Most of the geographical US has places where non-white people basically feel not welcome.
if the same “Asian Americans” who vote for Republican policies are fine fear-mongering against racial and religious minorities (Trump comments and policies on Mexicans, Muslims, etc), then I guess can the sheep really be surprised when the wolf comes to eat him?
There is so much danger in a political ploy like the one you described. If you want to create a country that is even more friendly towards cruelty and ignorance, I guess I understand why you would support the people you do.
I'm a visibly non-white immigrant who has lived in a few different states and driven through most, including some very remote areas. I currently live in a Deep South state. I have not felt unwelcome anywhere in this country, nor have I felt more welcome in stereotypically liberal areas compared to stereotypically conservative areas.
No doubt pockets of genuine racism exists, but both at a population level or square miles of land level, such pockets are in the tiny minority. I fear you are exaggerating the level of antipathy against non-white people amongst the so-called "Trump-voting types".
Demand for racism in this country greatly outstrips the supply of it.
This strikes me as a feeble attempt by Democrats to refocus the conversation on what people say and/or think and away from the system of legalized discrimination they endorse.
Conservative populism isn't some uniquely "nativist, racist, and supremacist" threat. Trump people are for the most part just insular in the same way most people in my home country are insular: https://www.outlookindia.com/national/rohingyas-camps-becomi.... Democrats--with their affinity for diversity and change for their own sake--are the ones who are radically different.
You're right that, all else being equal, Asians should prefer the folks who don't make fun of foreign-sounding names. But all else isn't equal. The people who are nice to your face want to create a racial hierarchy that will prejudice Asians legally and economically. It is illogical to me for Asians to support that, just because some white Trump voters in Kansas say the same things their folks back home in India or China would say if the shoe were on the other foot.
> Most of the geographical US has places where non-white people basically feel not welcome.
I grew up in a Virginia House district that went Republican by 30-50 points the entire time I lived there. I have been all over the south and midwest. I live in a precinct that went decisively for Trump in 2016. I have never felt "not welcome" in those places. Now, I don't know what white people say behind my back, but I also don't care. They should hear what my parents say about non-college educated white people.
Indeed, the most racism I have encountered in my life has been from white liberals in the last 5-6 years. It's not Trump-people making me write diversity statements about "tell us about how you're not from here and are different from white people." Give me a guy in a MAGA hat who assumes I don't speak English any day of the week over a condescending white liberal.
Of course this is by no means limited to republicans or whites for that matter, but the effects I have felt most often come from people who are pushing their views in support of this regards; thus I am sensitized to checking overreach of these views.
Class also has a place in all of this. And I am certain from liberal places I have visited they have problems. But for me perfect is not the enemy of good. It’s simply a matter of who more negatively affects, my way of life and those of others, in the views they push. So far, the MAGA crowd will not be gaining my support until they change many of their views and policies.
If educated Asian-Americans want to gain institutional power like the white elites in this country, fine. But I think they’re making a huge mistake and allowing harm to come to others in their quest for “climbing the ladder”. And I will try to do what’s right either way, as many things are not in my control.
What does that even mean? Are people in Texas making you take Communion? Are they beating you for being brown? Yelling profanities in the street? Are they robbing you or denying you jobs?
And if not, how does any of that affect your daily life? That all seems extremely abstract to me. How can it be more relevant than democrats wanting to legalize discrimination against Asians in universities and workplaces? That’s concrete harm. Why should I care what “takes” some white person in Kansas had about people from Muslim countries, when democrats want to legalize discrimination against my kids?
/s
>enshrining a nativist, racist, and supremacist movement?
I see nativism and racism in left wing movements too. In reality, I think race/ethnicity seems to be the subtext of most things nowadays, maybe it always was. No one really explicitly says it but it's pretty obvious. I am not sure why anyone thinks it's okay only for some groups to advocate for policies that benefit their own race but others can not. As if racism didn't beget more racism.
Politics is about people voting in their self interest. If you're Asian, that calculus is simple. Trump may say mean things, but one side wants to create a system where your kids (and my kids) will be left holding the short end of the stick simply because they're "not the right kind of diversity." And don't think for a second it will stop at college admissions: https://greenwald.substack.com/p/appellate-court-strikes-dow...