Can someone offer up a possible explanation as to why, when I end up privy to a conversation about contemporary China that non-Asians are having and the attitude is not exactly rosy--like about how so-and-so's cousin visited once and confirmed that they actually eat dogs, or how inhumane and cruel their one-child policy is, or so-and-so's business partner has inside info about how wily and sinister Chinese economic policies are and the associated nightmares should they become the next great superpower--why do I feel incredibly uncomfortable and want to speak up, but don't, because I don't know shit about any of this, and besides I'm Chinese-American multiracial, which does not equal Chinese or Asian in any way? Why do I feel this weird responsibility, as if I'm hearing shit-talking about my people, even though I know in my heart of hearts that they aren't? Is this race and nationality getting confused? How are people's understandings of international goings-on influencing/confusing understandings of race here in the United States?
I wish I could say this is just me being overly sensitive, but I have this creeping notion otherwise. History has shown otherwise, which is how a young man could get killed with a baseball bat to the head by two White autoworkers who channeled their hatred of Japanese auto companies to the Asian Americans they saw here. And he wasn't even Japanese. (More on this from Bao Phi and his great examination of the Transformers movies.)
But seriously. Is anyone else feeling me here? Been through that discomfort? What do you do?
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