Monday, Monday joke offensive

I'm confused.

Maybe I'm being hypersensitive because, frankly, I wasn't sure how offended I was when the authors of Monday, Monday wrote Nov. 14 about spending student fees "wining and dining [Asians] who don't go here now, but will in the future." I also didn't understand the joke, but that's not my point here.

True, the authors poked fun at our merit scholars, athletics program and greenery too, but we cheer for our athletes, admire our scholars and even gain aesthetic pleasure from our greenery. I'm not saying that mentioning race is so taboo that we should ignore the pink elephant in the corner. But one must be aware of the power of and backlash created by such a loaded subject.

I'm sure you're familiar with the "model minority." First off, a model is always constructed by someone else. Most people seem to consider it a foregone fact that Asians are smart (at math and science).

Yet, as always, there's a context. What that is, I'm no expert. It could be changes in U.S. immigration policies in the 1960s (I'd bet that most Americans that are ethnically Asian at Duke are first-or half-generation), so one could claim the immigrant effect. Maybe it's due to Asian immigrants filling the dearth in the U.S. sciences, and their children following suit. Maybe it's that only the privileged ones have the resources to obtain a Visa to this country. Maybe it's genetic.

I don't know, but too many people, even Asians themselves, brush this issue aside and treat it as a given.

Isn't this a "positive" stereotype though? Not when you consider Asian refugees or the poor who don't get a fair shot because people like me prevent them from benefiting from affirmative action. Not when you consider an article in Monday's USA Today about the harassments and assaults endured by adolescent Asians in our schools. I could continue, but I'm out of space. Thanks and take care.

Kevin Fang