA.

Chapter 11
“‘Strangers’ at the Gates Again”

After World War II, Asian Americans started seeing changes in their communities. It started with the plantations in Hawaii when the segregated Asian workers formed labor unions and groups together to strike better and earn better wages. Thank to the contributions of various Asian Americans during World War II, their rights as Americans were beginning to come to light, causing America to become the land of opportunity that their ancestors envisioned years ago. Then the Korean War and Vietnam conflict arose. New Asian immigrants started migrating to America through coercion or fear. These included Vietnamese, Hmong, Cambodians, and more. They were the new “strangers from a different shore”, only residing in America for safety and hoping one day that they will return home, which was not the case for most migrants. Although Asian Americans were getting the rights they justly deserved, it did not come easily. The “threat” of Communism caused many Chinese Americans to be targeted by the government to ensure no Communist spies were on American shores. Even though 99% of them were innocent, it just didn’t seem justified to target mostly Chinese Americans just because China was Communist.